Certainly, games where these in-game tutorials are necessary (shareware, and thus downloaded), have handled the problem very well. Taskmaker (mac only, sorry win people) was a top-down adventure game that featured a tutorial. When starting a new game, a player could skip it completely. However, then the player wouldn''t get the extra thousand cp (that''s money) and items found and used during the tutorial. Secret passages and walk-through walls in the tutorial level allowed a player to collect those items and still skip the boring parts.

Ares (also mac), a top-down space strategy/action game, featured three turtorial levels sprinkled among the first six regular missions. Each introduced a new level of concepts (necessary since it was a complex game) that had no effect on gameplay. The missions could be skipped entirely.

The Exile and Avernum series (top-down and isometric RPG, and available for both mac and win) had help snippets that popped up when something happened for a first time. The first time (and only the first) you opened your inventory, the inventory help popped up. These messages could be reset (so, if you wan''t the help again, they''ll show up) or turned off entirely.

You learn better from doing than from being shown. Thus, in-game tutorials are a better way to teach the gameplay than a manual is. There''s no excuse for not making them optional, of course, and it''s usually possible to do them without having to interrupt the game - just have it in the status bar, or near the bottom as in Theme Park. I also agree that the manual should contain a thorough reference of all controls and actions, but looking back and forth between manual and screen is as interrupting, if not more so, than having similar information displayed on-screen.

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Theres nothing wrong with training courses and the like. Half-Life''s black mesa training course was a nice idea. Metal Gear Solid''s VR Missions. I think the only trick would be to make it believable to maintain immersion. In which case, the 4th wall is the real opponent.

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quote: Original post by g
Well, in my opinion Freespace did this right in that there were tutorials alternatly between the first few missions; there was also the crucial option to skip each tutorial mission.

However, the actual content of the things sucked. The instructions were confusing, and I really don''t want to be taught advanced targetting and communication keys when I haven''t even found the fire button yet.

Freespace 2 fixed that in my opinion, it told you exactly what button to push and even made up for remapping the keys.

I always read the manual and in-game help is always better than a separate text file(mostly because I play a lot of freeware and downloadable games that can''t handle alt-tab appropriately).