pinkunz
April 8, 2022, 3:50am
17
This was a fantastic response to a different thread which I feel is very topical to what is being discussed here:
Back when I was spending a lot of time writing IF, I had a policy that a game ought to have a sandbox.
By sandbox, I mean a set of rooms in which the player can get a feel for the game, without hurting themselves or doing anything else irrevocable. It is a space that allows the game and the player to get to know each other.
The player has to demonstrate enough competence in basic commands to get out of the sandbox. ( This usually means picking up a key and using it to open a door, or uttering the magic word to make the transporter work )
By the time that the player opens the door and gets out into the ‘real’ world - where actions may have permanent consequences - they know several basic commands. They have feel for what kind of relationship they have with the parser: “I give you simple commands, you reply with descriptions of what happened”. They know a bit about the game, and the game knows that they can be let loose in the world.
In a really good sandbox, the player also gets a quick survey of what the world is like, and what kind of problems they might be facing. In addition to finding a key or magic phrase book, they have seen a glimpse of the bigger picture.
So by the time the player gets out of the sandbox, they have a sense of what the world is, what problems may be encountered, and how to work with the parser.
I feel the sandbox being discussed here is very similar to @nilsf 's hot air balloon, or many mainstream game introductions, like Fallout 3 as I mentioned earlier.
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