How can you design games that are easy to pick up for new players?

Even if controls are seemingly intuitive according to some industry standards, it might not suit your game itself or the platform you are targeting. A control scheme will also never satisfy all players. With that said, here’s some best practices one should follow: - Playtests! It’s important to gather feedback and if possible tracking data on players actions to assess your 3Cs strengths and area of improvements! Maybe an action you expect player to do will never be seen or rarely done and might be due to poor controls or logic! On the contrary an action might occur too much (like opening an action wheel unwillingly) when it should not. - Allow players to customize inputs, not just on PC, and at least provide different type of layouts.

Designing controls that are easy to understand and relatable, The easier it is to player to grasp on the controls and it gets more likely for them to get used to a new game. Minimizing the introduction of number of controls can help new players to understand mechanics and their use cases. Start with essential actions and gradually introduce more complex mechanics as players progress.

Controls are such an important part of game design. Getting controls wrong can make players loose interest quickly. You need to make your control intuitive. You can do this by studying games that are similar to the one you are designing or actions in different games that are similar to actions in your own game. This will help you understand what and where to place your controls. For example in most sports games, the X button on the game pad is for passing. It will be frustrating for players if you design a sport game that requires passing and the pass button isn’t X. Avoid having to retrain your games.

It is important when designing your character controls and movement mechanics to keep the platform in mind, for example in a mobile game made for phones you would want to use auto jump and other automatic systems that allows the player to navigate with a reduced number of inputs.

The key is to understand your heuristics tree. Heuristics are the scaffolding in your game that tell players what they are supposed to do. An easy-to-pick up game has clear lower level heuristics. Think Checkers: the low-level heuristics are clear. Jump your opponent's pieces. Don't get jumped. Of course low-level heuristics can be misleading, but they need to be strong for beginner players. Once they master these, they can climb the heuristics ladder into the higher-level strategies. In checkers, these might be controlling when you move your back row, setting up double jumps, and so on. Engaging heuristics for players at all skill levels is important, but without strong feedback and clear direction for the basics, beginners will struggle.

Clear messaging and in-game guides are crucial in teaching players new game mechanics. Optional tutorials and menu prompts are also a useful tool. However, the option for players to turn off these elements is also highly recommended. Ideally, at the start of a new game, it's advised to offer players a choice on how much guidance they can receive.

By providing new player with clear objectives and goals of the game so they can have a proper understanding of what they need to achieve.

Make sure that the players can easily understand where they need to go, or what they need to do. If someone jumps into the game and there is no indication of their goals or where to go they might wander around for a long time and give up and look online or quit the game. Instead, you want to make sure it is clear where they can go and what they need to do to get started. The player needs to know what they need to do to progress in the game, level up, solve puzzles, and how combat works. You need to be clear on these mechanics within the first hour of the game. Assume the players of your game never played these types of games before, add tutorials but you can also make them skippable if the players are not newbies to the genre.

Ensure that controls provide immediate feedback and responsiveness to player input. Actions should feel responsive and precise, with clear visual or auditory indicating that the player's input has been registered by the game. Clearly communicate errors or invalid actions to the player through informative error messages or visual indicators. Incorporate visual effects like particle effects, explosions, and lighting effects to highlight significant events to ensure feedback

Sometimes you can spell it out entirely and people will read the instructions word for word. But assuming that it really got through is a bad idea. Sure they read the info but did they take it on board? This is where other tricks and tools of the trade come into play.

Absolutely DO NOT teach through Gameplay to new Players. While what's written in here is true, it's also one of the worst ways to explain a system to new Players - they lack the grammar and mental models to understand your gameplay, and if you're worried about Players picking up your game as a first-time introduction to the genre or game type you should invest in clear and concise tutorials: - Few words, lots of pictures and gifs - Introduce the basics of your systems and let them figure out the depth and dynamics through gameplay - Distribute your tutorials across a long game section, so that there's plenty of "playing" in between them - Explain one thing at a time

Lengthy and descriptive tutorials became a less effective approach now a days. The best way is to teach user through level progression or have an on-boarding tutorial which is already merged with the gameplay. With this approach user can play and learn your game simultaneously. The gameplay itself teach the user and there are less chances of distracting user from the core game mechanics and elements. If game has complex mechanics, flow and storyline, in this case divide the tutorial in parts and each part of tutorial can teach the user effectively.

Don’t fall into the trap of wanting to write down tutorials about every mechanics and systems and call it a day. Consider your players smart but also know they are here to play, not to read tutorials pop up. The fact of providing gameplay info through gameplay or not really depend on the feature and the moment in the player journey. It is very important to avoid cognitive overload of players and provide proper contextualization: no need to highlight end game elements in the first time user experience flow, no need to teach a player how to use an item they don’t have yet. Tying tutorialization with no UI and environmental storytelling is a great approach but also the most costly, great benchmarks in that area are Half Life or Dead Space.

Level designers incorporate tutorial elements seamlessly into gameplay. Introduce concepts gradually, allowing players to learn by doing. Interactive guidance helps new players grasp mechanics organically, making the learning process engaging and effective.

A very useful thing one can do is to play Jeppe Carlsen's games: "INSIDE" and "COCOON". These games are almost perfect examples of how to make a game without any UI or tutorials, but that is completely intuitive to play. All the new mechanics are introduced in a very understandable way through the gameplay.

Make sure the game you are building is what players are used to with games of that genre. I am not saying you can innovate, or do something novel but make sure it is welcome while at the same time letting the player know what to expect in the beginning. But you also don't want to mislead your players. If you are making a game like Dark Souls, you want to ease the players in and make the beginning of the game not too challenging. Let the players learn about the mechanics, and ultimately get killed by a tough boss or creature so they know that is normal and it is ok. Then the difficulty should start ramping up, so they can get used to the game style by the time it gets to a really hard difficulty. Then the awards should be worth the challenge

There are games where the challenge level is designedly to be high, like Dark Souls for example, but in general, players don't expect to feel frustrated while playing something. So, it is important to respect the players learning curve, presenting challenges while gradually teaching how the game really works. When a harder challenge is bitten, provide a balanced reward, keeping the player motivation.

In a world where the attention span of players is soo short you need to streamline introductory phases, respecting players time. Avoid overwhelming them with lengthy tutorials. Provide concise, relevant information, letting players jump into the fun swiftly. Keep early experiences captivating to retain attention.

While designing , one should ensure the game is accessible to player , these options could be level difficulties , UI scaling , control scheme editing etc. Further levels and areas could be designed to encourage players to experiment with different mechanics. This would foster the sense of curiosity and discovery making the process more engaging. Ex: Camera control mechanism from the Watch Dogs series.

Crafting games for newbies involves designing a gentle learning curve. Gradually introduce mechanics, guiding players through a seamless journey of skill acquisition. Develop a responsive player feedback loop, offering timely guidance & constructive input to enhance the learning process. Ensure a balance between challenge & reward to sustain player motivation. Opt for simple controls, reducing entry barriers, & conduct thorough playtesting to refine accessibility based on user feedback. Tutorials & visual cues are essential tools to aid clarity without overwhelming players. Consider diverse skill levels, creating an inclusive experience. Simplify design & prioritise clear communication to enhance the appeal of the game for newbies.

As a game designer and innovator, there's always a tension between repeating something that already exists (cloning) or creating a brand new gameplay experience. While your game needs to be somewhat innovative, please be aware of your own biases as you will probably try to innovate too much. Every difference from the stablished standards is something new that the players need to learn, making the game less approachable. Be prepared to put extra effort on play testing, adjusting, and plain scratching things that don't work, and don't worry about repeating battle-tested schemas if they make your player's life easier.

Treatment and perspective matters Relating your game design and your art helps players to acclimate to your game quicker. This is one way to lower the cognitive bias and load that usually prevents players from picking up something. A clear audience targeting and communication of your gameplay design is another powerful way to help them pick things quicker as they can also set a base expectation from a player.

Digital games have 2 languages — the gameplay and the platform — to navigate simultaneously. I often suggest taking games offline and building fluency through tabletops and play experiences. Physical moments are both more memorable and easier to grasp.