Are tutorials story?

Yes. There, done. What, I should expand on that? Ok — will do!

In some games, the tutorial is explicitly part of the story. Portal is really just a cycle of tutorial of a new mechanic, use the mechanic, and finally integrate it with previously learned mechanics.The Witcher 3 has its tutorial as a training montage for the main character, making it diegetic learning. The most common solution has the story starting but with little training messages that interrupt the player each time there’s something new, but even then there are story reasons for why the character is supposed to do those things. But then there are the games that are complex but can’t follow a plot.

Since I write for a MOBA-esque mobile game, I have reason to consider this. The player needs to quickly learn all of our basic mechanics, from moving around to the various kinds of abilities. But, while there is a guiding narrative, there is no linear plot in the game. Additionally, mobile players are unlikely to have patience. As a result, my aim to have a tutorial that is as to the point as possible. The narrative comes into how instructions are conveyed to the player. Having a character addressing the player (“hey, let’s go over there”) instead of something more formal (“move to the indicated area”) is an example. Of course, the environment needs to reflect the expectations the players should have for the future. The story of their own individual play starts with the tutorial, even if there’s no plot built into the game!

Everything in a game contributes to the story of a player’s experience. The trick is to make it all harmonise.