I''m looking at the opening sequence of a space game (MMORPG). The player has chosen his / her character and enters the game world for the first time. The avatar is in a "Re-formulation" clinic having had DNA checks and reformulation to allow him / her to take part in space flight and for cloning purposes. Lying on a bed in a small room a computer screen is visible that shows the time and date. What happens next? I would like to use this stage as a learning experience so that the avatar has to perform a number of simple tasks - sit, stand, eat, drink, put on clothes etc...- to familiarise the player with the GUI and controls. Thus the player wouldn''t be able to move onto the next sequence - his / her guide entering the room - until all these tasks had been completed. What do you think? Does the idea of having to go through this session annoy you cos you wanna get out there and kick ass? Alternatively I can leave the avatar in the room, nearly naked and with low food / energy levels in which case the player would almost be bound to clothe and feed it. What do you think is important at this stage for the player to see and do?

Actually, that sounds like a very good idea. To familiarise the player with interface.

quote: Original post by Ganryu
Actually, that sounds like a very good idea. To familiarise the player with interface.

As long as you can skip it if you want..

Is it somehow important to the gameplay that the player learn to feed and clothe themselves? Perhaps to allows players to fully customize their character''s appearance? Personally, I would find having to look for clothes somewhat annoying, but that''s just me. Maybe everyone in the game should be given a kind of default ''uniform'' or outfit, with a number of barcode on it to differentiate them from the outset. Then, you can give the player some opportunities to customize their appearance through ''clothing replicators'', or kiosks in a space station''s bazaar, etc.

Just some ideas...

In Deus Ex and Half-Life there was the Hazard Course level.
Maybe you could incorperate something like this. If you follow the 3 act breakdown ( meet the characters, they are in trouble, they kick a** ) add a prequel set of levels ( really short ). Act 1 begins on a space freighter or on a ship or in a bar or whatever with the action mission just a click or two away. The prequel would start in the regen ( reform ) hospital and you would have a doctor standing over you saying "Okay, the personality / physical regen drugs / surgery will make you a little woozy. Try using the arrow keys / WASD keys to move around. Put on some clothes, they are in the locker. E / Space /MB1 will open it... Give the player a little ExtraBonus of some back story on the game or characters. Have a secret Storage Closet or market area where the character can get some equipment ( less than 10% of starting equipment ) that he/she won''t get just by clicking on "Act 1 - Our Heros Discover A Peril", but that isn''t really neccessary, just cool.

Thanks for the replies.

The idea is that the computer will take the player through a health check and tell him where the clothes are and the food is. It will then take him through a sequence to show how to read the various stats. After that his auto-guide (a robot) enters the room and he moves to phase 2. It would be difficult to skip this because the robot gives the player his personal computer which is essential to game play.
We could have the comp on the desk or something but its operation needs careful thought. I don''t like the idea of players just accessing info through voice commands - what happens if there are other players listening in? I think hand controls work better. Hopefully the sequence doesn''t take very long and the player can be out there kickin ass in about 10 mins - actually because he hasn''t bothered to learn the system it would be his ass getting kicked but wth?.

SoakinKittens I like the idea of a secret storage area but I''d like the player to locate it other than just by running the cursor over the screen and waiting for it to change. But if we can do it other than by that method it would be good - thanks.

I would definitely try to incorporate some way to skip it and don''t worry about the equipment, just spawn it on the character. The player is most likely to play the intro once...

::aggression is the result of fear::