Player Onboarding

As the old saying goes, first impressions count and this also true for your game onboarding process. Your onboarding is the overall initial experience your player will see when opening your game so it’s always best to spend a little time considering this and putting your best foot forward.

It’s easy to overlook the basics as you know what everything means and how play your game, obviuosly, so put yourself in your players mind when thinking about what they need to know and more importantly, when they need to know it. It’s a good idea to ask friends or family, especially traditional “non-gamers” to have a quick go of your game and gauge their response.

Be sure not to guide them in any way whatsoever and indeed, if you’re feeling the need and itch to help them along, it’s a good sign that your clear onboarding is probably not as successful as you may have thought.

Key Takeaways:

• Remove the Unnecessary – Focus on getting the player into the game as soon as possible
• Make the game feel alive – Animate important actions you want the player to do and have the world live and breathe where possible
• Add Control instructions – Where possible and animated icons to show the player how to control the game
• Zero Deaths! – Your first level should introduce your game and make the player feel like “they got this”!
• Instant Prizes & Rewards – Front load some of your content and award the player something cool to make them feel like they’ve already won.