When to introduce a story heavy cutscene

[synchronicity]

I'm kind of in the same boat as M.I.A. in the sense that I prefer shorter cutscenes that are spread throughout the game, than one or two really long cutscenes. It's kind of the same when you're reading a book, or watching a movie - dumping too much information on someone at one time is rarely considered a good idea because they're going to get information overload and end up missing bits and pieces of it. Better to piece it together a little at a time, than all at once.

If you absolutely have to have a longer cutscene, mix things up a little. Try not to be stuck on just one screen so the player is just constantly reading the text and wondering why they're not fast forwarding through it. If you can use flashbacks, if you can show people moving around and doing stuff, do that. If it's not feasible to have a save point right before the cutscene, maybe add an autosave feature instead. Oh, and the worst time for a really long cutscene is right before a boss battle. Nobody wants to have to watch the same cutscene over and over and over again because they keep losing.

Also, if you're going to have a longer cutscene, use them sparingly. Nobody wants to sit through a long cutscene after every battle, but they also don't want to have no interaction or dialogue whatsoever after one, either.

As for how long is too long... I think one of the longest cutscenes I sat through was like, 10 minutes, and I was just sitting here going oh my god, when will you end... lmao. I think really the length of a cutscene is subjective and it depends on what's being done in the scene itself. If it's just exposition and stuff people need to know for the background of the story, you want to keep it short but sweet. Either start giving them hints to that information building up to the cutscene, or let them find more information through exploration after. If you're using a cutscene for interaction between the characters to build up your audience's attachment to them, or to develop the character's stories and relationships, I think most people don't notice the length of the cutscenes so long as the interaction is done properly.

Just keep it reasonable, and give lots of options for saving when possible to avoid starting cutscenes when you don't have time for them or to avoid repeating cutscenes you've already seen, and you should be okay usually.

 

[1ce]

It's all very subjective. The most important thing to keep in mind is pacing. You don't want things to drag out too long. Shorter is usually sweeter.

 

[mobiusclimber]

It really depends on the game too. I think some games are like adventure games with combat sprinkled in, whereas other games are mostly combat with a little story thrown in to give you a reason to "go here and do that." In a game that is story heavy, long cut scenes are seen as normal. I think if you have a long cutscene, there should be a save in the middle at least.