# The tutorial is not at all user-friendly for newbies

**URL:** <https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/the-tutorial-is-not-at-all-user-friendly-for-newbies/4294>\
**Category:** The Drawing Board\
**Created:** [November 29, 2013, 1:09pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/the-tutorial-is-not-at-all-user-friendly-for-newbies/4294 "2013-11-29T13:09:55Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 12\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![shirishag75](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/shirishag75/32/1062_2.png) [@shirishag75](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/shirishag75)\
**Post date:** [November 29, 2013, 1:09pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/the-tutorial-is-not-at-all-user-friendly-for-newbies/4294/1 "2013-11-29T13:09:55Z")

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Hi all,  
I downloaded and compiled the game yesterday. I am NOT an ASCII rogue-like player but more of a graphical rogue-player.

I found the tutorial too complex to navigate. What arguably might be a better way is to give the player some tasks (simple tasks), let him/her repeat it n number of times and the keybindings are into memory.

I have played rpg’s games before as well as those which have keyboard controls and most start with the known things. For e.g. ‘I’ for inventory is common, so use the common shortcuts and then go on from there. The game is 2 years in development as per the log of git. [https://github.com/CleverRaven/Cataclysm-DDA](https://github.com/CleverRaven/Cataclysm-DDA)

I did notice that there are couple of branches and heads :-

== Remote Branches:  
origin/0.8-branch  
origin/0.9-branch  
origin/HEAD -\> origin/master  
origin/halloween  
origin/master

As can be seen I am using the master.

Also is there any ETA on having some sort of sounds for the game ? That is bound to make it more enjoyable.

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**Author:** ![John\_Candlebury](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/john_candlebury/32/6437_2.png) [@John\_Candlebury](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/John_Candlebury)\
**Post date:** [November 29, 2013, 1:40pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/the-tutorial-is-not-at-all-user-friendly-for-newbies/4294/2 "2013-11-29T13:40:15Z")

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Game controls can be seen and modified during gameplay by pressing ? And selecting the option that says something similar to key bindings. Other than that, did you attempted to move toward the not (.) symbols during the tutorial? Because that triggers several simi useful info boxes .

I am not aware about any plans for adding sounds to the game as of now. There are however intentions of at least having some background music.

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**Author:** ![shirishag75](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/shirishag75/32/1062_2.png) [@shirishag75](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/shirishag75)\
**Post date:** [December 4, 2013, 7:08am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/the-tutorial-is-not-at-all-user-friendly-for-newbies/4294/3 "2013-12-04T07:08:30Z")

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[quote=“John Candlebury, post:2, topic:4294”]Game controls can be seen and modified during gameplay by pressing ? And selecting the option that says something similar to key bindings. Other than that, did you attempted to move toward the not (.) symbols during the tutorial? Because that triggers several simi useful info boxes .

I am not aware about any plans for adding sounds to the game as of now. There are however intentions of at least having some background music.[/quote]

Thank you John for replying so quickly. You misunderstood my point. My thing is and was that for a new player who’s just entered the environment, there is nothing to guide him and the tutorial tells him too much in too short a time.

Perhaps an e.g. would guide/tell better what I want to tell.

Have you played Dungeon crawl soup [http://crawl.develz.org/](http://crawl.develz.org/) or planescape-torment. Both of which have lot of things to do. The great thing is both have a way for a new gamer to get some idea as to what or how he’s supposed to play.

Planescape has the skull who tells him/her what to do (hand-holding a bit) while crawl has the option ‘hints mode’ which also helps the new user.

If there was a hints/help thing while playing the game it would make it so much easier for the new guy.

I do wish crawl though didn’t have instant death but that’s for another day.

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**Author:** ![Inadequate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Inadequate](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Inadequate)\
**Post date:** [December 4, 2013, 8:17am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/the-tutorial-is-not-at-all-user-friendly-for-newbies/4294/4 "2013-12-04T08:17:29Z")

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Quite a lot of new mechanics with little documentation have been added recently, there are some things that could stand to be made clearer.

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**Author:** ![AerialK7](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@AerialK7](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/AerialK7)\
**Post date:** [December 4, 2013, 8:51am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/the-tutorial-is-not-at-all-user-friendly-for-newbies/4294/5 "2013-12-04T08:51:07Z")

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The first thing I do in roguelikes is press ‘?’ and look through the keybindings. Though, im sortve used to the dwarf fortress “No, you learn it the hardway or dont learn it at all”

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**Author:** ![infectedmochi](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/infectedmochi/32/206_2.png) [@infectedmochi](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/infectedmochi)\
**Post date:** [December 4, 2013, 10:32am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/the-tutorial-is-not-at-all-user-friendly-for-newbies/4294/6 "2013-12-04T10:32:24Z")

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The Tutorial as it stands now could use some improvement and AFAIK there are plans to revamp it, it’s just that no one has gotten around and do it yet. Just be patient, I think a better tutorial will come soon enough.

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**Author:** ![John\_Candlebury](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/john_candlebury/32/6437_2.png) [@John\_Candlebury](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/John_Candlebury)\
**Post date:** [December 4, 2013, 11:06am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/the-tutorial-is-not-at-all-user-friendly-for-newbies/4294/7 "2013-12-04T11:06:44Z")

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[quote=“shirishag75, post:3, topic:4294”][quote=“John Candlebury, post:2, topic:4294”]Game controls can be seen and modified during gameplay by pressing ? And selecting the option that says something similar to key bindings. Other than that, did you attempted to move toward the not (.) symbols during the tutorial? Because that triggers several simi useful info boxes .

I am not aware about any plans for adding sounds to the game as of now. There are however intentions of at least having some background music.[/quote]

Thank you John for replying so quickly. You misunderstood my point. My thing is and was that for a new player who’s just entered the environment, there is nothing to guide him and the tutorial tells him too much in too short a time.

Perhaps an e.g. would guide/tell better what I want to tell.

Have you played Dungeon crawl soup [http://crawl.develz.org/](http://crawl.develz.org/) or planescape-torment. Both of which have lot of things to do. The great thing is both have a way for a new gamer to get some idea as to what or how he’s supposed to play.

Planescape has the skull who tells him/her what to do (hand-holding a bit) while crawl has the option ‘hints mode’ which also helps the new user.

If there was a hints/help thing while playing the game it would make it so much easier for the new guy.

I do wish crawl though didn’t have instant death but that’s for another day.[/quote]

Well the fact that the tutorial is terrible is a non questionable, and it does need improvement. I just attempted to tell you how to get the best of its reduced utility. 🙂

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**Author:** ![Wuzzy](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/wuzzy/32/41_2.png) [@Wuzzy](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Wuzzy)\
**Post date:** [December 4, 2013, 2:16pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/the-tutorial-is-not-at-all-user-friendly-for-newbies/4294/8 "2013-12-04T14:16:13Z")

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Related issue: [#1324: “Tutorial is badly out of date and buggy”](https://github.com/CleverRaven/Cataclysm-DDA/issues/1324)

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**Author:** ![Cherry](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/cherry/32/230_2.png) [@Cherry](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Cherry)\
**Post date:** [December 4, 2013, 6:07pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/the-tutorial-is-not-at-all-user-friendly-for-newbies/4294/9 "2013-12-04T18:07:35Z")

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oBVIOUS Solution  
Hint + Tips option ticked on default.  
The game comments when certain things in the game happen.

“Looks like you got a bite wound there buddy. Find a rag or bandages if it is bleeding, and disinfectant or a first aid kit as soon as possible!”

Et ceter agh

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Zireael](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/zireael/32/956_2.png) [@Zireael](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Zireael)\
**Post date:** [December 6, 2013, 2:15pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/the-tutorial-is-not-at-all-user-friendly-for-newbies/4294/10 "2013-12-06T14:15:50Z")

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I think an idea of hints is floating around the GitHub, too. It’s all a matter of someone actually doing it.

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**Author:** ![ClaytonRISING](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/claytonrising/32/75_2.png) [@ClaytonRISING](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/ClaytonRISING)\
**Post date:** [December 6, 2013, 4:53pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/the-tutorial-is-not-at-all-user-friendly-for-newbies/4294/11 "2013-12-06T16:53:29Z")

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There’s actually a disturbing lack of documentation for features; especially farming (though I recall it being explained in another thread).

Maybe if we ever get the Wiki updated we can have a dedicated page to complete noobies and their first few minutes of CDDA.

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**Author:** ![Anonymous1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/77aa72/32.png) [@Anonymous1](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Anonymous1)\
**Post date:** [December 6, 2013, 4:55pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/the-tutorial-is-not-at-all-user-friendly-for-newbies/4294/12 "2013-12-06T16:55:25Z")

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[size=8pt]Anyone here old enough to remember the Universal Hint System? Something akin to that could be useful.

Edit - Wow, after some quick research it appears it is still in use even after all these years. 1988 seems so long ago.[/size]