How to inform the user

Authoring General Design Discussions
1

Hi there,

I have a couple of specialty actions that might not be obvious to the player. How would you inform the player of these specialty commands:

  • in help?
  • in a “when play begins” message?
    I’m really unsure of the best (and most immersive) way of imparting this knowledge.

thanks,
d.

2

It’s pretty common to see at the start of play something like “Type ABOUT for important information about this game”. You can tweak the phrasing a little if you want to emphasise that the player really needs to read it.

Depending on the verbs you’re trying to inform the player about, you can also cue them in game text:

You enter the consulting room. The patient is here.

It looks like he's ready for you to diagnose him.

>DIAGNOSE PATIENT
"It looks like you've got a USB drive stuck up your
nostril," you say.
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3

As Adam says; this is now considered customary.

Saluti,
dott. Piergiorgio.

4

For meta verbs (type HELP for general advice or HINT to get a specific hint), I would present them in a meta way at the beginning of the game. For in-game verbs (use STASH to take something to the nearest safe room), I would put them in the HELP, and also tutorialize them the first time the player needs them.

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5

I tried to do something similar in an earlier version of The Manik. The game doesn’t tell you how to use the flares; but inspecting them does.

There is a red chemical flare.

>LOOK AT FLARE
A red flare. You can see the words 'STRIKE here' stamped on the side.

>STRIKE FLARE
You strike the flare and drop it on the floor.

I’m not sure how well this would have worked in practice, but the idea is basically to emphasize the command in some other text in order to communicate it to the player.

Not sure how well carving the instructions onto an ancient alien relic would go, though, so be wary.

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6

I think players can be pretty forgiving of this sort of thing. If you read “the pictograms look like they show some sort of tentacled being unscrewing a cylindrical object”, and you’ve already found a cylindrical object on board the alien spaceship, the momentary dopamine reward from typing UNSCREW CYLINDER and getting a positive response will probably sideline any minor quibbles about how you depict an unscrewing motion in a static image.

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7

There’s one parser game that features this famous exchange:

>x mask
Cast from a solid piece of plastic, with features lovingly molded to exactly reproduce the stern-but-caring countenance of fearless Xavian leader Ch’awww-k’pot. The eyeholes are empty and a rubber strap is attached to the back of the mask, enabling young Xavians to slip it over their beak and re-enact famous socio-political decisions made by Ch’awwk.

>re-enact famous socio-political decisions
(first taking the mask of fearless Xavian leader Ch’awww-k’pot, then wearing the mask of fearless Xavian leader Ch’awww-k’pot)
You perform a complex series of instructional morality plays/shadow puppetings using your hands, the mask, and a conveniently-placed light source.

Which goes to show that if you directly clue a specific wording, players will try it, no matter how bizarre that wording might be in a vacuum!

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8

Don’t hide it under HELP or ABOUT, that’s for sure. That’s useful as a reference, but if the player should be told about a command, come out and tell them at an appropriate time. The intentional cruelty scale is something like:

  1. Print a message about the command, then immediately provide a few chances to use it.
  2. Describe the command in the in-game user manual for a piece of in-game equipment.
  3. Print a message when play begins, then expect the player to remember it an hour later.
  4. Describe the command only in HELP or ABOUT.
  5. Wait for the player to intuit the command.

That’s for custom commands used throughout the game. Nonce commands, which are meant to be guessed from context, are a different story, and you would want to prime the player to think of the verb either by using it yourself or presenting an object strongly associated with that verb (e.g. you don’t have to hint the player that you PLAY a piano).

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