How to use achievements to teach the game

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Oct 20, 2016 06:10

Subject: How to use achievements to teach the game

mistercreepy

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Joined: May 15, 2012,
Location: Hong Kong
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So I knew that achievements were coming for a while, but I just had this brainwave today. Can we link achievements to specific tactics and strategies that will help encourage new players to learn the game? Maybe that is the plan already and I'm a doofus (well yes I am). Here's a few things that could be achievements that would also teach new players cool tactics, these are off the top of my head. Please add more to this thread or correct any in here I've got.

+kill a Walker with a buried Underling (easy and obvious but an important step in learning how to beat a Titan wall)
+kill a Plasma with a Marine (hard but not impossible to do using terrain / gangup / EMP freeze)
+kill an Underling while it is buried (also hard, and actually rarely relevant in gameplay, but it would teach something)
+attack a unit five times in a row from the same hex (using Speeders / Marauders / Helicopters / sacrificing weak infantry)
+convert five infantry units in one game (could do this for each race)
+something to do with teleporting Mechas? Not sure how to code this one but it'd be great to incentivize the crazy tactic of mass teleport to shut a unit in a base and then take the base. Although this is a strategy that rarely wins
+kill a Destroyer without using naval units (hate those things)
+cure the plague from five units
+freeze the same Titan unit for three turns in a row

However I think a much much better way to teach tactics is the "Daily Challenge". I got this idea from Duelyst, it's in my opinion the best digital card game out there. Every day there is a different challenge and if you complete it you get five in-game credits. So what could this look like in Uniwar? Well, you just make capture the flag maps where it's possible but not easy to win in one turn. Heck a lot of the challenges could all be done on a similar templated map, something with a variety of terrains surrounding a central base, all that changes is the units that are placed on them.

I think that these would be different than the campaigns because the campaigns are so broad. Really they are designed to teach the capabilities of the units and their relative strengths and weaknesses. You don't really have to utilize gang up to win on normal mode (yes you have to do it to complete an early mission but that's not at all the same as it being necessary to advance). But you could certainly make a scenario in which the only way to beat a challenge is to use gang up.

Thanks for reading!

Oct 20, 2016 08:27

Subject: Re:How to use achievements to teach the game

Duaneski

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Joined: Nov 27, 2015,
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Awesome post and ideas.

Wanted to add:
- within the first five rounds: kill a unit on a base with a speeder and move the speeder onto the base. Teleport a mecha nearby to threaten capturing the base. (Script any teleport being okay for completion of the achievement. Hopefully players realize just by reading the achievement what they're supposed to do.)

- win a random ranked match with each race by building only infantry and/or 250 credit units for the first 5 rounds

- in a random ranked match within the first 15 rounds, kill a walker using a marauder.

In a random ranked KvT match build 10 underlings in the first 5 rounds and win the match

In a random ranked SvK match build 10 marines in the first 5 rounds and win the match

Capture an enemy base with a mecha in teleport cooldown

In a random ranked game: Capture an enemy base with a mecha in teleport cooldown, while having at least 5 more mechas in teleport cooldown within 2 hexes. Win the match.

In a random ranked SvS match build 8 marauders in the first five turns and win the match. (Map credit variance makes this number hard to choose)

In a random ranked TvT match build 8 speeders in the first 5 turns and win the match.

In a random ranked match unbury and attack with 10 underlings on the same turn, and win the match.

That's all I got for now

Your idea for the daily ctf is interesting. Might be good to encourage people to log in daily, but that's gonna take a good long while to build these very balanced scenarios, challenging scenarios? I'm mostly just curious about what they would look like I guess. That seems like a razor thin line to try to walk between impossible for new players and too easy for veteran players? Maybe seeing an example would help.

Oct 20, 2016 09:59

Subject: Re:How to use achievements to teach the game

mistercreepy

Messages: 207,
Joined: May 15, 2012,
Location: Hong Kong
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Nice ideas! I invited you to a sample game, very simple. Yes it would be hard to get a lot of these challenges ready but if it is done by the crowd it could work. Maybe if your map is selected you get a few extra unicoins or something.

If anyone else wants to see it, the sample is made by me. Daily challenge sample. Player one sapiens, player two Titans. I don't think you can win on turn one without utilizing gang up.

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