WELCOME TO YOUR FIRST TRIAL OF IMMERSION ARCADE!
Since this is your first time here, we have a quick tutorial and a bit of setup to do.
The words were just hovering in the air, in front of Jon and above what seemed to be some kind of outline for a doorway? It clearly wasn't a doorway; there wasn't anything in this space besides Jon, the letters, the floor, an arching glowing yellow outline for the "doorway", and the color white. So much white... The sky was white, the floor was white, the floating letters were white, the horizon was white, everything was white or just slightly off-white enough to be distinguishable from the rest of the white. Maybe here and there was a yellowish or a bluish tinge to the white? Maybe a very light grey? It was hard to tell through all the white.
(When you're ready, walk through here to begin)
New letters faded into existence while Jon was taking it all in, these over the obvious archway that was currently the sole thing existing in this strange new liminal space. Hesitantly, he took a step. A single footstep sound effect, no echoes. Actually, this wasn't a silent Universe, he noted; music was coming from nowhere, or at least some sound that, while not quite melodic or busy enough to be "music" to some, was obviously meant to soothe the nerves and make the space more inviting. Long, gentle chords... fitting for "Main Menu" ambience. Jon walked around a little more. It was a cool place, just warm enough not to be cold and just cool enough not to be hot, with a gentle, steady breeze coming from nowhere and lightly directing him to the archway downwind. Puffs of mist, that would be almost invisible save for the absence of anything but featureless white to hide it, rolled leisurely on the breeze.
"Hello?" is what Jon would have said, if he had a voice anymore. His attempt at calling out made no noise at all. It suddenly occurred to Jon that that probably meant Jay and Kyla couldn't hear him even if they somehow saw him pulled into this space by whatever magic; he wondered for a moment how exactly they were doing now.
Freaked out a little bit but having no other options, Jon passed under the archway. It and the letters above it puffed away and disappeared when he did.
Snap your fingers at any time to summon the Master Controller. Let go of, put down, or drop the Master Controller to unsummon it, said more letters that appeared in the air in front of Jon again. Try snapping your fingers now!
Hesitantly, Jon took a look at his hands. Well, his "hands". They weren't the normal flesh-and-bone appendages he was used to anymore. Instead, what he saw were two collections of cylinders, pill-shapes, dots, discs and other such basic geometric shapes floating in space in just such a way to resemble a simplified hand. "His" hand. He tried wiggling a finger, and a facsimile digit made of three bonelike cylinders waggled in response. He made a fist. One of the masses curled up into a bony little ball. He waggled all his fingers. The intended movement was mirrored exactly. He tried grabbing at where his forearm should be. His "hand" did as told, but grabbed nothing. Jon had no forearms, nor any facsimile of them. In fact, it seemed like his body had been reduced entirely to just a pair of hands floating in space, and some prints on the ground where his feet were supposed to be, from what Jon could see of himself.
It was surreal, to severely understate the situation.
Finally, Jon snapped his fingers. As advertised, a device appeared, his snapped fingers moving to wrap around one of the controller grips protruding from either of its two lower corners. Honestly, it was a rather curious device; It had 2 joysticks, 4 face buttons, a d-pad, 4 trigger buttons, pause/select/home/options buttons, grip buttons, even a scroll wheel, and so on as was typical of gaming controllers, but by far the most prominent feature of the thing was a relatively HUGE pane of what sort of looked like stained glass in its middle. Not entirely opaque, it started glowing faintly once the device had settled in Jon's hands, and once words started appearing on it, Jon realized this must be a touch screen of some kind.
In the real world, a controller as huge and elaborate as the Master Controller would probably have been impractically heavy and enormously expensive, but here it was as light as Styrofoam.
This is the Master Controller! the Master Controller announced, via large text on the touch screen. Smaller text, in one corner, said Press A: Continue. Similar text in another corner said Hold PAUSE + B: Skip Tutorial. Jon pressed A.
This Controller will let you access this space, the Main Menu, from inside the game you're playing, Jon pressed A, And may let you take Game Actions without using Motion Controls. Jon pressed A. There are some simple actions for you here in the Main Menu. Try it out!
Jon would have raised an eyebrow if he still had any. "The fuck is that supposed to mean?" His inner monologue asked nobody. Experimentally, he pushed forward on one of the Master Controller's joysticks, and immediately found out what that was supposed to mean when his "body" lunged forward. He didn't have legs anymore, at least his Character Model didn't, but all the same he could somehow feel himself stepping forward, leaving fast-fading footprints on the ground beneath him as he walked involuntarily. Only once he released the joystick could he force himself to stop walking.
It was VERY surreal, to severely understate the situation.
He pressed X. His body jumped upwards a little bit. He pushed up on the other joystick, and craned his phantom neck to stare up at the ceiling. He pushed in the first joystick, and suddenly he was sprinting as fast as his new body would allow in whichever direction he tilted it. Trying to fight it was no use; once he input any command whatsoever on the Master Controller his body just wasn't his to control. It was freaky.
Many Game Actions available through Motion Controls are also available through the Master Controller and Vice Versa, the Master Controller helpfully explained after Jon had played around with it a bit. Pressing A, Motion Controls let you control your Avatar in the way you're used to as a Human, A-press, and Game Controls let you control your Avatar in the way you're used to as a Gamer. A. Usually, Motion Controls are more free-flow and Game Controls are more precise. Be sure to try both! A. For example, try throwing the Master Controller at that target.
The earlier instructions, floating in the air, to summon the Master Controller had disappeared at some point when Jon wasn't paying attention. Now, in their place, appeared a bullseye target, huge, nearby, and impossible to miss. This Target floated in the air in new text above it. Jon, whose mind had by now been blown so thoroughly it might've left a crater, hesitated a moment. Don't worry about throwing your controller. You can resummon me with a snap of the fingers, remember? The Master Controller reassured Jon after said moment. Finally, Jon threw it, clumsily and erratically. It still managed to hit the big target on one of its outer rings, breaking it and the Master Controller together, and together they vanished on impact.
Good! Now for something harder, more mysterious floating text in the air announced. A much smaller target, much farther away, appeared. Can you hit THIS? Taunted him from maybe 75 yards away, hovering over said target, which moved away when Jon tried to get a closer look. Given that the O in the text's "you" was bigger than the target, which was itself only about as big as a Large Pizza, Jon figured right away the answer was probably "no, I can't."
Yes you can! The Master Controller displayed when Jon finally snapped his fingers again. In the Main Menu you can Lock On to a target with LT and throw your Controller at it with Y! Try it!
Jon tried holding the Controller's left trigger as recommended, and sure enough, his vision was suddenly fixed on the target. He pressed Y. Automatically, his body tensed up, poised, wound up like an MLB Pitcher and gripped the Controller hard by one of its grips, then sent that thing soaring. It arced in the air, curving like a boomerang with the spin Jon had involuntarily given it, leaving a trail of particle effects behind to mark the flight path, and somehow, miraculously, it hit the target after all that flight time.
S P E C T A C U L A R ! appeared from the wreckage in great, bouncy letters after controller and target shattered. Closer to Jon, all around, came the advice Alternative means of controlling your Avatar and Game are nothing to fear. You may momentarily lose control of your Avatar when inputting a Game Action (or during cutscenes, or character animations, or game pauses, or even loading zones), and for some this is very scary at first, but don't worry! Control is usually returned to you almost immediately.
"...Usually?" Jon's inner monologue wanted to protest. "The fuck you mean by 'Usually'!?" Jon snapped his fingers to summon the Master Controller and start looking for a way to log out.
More tutorial minigames to get you used to your Avatar are available, the touch screen said. Would you like to play them? In one corner again, Press A: More Tutorial Minigames. In another, Press B: Finish Tutorial and Go to Setup. Jon smashed B.
Alright. Let's Set Up your Profile! Jon groaned internally, and pressed A. One moment while we download all your Personal Data... appeared with a loading wheel. Is this you? appeared after a while.
Jon blinked. Somehow, Immersion Arcade had already found his full legal name, his birth date, his Social Security Number, his phone number, his email, his Discord account, his Steam Profile, and various other accounts of Jon's all correctly identified in a matter of seconds. Jon hit yes.
Is ALL of this you? it warned again, for some reason Jon didn't quite understand. "Probably just so people don't mash A," he thought, and smashed A. One moment while we set up your profile...
Done. Would you like to choose a Screen Name, and a Profile Picture now? (This can always be done later). Feeling no desire to play dress-up when he just wanted a way out at the moment, Jon skipped out on profile customization for now.
Alright. Now, we can get into Immersion Arcade proper! All around Jon started appearing hovering icons, squares with rounded corners, menu items that invited comparison enough to the first target earlier that Jon was sure he could select them just by throwing the Master Controller at them. Most notably and obviously, of course, was the icon for a proper video game, not just the Menu he'd been fooling around in. This game was chosen especially for you, Jon Gibson! Flashed around the game icon. For you, it's free! Beat it to the specified Trial Goal, and your First Trial of Immersion Arcade will be over. More features for your Arcade will be unlocked then!
Jon hardly spared a glance at the game that was apparently chosen "just for him". He was busy scrolling through the little version of the Main Menu on the Master Controller's touch screen. "Let's see, game, profile, network, store, settings, log out-... AHA! LOG OUT!" Jon smashed the button.
As anyone more genre-savvy than Jon would expect, nothing happened.
Impatiently he tried again. This feature is locked until you have finished your Trial, the Arcade told him.
"What!? What the fuck kind of game platform stops you from logging out until you've finished a trial run!?" Jon fumed at the blatant appeal to tropes over sensible business practice. "Whatever. Hopefully whatever this game this is will be finished quickly," Jon's inner monologued bitched and rationalized while he threw the Master Controller at the icon.
That game was not finished quickly.
