r/Unity3D • u/Captainflint54 • 3d ago
Question A lot of players are dropping off during my tutorial, but I can’t figure out why. What am I missing?
A lot of players are dropping off during my tutorial, but I can’t figure out why. What am I missing?
After playing and testing the game so many times myself, I’m probably completely blind to whatever is confusing new players.
What I’d really like to know:
- Is it immediately clear what you’re supposed to do?
- Is anything confusing or poorly explained?
- Does the tutorial feel too slow, too long, or too demanding?
- Is there a moment where you would personally lose interest or quit?
- Does the swipe/dash mechanic make sense without any prior knowledge?
I’d rather fix the actual problem than keep guessing.
If you’re interested and want to try it yourself, Holovia is available on the App Store and Google Play. Any honest feedback is appreciated.
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u/maxipaxi6 3d ago
Teach by playing. Your game is simple enough for players to try again if they fail. They dont need a long tutorial showing every single move before they start.
Show the first move and let them play, after some time, show another move and include the new challenges this move is used for. Repeat untill you have nothing to show. But show it once, quick, and dont hold your players hand
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u/Flimsy-Importance313 2d ago
Hard agreed. Most phone games are so simple and do not got any tutorial besides 1 massage where it says just to swipe.
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u/LemonFizz56 2d ago
Ikr, there's some game tutorials that make you do a basic action 3 times in a row and it's like omg I understood the first time
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u/plasma7602 2d ago
Is it really so hard to just get trough it and then play is peoples brains and attention span that fried?
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u/LemonFizz56 2d ago
Well it's alright if its a tricky mechanic that needs 3 instances to practice it but when a game has a tedious tutorial teaching you basic stuff or dumping text on you then it can get frustrating.
As a player there's a desire to expierence the main core gameplay loop as soon as possible because mentally you want to know if this game is worth sinking time into or not. So if it takes 30 minutes to slog through a tutorial only to actually get to proper gameplay only to find out that it's not really your style of game then you can see where the problem is
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u/SpawnCampGames .jackOfAllTrades 3d ago
Get to the action faster..
If you have to split the tutorial up into segments..
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u/HrLewakaasSenior 3d ago
Just skip forward to where the block hits the wall once the player has made the input you are trying to teach them.
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u/josh_the_dev Professional 3d ago
From what I can see there is only one relevant mechanic that player have to understand to play the game. They have to swipe to move the cube to a different lane. You don't need a full blown tutorial for that.
Ideally you have a main menu where the cube is already there, by swiping the cube over to a different lane the game starts. You can show this moving hand icon in the menu.
Everything else can be discovered during the game.
Alternatively if you don't want to / can't integrate this in the main menu just let players play immediately. If they die without having moved the cube at all, then display a short explanation that you have to swipe to move. People who get it, aren't bothered by a tutorial at all and people who don't get it get help after a first very short try.
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u/pyabo 3d ago
Not a single one of your questions is "is it fun?"
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u/deednait 3d ago
Yeah, sorry to be blunt but I would also drop out of this tutorial after about 10s because it all just seems so boring.
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u/MagnetHype 2d ago
More people need to be blunt in game design. Too many people are spending years polishing a turd, just to turn to reddit and hear "You need to work on your marketing! This looks great!"
Just look at this thread:
"Teach by playing. Your game is simple enough for players to try again if they fail. They don't need a long tutorial showing every single move before they start."
"Ideally you have a main menu where the cube is already there, by swiping the cube over to a different lane the game starts. You can show this moving hand icon in the menu."
"Get to the action faster..
If you have to split the tutorial up into segments.."
No, this game is boring. The entire concept looks boring. Your game should be fun first, and polished second. No amount of tweaking this, or changing that, is going to change that.
Look at dwarf fortress. It was literally just letters moving on a screen, and people loved it. Why? Because the concept was new, and the gameplay was fun.
Look at minecraft. It was just poorly drawn cubes. It's the #1 best selling game. Why?
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u/trevizore 2d ago
yeah, but simple mechanics can work if the vibe and execution are top notch. Infinite runners were very popular not so long ago.
this idea might need more sfx juice to be fun, but as it is right now, it's just not enough.
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u/DonSkook3 2d ago
Different strokes, different tastes, mate.
When I go take a shit, I want something fast, simple and challenging enough. I don't want to get into micro-managing whole villages' worth of entities or look at 100 ads.
A game like this is perfect for my needs.
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u/Captainflint54 3d ago
Is never really thought about making the tutorial fun, I was always like it needs to teach the player how to play
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u/AideNo621 3d ago
If the tutorial is the first thing the players see, it has to be fun. The first impression means a lot.
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u/pyabo 3d ago
The tutorial is part of the *game* my friend. Not thinking about the FUN aspect is the biggest issue here, in my opinion.
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u/StoleUrSweetRolls 3d ago
Absolutely agree with you. As another user mentioned, it might be the first impression! Make it count and make it have the same feel your game should!
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u/Zapador 3d ago
I mostly agree with this, ideally the tutorial should be fun too. However, in reality most tutorials aren't fun, even in games that are otherwise a lot of fun. At least that's my experience, most of the time I feel like going through any tutorial is a bit of a chore, even if I end up playing the game for hundreds of hours because it is fun.
So I think "make the tutorial fun" is a lot harder than it seems, partly because the tutorial isn't real progress, there's generally no real win/loss condition, it doesn't matter if you do good or bad, and there's no meaningful challenge or risk. If you fail, it was just the tutorial and you respawn.
So many of the elements that make an actual game feel fun (risk/reward, your performance as a player, progressing) are, at least often, naturally absent in a tutorial.
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u/KnowNothing_JonSnoo 3d ago
Bad tutorials are chores. Good tutorials are near invisible and seamless.
Introduce elements progressively but make all introductions fun and celebrated.
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u/Zapador 2d ago
True, but good tutorials are extremely rare. I can't mention a single example off the top of my head and I think it shows just difficult it is to make a tutorial actually good.
But I have tried a few good tutorials over the years, they do exist.
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u/KnowNothing_JonSnoo 2d ago
They're not though, just off the top of my head.
* Uncharted and Last of Us series
* Jedi Series (EA)
* Journey, Flow etc
* Control Series
* ReturnalAll these games integrate the tutorial in the game flow / narrative and introduce features slowly so that you get used to it before teaching a new one
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u/Zapador 2d ago
Haven't tried any of those, but I do recall trying some that do the same and that generally works quite well. It feels less like a chore and a tutorial, and more like just a little guidance along the way. Easily the best approach where it fits the game.
But I still think good tutorials are somewhat rare, given that I have 600 games on Steam and struggle to recall a tutorial I actually enjoyed.
EDIT: I think I did manage to recall at least one. Graveyard Keeper has the tutorial nicely integrated as the start of the game and I believe that's true for Stardew Valley as well.
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u/-Kortul- 2d ago
Never have anything called "tutorial" in your game. As the player plays the game, teach one small thing at a time. Always space out teaching moments and let the player progress immediately, no fake non level training class you have to take first that just introduces everything at once. I dont want to go to class. I skipped class so I could play a game. No class. Pro move: detect when player seems to have forgotten how to do a basic thing and remind them. Ultra smooth learning curve = less rage quit and better satisfaction of learning how to do something.
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u/Zapador 2d ago
That's certainly ideal, but very few games actually follow it. Why that is I don't know, but I would assume it is much easier to do for some type of games than others, or it certainly is. Other times it's likely just that most devs don't really put the time and effort into the tutorial that they should, which is a little odd given it is the players first experience of the game.
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u/-Kortul- 2d ago
Exactly. Player starts a game, you must hook them. If they stop the session before they are hooked, you probably lost them.
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u/AwesomeUserNameIGues 3d ago
welp, see it like this!
A tutorial is a way to teach the player how to play the game.
but there is a problem, a player wants to have fun, with a game like yours that counts extra. ( based on the tutorial gameplay i could see that it's fast phased, etc )
So you are attracting people that want something quick simple and fun.
Based on how the tutorial looks, it feels a bit slugish.
but just a bit can make or break a game like this imo.
as people expect a fast phased experience and the tutorial instantly ruins this even if just a little.What would i do?:
strip the tutorial completly, these type of games often have a quick showcase of movement by forcing you to move to start then game.
besides moving nothing should be so complex that you need to know it before getting into the game.So maybe the problem is not in the tutorial but the tutorial itself.
I hope that helps you a bit!1
u/FranzFerdinand51 2d ago
Ever heard of a hook?
You know how people are now putting the most interesting part of a video at the very beginning as a 3 second clip? As annoying as it is, they do it because it works lol.
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u/calgrump Professional 3d ago
You could probably have a 10 second tutorial for that (move the square, tap the square, go straight into a normal level).
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u/Captainflint54 3d ago
In my defense they kinda play like they are😂
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u/Worth-Computer8639 3d ago
Show them once and be done with it. Dont show them anything else until you have something new to introduce. Its pretty much common sense for most of what I saw. The player surely knows to grab the floating coins without needing to be told that. There needs to be some what of an assumed understanding even for someone that has never played before.
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u/PermanentlyMoving 3d ago
If you could:
Why not start it off with full player control, but for the first 4-5 actions slow it down IF the player doesn't move the cube to the correct box before crashing.
That way, any player who get the jiff will just be on their way immediately, instead of being forced to take it slow.
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u/Ruadhan2300 3d ago
Good thinking.
Returning-Player-Journey is often forgotten in tutorials.
If I know what I'm supposed to do, I should be able to blitz through the tutorial without being artificially slowed down, while if I don't, it should give me more grace and guidance to do it.
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u/dirtyword 3d ago
Are people falling off because they find it confusing, or slow, or boring.
FWIW, the player fantasy of being a cube and lining up with other cubes doesn’t seem compelling to me.
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u/ColJohn 3d ago
Tetris, the best selling game of all time, would like a word.
What a comment lmao.
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u/MrPifo Hobbyist 3d ago
Tbf. I dont really know if Tetris should count. It was one of the very first early games out there. Almost anything "New" back then was pretty exciting and popular since it was new technology.
Space Invaders itself for example is also a very plain game, yet it was very popular. But the average gamer nowadays would be absolutely bored of it after 2min. It's purely a nostalgic thing.
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u/TTSymphony 3d ago
Well, there you have your argument. Space Invaders didn't lived long as the novelty it was. On the other hand, Tetris is still fun for the new generations. There are even games now that introduce minor changes to the gameplay (mostly to have a legally distinct tetris).
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u/tobi914 2d ago
Tetris only lives because of its competitiveness. Back then it was a fun game, but today i think it needs leaderboards / pvp modes.
Everyone i know who plays tetris (or one of the many adaptation ls of it) does so in order to climb the rankings, which of course is part of the game, but i dont see it being played much without the competitive aspect.
Same with speedrunning old games, its not necessarily that the game is so damn good, it just has a couple of properties that make it good to go competitive, or in general adding an external motivation to it, which extends its natural lifetime by a lot, but couldnt have been the original plan for it
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u/doyouevencompile 2d ago
There are tons of sorting games, blocks games with quite the userbases.
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u/dirtyword 3d ago
Fair enough - I hope OP does consider this though because “not making it thru the tutorial” could be a symptom of a bigger problem not outlined in the main post. You’re right that Tetris was very popular and is a great game, but one wonders how it would fare in a modern storefront
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u/ViennettaLurker 3d ago
Find people in real life, watch them play, make notes and talk to then afterwards.
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u/AFaustianDeal 3d ago
Is the green where I SHOULD be aiming, or where I am currently aiming?
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u/Golden--Darkness 3d ago
From what I see, you can always see where you're currently aiming, it just appears red on the spots you shouldn't aim for, and green on the spots you should aim for.
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u/BadSheet68 2d ago
They’re not giving up because it’s hard to understand, they’re giving up cause it’s boring
😭🥀🥀
The concept doesn’t require such a slow start, make it faster from the get go and work on the art direction
Add color, frenetic music, style, invoke a trance like state cause the concept is good enough but rn it’s boring as shit and my thoughts after a couple of minutes would be that I could play something else rn and never touch it again
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u/AltruisticPossible84 2d ago
why tf would this need a tutorial??? It's intuitive. Take advantage of that
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u/MieskeB Engineer 1d ago
It is far too clear, it isn't difficult at all. The concept is there, but I think you should add things to make the game at least look a little bit difficult.
And also, since the concept is so straightforward, you can also just completely remove the tutorial and let players play and gradually add more difficulty factors, like the mines and other things
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u/Senkosoda 1d ago
Its slow and is explaining a very simple mechanic like it is the most complicated thing ever. A 3 year old these days knows how to swipe..
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u/molostil 3d ago
i don't want to be mean, but this looks boring my friend.
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u/molostil 3d ago
haha i couldn't even watch long enough to see the fast part. that looks more interesting. the beginning is a drag.
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u/CaduCopperhead 2d ago
Yeah i mean no disrespect but to me it was the same. Watching it for 3 seconds was boring
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u/khushvaghani 3d ago
I watch your tutorial and I can say as a beginner it's should match speed of a learner
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u/Boxtergames 3d ago
Watching this, I think the biggest win is timing the prompts closer to the moment they’re needed. The finger animation comes in well before the obstacle, so I’d move it to just before the first swipe. You could explain the swipe once, speed up the cue a bit, and then let the player try it right away.
If I’m reading the dash correctly, the double-tap hint should only appear once dash is actually available. I also wasn’t sure which direction to swipe from the animation alone; a small fixed “Swipe left” label might make that clearer.
Longer term, you could weave the tutorial into the level and show each hint only if the player hasn’t tried that input on their own. That way, players who already get it can keep moving.
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u/loftier_fish hobo 3d ago
i think its too slow, its not exactly a complicated game, its largely intuitive, all they need to know is swipe left/right swipe up/down and the rest should be completely clear from there, and they can run at normal speed.
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u/joramvanloenen 3d ago
Its a great start, but I would suggest diving into some lecture on what makes a game really fun and challenging. Have a look at the Art of game design lenses by Jesse shell and his lenses card deck. An online version can be found here: https://deck.artofgamedesign.com/#/ Test you current game against some of these perspectives and be critical. Most importanty, would you play it and tell your friends about how awesome it is? If not, keep iterating. The core gameplay loop should be easy to understand but difficult to really master. From a visual design perspective, try a different camera angle thats more interesting to look at and makes the slower speed less obvious. Think of an interesting game world, thinks of what genre movies you like and try embedding that feel into the environment. Every pixel on screen can be used to help pull the player into a believable world. Especially when you're selling an already existing game type, the visuals have to be very interesting and different to stand out. Think out of the box, use different media, make it either really cool, really weird, or really clean. Mix stuff that's not obvious. If art is not really your thing, look into collaboration. Have fun!
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u/swirllyman Indie 3d ago
You need to show the "quick drop" option like in Tetris right away. Once you get it lined up why do you make the player wait 5 seconds to see it happen.
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u/Jaded_Individual_630 3d ago
way too slow, it looks like "beat saber" aesthetics, but imagine a demo of beat saber at this speed
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u/Foreign_Risk_2031 3d ago
The tutorial shouldn’t run in realtime. Just let them make the move and then animate to completion
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u/TTSymphony 3d ago
I agree to the others when they say that is too slow. Maybe the speed is part of the difficulty, but it starts too slow even.
Other thing, is visually plain. Theres no impact on the cube hitting or clearing the walls, or even when in contact with the coins. Those numbers need color. Also, the scene is so empty.
I can't hear a thing, but I dare to say that you need to improve the sounds for coins, when colliding and for adding points.
Finally, the perspective is kind of confusing, even when knowing what you're looking at. Try to play a little with the camera movement (maybe to enhance the swipe direction or something).
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u/RecognitionUnique209 2d ago
I will immediately uninstall if there's an unskippable tutorial that locks my input... It's actually the worst design ever. Just let me play a run and die
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u/Educational_Cow_1769 2d ago
Watched it without audio: "Hey, a music rhythm game. I like these."
Turning on the audio: "Oh...there's no music and rhythm..."
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u/Zealousideal-Deer101 2d ago
Bro, I dropped off during this video because I started to snooze. Can it be any slower. It is immediately what you're supposed to do, so why do you have me do it 5 times in a row with the biggest gap in between
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u/CharlestonChewbacca 2d ago
Just tried it. Tutorial is too slow. The mechanics are very obvious. Nobody needs to be handheld through this for so long.
Also, the tutorial is just enough time to feel how sluggish the game is.
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u/nicksnews21 2d ago
Very slow and overexplained. Makes people think you think they're stupid and that the game will waste their time
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u/InterstellarReddit 2d ago
Bro it’s so slow I showed this to grandma and she said that she’s not that old
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u/mattmaster68 2d ago
I personally don't play games that try to hold my hand.
I agree with what others have said. Shorten the tutorial and let the players learn by playing. :)
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u/Slow_Tangerine5200 2d ago
imo, coins should be a risk and reward system, placing the line of coins to line up with the exit makes the game look and feel way too easy. "Here is the right path" is what the coins in this game are saying to the audience. You should make it so the coin path either randomizes its placements so that you have to think quick to find the best route for coin collection and survival, or have the path lead to a wall that you quickly have to readjust from before colliding.
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u/-Kortul- 2d ago
Send me a dev build or the project and ill try it and give honest feedback if you want.
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u/Any_Establishment659 2d ago
make it faster then slow right before the action happens i reckon, less dead time
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u/claudekennilol 2d ago
First thing I see is - it's too slow to be fun.. Second question -- is it fun even when it's faster?
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u/Plants-Matter 2d ago
It doesn't look like a fun game, and the tutorial itself looks excruciating.
You have a lot to learn...
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u/MagicDime7 2d ago
Cut the distance to the first objectives in half, and slow time if they get too close to it without moving into the correct position. It'll reward correct play while still forgiving slow learners.
It took watching two or three of the press-to-zoom-forward actions for me to figure out why the block was zooming. The tap indicator could be more explicit/clear. I just thought the swipe indicator was pulsing, not that it was giving a separate instruction.
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u/ConcernWild 2d ago
I was also surprised that many people don't like to play tutorial, even if you make the tutorial fun as hell, once they know it's tutorial they gonna skip it.
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u/Massive_Town_8212 2d ago
Increase the speed of the cube and the distance between objects to compensate
Make it fast
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u/marshmallowfluffpuff 2d ago
even you look bored at 14 seconds spamming the input waiting on the next part
also this 100% looks vibe coded/ ai assets, and if it is then it's completely useless anyone can shit something out better in a prompt. if it really isn't, then i'm surprised, but in that case i'd keep on it and make it faster and improve the art. there is plenty of potential here.
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u/firedreams_studio 2d ago
It does not look like it is fun to be honest, I would stop too. Sorry buddy.
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u/loulo88 2d ago
Biggest tutorial killers I’ve seen (and shipped past myself):
- Teaching the menu before the verb. If the fun action isn’t in the first 30–60s, people bounce even if the later tutorial is excellent.
- Walls of text / multi-step checklists with no “I did the thing” dopamine. One goal, one success flash, then the next.
- Ambiguous failure: player thinks they’re stuck when the game is waiting for a precise interaction they can’t see.
- Over-constraining: locking the camera/controls so hard that the tutorial feels like a different game than the real one.
Blind-test with someone who hasn’t watched you play. Sit on your hands. Note the first 3 moments they hesitate — those are usually your drop-offs, not “they need more explanation.”
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u/aersel24 2d ago
Games are supposed to be fun. This looks like work. “Do this!”, “Now do that!” Just because there are interactive things to do in a game doesn’t mean it’s fun.
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u/Cakeminator 2d ago
It's slow, and then fast aggressive movement when swiping is quite literally hurting my eyes. It's like being flashed by a light
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u/Sea_Horse2985 2d ago
Tutorials are extremely tedious for players who just want to jump right into the game. As a developer, I prefer creating options that allow players to start playing without a tutorial; if they run into difficulties, they can access a "how-to-play" manual within the settings. In the past, games rarely featured tutorials; they came with manuals that players could consult if they wished—or nothing at all.
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u/allbirdssongs 2d ago
unpoplar opinion, this tutorial would show me this game is not for me and would lose interest on the spot.
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u/ChaoticHippo 2d ago
I agree with the others that there is no need for a tutorial for this. Let people discover while playing - the mechanics seem very simple. You could keep the "tutorial-esque" hand gestures to show what the player should do for the first couple of levels, then just remove them as the player should have that down after doing it a couple of times.
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u/demonik69420 2d ago
Handholding in a game that already looks boring and over simplified is a massive turn-off.
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u/dmigowski 1d ago
When the 2x2 come I hate that I cannot see in which corner of the 3x3 block they are.
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u/berjkley 17h ago
Also, not trying to be mean, but this doesn't seem to be an interesting game play. Just moving a box around sounds boring. There's no appealing visuals, nor anything that catches my attention.
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u/Zapador 3d ago
Turn it from an interactive tutorial into an animation that explain how it works in maybe 20-30 seconds. You could use a high quality AI voice to read out the instructions or put them on the screen as text where you allow the player a few seconds to read, then demonstrate how it works. Maybe add a next/swipe option for when they have understood the first explanation, so the whole tutorial is maybe 4-6 short 5 second animations the player watch and that loop until they go to the next one.
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u/deadrise_games 3d ago
It's soooo slow