Desperately needs a better tutorial

[Sepidaceous]

Edit: I decided to give more detailed feedback since I was asked. I deleted my current save file and restarted. I unlocked all the content, tried everything. Might be a few cards I didn't discover but I opened MANY packs. I think I have earned the insight to provide feedback.

Feedback Notes:
Would be nice to see the price when hovering over cards in the album. It'd also be nice if it automatically sorted itself. It'd just make it easier. Instead of moving your mouse to every individual card then re-sort or turn the page to access the next. It's not too big of a deal since you have hotkeys, but it'd just a better system. If it's too hard to implement it's not that big of a deal.

I believe having the controls listed on the top right would be easier to see. People are used to tutorials being on the right hand side most of the time anyway.

Would be nice to have a way to open a card pack automatically or the entire pack all at once.

Would be nice if after the total value of the pack it showed you the + or - (amount) from opening it. Though if auto-paused the game while you were opening the longer opening time wouldn't matter as much. I understand it gives good exp to open packs so many you don't want people power leveling but someone could easily do that regardless all you'd be doing is making the process grueling. What if I want to eat and play? It's just not ideal to hold down on the left click the entire time. It also doesn't help your mouse's lifespan. Though you might want to nerf the exp if you don't want people to power level. I found a card worth about $1k and another worth about $800 later and it kind of boosted my progress early on. Not complaining though, actually would rather be able to power level personally. Just scale it to taper off later.

More description on what things actually do would be nice. Like the table. What benefits do you get from buying one? Is owning tables a pre-requisite for something else? I'm not saying you have to spoon feed everyone but it's just very minimal and could use some expanding in its current state. Through playing I eventually figured out that the table generates an hourly rate x2 and attracts customers who will spend money (or would that customer have come regardless?). If it does more I'm not sure. I do know it can be a detriment because of the cloud stink NPCs who bother other customers. Still have no idea how to stop stinky customers from being stinky. Give us a spray or something to use on them.

A borderless windowed and edge scrolling option would be fantastic. Many people use multiple monitors and want to be able to click on their other monitor without having to press the windows key.

A vending machine or some type of bulk way to sell cards would be ideal. I assume it probably was meant to be added in the full version already but I thought I'd suggest it still. It be more ideal if you could select multiple cards at once too (could have a button set you in that mode or ideally you just click on multiple ones before confirming).

A speedup function would be nice. It'd also be nice if certain things auto-paused the game like opening packs, browsing album, or stocking items. I understand if you want more realism by keeping time flowing. I understand this allows people to build up at the counter to do all at once early game which some may like. But I believe you should also increase the movement/browsing speed of customers in general. Not saying they need a 2-4x option just saying they walk a bit slow currently. At the very least have them walk faster while outside.

It would be more user friendly if clicking anywhere on the object opens the menu. For instance the 10 card shelf having to interact directly with each piece makes it more of a "grind" then a quick restock. You have to remember then you have to select the price on each one so it's just 20 precise clicks you have to move around for to fully stock and set price. It'd be much better if you made it where you can click anywhere on the shelf to open the menu and then you could simply click through your book (or select multiple at once) and stock. Wouldn't be too bad if you kept the price tag isolated, though I think being able to do all 10 from once through a menu would be more ideal.

It'd be nice if the trash can was inside and able to be moved. Not sure why we have to run through customers to get to it.

I know there's a picture of the item when grabbing it, but it'd be nice if you could also read the name of it as well.

Light switch shouldn't reset every day. It's annoying to have to turn it on. I could understand if you wanted it to be more like opening a real shop, but in reality wouldn't you have to turn it off for it go off without the bulb or power dying?

I think adding some type of mini-arcade or break room type of game would be nice. A dart board or something. That way during the moments you don’t have much to do you can kill a quick 5-30 seconds. I know you could open up packs but on negative luck days that’s just not smart. Something involving jumping would be great. Jumping is actually really fun in this game. This game has better movement then some FPS games.

When you hire a worker you should make them come to the counter. Some people might have designed their layout to block the windows and not realize he’s outside. Could also make him stand at the door outside. Just factor in people may have blocked their windows. Better yet have him come out of that door we can’t do anything with.

The worker leaves before all the customers are served. Either stop making customers come after the day ends or make the worker stay until you manually start the next day. It’d also help if the worker actually started on time too. Coming from that inaccessible door would solve that issue. Typically you get to work a few minutes early, but I clocked it and he didn’t start working until 1h8m before opening. You have no features that really make that make sense. Another day he was there only 20 minutes late. It's obvious that he's spawned randomly and walks at a turtles pace. Starting work from the break room would be more ideal... but again I reinforce PLEASE increase the NPC walking speed.


Tutorial Feedback: (I ended up restarting my run to give better feedback)

All of the tutorial information is in various spots across the screen. Since it's a 1st person game most people's attention will be focused as if they were the character. That's why many games use visuals or animations to pull people's attention to where it's needed. I've seen some good ones that even use voiced instructions or having an NPC character as a guide be successful. Though you could just as easily just draw attention to the top-left corner of the screen.

What if instead having set recipes they must perform the recipes are unique to the different unique characters they can play. Each character can learn different recipes and each recipe provides different profit values and effects. Some customers may react differently to certain recipes for good or for bad.

Can have a story map campaign with missions and objectives. Player can do one mission/objective per day (before or after the shift?).

Having the tutorial highlight each of these areas would immediately let people know where they should be looking to find the information they need to progress in the game. Currently when you look at the task it doesn't explain to you how to complete the task. You could mitigate this by highlighting attention to both sections thus granting the user where to find the answer to the task mission. Personally I think you should draw their focus every single task and to highlight the controls multiple times. Primarily on task #1, 2, 6

Though if I was personally wording (I tried to keep it similar to yours and made sure to use the same keywords you used for your control guide; i,e, interact = interact w/) the first task I'd say "Begin by opening your phone and stock up on card packs. Launch the Stock Order app, select the items to add to your cart, and checkout.

For the second task I would change the wording to: "Collect your delivery outside. Take the box to the shelf, open the box and stock the shelves."

For the third task I would change the wording to: "Click on the price tag and increase the price to higher than the market price to be generate profit. Remember that you'll need to provide change to the customers. Customers will comment while browsing." Set the item price higher than the market price to be profitable.

For the fourth task I would change the wording to: "Interact with the sign in the window to "Open" your store and let customers in."

For the fifth task I would change the wording to: "Man the cashier by standing behind the counter and interact with the screen."

For the sixth task I would change the wording to: "Successfully complete 5 checkouts. Take the payment from the customer. To complete the transaction either give them their exact change for cash payments or enter the total for credit charges."

For the seventh task I would change the wording to: "Open the phone and launch the MY DIY app. Purchase the Play Table and take the box from outside into your store."
<This is a good part to reiterate how nice it'd be if there was useful descriptions of what the items did. How much profit does a table generate? How does it even make money? Is it a pre-requisite for events? Is there a benefit to having an audience near the table? How long do customers interact with table? These are some of the potential questions people could have which could easily resolved by a detailed description whenever hovering over an item. I know the Manage Event is how you regulate table profit but I'm still unsure on some of the mechanics myself.>

For the eight task "Sell 10 cards to customers" the wording is fine. With my changes you already showed them where to look for answers, thus how to open their phone and apps. They should have familiarized themselves with their contents by now so they should be able to conclude what to purchase and how to complete the task.

The ninth task "Successfully complete 100 checkouts; X/100" is also fine.

The tutorial should mention that you can watch customers reactions to determine if you should raise or decrease your prices.

It'd be nice to know what the stink cloud around some customers means and if there's a way to get rid of it. The tutorial should provide answers to questions the player may have. Just consider it more carefully.

Thank you. The game has potential. Hopefully some of my advice is useful. I understand that only you know how hard any of what I suggested would be to implement or your final vision for the game. However there are useful suggestions in there, I hope you agree.

[KuroYamaneko]

For the taking back money from the counter, you can right click on the bill/coin in the register that you want to take back from the counter.

Not 100% how the tutorial could be improved, but to help the dev understand, would you mind sharing which parts you had problems with?

[Sepidaceous]

Ah, I see that now. I removed it from my post. I'll reply to you later, currently still playing and the customers keep coming.

I typically do a lot of feedback for free demos. Most of the time I just edit my response as I play. Normally no one responds as fast as you.

[Sepidaceous]

Originally posted by KuroYamaneko:

For the taking back money from the counter, you can right click on the bill/coin in the register that you want to take back from the counter.

Not 100% how the tutorial could be improved, but to help the dev understand, would you mind sharing which parts you had problems with?

Alright, since you asked I gave more detailed feedback than I normally would. I even restarted my current run to give better feedback. Ended up falling asleep playing last night but finished unlocking everything and trying everything out. The game has some potential but honestly there's a lot of simple issues that could be fixed and make the game better. Unfortunately with how making games are even if the solution is simple it doesn't mean it'd be easy to implement into the game. But if even a few of my suggestions get through I believe it will help the game improve.

[Theofratus]

For the stink clouds, buy the deodorant for the shelf, grab one and you can "equip" it, then you can use it to spray customers. Also, you can put it back on the shelf and sell it, despite being used, it sells for full price.

An odd mechanic, and agreed, it should be made more clear.

[Sepidaceous]

Originally posted by Theofratus:

For the stink clouds, buy the deodorant for the shelf, grab one and you can "equip" it, then you can use it to spray customers. Also, you can put it back on the shelf and sell it, despite being used, it sells for full price.

An odd mechanic, and agreed, it should be made more clear.

I actually figured the spray cans might be the solution to the stink, but it is a very weird mechanic agreed. My first play through it was the first thing I unlocked but then I restarted my progress to provide better tutorial feedback and never bought it on the 2nd run until the very end. Was more focused on unlocking all the dice/decks/plushies first since I hadn't unlocked those the first run.