Re: Game prologues and introductions


06 Dec 1995 19:01:32 GMT

Michael S. Phillips <mike@lawlib.wm.edu> wrote:
> Anyway, I was wondering if people had strong opinions on whether it is
> worth the effort to 'lead the player' through the introduction.

I can think of three reasons why you might want to do this. The first is
that your game is intended to be an introductory game for people who
have never played IF, and you think that a good proportion of your
players will need detailed instructions to get started. Something like
Infocom's "Moonmist", in other words. If so, go ahead. But be aware
that most people who play adventures got started on games that didn't
give them any breaks, and survived fine.

The second possible reason is that the first puzzle is very difficult,
and you suspect that a reasonable proportion of your players will need
some hints in order to solve it and get on with the rest of the game. I
reluctantly came to this conclusion with respect to "Christminster", and
release 3 has a fairly detailed adaptive help system for the first
puzzle. If this is the case, don't turn the help on by default; make
the player actively request it.

The third reason is that you want to force the player to make a set of
particular actions in order to set the scene for the rest of the game
(think of the beginning of "Theatre"). I think this is a bad idea all
round; if you're not prepared to give the player the freedom to do what
they want, put the scene-setting material in the introductory text where
it belongs.

-- 
Gareth Rees