What will it take? (for HT)

[Oldman731]

In that first 10 minutes that a new person tries the game, they need to kill something.

Probably this is one of the best illustrations of how times change.  Did you kill something within the first 10 minutes of playing AH?  Me, either.

In AW, by contrast, I did!  It was a drone C47, in the new users arena.  I stalked it, closed to not-very-close range, and managed to down it (with the hit bubble of the day, and the wicked hardness of a goon, not too difficult).  Success!  And that was the last success I had for months.

Now:  If that Drone Victory is what kept me going (and who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men?), seems to me that having a new users arena with drones flying around might be useful.  Except we already have that in the offline environment. 

Really, you can't make the game too easy without destroying the game.  If you're going to step into the arena, you can't reasonably expect to be as competent as people who have been there already.

- oldman (well, that's what I say)

[Arlo]

  OM. I think you covered that quite well.

[nooby52]

 Yes, people need something to aspire to. Well said, oldman.

[CptTrips]

Probably this is one of the best illustrations of how times change.  Did you kill something within the first 10 minutes of playing AH?  Me, either.

In AW, by contrast, I did!  It was a drone C47, in the new users arena.  I stalked it, closed to not-very-close range, and managed to down it (with the hit bubble of the day, and the wicked hardness of a goon, not too difficult).  Success!  And that was the last success I had for months.

Now:  If that Drone Victory is what kept me going (and who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men?), seems to me that having a new users arena with drones flying around might be useful.  Except we already have that in the offline environment. 

Really, you can't make the game too easy without destroying the game.  If you're going to step into the arena, you can't reasonably expect to be as competent as people who have been there already.

- oldman (well, that's what I say)

I'm merely suggesting that can be used as part of an initial control setup.  Configure the controls, let them kill the goon to test the setup.  It gives them a little dopamine bump and lets them test out their controls in flight quickly anyway.  Did that control setup work well for you?  If not reconfigure and do it again.  If so, go to the normal start screen and let them choose an arena.  I don't see any harm in it.

It's a common pattern in many games to let the user see a little fun stuff while getting stuff setup.  It is good game design to provide the user a trail of little victories as you acclimatize them to the system.  Just enough to keep the reward system from getting bored and closing the app.

And you are right.  Times have changed. 

There is a LOT more competition now days from AAA titles to vie for consumers time and dollars.  Many of them free downloads, so there is little cost in uninstalling something that is annoying you or boring you.  In the end, you maybe have 15-30 min max to convince someone to stick with a game that was a free download anyway. 

If you can't make that sell in that time, they'd just as soon uninstall and go on to one of the other games they have downloaded that day on their drive waiting to be tried. There is an infinite supply of content chasing finite time and dollars.  Now maybe they are lazy iGen, but their cash is still green.  And Hitech might prefer not retiring in a van down by the river.

IMHO, too much hope is placed in some new ad campaign. You might get new downloads from that exposure, but it doesn't mean anything unless they convert to subscription.   I wonder what the Steam conversion rate was.  It doesn't sound like it was massive.  Is there reason to believe the downloads from an ad campaign would have a higher conversion rate?
 
What was the average abandonment time for the Steam users?  Was it months, weeks, or minutes? 

I'd think that first it is probably more important to figure out how to extend the engagement time before abandonment and increase conversion rate.  Even if the ad brings in new potential players,  you still have to make the sale.  If you can't make the sale, then there was no point to the ad.  Merely getting more downloads doesn't pay the light bill.  You don't get paid for downloads. 

[FOGOLD]

I think you are right.

Something else I would do if I were King, is on first newbie startup, I would baby step wizard though the absolute minimal controller set up and and then to test the setup, drop them in mid flight behind a slow moving goon and let them line it up and shred it. After the goon is dead, then bring up the normal start UI.  Let them get that first explosion as fast as possible against something defenseless.  It might be a while before they get that thrill again.    Dropping them in the Main, it might be days again before they can stay alive long enough to get something close to being in their gun sights.

I think it's hard for everyone to realize how intimidating and confusing this game can be to a new user that isn't a Warbirds or AW refugee switching over.

In that first 10 minutes that a new person tries the game, they need to kill something.  If they flail for 10 minutes to take off and find their way to an enemy after wandering around lost another 10 minutes, just to get instantly annihilated  by a vet...


Close.  Uninstall.

You can practice offline though for all that.

[caldera]

I think HTC should hire ChrisFix to make tutorials for brand new players.  Nobody explains stuff better for the noobs.  Have lessons on stick setup, keyboard use, clipboard map, view setup, etc.

Then make it plain that they are wasting their free two weeks without first watching these tutorials. 

[Drano]

I think HTC should hire ChrisFix to make tutorials for brand new players.  Nobody explains stuff better for the noobs.  Have lessons on stick setup, keyboard use, clipboard map, view setup, etc.

Then make it plain that they are wasting their free two weeks without first watching these tutorials.

Yaknow without going to look I'm pretty sure Vudu has already done a bunch of vids like this for this exact reason.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Wraith_TMS]

I'm merely suggesting that can be used as part of an initial control setup.  Configure the controls, let them kill the goon to test the setup.  It gives them a little dopamine bump and lets them test out their controls in flight quickly anyway.  Did that control setup work well for you?  If not reconfigure and do it again.  If so, go to the normal start screen and let them choose an arena.  I don't see any harm in it.

It's a common pattern in many games to let the user see a little fun stuff while getting stuff setup.  It is good game design to provide the user a trail of little victories as you acclimatize them to the system.  Just enough to keep the reward system from getting bored and closing the app.

And you are right.  Times have changed. 

There is a LOT more competition now days from AAA titles to vie for consumers time and dollars.  Many of them free downloads, so there is little cost in uninstalling something that is annoying you or boring you.  In the end, you maybe have 15-30 min max to convince someone to stick with a game that was a free download anyway. 

If you can't make that sell in that time, they'd just as soon uninstall and go on to one of the other games they have downloaded that day on their drive waiting to be tried. There is an infinite supply of content chasing finite time and dollars.  Now maybe they are lazy iGen, but their cash is still green.  And Hitech might prefer not retiring in a van down by the river.

IMHO, too much hope is placed in some new ad campaign. You might get new downloads from that exposure, but it doesn't mean anything unless they convert to subscription.... <snip>

This poster's idea has merit.  And at the risk of my adding to the noise:signal ratio in this conversation, perhaps an idea similar to what has worked for other successful game franchises can be adapted to AH?   The idea of hand-holding new players might be contrary to HTC's traditional "hands off" approach to newbies' experience, but as it's been pointed out, times (and player attitudes) have changed.  What matters now, if this this game is to thrive, is to retain warm, revenue-producing bodies, even if HTC is forced to nanny them through their initial teething period with AH.  As a very rough example, see how this well-known combat game handled it; literally forcing players to go through the prelim training and set up process as part of their intro to the game:



In the example above, players go through vital training, but success in this initial phase gives them confidence for what's to come and opportunities to adapt game controls to suit their own preferences.  Perhaps a similar intro phase (in general terms) can be developed that offers the same benefits to newbs?  Yes, it will require development, but it is a proven approach--in other games--that acclimitizes their new players.  For AH, this may help retain new players, thus justifying the resource investment.  BTW, veterans of the game should be given a way to opt out of this training.

FWIW,

[Kingpin]

These are the things new players have been told for years and they pop up in every thread like this one: 

You can practice offline. 
You can watch YouTube videos. 
You can read about it on the website.
You can go to the forum/BBS.
You can get with an AH Trainer.

Note that the expectation is for players to leave what they are doing (or exit the game!) to figure out how to play the game.  This is the old way.  It has been ineffective in retaining players and is not how most games handle it.

The clipboard GUI, literally the first thing players see when entering the game, is old-looking and not intuitive.  At least 80% of modern (especially online) buyers make a decision about a product in the first few minutes based on what they see alone.  What do you think most players' reactions are when they see the first clipboard pop up?  Beyond that, there are no clear set-up instructions.  There are no in-game tutorials or easy methods to test and modify their setups.  For the majority of people, if they struggle and can't figure out how to solve these issues in-game, on their own, intuitively, then they are gone.

If it were up to me, my focus would be to first update the GUI and add clear tutorials with "rewards" of some kind (if only positive feedback!).  Start with clear directions to set up their controls, change key-bindings and fly (with an air start!) to test out their controls and clear instructions to exit if they want to change them. Then show them how to customize their aircraft with fuel load, armament, ords, convergence and skins!  Then work on progressive in-game tutorial missions in the aircraft of their choice -- Lesson 1 (airstart): "Follow the C47... good! "  Lesson 2: "Follow and shoot the C47... good!"  Lesson 3: "Take off, shoot the drone and land... good!"  Similar things could be done for GVs and CV task-forces.  (i.e. A successful carrier take-off and landing unlocks a new Navy skin.)

I'd do this BEFORE you give new players competitive AI or other players to shoot at.  Make the AI difficulty player-selectable, easy, medium or hard in the mission screen (like Warbirds had in their practice missions, IIRC).   Maybe unlock more simple things, like more skins or additional aircraft choices, for completing the tutorials or winning dueling missions against AI in different aircraft at different difficulty levels.  There are lots of small positive rewards that can be given in the free arena, providing players with a sense of progression, before throwing them to the wolves of the main Melee Arena.

Competing in today's competitive marketplace requires ease of use and some immediate gratification (the "small shot of dopamine", as was perfectly mentioned above) and this would be a good formula for that.

[Vraciu]

^^^^^^^^^^ This.

[Max]

These are the things new players have been told for years and they pop up in every thread like this one: 

You can practice offline. 
You can watch YouTube videos. 
You can read about it on the website.
You can go to the forum/BBS.
You can get with an AH Trainer.

Note that the expectation is for players to leave what they are doing (or exit the game!) to figure out how to play the game.  This is the old way.  It has been ineffective in retaining players and is not how most games handle it.

The clipboard GUI, literally the first thing players see when entering the game, is old-looking and not intuitive.  At least 80% of modern (especially online) buyers make a decision about a product in the first few minutes based on what they see alone.  What do you think most players' reactions are when they see the first clipboard pop up?  Beyond that, there are no clear set-up instructions.  There are no in-game tutorials or easy methods to test and modify their setups.  For the majority of people, if they struggle and can't figure out how to solve these issues in-game, on their own, intuitively, then they are gone.

If it were up to me, my focus would be to first update the GUI and add clear tutorials with "rewards" of some kind (if only positive feedback!).  Start with clear directions to set up their controls, change key-bindings and fly (with an air start!) to test out their controls and clear instructions to exit if they want to change them. Then show them how to customize their aircraft with fuel load, armament, ords, convergence and skins!  Then work on progressive in-game tutorial missions in the aircraft of their choice -- Lesson 1 (airstart): "Follow the C47... good! "  Lesson 2: "Follow and shoot the C47... good!"  Lesson 3: "Take off, shoot the drone and land... good!"  Similar things could be done for GVs and CV task-forces.  (i.e. A successful carrier take-off and landing unlocks a new Navy skin.)

I'd do this BEFORE you give new players competitive AI or other players to shoot at.  Make the AI difficulty player-selectable, easy, medium or hard in the mission screen (like Warbirds had in their practice missions, IIRC).   Maybe unlock more simple things, like more skins or additional aircraft choices, for completing the tutorials or winning dueling missions against AI in different aircraft at different difficulty levels.  There are lots of small positive rewards that can be given in the free arena, providing players with a sense of progression, before throwing them to the wolves of the main Melee Arena.

Competing in today's competitive marketplace requires ease of use and some immediate gratification (the "small shot of dopamine", as was perfectly mentioned above) and this would be a good formula for that.

Yup. Lots of great suggestions here. 

[AAIK]

For those who want to update themselves on current trends (Internet): https://www.kleinerperkins.com/file/2018-internet-trends-report

[nugetx]

Remember when a game was supposed to be 'fun' ?

[PanosGR]

Do you need a collective money injection from the community?

i would gladly give 10€ or even more to fund  a decent new development in the game like  a Korea Arena or something like that.

[Ack-Ack]

Remember when a game was supposed to be 'fun' ?

AH is still a fun game, something you'd know if you actually played.