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The space ninja adventure known as Warframe, a title where you can feed yourself to a giant mouth and drive a motorcycle in the year 1999, has released a significant update. The Vallis Undermind showcases the distinctive charm that has become synonymous with Warframe in more recent times.

This expansion, released on Wednesday, brings in a new mushroom-themed warframe that does a little dance, along with a brand-new biome to discover. But it’s also going back to basics, with a new mission designed to making sure this complex, vast long-running online game is understandable by new players.

The Arrival of "The Teacher"

Called “The Teacher,” this is the highly anticipated mission that educates Warframe players on how to use one of the game's fundamental yet complex systems: the mod system.

In Warframe, modifications are enhancements that can be added to your character or your weapons to improve their stats. They range from the straightforward (increase damage or speed up reload rate) to the incredibly intricate. Content creators often produce extensive guides about optimized loadouts that use powerful mods in combination to create overwhelming power.

“I think a lot of people were maybe getting into the early game, seeing mods, not really understanding it,” said a lead narrative designer. “We believed it was crucial, upon completing the mission, for players to think, ‘Hey, modding is cool. I'd like to experiment further.’”

Teamwork in Action

“The Teacher” was created through a partnership between the original developers, who handled the story elements, and an external team, who crafted the gameplay, which will appear early in the game.

In the quest, the player is asked to retrieve a component for their ship, but they’re interrupted by a menacing, powerful warrior called Teshin, who takes away the player’s abilities and close-combat arms, and forces them to engage with the mod system to handily demonstrate its power.

Many of the external team were already fans of the game, but others had never played before, according to a principal games designer. It was this outside perspective that proved critical.

“Our initial step involved observing new players and have them experience the introduction and document extensively on everywhere they fell out,” the designer said. Introductory tutorials presented the mod system. But the team noted that they didn’t work on everyone.

“Certain players missed fundamental guidance where the game highlights it saying put the mod in the slot,” he said.

Addressing a Real Need

Warframe’s mods allow players to create stupidly powerful synergies that fill the display with damage values. But "The Teacher" isn’t really about that. There will be some long-time players who desire more advanced content, like creating powerful and specific builds. But it became clear that the mission addresses a genuine oversight for newcomers — and that executing this is quite complex.

“Numerous subtle adjustments and background details there to just demonstrate the possibilities rather than explain it outright,” the designer said. For example, one of the goals of “The Teacher” is to show how mods can create elemental damage types; in this case, a magnetic effect that depletes protective barriers.

“Adjustments to the armament to be a rapid-fire gun, because it better demonstrates the effect frequency,” the designer said. “However, the goal isn't to explicitly tell players, 'with a basic modification, you only got a few percentage chance to proc an elemental effect.' So how do you tutorialize that without changing it?”

Experienced players will instinctively look for that kind of weapon effect and understand how it works, but beginners require instruction to pay attention to these things.

“It’s not a kind of game development that we've had to worry about as much just because that hasn't been our focus,” said a narrative lead. “However, this oversight meant that we never really told people how to use mods.”

Significant Investment

“There’s so much that goes into just making a seemingly straightforward quest that — honestly — you can blast through in about 15 minutes,” said the designer. “But it's months and months of work for many team members.”

The designer was visibly glowing with excitement over contributing to a beloved title — and to design content featuring a preferred figure.

“I'm a huge fan of Teshin,” he said. “He embodies everything my younger self found awesome.”

Improving the New Player Experience

In the 12 years since its release, Warframe has been in a consistent battle with its own player onboarding process. There are lots of complex systems that players don’t need to worry about — and won't encounter until much later. And others, like modding, that scale in complexity depending on how much time you want to invest. An update earlier this year streamlined the early game so that players could reach Warframe’s complex narrative arcs with reduced repetitive play up front.

With “The Teacher,” it’s clear that the developers are doubling down on a commitment to make sure Warframe’s initial hours evolves beyond its origins. New players can get their foot in the door — regardless of overlooking tutorials.