How to learn the game as a new player?

CIB · 2018-05-29 12:46:28

I just bought this game today, and played for around one hour.. My experiences varied between spawning as a baby, not being fed and dying, and spawning as an Eve, having no idea what to do, spawning a lot of babies, and dying with them.

I feel that the game severely lacks an in-game help, as without looking it up on the internet, I couldn't even figure out how to eat something (clicking myself isn't *that* obvious..). But beyond that, there aren't really any instructions as to what to do. If you spawn as a baby, you can't ask for help because you can only write one letter, and even if you're not abandoned you will likely die. If you spawn as an Eve, you basically have to create a town all by yourself, and without instructions, this is pretty much impossible.

So, basically, does this come down to having to read a guide on the internet and get an in-depth understanding of the game's mechanics and metagame, before even being able to play it at all? I mean, I'm not opposed to steep learning curves, I play roguelikes and Dwarf Fortress, but this is a bit much.

Any pointers as to how to get started, maybe without having to read a book's worth of instructions before being able to play the game at all?

Aurora Aurora · 2018-05-29 12:48:07

The point is being taught by other players and not being told anything in the start. But I get your frustration and I’d love to help if you wanna add me on discord

Anshin · 2018-05-29 13:07:01

Study crafting here:
https://kazetsukai.github.io/onetech/

Learn how to make a fire, a bowl, a forge, a shovel, a hoe, and composting ... try not to become overwhelmed.

Stylingirl · 2018-05-29 14:44:16

The wiki has a Starting Guide for new players:
https://onehouronelife.gamepedia.com/Starting_Guide

I understand not wanting to read a bunch of stuff but you have to start off somewhere. You'll eventually have to memorize the recipes and recognize priorities so it'd be better to start off with the basics, get into a game and recognize what you don't know how to do, then look it up or ask players how to do them.

You could also try the the easy mode servers where you'll have more time to learn with less priority on food.
http://intangir.org/index.php?topic=3162

Last edited by Stylingirl (2018-05-29 14:46:58)

Potjeh · 2018-05-29 14:46:26

Find a place with lots of berries to feed you so you can experiment with recipes without worrying about food. Don't raise any kids. Just get various items and tab through the crafting hints and try stuff that looks interesting.

sc0rp · 2018-05-29 15:10:35

If you spawn in bigger town wait near carrot farm until you grow a bit and then go and ask somebody to become his apprentice. Usually people agree and they'll show you what to do. Additional benefit of bigger town is that you can focus on one part of game at a time (like for example how to make pies or hunt for rabbits) and ignore the rest (food and tools are already available).

Also good idea is to have crafing guide open in a browser and Alt-TAB during the game to quickly search how to make something that you need:
https://onehouronelife.gamepedia.com/Crafting

YAHG · 2018-05-29 15:40:33

sc0rp wrote:

If you spawn in bigger town wait near carrot farm until you grow a bit and then go and ask somebody to become his apprentice. Usually people agree and they'll show you what to do. Additional benefit of bigger town is that you can focus on one part of game at a time (like for example how to make pies or hunt for rabbits) and ignore the rest (food and tools are already available).
Also good idea is to have crafing guide open in a browser and Alt-TAB during the game to quickly search how to make something that you need:
https://onehouronelife.gamepedia.com/Crafting

https://kazetsukai.github.io/onetech/#

This one is far better

Alleria · 2018-05-29 18:21:31

I recommend having the wiki open and alt tab (ideally in a warm location, bottom left, you want to be as close to as the black line as possible, since you use 4x less food), and when you need to make something, type it in. Playing on empty server is also good for learning the Eve basics.

sc0rp · 2018-05-29 20:29:10

YAHG wrote:

sc0rp wrote:
Also good idea is to have crafing guide open in a browser and Alt-TAB during the game to quickly search how to make something that you need:
https://onehouronelife.gamepedia.com/Crafting
https://kazetsukai.github.io/onetech/#
This one is far better

I disagree with that. It has potential to be better. Presentation is better and I especially love What's New section.

But during the game? Nah. Typical session looks like this: I need to know how to make a chisel. Stay somewhere warm, Alt-TAB. Where is search on page? Uhm, nowhere. Ok, maybe I can Ctrl-F on main page, type "chisel. Dang, I find only how to make dozen kinds of graves. And nothing else... Oh, it's progresive page load crap - I need to scroll to the bottom hundred of times just to load all items. Sorry, no time to do that. Maybe click "Tools", Ctrl+F "chisel" there... and... nothing like that even there. WTF? Where should I search for it? In Food? Google "site:kazetsukai.github.io chisel"... Nothing found except main page? Damn, this progressive page load breaks even google bots. Oh crap, I've starved...

That being said, I'd like to see it improved and I can even help with that. Just point me to the source code and short info how to setup local dev environment. (Unless it's PHP - then don't bother - I don't want to touch PHP with a ten foot pole.)

Lily · 2018-05-29 20:30:26

You don't need to learn everything out of game, but it really does help to watch a youtube video, or go over the crafting website and learn a few of the basic stuff.

Turnipseed · 2018-05-29 20:52:12

At least watch honeybunny's first video. He explains how to eat... ive seen a surprising number of people juggling berrys or humping bushes while holding a berry only to starve to death.

I tell them to click on themselves while holding berry but a good 80% dont speak English or dont wanna listen.

Some of them even feed it to me on mistake and starve that feels the worst.

Mabeywe should just start by telling kids how to eat...

Teleri · 2018-05-29 20:53:26

I would advise watching Twitch streams and asking for advice there.
There is a small group of us almost always in the Twitch streamers chats. Come join if you need anything.

Morti · 2018-05-30 00:29:39

Turnipseed wrote:

At least watch honeybunny's first video.

I'd like to vouch for Justice and Honor on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/jaloveast1k/videos

Whether he starts out as an Eve or a child, he's always been a pretty productive player.

After comparing him to HoneyBunnyGames, ParagonHex, Draegast, Blitz, and so many others, I decided I could not only do as good as he was doing two months ago, but better, and decided to buy the game.

And even though I've played almost 500 hours now, I still don't feel as productive in my best lives as Justice and Honor is in most of his videos.

Alleria · 2018-05-30 01:03:04

Hop into the official Discord too - all the good players except for Morti are there. We're always happy to help either in text or voice.

Trick · 2018-05-30 01:13:55

This isn't how games should work.

No one should have to read a manual to figure out how to effectively play a game.

Jason, I hope you're thinking about this.

YAHG · 2018-05-30 01:20:22

Trick wrote:

This isn't how games should work.
No one should have to read a manual to figure out how to effectively play a game.
Jason, I hope you're thinking about this.

It is true

ryanb · 2018-05-30 04:23:59

sc0rp wrote:

But during the game? Nah. Typical session looks like this: I need to know how to make a chisel. Stay somewhere warm, Alt-TAB. Where is search on page? Uhm, nowhere. Ok, maybe I can Ctrl-F on main page, type "chisel. Dang, I find only how to make dozen kinds of graves. And nothing else... Oh, it's progresive page load crap - I need to scroll to the bottom hundred of times just to load all items. Sorry, no time to do that. Maybe click "Tools", Ctrl+F "chisel" there... and... nothing like that even there. WTF? Where should I search for it? In Food?

There is a search bar at the top of each page. Typing "chisel" brings it up as the first result. However, please feel free to post issues or suggestions you have for the site here: https://github.com/Kazetsukai/onetech/issues

sc0rp wrote:

Google "site:kazetsukai.github.io chisel"... Nothing found except main page? Damn, this progressive page load breaks even google bots. Oh crap, I've starved...

I recently rewrote how the routing works and added a sitemap which should improve Google's crawling. Not certain why it hasn't yet.

sc0rp wrote:

That being said, I'd like to see it improved and I can even help with that. Just point me to the source code and short info how to setup local dev environment. (Unless it's PHP - then don't bother - I don't want to touch PHP with a ten foot pole.)

The site is in Vue and is built into static files so it can be hosted through GitHub pages. Feel free to submit a pull request if you want to contribute. You may want to open an issue first so we can discuss how best to solve it.

Last edited by ryanb (2018-05-30 04:33:38)

Chimrod · 2018-05-30 08:04:35

I've discovered the game two days ago, and have been impressed by the concept and the idea. I've read some posts in the forum (even this tread) and wanted to experience the game by myself.

After some game sessions, I'll not say that the game is difficult for a beginner : this as already been sayed again and again. But the people I've meet in the game, as soon as I could tell them that I'm new in the game explained me the basics, and I figure by myself how to survive.

I want to thank you all the player who have taken time for me, and I'm sorry for all the time I died whithout beiing usefull (I died from starvation the first time I born in a city because I was afraid to eat the plantation and fuck up the ressoures…)

I began to learned when I born in a stable city : there was enought food for everybody, and I've found an activity by giving some water to the Gooseberry bush. It was also the first time I've seen my baby becoming a child (« Hope », your name was intended !)

I'm not frustated at all by the game, I want to thank everyone here : thanks Jason for the game, and thanks to all the player for building something new !

CIB · 2018-05-31 15:01:16

Alleria wrote:

I recommend having the wiki open and alt tab (ideally in a warm location, bottom left, you want to be as close to as the black line as possible, since you use 4x less food), and when you need to make something, type it in. Playing on empty server is also good for learning the Eve basics.

Unfortunately I can't alt-tab out because the game literally breaks on linux when you do that. Gotta switch to my secondary laptop. Maybe I should start playing the game with a "copilot" who looks up instructions and tells me what to do while I'm busy not starving to death.

Feldspar · 2018-05-31 15:19:11

I recommend playing a round as eve in an empty server (so you don't have to worry about children). That way you can take your time learning the basics or survival (how to gather food, make a sharp stone, make string etc). After that just go back to server one and offer to help various players (or just watch what they're doing).

Go! Bwah! · 2018-05-31 16:07:28

CIB wrote:

Unfortunately I can't alt-tab out because the game literally breaks on linux when you do that.

I can alt-tab just fine on Lubuntu (whatever the newest version is).

Intangir · 2018-05-31 17:14:47

you can play on my private server https://onehouronelife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?id=1775

you have alot more time and freedom to expore differen't building stuff, but it might not be as fun as the trial by fire fast based risky social learning of a live server

Eclipciz · 2018-05-31 18:08:40

CIB wrote:

I just bought this game today, and played for around one hour.. My experiences varied between spawning as a baby, not being fed and dying, and spawning as an Eve, having no idea what to do, spawning a lot of babies, and dying with them.
I feel that the game severely lacks an in-game help, as without looking it up on the internet, I couldn't even figure out how to eat something (clicking myself isn't *that* obvious..). But beyond that, there aren't really any instructions as to what to do. If you spawn as a baby, you can't ask for help because you can only write one letter, and even if you're not abandoned you will likely die. If you spawn as an Eve, you basically have to create a town all by yourself, and without instructions, this is pretty much impossible.
So, basically, does this come down to having to read a guide on the internet and get an in-depth understanding of the game's mechanics and metagame, before even being able to play it at all? I mean, I'm not opposed to steep learning curves, I play roguelikes and Dwarf Fortress, but this is a bit much.
Any pointers as to how to get started, maybe without having to read a book's worth of instructions before being able to play the game at all?

This.

In order for me to learn new things in this game, I have look at a manual essentially. Any game that requires for me to read a manual to learn is an automatic -1. It makes up in other ways, but for all I got, going on OneTech is the easiest way to grasp what to build/how.

Amber · 2018-05-31 20:24:28

you learn by picking stuff up from the floor to see what it can be used for. All the recipes are in the game and as you progress as a player, you will learn more and more. It is tough in the beginning yes but this is a great game for those that want to learn. Even I am still learning after all this time. I have yet to smith, compost or tend sheep but I will get there eventually as I manage my time better.

sc0rp · 2018-05-31 20:55:10

Amber wrote:

you learn by picking stuff up from the floor to see what it can be used for.

That only works for easy entry stuff. For anything later you need full set of clothes, backpack full of pies, smith and carpenter around - i.e. full functioning town. And you spend more time Alt-TABbing to wiki than playing a game. E.g. composting is like 50-step process. You wont get even halfway thru in your lifetime without support of a lot of people around. (50-steps may be even underestimation, when you start of with a question like: ok, I'm running out of soil in my 5th gen settlement, how do I solve this problem.)

One Hour One Life Forums

#1 2018-05-29 12:46:28

How to learn the game as a new player?

#2 2018-05-29 12:48:07

Re: How to learn the game as a new player?

#3 2018-05-29 13:07:01

Re: How to learn the game as a new player?

#4 2018-05-29 14:44:16

Re: How to learn the game as a new player?

#5 2018-05-29 14:46:26

Re: How to learn the game as a new player?

#6 2018-05-29 15:10:35

Re: How to learn the game as a new player?

#7 2018-05-29 15:40:33

Re: How to learn the game as a new player?

#8 2018-05-29 18:21:31

Re: How to learn the game as a new player?

#9 2018-05-29 20:29:10

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#10 2018-05-29 20:30:26

Re: How to learn the game as a new player?

#11 2018-05-29 20:52:12

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#12 2018-05-29 20:53:26

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#13 2018-05-30 00:29:39

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#14 2018-05-30 01:03:04

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#15 2018-05-30 01:13:55

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#16 2018-05-30 01:20:22

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#17 2018-05-30 04:23:59

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#18 2018-05-30 08:04:35

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#19 2018-05-31 15:01:16

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#20 2018-05-31 15:19:11

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#21 2018-05-31 16:07:28

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#22 2018-05-31 17:14:47

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#23 2018-05-31 18:08:40

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#24 2018-05-31 20:24:28

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#25 2018-05-31 20:55:10

Re: How to learn the game as a new player?

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