Teaching mechanics without a tutorial

This is the first in a series of posts where I’ll go over the design choices for my Dungeon Crawler Jam 2023 entry – The Eclipse.

I added health orbs to the game later in development, because I felt gaining health only through a level up created awkward gameplay decisions or at least reduced player agency. The healing orb I added was obvious to me, but it might not be to a player. What does that red ball do? Is it good or bad? Naturally, I didn’t want players to ignore a fundamental mechanic due to uncertainty.

During the development, I considered that most players don’t want to read tutorials. When there are so many jam submissions to consider, people just want to jump in and play. This is especially true as review fatigue sets in. I knew that a tutorial was necessary for the combat system, because not everyone knows what a trick-taking game is. So how do I avoid doing more tutorials?

To answer this question, my go-to consideration is Super Metroid and how it handles new abilities. Once an upgrade is obtained, you can’t leave the room until you’ve used it. This is an elegant solution to a tutorial as it does the same job, but lets the player actually play the game. The feeling of learning through action is a positive one and creates a sense of momentum.  I concluded this was a perfectly good fit for the scope of my game.

During testing I would often reduce the player’s health, but it dawned on me that my method for testing was a great tutorial as well. It fit thematically too! The player awakes in a desert alone, a blistering sun above, and goblins around the corner. Of course they wouldn't start with full health.

So the game starts and the player has 150/200 health. They get to walk a few steps to feel out the movement controls and the first time they turn right, they see an orb. It doesn’t attack them and they cannot proceed. Upon interaction with the orb, a rewarding sound chimes and now they have 200/200 health. 

With a simple tweak to their starting health and by adding a healing orb to block their path, the player now has key information. They now know the orb is not hostile, that it heals them, and even as specifically as it heals for 50 health. The next time they see an orb (when they actually need it) they will understand exactly what it does and how they can use it.