Mana Games

[KiraNerys]

Hi Manutoo,

You may be aware that on Xbox this weekend gone it was possible to play TopSpin 2k25 for free. Having already purchased your game a few weeks ago and played a few hours I thought it would be interesting just to try it and see what the differences were in playing.
I have to say that I actually find your controls easier. Getting the timing right in TopSpin based on the timing meter seemed near impossible. I suspect it's easier to learn to watch the ball and turn off the meter.

Anyway, the point of this was I went through some of the tutorial and I actually thought there were some interesting information provided that, should you wish to consider improving your tutorial, might be worth looking at.

There were simple visuals, like the boxes you have for targeting etc and spoken descriptions (though this could easily be text) about positioning on the court. Things that as a non tennis player (or one who played as a child) didn't know/remember.
Things like the dead zone/no mans land inside the baseline, and reading the ball. I know you do some of that but it was a bit like an 'ah ha' moment.
I suppose the position meter covers it but without explaining why you are where you are on the court.

Just a few thoughts for your consideration.

[Guest]

I have the same sense too. I specifically downloaded Topspin 2k25 tutorial video, which is helpful for me to play Tennis Elbow 4 better. I don't play tennis in real life, and the guidance from John McEnroe in Topspin tutorial helped me to understand tennis well. Also the playstyle tutorial is useful since it told me how to play serve and volley or make a passing shot as a baseliner.
If tutorials and training in TE4 can be more abundant, that will be very helpful for new players with no experience in tennis.

[KINGBARBOZA]

I have the same sense too. I specifically downloaded Topspin 2k25 tutorial video, which is helpful for me to play Tennis Elbow 4 better. I don't play tennis in real life, and the guidance from John McEnroe in Topspin tutorial helped me to understand tennis well. Also the playstyle tutorial is useful since it told me how to play serve and volley or make a passing shot as a baseliner.
If tutorials and training in TE4 can be more abundant, that will be very helpful for new players with no experience in tennis.

You watched the topspin tutorial to help you play TE4 instead of the TE4 tutorials?

[KiraNerys]

You watched the topspin tutorial to help you play TE4 instead of the TE4 tutorials?

In TopSpin there are explanatory videos of playing tennis as examples before you actually do the 'tutorial' bit with the controls. I think this is what he means. It explains very well how to approach shots and position yourself on the court and since TE4 is designed to be like playing real tennis, this is actually very useful information for non tennis players.

[Guest]

You watched the topspin tutorial to help you play TE4 instead of the TE4 tutorials?

Well, I watched both. When I watched Topspin Academy, I just ignored all the buttons and focused on positioning. Also, understand when to use different types of strokes in various scenarios, and what different playstyles stand for. Then I went back to TE4 to run some basic training again. Now I can better master different strokes and timing.

[manutoo]

KiraNerys & guest,
1) >> I actually find your controls easier
I also tried TS5 during the free weekend and despite having played TS4 a couple of years ago, I was also surprised that the controls felt so complicated, probably coz I spent the last 5 months reading Topspin fans complaining about TE being too complicated to handle...
Actually, it's just a matter of meeting a new control scheme, different from what they are used to.

2) Overall, I'm not very sure of what you'd like to see added to the TE4 tutorial, except for :
a) explaining to not stand in the no man's land (ie: between the baseline & the service line)
b) repositioning near the center after each shot
These are indeed 2 very common mistakes I saw on Let's Play on Youtube.
Are there other important points to cover ?

[KiraNerys]

Sorry for the delay manutoo, I’m on holiday atm.
Yes, to a & b

It was also about shot timing. There were some good explanations about timing hitting the ball.

I will have another look at the videos and feedback with anything else.

You add a lot of useful information in the forum to player questions. I just saw some very useful feedback in a recent question about serve and volley that was also useful for serving in general.
Perhaps some of that information could be added to the tutorial to take some of the weight off your shoulders answering questions.

[manutoo]

KiraNerys,
1) there's no shot timing in TE4 (and there's not in real tennis either, at least not in the sense that most other tennis games implement it).
However, the aiming is timed in TE4 but not in TS5...

2) I did the most basic serving tutorial because I planned to add an alternate serving method. I still didn't get to it, though.
But I guess it'd make sense to add a Serve & Volley tutorial as an advanced topic.