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The space ninja adventure known as Warframe, an experience where you can feed yourself to a giant mouth and pilot futuristic vehicles, has launched a major update. The Vallis Undermind highlights the unique whimsy that has come to define Warframe in the past few seasons.

The new content, made available this week, adds a new mushroom-themed warframe that performs a unique animation, along with a whole new explorable fungal area. However, it also revisits core concepts, with another quest geared at making sure this complex, vast 12-year-old MMO is understandable by new players.

The Arrival of "The Teacher"

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

In Warframe, mods are augments that can be equipped on your warframe or arsenal to improve their stats. They range from the straightforward (boosting power or shortening reload times) to the incredibly intricate. Dedicated players often produce extensive guides about idealized builds that use powerful mods in combination to create overwhelming power.

“Many players likely started their journey, seeing mods, not really understanding it,” said a key developer. “We believed it was crucial, at the end of the quest, for players to think, ‘Hey, modding is cool. I'd like to experiment further.’”

A Joint Development

“The Teacher” was created through a partnership between the core team, who provided the narrative sauce, and a supporting studio, who crafted the gameplay, which will be introduced to new players.

In the quest, the player is asked to retrieve a new segment for their spaceship, but they’re confronted by a formidable foe 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.

Several developers were longtime players, but some were newcomers, according to a principal games designer. It was this outside perspective that proved critical.

“The first thing we did was basically sit behind them and go right play through the tutorial and document extensively on everywhere they fell out,” the designer said. Introductory tutorials introduced players to modding. But the team observed these weren't effective for all.

“Some people didn't see basic instructions where it's flashing on the screen saying equip the modification,” he said.

Closing an Important Loop

Warframe’s mods allow players to create incredibly strong combinations that turn the screen into a blitz of numbers. But "The Teacher" isn’t really about that. There will be some long-time players who desire more advanced content, like optimizing for endgame challenges. But it became clear that “The Teacher” is filling a real and significant gap for early players — 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 powerful elemental status effects; in this case, Magnetic damage that eats chunks out of enemy shields.

“Adjustments to the armament to be a rapid-fire gun, because it shows off the proc rate more,” the designer said. “However, the goal isn't to say to people, 'with a basic modification, you only got a low probability to proc an elemental effect.' So how do you tutorialize that without changing it?”

Veterans will instinctively look for that kind of weapon effect and grasp their function, but beginners require instruction to notice these details.

“It’s not a kind of game development that we previously focused on just because that hasn't been our focus,” said a story developer. “But part of it not being our focus that we never really told people how to use mods.”

A Labor of Love

“There’s so much that goes into just making a really simple mission that — honestly — you can complete quickly,” said the designer. “Yet it represents extensive development for loads of people.”

The designer was clearly enthusiastic over contributing to a beloved title — and to design content featuring a preferred figure.

“I'm a huge fan of Teshin,” he said. “He's my 8-year-old internal self's idea of what's cool.”

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 increase in depth depending on your level of engagement. An update earlier this year improved the introductory experience 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 reinforcing their dedication to make sure Warframe’s initial hours evolves beyond its origins. Beginners can find their way — even if they miss the menu prompts.