Total War: Troy

Total War: Troy reveals its interface gradually as you play. The UI expands over time instead of showing every panel on turn one. A complex UI is one of the most overwhelming things for a new player, so the player gets the pace of adding more.

Mini Metro does the same, adding the line menu, clock and passenger counter later. In Animal Crossing: New Horizons you buy the tool wheel from the shop. The question to ask is how many buttons and panels need to be there at the start.

An hourglass end-turn button was read as loading, so devs changed it. In playtests one player spent 40 minutes on the first turn because the hourglass looked like a loading indicator. The devs swapped it for an arrow before launch.

Veteran strategy players link the hourglass to ending a turn, but others do not. The lesson Brown draws: "don't assume your audience has played other games." Playtest tutorials a lot.

Total War offers separate tutorials for newcomers and returning players. Complete newcomers get one tutorial, and returning players who only want the new features get another. This serves different kinds of learners instead of forcing one scripted path.

Brown compares it to Offworld Trading Company, which pairs scripted walkthroughs with practice challenges for trial and error.

Troy's narrator lines carry flavour while key instructions stay as text. Brown points to narrator lines about marching toward Corinth as voice acting spent on pointless flavour. The crucial teaching remains written text.

His takeaway is to put the useful teaching where the player will actually take it in. He also says he zones out about 20 minutes into these tutorials.