Book Review: Learn To Play by Matthew White
Tutorials suck. Everyone’s had an eye-rolling experience with an overly basic tutorial level. This is how to move. Good! This is how to jump. Now crouch. Amazing! Why don’t these work effectively? Well, they are patronising to most experienced players but they are necessary to prevent new players from becoming stuck. Experienced players are totally out of flow, however, and exceedingly bored. This leads to the inevitable, “When is the fun beginning?” and hatred of the tutorial level. Why does this happen, and how can we as game designers do better?
Jeremiah Franczyk Is Making Games 