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From: buzzard@world.std.com (Sean T Barrett)
Subject: Re: Working new verbs into a game
Message-ID: <G6vz0M.4x5@world.std.com>
Date: Tue, 9 Jan 2001 08:17:10 GMT
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Will Grzanich  <wgrzanic@students.depaul.edu> wrote:
>I'm working on the design of what will hopefully be my first finished
>game, in which the player takes on the role of a thief in a
>pseudo-medieval world.

No comment.

>I want the PC to be
>an already experienced thief, not a novice, so I don't want to start off
>with some sort of training ground at the beginning to acquaint the
>player with these skills.  Does anyone have any suggestions as to how
>learning to use these new verbs can be worked into the pre-game?

Make the beginning of the game a prologue from back when you were not
yet an experienced thief, or where you're having a dream about being
a clumsy novice again. Or make an intro that's really a separate game
with entirely different characters, and include a command that
skips the intro and jumps into the main game.

Certainly many commercial computer games provide a 'training mission'
where you're treated as an absolute moron, but then when the game
starts properly, you're supposedly an expert. (There are exceptions,
such as Half-Life, where it's worked into the story; but for the
most part this works because commercial games don't immediately
drop you into the game, but instead into a metagame menu, so you
can select training and not feel like it's "part of the game" yet;
however, there is a fair amount of resistance to an introductory
metagame menu in the community; see the recent discussion on rgif
about printing 'ABOUT' was instructions at the beginning, instead
of waiting for the first prompt.)

>Do you
>think it would be okay to just print a message at the beginning of the
>game (or include a readme text file) advising all players (even
>veterans) to read the help section first, and just tell them about the
>new verbs there?

This is what most (every?) games do; but you are pretty much
guaranteed that some players will miss it, at least until they
get stuck the first time.  When I played the comp00 games I
forgot to type 'ABOUT' in at least two or three (out of 50+)
of the games--particularly problematic for Djinni Chronicles.

SeanB
I'm going to the bear pits tomorrow. Wanna come with?
