How much build up is too much build up?

When it comes to IF how slow of a start do you think readers can manage. To be clear when I say “slow” I don’t mean “boring” or “unimportant.” I just mean that it’s slowly building up to the main plot or making you care a little more about the people involved with it.

Do you enjoy taking time to define who the MC is and learn a bit about the story world? Or would you rather jump into the thick of things?

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I’ll point us here and here as useful threads for this topic.

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I’m saying this because it’s my own opinion and the majority might disagree with me on this one!

Beware, big blocks of text!

For me personally, I want to learn more about the world, but I don’t want it in the exposition dump kind of way. Maybe sprinkle some lore in to the scenes or something to not make it incredibly too obvious because I tend to skim a lot of stuff (Unless I really love the writing style of the author) when all they’re saying is Expo dump™.

That just made me realize that I like slower pace starts than fast ones more because I personally can’t get invested in a world if it’s a fast pace start (Unless if it’s Thom Baylay). On that note, some WIP I recommend for world exposition that I personally look up to are
A mage reborn ( The pacing is just right with this )
I, The forgotten one ( Slow pacing but incredibly satisfying to read )
The Wight King ( Slow-ish pacing because I don’t mind reading about the world)
The Abyssal ( Just right pacing, even though it’s only a few chapters in )

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Your beginning should reflect your story. If it is slow and meandering and character heavy, by all means, have that kind of opening. That means players who liked the start will also like what happens past the demo.

However, if your story is drama and action, you need to have that in the opening as well. Distribute the slower pieces between dramatic/action ones.

In short: What the player sees when they play the demo should be what the story is about. Do NOT put things off to the last act, front load as much of the heart of the story as you can.

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It depends on the topic like on which topic you want to do work. Also the number of the words Looking for more opinions.

Personally, if a game is slow to start, I usually never end up finishing it. But that’s often because I find out later that the game has absolutely nothing to do with anything I just read and just close it in frustration. If that isn’t the case, though, or there’s an option to skip prologue, I’ll probably at least try to go a bit further. Though I still do not have a preference for slow games at all. Also, my preference for shorter games is likely primarily because shorter games tend to have quicker pacing.