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Comment by Sanctor | Hacker News Reader

This is what I'm imagining:

After the first balloon is in view, the game is paused. It says "Assemble the equation by pressing on the operation and the numbers." And an animation of a pixel-art thumb coming down on the buttons in a sort of gif-loop until you complete the tutorial.

How does that sound?

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Great! To be perfect, just use a less formal wording. Write in a way that a kid will understand and not find weird.

Awesome feedback! Something like "Let's create the equation!"

Better suggestion. Dont use words. It's a math game. You should be able to showcase what to do with ONLY visuals. Darken out the game on the first missile. Highlight the missile with a focus circle. Then point to one specific equation in the bottom (actually create it for the player). Show that 1 + 5 = 6. Something simple. Then have the missile explode, lighten out the tutorial intro, and let the player continue. Or add a secondary tutorial section with two missiles at once and a multiplication solution.

This also has the benefit that your game becomes internationally-friendly to play (independent of language).

Also, like others have said, dont put in ads. Not for an educational game. Not lucrative at all, and totally goes against what your audience (parents getting this game for their kids) want to see.

That is a brilliant suggestion. I was thinking of localization. Maybe I can replace more words, like play and settings buttons with play and cog icons.

And yes, I tried to select the education category from google play developer console, but it wouldn't let me because of the ads. I will most certainly release a paid ad-free version. People can try the free one and then make the purchase for their kids.

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