Is Korea Tutorial Current?

[RobertWevodau]

I'm a new player to TOAW 4 (I do own TOAW 3 but never really played it). I decided to give it a try with the new version.

So I fire up the tutorial (Korea) full of enthusiasm to learn the new version of the game. Right off the bat I see "Welcome to Talonsoft's tutorial for The Operation Art of War. OK So TALONSOFT hasn't been around for many years. What's going on? Maybe they just missed this in the re-write of the tutorial. Then I see a reference to Windows 95, and on page 3 I am told to "see pp 47 - 50 in the game manual for a description of menu items. Now my enthusiasm has waned. I come to the conclusion that the developers believe the old tutorial is still valid (then why price it as a new game), or the developers did not make the effort to edit it for the new game content. I don't like either answer. Why would the developers (or publishers) not take the time to present a clean tutorial for the new users? there have been obvious upgrade in the game and interface, surely requiring many hours of development time, but why not spend the time needed to present a clean tutorial to the new users? This doesn't make sense to me.

What is the answer? I think I will like the game, but my first encounter is not positive. This is not good for recruiting new players. What an I missing?

Thanks,
Robert

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: RobertWevodau
I'm a new player to TOAW 4 (I do own TOAW 3 but never really played it). I decided to give it a try with the new version.

So I fire up the tutorial (Korea) full of enthusiasm to learn the new version of the game. Right off the bat I see "Welcome to Talonsoft's tutorial for The Operation Art of War. OK So TALONSOFT hasn't been around for many years. What's going on? Maybe they just missed this in the re-write of the tutorial. Then I see a reference to Windows 95, and on page 3 I am told to "see pp 47 - 50 in the game manual for a description of menu items. Now my enthusiasm has waned. I come to the conclusion that the developers believe the old tutorial is still valid (then why price it as a new game), or the developers did not make the effort to edit it for the new game content. I don't like either answer. Why would the developers (or publishers) not take the time to present a clean tutorial for the new users? there have been obvious upgrade in the game and interface, surely requiring many hours of development time, but why not spend the time needed to present a clean tutorial to the new users? This doesn't make sense to me.

What is the answer? I think I will like the game, but my first encounter is not positive. This is not good for recruiting new players. What an I missing?

Thanks,
Robert

HI Robert and welcome to the boards. Make yourself at home. Um.....to answer your question: There were competing
priorities and a new tutorial has always been a lower priority than other issues. There are only so many developers
on the team and he's busy doing other things.

[Oberst_Klink]

As an alternative, may I point you to my Tutorials '41 '42 '43 instead?

Klink, Oberst

[RobertWevodau]

Larry,

My question is "Why" was an upgraded tutorial such a low priority. I have great respect and appreciation for what you have done with the game. Surely editing the tutorial file would be a tiny fraction of the time you spent on development. The tutorial goes a long way in forming a new user's first impression of the game. I know your primary focus was the existing base of current players who don't even need or want a tutorial, but the small effort (relatively) to create a good, current one, would help expand the number of players. I'm more trying to be helpful than criticizing. Plus I am genuinely curious about the conscious decision to short the tutorial.

Anyway, good luck with the game.

Thanks,
Robert

[RobertWevodau]

Oberst,

I will take a look at your Tutorials; thanks for letting me know about them.

Robert

[RobertWevodau]

Mr Klink,

Where are your tutorials?

[Tamas]

It is true that the rework of the documentation for the Tutorial scenario was a bit of a last-moment affair, so things got left in (like you listed) but the screenshots and the gameplay/UI information has been updated.

[Oberst_Klink]

ORIGINAL: RobertWevodau

Mr Klink,

Where are your tutorials?

'41 tm.asp?m=4382552
'42 tm.asp?m=4387818
'43 a tm.asp?m=4390285
'43 b tm.asp?m=4394374 (just preparing the slides atm)

Klink, Oberst

[RobertWevodau]

Tamas,

I do know that most of the changes are addressed in the Tutorial. I do think you underestimate the value of a tutorial for creating first impressions. Cosmetic changes, especially corrections for errors early in the document, are quite important in my opinion. I cannot believe the time to correct these types of errors is anywhere near significant.

Robert

[Tamas]

Well we haven't released an official patch so we haven't had the opportunity to correct them.

Also, I forgot: make sure to check out the video tutorials linked from the game's launch menu.