Helping newbies without annoying pros

[M3tal_Warrior]

Since it all boiled up in the 50% throttle at launch thread I feel it's time to address an issue that annoys me every single time.

I know you want to do the game as newbie-friendly as rocket science can get. I do appreciate that, although I'm quite used to actually learn new games without being bottle fed (and I don't do tutorials either, I rather lose my first game). This whole 'being friendly to newbies' might be the reason for your (otherwise almost never useful) half-throttle at launch and your constant reminders that goo and material lab isn't going to work a second time after taking out the experiment in EVA. At least it is a strong motivation for some guys here in the forum to dismiss quite a lot of nice suggestions, because one has to know stuff.

Here's what I think would help new players, and wouldn't hinder/annoy pros in getting things done a more complicated but fun way:

• Keyboard mapping
  Guys, seriously? That's a BASIC in almost every game - hit ESC, go to settings, switch to keyboard settings and see what key does what (and change them if needed). Everything is already done - the only thing missing is the button in the menu. And now don't tell me that's a head scratcher, even if you do have to gray out all graphics settings because the engine isn't able to cope with such changes on the fly.
  
• Reminders/Pop-ups
  Good thinking. Sadly bad copied. I would like to see quite a lot of pop-ups during the game, helping newbies to know their way around. Go to the VAB, get told what this nice building is all about. Launch pad and a pop-up tells you how you actually start and fly your rocket, maybe even while pausing the game (for inflight tips). It all could be made to get rid of tutorials all the way (if that is a goal). But then you definitively don't forget the Holy Trinity of buttons: 'OK', 'More info' and - most important - 'NEVER show this tip again' (for I've seen it a hundred times now and I STILL want to take the experiment out of the Goo container - that's why I'm doing an EVA). And please do a 'don't show tips' option in the settings page. You want a perfect example for this: Sims 3. Small, helpful and not at all intrusive.
  
• Difficulty setting
  ATM you have 3 modes to play the game: Career, Science Sandbox and Sandbox. And there's people who suggest a Contract Sandbox, want science reports to work without having to do the science tree, complain about too much/too little money in career mode and so on and so forth. Have you ever played Civilization, Tropico, Anno, Star Ruler, Simutrans, Empire Earth...? All those games have in common they give you detailed options for a new game. You could do the same, let the gamer tick and alter certain parameters in the game, like
  
  • Enable funds
    
    
    • Funds to start with
      
      
    • Enable refunds
      
      
    • Multiplier on contract rewards

    [*]Enable science reports

    • Enable Research
      
      
      • Science points to start with

    [*]Dead Kerbal respawn

    [*]Hardcore mode (no 'revert flight' possible)

    [*]Enable stock rockets

    [*]Enable Asteroids

    • Max. number of asteroids present

    
    

  I think this would satisfy most players, and most values are written to the persistent file either way.

Share your thoughts!

Edited August 8, 2014 by M3tal_Warrior

[Westi29]

Great ideas.

[Kasuha]

Keyboard mapping from esc menu is definitely one essential and most missing feature in game for all newbies. But all of the rest are good ideas as well.

Two things I'd add are:

- button to unhide all previously hidden popups

- ability to select multiple ships in tracking station for deletion or recovery with just one confirmation

[Stargate525]

This would be nice, and maybe after this we could get some focus on end-game content.

If they've got the time and/or inclination, they might also consider doing a sort of encyclopedia, like what a lot of simulators and strategy games have. I like tutorials, but I also like just being able to hit escape, go to a nice, indexed set of articles, and find out what '320ASL' means. Or what a periapsis is. Or how to operate the claw. Heck, this would be an awesome place to stick lore about the different companies, bios on Bill, Bob, and Jeb...

This could be farmed out to the community, and all they'd need is an editor.

[Kegereneku]

Agree with a few idea, not with the logic.

Game are becoming easier and easier those days specifically because nobody do the damn tutorial (especially those who need it) because they see that as a sign of weakness, so developers hide the tutorials in the first missions ...and simplify everything so it doesn't feel that way too long.

I like the idea of remapping but I am not a fan of pop-up (or you need to make possible to hide of all them as it is already possible).

About the whole "difficulty setting" thing, remember that what is difficult in KSP is the GAMEPLAY not the (self-made)objectives. All newbies are meant to become "pro" sooner or later, this is just a matter of skills to land a rover anywhere.

However "pro-gamer" grinding money for hours so they can build their own super-project (that is more artistic than necessary) is not a question of difficulty but of play-style which shouldn't be addressed IMO with "difficulty setting".

Changing the laws of physics to make the gameplay easier is still a big NO for reasons that should be obvious, but for now the game also have yet to get synergistic objectives, economy, progression and definite overarching rules. (Science is grindy, Failsafe Contract lessen funds use, experimental test are random, spaceplane are to be remade, the different antenna bring nothing important, the material lab is susceptible to change...etc)

In short :

every difficulty-setting you create now, would need to be redone later. If you have to change the setting mid-game the devs did something wrong.

But I'm all ok with being able to remap the keyboard at any time, or optional pop-up. No problem there.

[M3tal_Warrior]

- button to unhide all previously hidden popups

- ability to select multiple ships in tracking station for deletion or recovery with just one confirmation

I sortof implied the unhide option too, although not mentioning it. Of course this is to be implemented with that system, if being applied. As for the multiple ship selection, this goes with the suggestion to add a sorting function in there too (suggested that, seems to have been buried somewhere). The Tracking Station is lacking quite some basic functionality.

sort of encyclopedia ...

This could be farmed out to the community, and all they'd need is an editor.

One game I can't remember atm did that with the Wiki. Shouldn't be too hard, and also is a good suggestion.

I am not a fan of pop-up (or you need to make possible to hide of all them as it is already possible).

And please do a 'don't show tips' option in the settings page.

About the whole "difficulty setting" thing snip

[*]Multiplier on contract rewards

This is the main difficulty setting I proposed. Since it will greatly alter funds gained in the beginning, it will be a very effective difficult setting, if not combined with semi-infinite starter funds, but that's (with the suggestion) all up to the player - if (s)he wants to do contra-productive stuff I'm last to object, since it doesn't change my game.

Changing the laws of physics to make the gameplay easier is still a big NO for reasons that should be obvious

Help me, where did I suggest that?