Sin Vegayour game might be good but if it opens with 50 lines of dialogue and then the actual game appears to start and then there's more dialogue, you wrote it wrong and I'm already out, sorry
OBVIOUSLY this doesn't apply to VNs and other interactive fiction. But it still actually does to some extent. The point is don't make your opening fucking tedious with loads of empty back and forth dialogue. clickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclick "oh fuck this" alt+f4
I had a dream this morning, but I can't remember what it was...
It all vanished when the alarm went off.
First time that's happened in a while.
I've been drifting away inside my own world for too long.
It's time for me to wake up.
THAT is how to fuckin do it, people.
And then, what's this? first scene is on a train. If you click on the highlighted things, you get:
"I forgot how difficult getting around this city can be sometimes."
"Is she sleeping? I hope she doesn't miss her stop."
"Must be commuting to work. Maybe it's her first day at a new job too. Seems unlikely."
Already this has told me like 5 things about the player character, and with NO dialogue or back story at all. And that's a fuckin visual novel! Your goddamn 'action' or strategy game has no excuse for this rambling shit
anyway Eliza is still probably my favourite game, considering it's one of my favourite works of any kind
made explicit:
*she's starting a new job
* she commutes
Implied:
*she hasn't been going out much for a long time.
* she worries about people, even strangers
* she's prone to speculation but analytical enough to be measured with it
* something has bothered her for a long time, but it's going away
* she's lonely
* she's trying to get better
contrast this to (name any of like 5000 games)
"Blorbstin! You're awake!"
"Bwuah?"
"Wake up sleepy head!"
"..."
"Wakey wakey!"
"..."
"HEY WAKE UP"
"no I am sleepy go away, neighbour and childhood friend, who is the baker's apprentice"
"haha did you forget!! Today's the training day! You will be late!"
"TODAY?"
"The training day for the training"
"I am training to be trained"
"The training is today and you will train to be the guard!"
"oh no! "
"..."
"The training is at the training hall! You should get up now and go there!"
"yes"
"Do you remember where the training hall is?"
"um..."
"haha silly! You're so silly! No wonder you are the worst trainee of the training."
"That is not true one day I will fight the goblins or the mage or the bearwolf or fucking whatever"
"YOU?"
"..."
"You think YOU will be the chosen one, who is written about in the book of-"
FUCK OFF AAAAAAAHHHH
also, related: for fuck's sake, stop starting the game with some arsehole's morning routine. And then of course they go to a weirdly empty high school, because making everything about teenagers isn't weird or creepy at all
It's not a coincidence that three of my favourite VN/adventure games are about middle aged women, and not a teenager whose village is oh god who even cares, or Guy Who Is A Guy
Scriv@sinvega I only accept morning routines if I can examine as many of the objects in the place I find myself in after I wake up, to learn what kind of fucked up little goblin I play as.
sbszine
raphael@sinvega that dude pitfall of investing in worldbuilding(tm) and then getting too attached to all of it to do the right thing and not mention most of it.
instead it has to be told. in detail. and excruciating mono- or dialogue. lest the audience miss any of it.
Kevin Granade has moved
Fix Your Heart or Die.@sinvega Absolute truth.