Tutorial levels in mods

I'm not sure if this is the best place for this topic, but I think it works. If not, let me know and move it to where you think it fits!

This has been done five billion times! Why do I need to learn how to roll in a slightly different fashion than I did before?

I think I may know how to fix this: Don't make Tutorial levels! Instead, make levels that are easier to start out and gety harder as you go along. Also, don't make athe difficulty curve a 90 degree angle!

What do you guys think?

I think why people advise mod makers not to make tutorial levels is because that's always what level builders start with, and they get a few levels done and get bored of the mod, and then we get a new addition to the dead mods list because people can't get enough of them.
Some people (like myself) enjoy the tutorial levels, but don't like to play 14 levels explaining how to roll and jump. Honestly, what PQ has done (and this also shows up in my mini mod) I think is quite clever. If you haven't found out yet, PQ has separated the different parts of Marble Blast into only a few levels, and one part goes in one level. Training Wheel holds the basic movements and PowerUps, Haphazard teaches the player about the various hazards in the game, Feeling Frictional explains the frictions, and there's still more to go!

So how do I sum all this up? Feel free to make tutorial levels if you want but don't start with them or even make them a first priority.

Building onto what Rozi said, PlatinumQuest stuffs nearly everything that isn't a new PlatinumQuest feature in the new Tutorial section; minus the new singleplayer Game Modes, each of which get their own Tutorial level. Every single new PQ-exclusive gameplay element (cannons, bubble, fade platforms, etc) is introduced in the Beginner category instead. In essence, Tutorial difficulty is for total beginners.

I'd advise a mod creator to either only include tutorials on new features exclusive to that mod, or pull a Training Wheels and fit everything from MBG into the first level so to ensure that 70% of Beginner isn't boring tutorials about stuff we've played before.

As for the order that you should make levels... yeah, for instance, PQ started in very late 2008, and half of the Tutorial levels in the game weren't made or finished until at least late 2015.

In my opinion, make tutorial levels only for new things of the mod.
Players don't really like being considered as newbs when they start playing a kind of game they already played before.

Yeah, if your mod contains a new powerup or hazard or something. Also, why not just put it in a level and let tle player him/herself explore what it can do, instead of saying "This <powerup name here> does <list of everything it does>"?

To add on what Rozi and Threefolder said, during PlatinumQuest (and its demo release and feedback) and throughout the years we learned a few things, including:
- People disliked having 30 beginner levels that teach you what every other mod does, and specifically Gold that covers the basics.
- People liked having a level that had several levels in one: Training Wheels in PQ has movement, jumping, ss, sj, sb, sa, grav mod, mp, gyro. Haphazard bumpers, fans, trapdoors, mines/nukes, tornado, tightrope.

However we noted that PlatinumQuest was also a first marble game for quite a few people (outside of this community we had lots of new players) and we noticed that the training levels had to be designed for them. Whether you like it or not, Fubar, Platinum, PlatinumQuest, Emerald, Advance, Stop, Gerson's mods etc could very well be a player's FIRST GAME in Marble Blast. This made the very first level a super crucial one. The player couldn't have only new things or exploration. This made the very first 4 levels in PlatinumQuest be targeted towards these players.

However, we also realised that we can't aim for true beginners. So the difficulty ramps up fairly quickly right after and then starts at our "beginner" and moves up the scale, making PQ a recommended play after Gold and Ultra.

So yeah, you can do what you want for your mod, but for PQ we chose said route because it's easier and makes more sense, and we got people interested in the feel of the game. Overall feedback was extremely positive.

Fun fact: PQ's TW is the only level in any game/mod that teaches you the movement keys without the need to move the camera and you can make it all the way to the checkpoint pressing only said buttons.

Slightly tacking on to what Matan said, there's a very big difference between novices and beginners.

People who are novices already know the game, and having 20-something tutorial levels going through every aspect of the game will simply bore them. They want easy levels that meet their skill level and provide a little challenge, but not too much. PQ's tutorial levels are aimed towards these types of players.
People who are actually beginners need a long time to get to know the mechanics, and are not very attached to the game. These players need the slow progression of learning skills, with constant "Congratulations you finished!" to keep them motivated. Otherwise they simply won't want to pick up the game. MBG's beginner levels are aimed towards these players.

This is why we always recommend people play MBG first before starting MBP, and is why MBP always starts up first showing MBG levels. Beginners need seriously easy maps to get them used to controlling the marble before you can throw them into slightly harder challenges.

This is also why most mods don't need these basic tutorial levels; the people who are playing the mod already know about the game, and already have some skill.