Re:Ask HN: What are your best tips for quickly getting bette...
by youniverse on Wednesday January 18, 2023 @02:44PM
(#34431955)
Solid advice in the thread so far.
Improvement mostly comes down to practice and getting things like movement and mechanics into muscle memory. Then the question becomes how to practice efficiently. You usually can break down a list of skills needed in a game and train them separately however you see fit.
- Of course you should start out by learning the basics of the game just by playing for a few hours. A few youtube videos on beginner tips and best practice and general wisdom can help.
- Use youtube or twitch.tv to watch other people playing. Depends on the game but typically I wouldn't recommend watching a professional since they are just in another realm. Watch a more regular player or just someone closer to your skill level, take notes about how they play and patterns/tricks/strategy/whatever that you notice.
Once you find something they do that you think will most likely improve your gameplay work on it. Sometimes these are one-off easy things to add to your skillset and sometimes they are more situational and harder. Things like good high level decision making comes with a bit of time/experience.
Other than that it's generally two things like game sense and improving mechanics to a high level and _consistency_.
First determine what the main mechanics are that separate high level players from the rest.
For an example with FPS games, you should probably know how to aim. Hit the range/practice mode and just shoot the main weapons people use until you like your consistency. Try 10-30 minutes every session at least, more if you don't get bored of it or are serious. Look up youtube videos on shooting tips from high level players. Making the practice as realistic as possible is what matters so if there is a casual mode where you get many encounters with players to practice outside a competitive environment is great too. Move around and work on advanced movement. Learning not to hesitate and having your shooting/aim come down to muscle memory as much as possible is a high level thing you want to start developing. I think some people also play unrelated reaction time games to improve that aspect.
This idea should be the same for most games. Find what will give you the biggest impact and practice it. A game called Rocket League (soccer with cars) is an interesting example of this. This game wildly enough takes hundreds of hours to just get consistent car control and hitting the ball accurately. For something like this you would be better off spending your first 100 hours (at least) just in the training mode and not even playing in competitive games. If the game has a learning curve that extreme you should really know in advance before wasting your time even playing low level competitive matches when they can be skipped with practice.
Finally, like others have said you can review your own gameplay (maybe with a high level player to help) and note your mistakes or bad habits. And small tip always warmup mechanics like shooting for at least 5 minutes before playing, definitely improves performance for most people.
Improvement mostly comes down to practice and getting things like movement and mechanics into muscle memory. Then the question becomes how to practice efficiently. You usually can break down a list of skills needed in a game and train them separately however you see fit.
- Of course you should start out by learning the basics of the game just by playing for a few hours. A few youtube videos on beginner tips and best practice and general wisdom can help.
- Use youtube or twitch.tv to watch other people playing. Depends on the game but typically I wouldn't recommend watching a professional since they are just in another realm. Watch a more regular player or just someone closer to your skill level, take notes about how they play and patterns/tricks/strategy/whatever that you notice.
Once you find something they do that you think will most likely improve your gameplay work on it. Sometimes these are one-off easy things to add to your skillset and sometimes they are more situational and harder. Things like good high level decision making comes with a bit of time/experience.
Other than that it's generally two things like game sense and improving mechanics to a high level and _consistency_.
First determine what the main mechanics are that separate high level players from the rest.
For an example with FPS games, you should probably know how to aim. Hit the range/practice mode and just shoot the main weapons people use until you like your consistency. Try 10-30 minutes every session at least, more if you don't get bored of it or are serious. Look up youtube videos on shooting tips from high level players. Making the practice as realistic as possible is what matters so if there is a casual mode where you get many encounters with players to practice outside a competitive environment is great too. Move around and work on advanced movement. Learning not to hesitate and having your shooting/aim come down to muscle memory as much as possible is a high level thing you want to start developing. I think some people also play unrelated reaction time games to improve that aspect.
This idea should be the same for most games. Find what will give you the biggest impact and practice it. A game called Rocket League (soccer with cars) is an interesting example of this. This game wildly enough takes hundreds of hours to just get consistent car control and hitting the ball accurately. For something like this you would be better off spending your first 100 hours (at least) just in the training mode and not even playing in competitive games. If the game has a learning curve that extreme you should really know in advance before wasting your time even playing low level competitive matches when they can be skipped with practice.
Finally, like others have said you can review your own gameplay (maybe with a high level player to help) and note your mistakes or bad habits. And small tip always warmup mechanics like shooting for at least 5 minutes before playing, definitely improves performance for most people.
Good luck.