Scope RPG

Encounter Intro ​

Before every arena fight, a short cinematic plays: the opponent's avatar class portrait, their name, their level, and a narrative line setting the scene. It's the arena's signature "you are about to fight this specific person" moment.

Arena encounter

What the Intro Shows ​

The encounter intro is a fullscreen overlay that appears between matchmaking and the battle:

  • Opponent's class portrait - the default class artwork (Knight, Wizard, Archer, Rogue) or the opponent's uploaded profile picture if they have one, in a framed presentation.
  • Their name - the display name they chose.
  • Level and class - for example, "Level 12 Wizard".
  • A narrative line - a short piece of flavor text framing the encounter: "[Name] crosses your path and stares you down menacingly!"

Elements appear with staggered fade-in and slide-in animations over about a second; the intro holds for a few seconds, then fades and the battle begins.

Why the Intro Exists ​

The intro is doing three jobs:

  • It frames the opponent as a person, not an abstraction. Matchmaking produced a random player - the intro gives that player a face, a name, and a class, so the fight feels like an encounter rather than a dice roll.
  • It gives you a moment to read the matchup. A full second or two of "this is a Level 12 Wizard" lets you clock what you're up against before the rolls start.
  • It mirrors the boss fight's drama. The soldier phase ends with a "Boss Phase!" interstitial; the arena ends with an encounter intro. Both serve the same narrative beat - this is the moment - in different contexts.

Leaderboard PvP Doesn't Use the Intro ​

The encounter intro only plays for arena matches. Leaderboard PvP, where you manually pick an opponent, skips it entirely - the match goes straight from your pick to the battle.

Why the asymmetry

In the arena, you didn't choose the opponent; the intro tells you who you got. In leaderboard PvP, you already know who you picked - an intro would be redundant. Keeping the intro arena-only reinforces the arena's "surprise encounter" framing.

Skipping the Intro ​

You can't skip the intro. It plays at its designed pace, every match. The total length is a few seconds - short enough not to slow the arena loop, long enough to actually feel like a moment.

After the Intro ​

Once the intro fades, the battle begins. Because the arena uses the auto-battle model, you're immediately in the fight - Speed decides who goes first, turns strictly alternate, basic attacks only, no input required.