Iteration in Action

🎮 Iteration in Action: Adding Onboarding to My Vertical Slice

When I first built my vertical slice Diner to Horror, the core mechanics worked — movement, hazards, scoring — but something was missing.

One simple but powerful feedback I got was:

“Next version will definitely be clearer and better 💪✨”

That’s when I realized: players didn’t know how to play. The fix? Onboarding/Tutorial flow.

Now, every project after that (Whispurr + Kitchen Chaos) includes step-by-step guidance for new players. It turned out to be one of the most valuable improvements I’ve made.

💡 Lesson Learned

Sometimes the smallest feedback pushes you toward the biggest UX improvement. Onboarding isn’t just for apps — even small game prototypes benefit from it.

import pgzrun

WIDTH, HEIGHT = 800, 600
player = Actor("character", (WIDTH//2, HEIGHT//2))

show_tutorial = True

def draw():
screen.clear()
player.draw()
if show_tutorial:
screen.draw.text(
"Use arrow keys to move!",
center=(WIDTH//2, HEIGHT//2 - 100),
fontsize=40, color="yellow"
)

def update():
if keyboard.right: player.x += 5
if keyboard.left: player.x -= 5
if keyboard.up: player.y -= 5
if keyboard.down: player.y += 5

def on_key_down(key):
global show_tutorial
# Hide tutorial once player moves
if key in (keys.RIGHT, keys.LEFT, keys.UP, keys.DOWN):
show_tutorial = False

pgzrun.go()

💬 Have you ever added onboarding or tutorials to your prototypes? How did you approach it? I’d love to hear your experiences!