Title Screen

When you boot up OpenArena, the first thing you’ll see after the game maker’s and distributor’s logos and shout-outs is the title screen. Way back, this screen would give you all your game choices (single player, multiplayer, and how to set up your controls). But nowadays, a lot of games use the title screen just as a fancy front page. This might be because it’s also working behind the scenes, getting all the main menu’s graphics ready. Older video and computer games had pretty basic menu pages, sometimes with some cool pre-made art.

In arcade games, they flash the title screen during the ‘attract mode’ loop, usually after showing off some gameplay. It’s there to get you to drop some coins and take a shot at the high scores. For consoles, if the title screen’s separate from the main menu, it’s telling you to hit ‘start’. Computer games? They’re all about that “Hit any key” life. And systems that don’t have a “Start” button? They make up their own rules. Like the Wii, which usually tells you to press a combo of buttons at the same time – think Super Mario Galaxy 2 or Mario Party 9. Games made by fans? They love to give a nod to the original title that inspired them.