Difficulty in finding things out in single-player, it seems, has become a point of much complaint. I myself have, on numerous occasions, been killed by things I could not possibly have known would cause harm. There are a few possible solutions for this:
- Use ECHO or CECHO at certain points in the level to give the player a hint. These hints will be (in the context of the game) be given by someone from a distance, such as a flicky speaking through a radio or something. For a generic example: CECHO "Look out ahead, that goo will harm you unless you have a green shield!". In that example, the player could have known that from the manual, but you get the point.
- In the Megaman Anniversary Collection, there was a Hints mechanic. It worked similarly to what I suggested above, except that instead of popping the hint up as soon as you step into the area, it showed a little icon telling that there is a hint for you in that area. Said hint would be shown on the screen upon pausing the game. This would be much harder to code in, but much more subtle. If you do this, of course, you should have an option to turn hints off.
- Have little balls of light or somesuch that give hints when you touch them, much akin to Sonic Adventure. This could actually be done in soft-coding by use of SOC actions and linedef executors.
- Add a lot more detail in the manual, so people who read the manual will know what they need to know. However, you’d have to tread a fine line between needed knowledge and outright spoilers.