How do I install the Onboarding And Teaching skill?

Run npx skillmds@latest add rondorkerin/onboarding-and-teaching in your terminal (requires Node.js), paste this page's agent-chat prompt into Claude, Cursor, or any MCP-connected agent, or download the SKILL.md file and copy it into your agent's skills directory.

Is Onboarding And Teaching safe to use?

This skill has not completed SkillMD's automated safety review yet. SkillMD never runs a skill's scripts for you; review the SKILL.md before installing.

Which AI agents work with Onboarding And Teaching?

This skill is tagged as working with Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex. SKILL.md is an open format, so most agents that read a skills directory can load it too.

Is Onboarding And Teaching free to use?

Yes. Installing skills from SkillMD is free, and the skill stays under its author's original license.

Who published Onboarding And Teaching?

rondorkerin (@rondorkerin) published this skill. Their other Agent Skills are listed on their SkillMD profile.

Onboarding And Teaching by rondorkerin

Name: Onboarding And Teaching
Author: rondorkerin

Onboarding And Teaching

Use when designing, reviewing, or generating the introduction to ANY mechanic in ANY genre — the four-beat teaching pattern (introduce→test→combine→twist), show-don't-tell level design, progressive disclosure and scaffolding, the mechanic dependency graph, FTUE (first-time user experience), early retention funnels, and the skill-atom ramp. Also use to diagnose tutorials that are too long, that players skip, or where players quit before reaching the core loop. Triggers on "onboarding", "tutorial", "tutorialization", "teach the player", "FTUE", "first-time user experience", "new player experience", "players quit early", "players don't understand the mechanic", "tutorial ramp", "skill ramp", "progressive disclosure", "show don't tell", "safe space introduction", "information overload", "tutorial tax".

rondorkerin Updated Sep 17, 2026

File contents

Onboarding & Teaching

How to introduce any mechanic — in any genre, on any platform — so that instruction is invisible, comprehension is measurable, and the player's first hours build competence instead of confusion.

Tier: universal craft (→ gamestack-core). Applies to every genre and every game. The spatial side of teaching (teaching through space) lives in level-design; the early difficulty curve lives in difficulty-and-balancing.

When to use this

Designing a mechanic's first appearance: safe-space room, skill gate, combination encounter, twist
Reviewing a tutorial for working-memory overload, anti-patterns, or implicit/explicit balance
Building a FTUE (first-time user experience) with a funnel and a measurable early win
Generating a teaching ramp for a procedurally defined mechanic set

Scope

This skill owns how mechanics are introduced and learned. Adjacent concerns live in sibling skills:

Flow theory, intrinsic motivation, and the skill atom cycle → game-design-fundamentals
Teaching through spatial layout, landmarks, and affordances → level-design
Difficulty curve and the early challenge ramp → difficulty-and-balancing
Tutorial UI, tooltip and HUD design, and feedback overlays → ui-ux-and-feedback
First-hour pacing and session arc → pacing-and-the-player-journey

How the pieces fit

GUIDE.md — the cited why, in five sub-domains: the four-beat teaching pattern (introduce→test→combine→twist); show-don't-tell and implicit tutorial methods; progressive disclosure, scaffolding, and the mechanic dependency graph; FTUE and early retention design; and the five named anti-patterns. Every rule carries an exemplar + source, a test-for criterion, the named failure mode, and the procedural/headless implication.
CHECKLIST.md — Do/Don't + machine-checkable Test-for criteria, grouped by sub-domain. Written to be enforced as validators in a generation loop.

The one idea to anchor on

The best tutorial is a level, not a pop-up. Working memory holds ~3 novel items; exceed it and the mechanic goes untaught even if displayed. Teach one thing at a time — safe and consequence-free first, gated for mastery second, combined with a prior mechanic third, twisted into an unexpected application fourth. Every text box you add is a tacit admission that the level design failed to communicate it; every pop-up a player can skip is instruction that will not be received.

Start with GUIDE.md, then apply CHECKLIST.md.

---name: onboarding-and-teachingdescription: Use when designing, reviewing, or generating the introduction to ANY mechanic in ANY genre — the four-beat teaching pattern (introduce→test→combine→twist), show-don't-tell level design, progressive disclosure and scaffolding, the mechanic dependency graph, FTUE (first-time user experience), early retention funnels, and the skill-atom ramp. Also use to diagnose tutorials that are too long, that players skip, or where players quit before reaching the core loop. Triggers on "onboarding", "tutorial", "tutorialization", "teach the player", "FTUE", "first-time user experience", "new player experience", "players quit early", "players don't understand the mechanic", "tutorial ramp", "skill ramp", "progressive disclosure", "show don't tell", "safe space introduction", "information overload", "tutorial tax".---# Onboarding & TeachingHow to introduce *any* mechanic — in any genre, on any platform — so that instruction is invisible, comprehension is measurable, and the player's first hours build competence instead of confusion.> **Tier:** universal craft (→ `gamestack-core`). Applies to every genre and every game. The spatial side of teaching (teaching through space) lives in `level-design`; the early difficulty curve lives in `difficulty-and-balancing`.## When to use this- Designing a mechanic's first appearance: safe-space room, skill gate, combination encounter, twist- Reviewing a tutorial for working-memory overload, anti-patterns, or implicit/explicit balance- Building a FTUE (first-time user experience) with a funnel and a measurable early win- Generating a teaching ramp for a procedurally defined mechanic set## ScopeThis skill owns **how mechanics are introduced and learned**. Adjacent concerns live in sibling skills:- Flow theory, intrinsic motivation, and the skill atom cycle → `game-design-fundamentals`- Teaching through spatial layout, landmarks, and affordances → `level-design`- Difficulty curve and the early challenge ramp → `difficulty-and-balancing`- Tutorial UI, tooltip and HUD design, and feedback overlays → `ui-ux-and-feedback`- First-hour pacing and session arc → `pacing-and-the-player-journey`## How the pieces fit- **`GUIDE.md`** — the cited *why*, in five sub-domains: the four-beat teaching pattern (introduce→test→combine→twist); show-don't-tell and implicit tutorial methods; progressive disclosure, scaffolding, and the mechanic dependency graph; FTUE and early retention design; and the five named anti-patterns. Every rule carries an exemplar + source, a **test-for** criterion, the named failure mode, and the **procedural/headless implication**.- **`CHECKLIST.md`** — Do/Don't + machine-checkable **Test-for** criteria, grouped by sub-domain. Written to be enforced as validators in a generation loop.## The one idea to anchor on> **The best tutorial is a level, not a pop-up.** Working memory holds ~3 novel items; exceed it and the mechanic goes untaught even if displayed. Teach one thing at a time — safe and consequence-free first, gated for mastery second, combined with a prior mechanic third, twisted into an unexpected application fourth. Every text box you add is a tacit admission that the level design failed to communicate it; every pop-up a player can skip is instruction that will not be received.Start with `GUIDE.md`, then apply `CHECKLIST.md`.

Frequently asked questions