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File: In The Research Facility - A Tutorial.hold (36.5 KB)
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This game is a tutorial to help players learn about the elements in TCB.

Tim
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This is a rather simple tutorial describing some of the elements of the game.

Even though it is a tutorial, it doesn't mean that it is very easy enough to give it a one brain rating. But that's because you'll have to deal with some of the tougher elements of the game.

If you have played the original The City Beneath there's nothing new here though. There are also some rooms here that have some unintentional easy solutions, but that's not too bad since this is considered as a tutorial.

But if you haven't finished TCB this hold can show (or spoil) you some of the later elements, and it's a lot easier than TCB.

I'd probably give the hold a 3 brains rating, as for fun, well, it really depends if you have finished TCB.


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Tahnan
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Whenever I see a tutorial, what I really wonder is how useful it is to someone who doesn't know the game. To me, it looks kind of dull, but that's because I already know all this stuff. And my inclination is to think that the KDD/JtRH/TCB system, in which you're presented with an entire level of a new element to help you get used to the way it works in all its variations, is more helpful. But I can't know; so if there are any newcomers out there who try this, please, speak up and offer opinions.

I'll also say that the writing is terrible, with frequent errors in the verbs. Much of the information seems incomplete--saying that brains won't send monsters over certain elements, but not really saying which (and leaving it to the player to infer that arrows are one of them), or saying that waterskippers move on water (and leaving out the complex ways in which they move). And in at least one room, the information is outright wrong (More Elements and Enemies: 4N2E, which says "Persistent citizen movement token will make the builder always move to the closest relay station.").

ETA: Also, go ahead and ask me what I think of arrows on a room entrance. Past the blue door, on a level with zero checkpoints.

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[Last edited by Tahnan at 08-18-2010 12:04 PM]

Jatopian
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What do you think of arrows on a room entrance? Past the blue door, on a level with zero checkpoints?

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Elfstone
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Tahnan wrote:
ETA: Also, go ahead and ask me what I think of arrows on a room entrance. Past the blue door, on a level with zero checkpoints.

Well, Jatopian beat me to it, but I imagine it's much the same as my own thinking when I discovered, on the level 'Tarstuffs', that the secret room was behind the blue door and the only way to access it was to replay the final room (no save squares anywhere ) and trek through 10 rooms, cutting my way through mud, gel and tar along the way!!

I haven't checked to see how long this was in Architecture, but I got the impression that either advice was not sought by the Architect, or was proffered and ignored. If I voted for Holds, I'm afraid this one would get a fairly low score.

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jbluestein
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Elfstone wrote:
If I voted for Holds, I'm afraid this one would get a fairly low score.

Just to point out: In my not particularly humble opinion, *everyone* should vote on holds that they have played.

Why not? It's the simplest metric of whether a hold is fun to play -- while an in-depth review is no doubt going to be better and more informative, you can't really go wrong picking a well-rated hold (assuming you also choose one of an appropriate difficulty...).

Josh

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Tahnan
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Jatopian wrote:
What do you think of arrows on a room entrance? Past the blue door, on a level with zero checkpoints?

Hate. Hate hate hate hate hate hate hate.

Though what Elfstone described makes it even worse.

Elfstone
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jbluestein wrote:
Why not? It's the simplest metric of whether a hold is fun to play -- while an in-depth review is no doubt going to be better and more informative, you can't really go wrong picking a well-rated hold (assuming you also choose one of an appropriate difficulty...).

I completely understand what you are saying Josh, but this is something I have struggled with for almost all of the time I have been in this site. It may be surprising, given that I have been heavily involved in assessment (both formal and informal) throughout my career, but I have no confidence in my ability to grade a Hold fairly. You will know that I am useless at making puzzles for Holds, to the extent that it lessens my attempts at Architecture considerably, but I am also pretty hopeless at solving them whilst playing. I am a frequent lurker on H&S and I have found Chat to be immensely useful in soliciting advice on how to work through rooms. I fear very much that my weakness in puzzle-solving would lead to me giving a skewed grading on any but the easiest Holds. To avoid that I just don't ever grade.

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jbluestein
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Elfstone wrote:
I completely understand what you are saying Josh, but this is something I have struggled with for almost all of the time I have been in this site. It may be surprising, given that I have been heavily involved in assessment (both formal and informal) throughout my career, but I have no confidence in my ability to grade a Hold fairly. You will know that I am useless at making puzzles for Holds, to the extent that it lessens my attempts at Architecture considerably, but I am also pretty hopeless at solving them whilst playing. I am a frequent lurker on H&S and I have found Chat to be immensely useful in soliciting advice on how to work through rooms. I fear very much that my weakness in puzzle-solving would lead to me giving a skewed grading on any but the easiest Holds. To avoid that I just don't ever grade.

In my (slightly) humble opinion, if you play through an entire hold, you are eminently qualified to rate it. How much did you enjoy it? How hard did you find it?

I do understand where you're coming from on this, Elfstone, but I dare say there are people rating holds who give considerably less thought to the ratings process than you seem to be doing.

Josh

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Shendy
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Confession: Well, I made this hold when I wasn't far in TCB ( I think when at Homeward Ascent).

Elfstone
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Don't be too downhearted Shendy! There are some good points to your Hold. I think the lesson to learn - and I would give this advice to all new Architects - is to spend a lot of time with your Hold in Architecture. Be patient when it comes to waiting for people to test your Hold - many of the people on this site are earning a living during the day and have not a great deal of time to offer to new Holds, but essentially this is a very friendly, helpful site and people will give advice - if Architects will just give them time. You also need to heed the advice given of course.

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JoMax
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I quite enjoyed this hold (even with the reservations noted above).

There are some good rooms here - not too simple (for the intended audience)

I think Shendy shows some promise as an architect (just needs to pay attention to the advice given)

Syntax
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I think this is hold achieves exactly what it sets out to do and represents one of the best tutorial holds - albeit probably not quite "complete".

Looking forward to more holds by Shendy

martz
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Another tutorial hold, although since it comes from the TCB point of view it does differ in the order that it introduces the game elements compared to some of the earlier tutorial holds which tended to follow the AE element introduction pattern.

This is an adequate hold as tutorials go - most elements are introduced and you would need a fairly substantial hold to cover everything including some of the more obscure interactions (Advanced Concepts seems a good port of call in that regard).

There are some trickier rooms later on which does add an element of challenge for the less experienced players which I think is a useful exercise.

My main issue with this hold though is some of the spelling.

I understand that a for a lot of architects English is not their first langauge but I'm sure it can't be too hard to get someone to proof-read your hold.

I'm assuming this doesn't come under the HA remit, but I would certainly be willing to proof-read in either an official or unofficial category for anyone who would need assistance with this.

Overall a not too shabby hold, and I would rate it as follows:

Difficulty: 2
Fun: 4

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west.logan
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I really enjoyed the first parts of this hold. The idea of having the player go through a "research" facility was a brilliant one and the "scientist" leading you through it all did a fairly good job of explaining things.

I also really liked being able to do simple puzzles that introduce you to a monster, without it being /too/ simple (as in a one-hit, it's dead thing). The tar sections were especially useful. There were multiple rooms to introduce the player to each element in different configurations, so that was helpful too.

However, certain things made this hold have less polish than it could have. For example, in order to get one of the secrets, I had to re-defeat a room and then backtrack through most of the dungeon, simply because there were force arrows on the room after the secret entrance. The end section seemed a bit hard in parts after the ease of the previous, and as people have pointed out, there were a few trivial solutions that probably could have been grassed out on the architectural board. All in all though, probably my favourite beginner tutorial so far.

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[Last edited by west.logan at 07-06-2011 07:18 PM]

cbemom
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This hold was perfect for me. I bought the original KDD, played for many hours, then got JTRH; got about halfway through and for some insane reason stopped playing for a couple of years.

This time, I bought TCB, but haven't started playing it yet as I wanted to start at the beginning and finish the first two (currently battling with the neather, bleah). I have looked at some of the newer hold, but found the new elements very confusing.

I think Shendy did a good job - have a few of the same objections as above (I'm a writer and would be happy to proof-read). I give it a 2.5 brains and a 6 for fun.

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[Last edited by cbemom at 11-12-2011 10:58 PM]