The Datamass: Update 9's New Tutorial

WARFRAME is developed and published by Digital Extremes, the same development house that helped create Unreal and the Unreal Tournament line of First-Person Shooters. Digital Extremes doesn't disappoint its fans, releasing content at a break-neck pace that leaves their Creative Director Steve Sinclair and Lead Designer Scott McGregor with more and more ambitious projects after every release! So what's up with this update?

I recently had the chance to play Firefall, as it went into Open Beta at the start of the week. It was an interesting experience for a Free-to-Play game, and I certainly can appreciate what it is trying to do. I saw a lot of similarities between what Firefall is doing and some of the content in Warframe; especially the naming conventions and aesthetic of some of Firefall's "Battleframe" abilities.

But I'm not looking to point fingers at tropes of a science fiction genre. Instead I want to take a look at the new Warframe tutorial which was released with Update 9, and draw comparisons between two Free-to-Play games and their forays into teaching new players.

Doing it Right: Immersion

Right from the start, you're given a classic introduction to the situation you're in. It's a set of scrolling text with interference as it moves. It says a lot, without overwhelming the player with needless technobabble. Important nouns are either capitalized at their start or the entire word is capitalized to signify how important it is. This lets you understand that the Old War is important; but TENNO and WARFRAMES are paramount.

We go through the introduction shown at E3; an important Grineer figure usurps one of their cronies discoveries, which is introduced in a fly-through of the area you have to eventually force your way out of. The camera can be controlled during the fly-through, which is a great touch.

I am the Lotus

You're introduced to your "operator" immediately upon waking from what she refers to as cryo-sleep. The Lotus will be a familiar voice as you go through the game, and does a good job at being no-nonsense in the situation while explaining things to the poor new Tenno woken in the cold.

You go through the basics; Health, Shield, your weapons, ammunition. The tutorial is very no-nonsense and obviously intended only to familiarize you with the functions of control and basic UI elements instead of teaching you how to Flip Out And Be a Space Ninja.

The Lotus summons quick holo-projections for you to target with abilities and weapons, before the Grineer break through the glowing space-door which had been protecting you. This leaves you, the Tenno, to have to fight your way through and "get to extraction," a phrase which alludes to a great deal of your activity in Warframe.

The Grineer in charge is an asshole, however. He zaps you when you come out, only for three other Tenno appear and usher you to safety.

You choose your Warframe shortly after this, and are sent right into the Solar Map to continue your journey.

And So Can You

I broke the Tutorial a couple of times unfortunately, as I paused to take screenshots and save things for future use. Often I was able to cut the Lotus off in her text-prompts which came with the audio queues for what to do and what she was explaining, which made for some interesting Drunk Lotus visuals.

The setting which Digital Extremes used for the tutorial is obviously the raw scenery from the E3 video, as there is an area to the right of where you begin that doesn't have any back-texturing. If I hadn't been well-versed in Flipping Out Like a Space Ninja I would have been stuck inside of this area, so it's something to be aware of and fixed in the future.

I see Paris, I see France. I see the doodads underpants.

This is a good tutorial. It's quick, it doesn't go too far into the lore to lose new players, and it explains quickly enough in a controlled environment without expecting players to be God-Tier.

And the most important aspect of the tutorial is that it wasn't just made for existing players and their friends joining. Unlike what I experienced in Firefall, I wasn't bombarded with techno-slang and new lingo while trying to get a feel for things that were only being explained in an in-setting tone.  The Lotus explains things well. Rebecca Ford, the voice of the Lotus and Digital Extremes Community Manager, expresses things crisply and concisely. Whomever wrote the script for the Lotus did a good job of expressing things without overwhelming the player or straying too much from the In-Character/Out-Of-Character line.


They did a great job. I can start introducing more of my friends to the game now without worrying that the introduction will be off-putting. And Digital Extremes needed to give us that bit of credibility.