Learn to Fly

I’m not rabid about Angry Birds. I don’t 3 star many (any) levels, nor do I own all incarnations of the addictive bird flinging experience. I do, however, enjoy it and love the implementation of various design techniques throughout the game. One in particular is a real standout - the tutorial.

First wonderful tutorial element - no text. Not all games can get away with this, but they sure as sugar should try. First rule of tutorials is show the player how  (preferably within the game), don’t tell them how. There are a lot of other rules … I don’t really know them. Just that one. 

Angry Birds shows you how to fling birds in two ways. First, the graphic that pops up and shows a finger doing what your finger should be doing. But second, and more importantly, the birds are in a slingshot. The game assumes the player knows two things: they are playing a touch based game and that you pull on slingshots to fire them.

If you know those two things, you know HOW to play Angry Birds. 

As new birds are introduced, you see more graphics, but again, more importantly, you are given levels that emphasize the unique quality of each new bird. Got the Bomb bird? They setup a juicy stone layout that needs blown to the Angry Sky. 

This is also a great example of how story helps inform the player of their objectives. You see those green bastard pigs steal all your precious eggs. So when the question is posed “At what should I be flinging my birds?” and you see their smug, sometimes mustachioed, faces sitting inside their stupid houses - you know exactly where you’re flinging. 

You could argue that the simplicity of the game is the reason it requires less instruction than games of a more complex nature - but to that I would say there’s a lesson there too.

Maybe every game, in its first moments of gameplay, should be as simple as Angry Birds.