Offworld Trading Company

Offworld gives players a list of objectives and lets them work it out. Its tutorial lists objectives with no click-here arrows, so players have to apply what they just learned and fill the gaps by thinking.

Game Maker's Toolkit compares this to Planet Zoo, whose first tutorial fixes one animal's welfare and then asks the player to fix the other habitats with hardly any guidance.

An in-game advisor explains long-term mistakes and why they matter. Mark Brown was scolded by the advisor for selling aluminium under $10. The advisor then taught him how the stock market works.

This offsets slow feedback in complex strategy games, where a badly balanced economy can go unnoticed for hours. Brown's quote: "Complex games typically have a very slow feedback cycle, which does make it hard to learn from hands-on experience."

Offworld offers both scripted walkthroughs and trial-and-error practice challenges. Players get two tutorial modes, so learners who prefer a guided path and learners who prefer experimenting are both served.

Game Maker's Toolkit's point is that a single scripted path will not suit everyone. It contrasts this with Total War, which separates tutorials for newcomers from those for returning players.