Addressing the Slow Start problem in Survival Games
These are a couple slice-of-life videos from Stravaeger (the Retro Survival RPG I'm building) that demonstrate the issue.
You know the deal with survival games: you start the game in your undies, picking berries and trying to tie a rock to a stick to make a crude axe while getting chased around by a pig who will one-shot you. From a new-player perspective, this doesn't really show off what the game can do, and it can be really boring and dreary.
I remember my first experience in Valheim, and wanting to drop the game entirely because it was "lame". Fortunately, a friend forced us to press on until it got good. (And of course, now, the Early Game is my favorite part).
But that's the thing. How do I (as a dev) signal that the game will in fact be cool at some point? Because if all you can do is pick up rocks and sticks, half the players will close the game and never come back after that first pig attack.
I'm thinking of starting with a sort of flashback sequence, where you are kitted out with some good gear, and in an area with lots to do. Then "something happens", and you're stripped of all that and tossed into spawn in your undies to start the game proper.
I like the idea, but then I also Hate when games do this to me. This is the start of every crappy RPG these days, where you're locked in a room somewhere and spend the first hour solving stupid puzzles and watching cutscenes before they finally let you out into the fresh air so you can start playing the game.
So the question, is a.) Do I try to do something like this? and b.) How do I make it not piss people off?
Thoughts?
(You can see what I'm getting at by firing up a new game at https://stravaeger.com/)