Sounds like you didn't follow the tutorial exactly. Once you deviated from what the tutorial told you to do, you triggered a continuance of the tutorial in the world map somehow.

First, let's figure out where you were in the tutorial.

You designed 3 components, a Chassis, Engine, and Gearbox, correct?
You returned to the Office and simulated 7 turns.

The next slide you should get says:

Check if the engineers have finished the designs in the Side Pane

If any components are in the researching list, you need to skip more turns. Click the clock and enter the number of turns remaining.

Completed designs will not show up on the researching list. If you have completed all three designs, you will begin designing the vehicle.

Click the door and return to the RnD Department.

Did you check the side panel to see if the components were finished? IE, did you move the mouse to the right side of the window, to see if anything is listed in "Current Research"?

If you completed research for the components, then the very bottom of the slide says what you need to do next. You need to click the door in the Office, then go to RnD.

If you did that, you follow the prompts. It tells you to click the red glowing "Design" Button.
Then the red glowing "Assisted" button.

Is this where you had a problem? Your engine has to fit in your chassis, did you skip that step in the design process of the components by making an insanely large engine? If all three components work together, the next step is to click the red glowing "Design Body" button. Then the red glowing predesigned button, Then select a body from the list and hit finished. Then the red glowing "Design It" button... Did you deviate from this? If so, what did you click?



For #2, sounds like you didn't design a vehicle. I assume it's because your engine was larger than the supported size of your chassis. Most likely you skipped the part of the tutorial where it tells you to make sure the engine fits. I will see if that can trigger a duplicate of the issue you ran into...

Beyond that, several tens of thousands of people have gone through the tutorial without problems. Seems like you may have hit an edge case. I will look into it to see if I can duplicate the issue. I would be greatly appreciate it if you can prove answer to the questions above, and thank you for bringing it to my attention.

I wasn't able to duplicate the issue. Even designing an engine that won't work with a chassis leads to constant nag messages that you must return to RnD to continue the tutorial.

So I will need a better description of the actions you took. Specifically, did you use assisted or advanced vehicle designer? Did you design a vehicle body? Or click "Design Body" at all if using the assisted designer? By components, do you mean parts of the body or Chassis, Engine, Gearbox? Etc.

If you can recall the last tutorial message you got in the designer, that would be helpful

Also if you send me the save file, I might be able to piece together what you were doing. http://wiki.gearcity.info/doku.php?id=troubleshooting:steam_savegamefile

Sorry Eric, I already uninstalled it. To answer your questions:

1. I couldn't tell if an engine fit or not, so it was on the exceptionally small side. The interface isn't clear on this but if that engine couldn't fit then neither could a hamster wheel.
2. The components (engine, etc.) were ready and there was no current research. I waited the 7 months for research and another 7 or so for the components to be designed.
3. I used assisted vehicle designer. I chose a body from the list provided.
4. I explained the steps as best as I can. I followed the steps and the tutorial messages stopped except for that one error message.
5. There's no save file.

If I had to venture a guess what happened it's probably something to do with the UI and me not understanding where to look. I found it confusing in a number of screens (like trying to determine if the engine would fit) or trying to figure out how to get back to the screen to price the vehicle. I think it was on that engine screen where the tutorial had a yellow highlighted box to try to show something in the UI except there was no menu item or text underneath the box except a "?".

Best of luck to you. I have no problem reading a Balance Sheet or Income Statement but I was more than a bit lost in that UI.

Thanks for the additional information. I will be sure to foolproof the predesigned selector a bit more, as it was a late addition to the game, and hasn't had much feedback in the way of tutorials.

As for the "Does It Fit" system. At the time you were making a chassis, you did not have an engine. Hence why the window was for the most part empty. I will convert that to a popup based on this feedback when the player is in that situtation.

Thanks for the feedback comments, and good luck to you and your future endeavors. If you're still interested in the game, check the demo in about 6 months when the Video Tutorial systems are implemented. It might suit your learning/play style a bit more.