Return of the Tutorial: Escape from Skull Island - Learn to Play: Designing Tutorials for Video Games - page 122

or “That gun looks a little worn out…” Positive reinforcement fades
and becomes random; that is, it happens some of the time, but not
all of the time. On the other hand, negative reactions stay constant
to attempt to correct the player behavior by quieting the music and
providing the player auditory feedback.
As players gain levels, auditory cues indicate this to them, and other
players will instruct them, verbally, as to how to open the menu and
distribute skill points. A combination of on-screen glow effects and
dictated instructions will guide players through the process of allocat-
ing skill points. Taken together, this auditory learning, coupled with
the tips presented to the player in the form of dynamically increased
difficulty, AI programming, procedurally rendered music, and con-
stant and amazing rewards, will keep the players engaged without
cognitively overloading them.
Learning from Loss: The Game Over Screen
The last portion of Skull Island , my indie megahit, which I will describe
here, is the Game Over screen. This is a familiar fixture of games
dating back as far as any of us can likely remember, and is a great
indicator that one has failed. To that end, it is a type of formative pun-
ishment. We want players to realize that their undesirable behaviors
have led them to this conclusion, but a few things need to be constant.
First, Game Over screens should not be fun. Do not put mini
games on them, or funny quips. Do not give the player something
awesome for dying, like a mega amazing assault rifle that makes the
next time easier. Do not offer a chance to skip a level. Do not provide
tutorial hints once the players have died. Remember the behavioral
effect we discussed in Chapter 3: when players execute a behavior, the
type of feedback they receive within a few seconds dictates whether
they continue or extinguish that behavior. If it is your intention to
make sure players keep dying intentionally, make the Game Over
screen a blitz of amazing awesomeness, pepper it with hints and tips,
or give them something fun. The result is players who want to die.
Instead, make the Game Over screen an eldritch horror. If the game
is lively and colorful, make the Game Over screen black as night. If
fun jaunty music is playing, try jarring silence. Make cacophonous