HGG Community Forums

It's surprisingly hard to "forget" what you know!

Idea for Tutorial System - "HaJ Academy"

This game is very detailed with a lot of information to try to take in (and I know as a newbie I didn't like realizing how much I screwed up at the start) so I think the tutorial/achievements system could be a little bit more hand-holdy, just at the start. I'm not a big fan of "forced" tutorials where you have to do what you're told in order to advance, but maybe there could be a HaJ Academy with trainings new players can sign up for, apart from the achievements, which are a little passive and don't teach much about why you're doing what you're told to do. That way the player can choose to do the training and will be more likely to follow through and appreciate and understand the information because it's something they elected to do. It could also come with goodies that help the player follow the tutorial.

For example, a "How to Show Your Horses" training could start by giving the player an Exceptional Show Horses HH when they sign up for the training. It could prompt the player then to navigate to the create a horse page where that HH is activated, and it could explain more about herd helpers and what it means that this one creates all Exceptional Show Horses. It could go on to show the player how to enter the horses into shows, and when the show finishes and the horse places, there could be an alert congratulating the player and then go directly to the horse's show results and explain what they mean. That way all of the information is given in context when the player is actually doing these things, so it's like show, don't tell. Information makes more sense to people when they're given it when they need it, answering the player's questions as they have them. This would give the player bite-sized information, in context, right when the player needs it. Otherwise a player might go to read the help files and either not be able to find what they're looking for, or they'll find things that they don't understand because they aren't asking those questions yet. They might understand that it must be useful information and trust that it'll make sense later, but they have to try to remember it all until later when it will make sense in the context of their gameplay.

A "HaJ Academy" could also have its own dashboard and alert center, similar to the Gift Exchange. Its own page where you can see the trainings to sign up for, the trainings you are signed up for, and an alerts area. When there's something new to do or a new lesson to follow in the training (like when your first show horse finishes its first show) there could be a red dot notification and symbol at the top of the page (like the GE, chatroom, and inbox logos). Then the player could go to the HaJ Academy center, read about what their achievement means, and follow the next step.

As an aside, I also think the user guide should be rewritten in to full articles, written in natural language. As it is, it's a little vague and not detailed enough to make sense unless the player already understands. It's also full of outdated information and terminology. (That's true throughout the site.)

Edit to add:

I think players want to be able to see things and understand them before they do them. As it is now, the game is set up so that you often have to just make mistakes and learn the hard way, and that's not as enjoyable. I'd love to be able to see much more "here's what this would look/be like if you did this" before I actually make that move, or buy that upgrade, things like that.

A HaJ Academy could have three basic trainings to start: How to Show Your Horses (could give ex show hh and lead through steps with explanations of what show stats mean), How to Breed Your Horses (could give perf foundie hh and lead through steps with explanations of what breeding stats mean), and How to Build Your Stable (buying, selling, finding your niche/building your brand, interacting with other players). These would be prerequisites that would unlock other trainings: How to Create Your Dream Horse (GMT lab and RGS tutorial), How to Use the Horse Search, etc. These later trainings would be grayed-out, but visible, so players aren't overwhelmed but can still see what to look forward to next. Additional trainings could unlock when an upgrade is purchased: How to Use Advanced Breeding Lab, etc.

Random Thoughts and Ideas

When I first created my very first account, didn't realize that my username was going to be my identity as a player, not just for login, and that most players were going to have "stable" or "farm" as part of their name like an actual stable name. Maybe if the way the username is going to be displayed within the game were more clear before signup, that wouldn't have been a problem. Or maybe that was just me. (Also, the welcome email still only lists H&J 1 and 2 servers, not Mesa.)

I would love to be able to choose whether or not points go onto a new create. That way if I'm making a rank special or exceptional producer (especially because they might have a terrible PT) or another horse that I want mainly as a breeder, I can choose to create it without points or if I get an exceptional show horses herd helper I can have them come out with points. It could be a checkbox on the create a horse form. Especially with the new pointed creates cap, it would be great to be able to be more strategic with which horses get points and which don't.

Maybe there could be a "beginner mode" to the interface that would show certain explanations and then those could disappear after a month or so or when disabled on the homepage. Like "optimization mode"? It could be a beginner/advanced toggle. So there could be an explanation at the top of the search page about the Foundation Rescue. More detailed explanation about herd helpers on the herd helper page. And so forth.

I remember way back when, searching online, specifically looking for a horse game to play, I think I came across this site. I remember that the head carriage of the horse was really low, and there was only a plain blue background. There's no comparison to the graphics today, they are pure eye candy! But back then, it was the attractiveness of the interface of the other horse game that drew me in kept me playing there as long as I did, even though it had no substance compared to HaJ. Simple things like a graphic of a stable or pasture on the page of the stable or pasture made a huge difference for me. I think the site overall could still benefit from a more attractive design. Design the GUI in a way that makes the game seem like more than the code actually is underneath. That's good storytelling in game design. Think how many different pinball games there are and how different they feel to play just because of the graphics and storytelling, even though they are all basically exactly the same.

Thanks. I sent you a 60-acre pasture and 75k hbs.