No more "Press Any Key" prompts at game start, please!

[Zloth]

You start up your game, get a few corporate logos thrown at you, maybe a cinematic, and then... "press any key." Pressing a key (or mouse click or whatever) brings up the menu.

WHY?? What's the point of asking me to give the game an input? I'm going to have to do that anyway with the menu that immediately follows it, so why have this prompt?? Is there some measurement of the input that needs to be done that can't be done on the menu screen? Is it some holdover from the arcade games' "Insert Quarter" prompt!? I know it's trivial to just push some button so it isn't like this is a critical thing, but come on!

For that matter, the menu that follows could use some smarts, too. It's really good to have that menu when you play a game for the first time or after a crash so you can go to the Options and change things around. Some games can really use the menu because you might do quite a few different things when you start (like in fighting games). For most RPGs and action adventure type games, though, you're going to "continue" nearly every time when there's a save game to load. Why not just do that? If players want to do something different, they can still go back to the main menu.

 

[I Will Haunt You]

Zloth would be excellent at Cinema Sins.

Honestly I don't get why there are certain confirmation button presses needed. There are lots of unnecessary prompts in games.

Game: "Are you sure you want to load this save?" A=Yes B=No

Me: *Presses A*

Game: "Save game loaded. Press A to continue."

Why in God's name do I need to press a button to continue once I confirmed the save to load? Just load the damn save straight away.



Also, I don't think games should automatically load most recent save on start-up. I don't want to have to exit to menu and load my save if my son happened to be the last one to play.

 

[Zloth]

Oh, hadn't thought about families. OK, makes sense there - though maybe give me the option?

 

[anime]

> "Press Start"
> Is on PC

 

[Zoid]

You have a fair point, and I do think that game menus have room for improvement, but just for the sake of fostering friendly discussion I will play devil's advocate to your post

What's the point of asking me to give the game an input?

It may not be a functional design choice, but can it not be an artistic design choice? Lots of games like to use the opening splash screen to give you a nice, full screen piece of art or graphics to set the mood of the game, or they will play a little demo video if you stay on the splash screen too long without input.

For most RPGs and action adventure type games, though, you're going to "continue" nearly every time when there's a save game to load. Why not just do that? If players want to do something different, they can still go back to the main menu.

@I Will Haunt You gave gives a good example of when this wouldn't work. I think another issue with this is that it takes control away from the player. That might seem silly, but psychologically I like loading into a menu first because that way I can do whatever I want with the game. Maybe I'm stubborn but I don't want the game assuming it knows what I want.

Your suggestion that the player should have the option to enable auto-continuing is fine though. I'm always a fan of giving the player more options and settings in the menus. I just suspect that it's pretty far down on a developer's list of priorities.

 

[Inspireless Llama]

Could it be for some games that they set the shown controls to the way you're playing?

For example, RDR2 you can play with both controller and keyboard. When they would ask you to press a button and you press a xbox button it will show xbox controls, and when you press "Enter" it would use the keyboard ones?

Zloth would be excellent at Cinema Sins.

Honestly I don't get why there are certain confirmation button presses needed. There are lots of unnecessary prompts in games.

Game: "Are you sure you want to load this save?" A=Yes B=No

Me: *Presses A*

Game: "Save game loaded. Press A to continue."

Why in God's name do I need to press a button to continue once I confirmed the save to load? Just load the damn save straight away.



Also, I don't think games should automatically load most recent save on start-up. I don't want to have to exit to menu and load my save if my son happened to be the last one to play.

I think the "Press button to continue" is on purpose and it's a good thing. There are games where you're loading in the middle of some action. I am one who decides to take a smoke break or bathroom break because my game is loading anyway. I don't like it when I come back and figured I'm dead because I loaded into the game directly.

 

[Krud]

You start up your game, get a few corporate logos thrown at you, maybe a cinematic, and then... "press any key." Pressing a key (or mouse click or whatever) brings up the menu.

WHY?? What's the point of asking me to give the game an input? I'm going to have to do that anyway with the menu that immediately follows it, so why have this prompt??

Agreed. There's all sorts of menu/input weirdness, some of which I think is a holdover from consoles and limited button options, so they want to make sure you meant to press what you pressed. Even so, there's too much of it. Or a menu where you exit the game, and then have to exit the main menu, and then exit the title screen. It's enough to make me just hit Alt-F4.

 

[Zloth]

It may not be a functional design choice, but can it not be an artistic design choice? Lots of games like to use the opening splash screen to give you a nice, full screen piece of art or graphics to set the mood of the game, or they will play a little demo video if you stay on the splash screen too long without input.

Can't they set the mood with an opening cinematic? Why would you have to press a key to make such a thing end?

What I'm actually wanting to do is to start a game, go back to the kitchen, poor myself a cold diet root beer, and come back to a game ready to play. I would never want to do this the first time I start a game but after that, a hands-off way to just be in the game without my helping the game along would be pretty nice to have.

Could it be for some games that they set the shown controls to the way you're playing?

I thought of that, but it seems to me they could do that just as well in the menu. Also, modern games seem to (finally) be smart enough to switch on the fly. As soon as you press a key, prompts change to keypresses. Press a controller button, and they jump over to those prompts.

I think the "Press button to continue" is on purpose and it's a good thing. There are games where you're loading in the middle of some action. I am one who decides to take a smoke break or bathroom break because my game is loading anyway. I don't like it when I come back and figured I'm dead because I loaded into the game directly.

I've been playing a pleasantly large number of turn based games lately, but there don't seem to be all that many real time games that let you save right in the middle of combat. They would have to save the states of shots being fired at you, being in mid-air because you're jumping, and so on. It can definitely be done but I don't remember it being done very much lately.

Or a menu where you exit the game, and then have to exit the main menu, and then exit the title screen. It's enough to make me just hit Alt-F4.

Ugh, that's for sure. I loved Yakuza 0 but, the first time I played, I spent about fifteen minutes just trying to figure out how to save and quit! Save then Alt-F4 is often the best way out of console conversions. And remember not to TURN OFF YOUR PC while saving!

 

[mazz0]

I don’t understand the argument against auto-loading - there’s no reason you can’t have the menu displayed while it’s loading allowing you to abort and do something else. You lose no time because of this, and the vast majority of players who want to continue save time. In fact with the menu displayed and the loading happening in the background you wouldn’t even know they’d done it, the only difference would be your game loads faster (or even instantly) when you press continue.

 

[Dan]

There has been much speculation around how this originally came to be. I think the most accepted answer (and someone may prove this wrong), is that when games were being certified, the vendor had a requirement that there be some user interaction within a certain time period, even if the game hadnt fully loaded yet. Having a 'push here to start' before the game was fully loaded was a way around this.

 

[Zoid]

Can't they set the mood with an opening cinematic? Why would you have to press a key to make such a thing end?

Sure, moods can be set with cinematics. I'm just saying there are artistic ways to use an opening splash screen, sort of like the cover of a book.

What I'm actually wanting to do is to start a game, go back to the kitchen, poor myself a cold diet root beer, and come back to a game ready to play. I would never want to do this the first time I start a game but after that, a hands-off way to just be in the game without my helping the game along would be pretty nice to have.

I've been playing a pleasantly large number of turn based games lately, but there don't seem to be all that many real time games that let you save right in the middle of combat. They would have to save the states of shots being fired at you, being in mid-air because you're jumping, and so on. It can definitely be done but I don't remember it being done very much lately.

In my experience, saving in inopportune times is done all the time. Even if you aren't falling or being shot at, consider the times where you're given a limited time to complete a task. If it takes you too long to get a drink or snack then you might come back to find that you're almost out of time to complete your objective.

Loading into a pause screen is one way around this, but what about households where two or more people have saves in the same game at once? If it doesn't load your save, then you have to go through extra steps to return to the menu and load the correct one.

Different folks will use their games in different ways. I often times launch a game wanting to do something other than continue the most recent save.

I don’t understand the argument against auto-loading - there’s no reason you can’t have the menu displayed while it’s loading allowing you to abort and do something else. You lose no time because of this, and the vast majority of players who want to continue save time. In fact with the menu displayed and the loading happening in the background you wouldn’t even know they’d done it, the only difference would be your game loads faster (or even instantly) when you press continue.

I think this is the best solution for most players and is a good middle ground. When you launch the game, it can start loading your most recent save in the background while you're on the opening splash screen and main menu. That way if you select continue you could be instantly dropped into your game with a much shorter or nonexistent load screen. This would make it easier to get back into your game while avoiding the potential problems that arise if that isn't what you want to do.

 

[I Will Haunt You]

Let's not overthink what is, at most, a minor annoyance.

 

[Sciophyte]

"First World" problems. Amirite?

 

[Zloth]

Oh, I like the load in the background @mazz0! No options to worry about, no going back to the main menu, no worries about getting kilt whilst being indisposed.

Let's not overthink what is, at most, a minor annoyance.

What is this "overthink"? Some oxymoron term like "too much garlic"?

 

[Frindis]

Some games could definitely be without all the keyboard mashing getting to your save. Others could have it in a more fun way:

Press [Enter] to continue.

*Enter*​

Are you sure you want to continue? Type [Yes/No]

*Yes*​

You have typed Yes, is this correct? Type [Yes/No]

*Yes*​

Please confirm Yes by writing Yes

*Y.E.S*​

Press [Enter] to continue.

*Enter*​

Congratulations! You are now entering the game for your first time and we hope you enjoy your stay.

Press [Enter] to continue]

​

 

[Zoid]

Some games could definitely be without all the keyboard mashing getting to your save. Others could have it in a more fun way:

Press [Enter] to continue.

*Enter*​

Are you sure you want to continue? Type [Yes/No]

*Yes*​

You have typed Yes, is this correct? Type [Yes/No]

*Yes*​

Please confirm Yes by writing Yes

*Y.E.S*​

Press [Enter] to continue.

*Enter*​

Congratulations! You are now entering the game for your first time and we hope you enjoy your stay.

Press [Enter] to continue]

​

This is some Stanley Parable stuff right here

 

[StoneGreninja]

"Where's the Any key?" - Homer Simpson S07E07 King-Size Homer

 

[firefly]

Agreed. There's all sorts of menu/input weirdness, some of which I think is a holdover from consoles and limited button options, so they want to make sure you meant to press what you pressed. Even so, there's too much of it. Or a menu where you exit the game, and then have to exit the main menu, and then exit the title screen. It's enough to make me just hit Alt-F4.

I had this problem with Assasins Creed games....trying to exit them seemed like such a neverending series of exit buttons all leading to new exit buttons.

 

[CamdenShawn]

why?? what's the point of asking me to present the game an enter? i'm going to should try this anyway with the menu that right away follows it, so why have this spark off?? is there a few measurement of the input that wishes to be achieved that can not be done on the menu display? is it a few holdover from the arcade games' "insert region" spark off!? i know it's trivial to just push a few button so it is not like this is a important component, but come on!

for that count number, the menu that follows should use some smarts, too. it's genuinely appropriate to have that menu while you play a game for the first time or after a crash so you can visit the options and alternate matters around. some video games can virtually use the menu because you may do quite a few various things whilst you start (like in fighting video games). for most rpgs and motion adventure type video games, though, you're going to "maintain" almost each time while there is a keep game to load. why not just do this? if players want to do some thing exceptional, they are able to still move returned to the main menu