In this series I am going to talk about my journey in Splinterlands.I am a brand new player. One that has no history with this game and extremely limited experience with block chain games in general. Today I am going to speak directly about the new player experience on-boarding and tutorial

This game is amazing, but when asked about the tutorial and on boarding experience....it's lacking...everyone knows it is including the developers.This is me speaking honestly and openly about my experience. The journey is worth the battle to get into the game. Worth the conversations to understand the game, and worth working through the knowledge to become proficient at the game.

Before I talk about the tutorial I feel like it's important to talk about the number one tool that you can use to become better at this game. And that's Discord. If you haven't joined the Splinterlands Community Discord, you are missing out on a wealth of knowledge that you simply MUST be a part of. Click on the discord link below to join the server!

How to download and play the game

There are multiple options that can get you started into Splinterlands. The first is through the website. Click the image below if you haven't signed up yet.

The second and my most favorite way was through the apple app store. Just search for Splinterlands and click on the download button. Click the image below for a direct link.

I"m sure there is an android link and google play link as well but since I"m not an android user if someone wants to message me the link I will update this blog.

The Tutorial:

I am not going to lie. The tutorial for me didn't give me enough knowledge to effectively play the game. People in discord and the community have been the biggest help.

But remember not everyone is outgoing or feels comfortable to start asking a ton of questions...this to me is why more hand holding is required to play the game.

To get to the tutorial you simply right click on the arrows next to the large button in the middle of the screen until it says how to play. Then you click on the big green button that says...LEARN

As you start to work through the screens in the tutorial and have to read a ton of text. In my opinion we need more video type walkthroughs. There should be animated screens that help guide you through the game. No one reads text any more...which in fact is odd because I"m creating a blog post that makes me wonder...who would read this LOL!

As I was writing this blog I was looking for a current new user guide for signing up and tutorial advice and the closest one I found was this one...from a year ago!! Some of the UI has changed and it doesn't really make sense any more...so for all you YouTube content creators out there, show everyone how to work through the signup process with the game in it's current state. We need new players to onboard easily to keep the economy vibrant and healthy.

Anyway back to the tutorial. You start by going against the evil Kazik, and you have to play against a death deck. So the nice professor guy starts to walk you through what it is you need to do to play the game.

He seems lovely enough, but we don't really know why fire is what hits hard and fast and I definitely didn't understand the whole speed element to the card. In fact in this screen grab the arrow is talking about the shield ability when the hand is pointing to the speed ability.

So here you guys start to explain the speed ability but one thing that you miss is...do you want a higher number for faster speed or a lower number. Of course after asking on the discord I know the answer now, but I still find myself wondering at times what card will attack first.

I saw how you could sort the cards by power/melee/range/magic and that all made sense. What does NOT make sense is why there isn't a search bar for any of the card names...especially in the market but then again we are talking tutorial here.

In general I don't think it's well explained what the different icons mean especially the different abilities...the cards have SO many abilities and I LOVE them (I think I counted 55)...but think of the new player here...what does that icon mean...I dunno I"ve never seen it before...ohh well lets just play it anyway. Yes I know there is a chart, you can find it HERE by the way.

Don't even get me started on placements. When talking to people they say that sometimes you place the chicken at the front, and then sometimes you put it at the back and what in the world is the chicken and why do you use it?? Sometimes you put two melee in front and follow with four ranged...ahhhhh it's tough to wrap your head around!!

I don't want ANY of the game mechanics to change though, part of what I love about this game is the changing strategies you are forced to work around every game. There is not a single NET DECK that will get you through every game and pwn everyone in your path to the highest ranks.

There is a chart and the tutorial attempts to explain it for sure...but for those of us with a Magic the Gathering/ Hearthstone background the format is definitely different. It's not bad by any means, it's just different. The screen capture below shows how the cards lay out...and I think if there was an animation as part of the tutorial that included this...it would make a ton more sense!

So back to the tutorial, it's time to fight after you get walked through which cards to put where. I think I read most of the text but I definitely didn't understand the why's when I worked through it.

But don't worry Spoiler Alert!! We win and the tutorial experience is over.

Final Notes:

So below are some of the notes that I would have to make the tutorial and onboarding experience better. Once again...I absolutely love this game but Hive account@nateaguila you asked for my experience so this was it.

• Animated card movements and notating card symbols are critical.
• Remove all the text boxes that require tons of reading, less text and more arrows, boxes, and pop-out notations hand holding new players through it.
• Explain the why's in what is going on within the game mechanics, in a simple manner.
• Allow the player to type names in for search function in card selection.
• Use the Battlefield layout to help people understand the positioning and placements of the cards. Maybe have a couple scenerios showing why you wouldn't always follow the 2 melee 2 magic 2 ranged format?
• 55 Abilities are incredible, but a lot to swallow. I don't know how to simplify this without watering down the game, but it's hard for the new player to understand what cards to use and how to use them in different circumstances.
• Have more than just a single chicken and a single ooze in your next packs as a good card for low level players.
• Maybe create a mentorship program to help onboard the "wallflower" shy new players that don't feel comfortable asking a ton of questions in discord.
• Maybe implement chat for new players like you have the guilds, to get help within game that helps push them to discord.

The Tutorial doesn't teach and needs to teach the following:

• Card Power and what it means and how to increase it.
• Loosing DEC after each game and how it replenishes.
• How tournaments work and how card power adjusts based on tournament rules.
• How to advance in ranks within the game.
• What cards are good starter cards to potentially purchase? (no idea how you do this but maybe make a starter pack that includes some of the critical cards for novice/bronze league). Maybe attach it to the marketplace so players selling these cards are the ones that get an auto purchase??
• DEC increasing based off of win streaks and ranks.
• How to join a guild and what the benefits of being in a guild are.
• We don't know how to rent cards instead of spending thousands of dollars on maxed cards
• We don't know how the hive network works or how to get signed up with any of it.
• We need some spot that gives us critical videos that explains all the critical information since the game is more than just a game and the network it's built upon.
• Current meta for different ranks (Good idea for all those content creators out there)

Again I feel like I need to say...this game is amazing! And I'm super excited about it's future. I can't wait to see the growth that comes from the next year of releases!

Join me in my journey through Splinterlands?