Recently, a fella on Twitter wanted to know what makes a good opening in a VN/IF project. I replied with a brief explanation, but after that, I decided to take some time to give examples. So I then dissected various 1st scenes & 1st lines of 8 different games. Finally, to conclude, I brought it all together with a comic explaining more. My brainās hyperfocus dial went on overdrive and I did a lot of stuff lol.
Figured Iād share the things I made in case they can be helpful to others too! First, here is the comic about a good text-based gameās opening (if at any point the text is too small, feel free to open the image in a new tab to zoom in!):
(My sib Eliana told me I should make this into a slideshow or lecture [which is very flattering, thanks E]; lmk if that sounds like something youād like to see sometime!)
Iāll also share my 1st scene breakdowns of various gamesā¦
Hope this is helpful to some of yāall! The original reply thread with this stuff is here.
Iām super to hear what others think of this! HOWEVER, Iām still Sick And Suffering immensely so idk how active Iāll be in responding? I can barely reply to brief emails atm b/c my brainās cognitive functions are literally disintegrating before my eyes! In a few hours, I may entirely forget I posted this (I wish that was a joke but unfortunately itās not)! I will try my best to keep an eye on the discussion, but I canāt promise anything, sorry.
Alright fellas, thatās all I have for you today. Thanks for reading!
(What do YOU think makes a good opening for a text-based game. Letās share thoughts together!)
In terms of mechanics: personally, I like to put some constraints on the player initially before opening up the game more widely.
This is not strictly necessary though, and some people have said that they could use a more thorough tutorial section in my gamesā¦so maybe I am not restraining players in quite the right way.
You might be interested in IntroComp, or maybe you have heard of it already.
Bez is right - the opening needs to set up what sort of game to expect. It means players who wonāt like your game leave before they get upset or disappointed, and those who should be playing your game rather than somebody elseās can build up anticipation for whatās next.
Interactive fiction may have fewer control-based issues than most other genres, but itās wise to pay attention to these. I changed my opening to include explicit advice for how to select a choice after one of my play-testers couldnāt get past the first screen of my original all-story opening. Donāt introduce them all (or at least make sure thereās an option for getting all possible controls rather than throwing 50 possible commands on the first screen) but do make sure thereās enough so people can at least make a start.
This is fantastic. I just spent a few minutes with my Spring Thing entry looking at your comic and thinking about what I had done right and wrong in my opening. Itās always really helpful to have a rubric to check your work against.
Another thing I think is critical in openings: Do NOT have typos or grammatical problems in your opening. Some will probably always slip through elsewhere, but not in the opening. That needs to be perfect. Once players are invested, they will probably forgive an awkward sentence or a small typo, but not at the outset. I have several good writers comb through my opening text to make absolutely sure itās spotless.
This is true. I was on a site that provided feedback for prospective screenplays and a typo/misspelling on the first page was grounds for an immediate āpassā no matter how good the premise was.
Itās really good to see a comic and topic like this. I certainly struggle with having a good opening. That devilās advocate says āWhat does the opening matter if the main storyās lame?ā or āDonāt over-promiseā or whatever.
I do want to make sure that people who might not enjoy it feel OK passing on it without apologizing prematurely e.g. a chess-based text adventure game. Iām not going to apologize for writing it, but I recognize itās not some peopleās taste, and I donāt want or need to empathize this.
I think one other big problem I had was saying āWell, I donāt want my intro/blurb to feel like an ad or commercial.ā Yet at the same time, we do need to advertise our strengths, and our storyās strengths, and there are ways to do so ethically and in a way that wonāt leave readers feeling forced or jarred.
So the original comic and the overall discussion were quite helpfulāin fact, I was putting off my introduction for my Spring Thing game until now, and I got some good hacks in at a first draft. I suspect Iāll have to fine-tune them, but the start is important, and I should probably re-read this in a week so I have another take.
tangent on first impressions in general
This is a tangent but Iāve also struggled with making or processing or being deceived by first impressions on a personal level. Itās frustrating for me to get a good impression of someone that goes downhill quickly, and Iāve learned over the years that people pull tricks to make good first impressions. So saying āhow do I make the best first impression/introā doesnāt feel right, and I appreciate the question being reframed as āHow can I show what makes my work unique and useful?ā
So thereās inherent risk in getting suckered by a good first impression, but that doesnāt excuse me from trying my best to give one. And Iām glad to have help with this above and beyond āIf you donāt put your Best! Foot! Forward! youāre not truly motivated.ā or āIf you donāt believe you deserve to make a first impression, you donāt deserve to!ā I really prefer that āHey! Trust me! You might really enjoy this more than you think!ā but of course when itās from someone I donāt know, I need something more specific and engaging. And Iād like to give it, too.
This is a great point. I had a review of WHHoGG that said my blurb oversold the game, and I really took note of that, because ick. I really do not want to be that guy. So itās important to weigh what you promise with what you deliver. Blurbs and intros ARE ads, and despite my distaste for having to sell myself (I suspect myself sometimes of a princess-y tendency to think I shouldnāt have to do that), we do need to hustle to get attention. But we also need to do so honestly.
Soā¦ Thoughts on media openings as opposed to text openings on games that are otherwise primarily text based? i.e. starting with a short video, or comic strip, or some images and music? Even a voice over with montage slide to set the tone? Invoking the spirit of this part of Fallout 2ās intro sequence here.
Does the fact that the game is text mean we should stick with strict text openers?
Tangential thoughts on cultural blindspots
Ironically, I was reading an article discussing this just this morning.
Some things simply donāt translate. Because links donāt work in these dropdowns:
Thank you @HanonO
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I am all for it, as long as it isnāt accidentally misleading the player into thinking thatās what the game will be like. Sometimes I like to spice things up a little by choosing an IF game thatās augmented with art or some such, and itās disappointing if that doesnāt carry through into the game itself. I like to put my cover art at the beginning of the game, and I hope that doesnāt mislead people into thinking that the game will be illustrated.
I hope not. I love to see creative use of other media that enhances an IF experience.
Thatāsā¦ a solid point. I wonder what sort of potential backlash would occur? Beautiful full-length animated intro sequence, with voice-overs, and musicā¦ Boom, standard plain text parser.
Someone should do that for Ludum Dare one year as a gag, lol. You could even put out a teaser the day before games are released, lol.
It could be a great device, sort of like black-and-white to color in the Wizard of Oz. It could be a really effective way to tell two different parts of a story. In fact, Iām sure Iāve seen this done, but I canāt remember what game.
The āheroā of the Pixar-quality 3D-so-sharp-the-nosehairs-are-showing animated intro could sit down in a comfy chair with a book at the end of the sequence.
Slow zoom in to book-cover as the āheroā opens itā¦
Close-up of first pageā¦
And fade to text-adventure where You are the protagonist of the book.
I have to admit, the idea tickles my absurdist tendencies.
Just a random thought; if vorple allows javascript, does that mean you can go beyond gifs and music and imbed actual video, even standalone javascript games?
Might allow some interesting collaboration possibilities with communities we rarely directly interact with.
Edited to add: I mean, Iām not immediately sure what inserting flappy bird halfway through your game would accomplish, but the fact that it seems possible smells of opportunity to me.
Yes, with Vorple you can output arbitrary HTML and thus include videos or other JS games. It will take some integration work. You could also imagine the external game influencing the story but thatās a lot more work.
If anyone wants to try this, Iām happy to help (Iām a JS dev and love to mix Inform & JS).
Iād love to hear what games people feel have the best openings (even if the rest of the game doesnāt live up to that). What games did a stellar job of sucking you in, and why?
Right off the bat, Iāll propose something I played recently at @DeusIrae 's prodding: Will Not Let Me Go, by Stephen Granade. From the first few seconds, I was hooked, because you instantly realize how awful and sad the situation is.
Thatās very generous of you. I would have responded sooner, but I was still recovering from being successfully rickrolled in 2022. My hatās off to you.
Been a while since I posted here.
(if at any point the text is too small, feel free to open the image in a new tab to zoom in!):
HOWEVER, Iām still Sick And Suffering immensely so idk how active Iāll be in responding? 
I can barely reply to brief emails atm b/c my brainās cognitive functions are literally disintegrating before my eyes! In a few hours, I may entirely forget I posted this (I wish that was a joke but unfortunately itās not)! I will try my best to keep an eye on the discussion, but I canāt promise anything, sorry.
- monospace/code formatting wonāt transform into clickable links! You want it inside the details tags, but not