Spelunky is © 2008, 2009 Derek Yu and Mossmouth, LLC, and is used under the [Spelunky User License v1.1b](https://spelunky.ai/LICENSE.txt). spelunky.ai is an unofficial fan project, not affiliated with or endorsed by Mossmouth. The game and its assets may not be sold. Music by George Buzinkai and Jonathan Perry; sound effects made in SFXR. From Spelunky Classic 1.1, © 2008, 2009 Derek Yu and Mossmouth, LLC. # No hint hand after the title's opening From the spelunky.ai wiki: . No hint hand after the title's opening is a quirk of Spelunky Classic in which a new player who watches the opening gets no hand at the START door. | Quirk | | | ------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | [How we know](https://spelunky.ai/wiki#how) | Read in the game's code and seen in the original game running | | Where | [`objects/oTitle/create.gml:64-98`](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/source/objects/oTitle/create#L64-L98) | | Pinned by | [`fidelity/replays/title-first-run-hint-hand.txt`](https://github.com/851-labs/spelunky/blob/ebb9b804d076cb4e81ad3f239dc01016cc07c5cc/fidelity/replays/title-first-run-hint-hand.txt) | | Row | [docs/quirks.md §1, Bugs and leftovers in the 1.1 source](https://github.com/851-labs/spelunky/blob/ebb9b804d076cb4e81ad3f239dc01016cc07c5cc/docs/quirks.md#1-bugs-and-leftovers-in-the-11-source): [“On a first run, the title screen has no hint hand after its opening.”](https://github.com/851-labs/spelunky/blob/ebb9b804d076cb4e81ad3f239dc01016cc07c5cc/docs/quirks.md?plain=1#L86) | On the game's very first run, the [title screen](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/title-screen) has a hint for the new player: a hand pointing at the START door, and PRESS UP TO ENTER! while the player stands under it. But it only appears when the title screen starts with the player already there, after the opening was skipped or on the way back from the [high scores room](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/high-scores-room). A player who watches the opening through gets no hint. It may be by design; the code doesn't say. ## What happens On a first run, the opening plays through and the player walks to the START door: no hand points at it, and no text shows. He goes into the high scores room and comes back out, and now the hand is over the START door, with PRESS UP TO ENTER! while he stands under it[^1]. **Clip: No hint hand after the title's opening.** On the game's first run, the title's opening plays through and the player walks to the START door: no hand points at it, and no PRESS UP TO ENTER! shows. He goes into the high scores room and comes back out, and now the hand is over the START door, with the text while he stands under it. ([video](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/media/clips/quirks/title-no-hint-hand/clip.mp4)) ## Why A run is a first run while the high scores table holds none of the game's own entries, as on the very first start, when the game writes its starting table[^2]. That table doesn't pass the same test, so even resetting the high scores doesn't make another first run. The title screen's create event then makes the hand (`oHintHand`) in each of its ways of starting with the player already in the room, but not in the opening's: ```gml objects/oTitle/create.gml:64-89 if (global.titleStart == 0) { darkness = 1; alarm[0] = 50; with oScreen { canPause = false; } //instance_create(280, -32, oPDummy4); //instance_create(280, 32, oFlare); } else if (global.titleStart == 1) // start at highscore door { player = instance_create(432+8, 184, oPlayer1); player.facing = 19; instance_create(320+280, 188, oFlare); with oScreen { canPause = true; } playMusic(global.musTitle, true); if (global.firstTime) instance_create(384, 144, oHintHand); } else if (global.titleStart == 2) // start at rope { player = instance_create(320+280, 184, oPlayer1); player.facing = 18; instance_create(320+280, 188, oFlare); with oScreen { canPause = true; } playMusic(global.musTitle, true); if (global.firstTime) instance_create(384, 144, oHintHand); } ``` [`objects/oTitle/create.gml:64-89`](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/source/objects/oTitle/create#L64-L89), from `spelunky.gmk`, Spelunky Classic 1.1's source, © 2008, 2009 Derek Yu and Mossmouth, LLC ([Spelunky User License v1.1b](https://spelunky.ai/LICENSE.txt)). The opening ends with the Spelunker climbing down the rope and becoming the player, without the room starting again, so nothing makes the hand after it[^3]. A key pressed during the opening starts the room again the second way, at the rope, which does make it[^4]. The hand draws its text while the player is within 8 pixels of it[^5]. The START door then takes a first run to the [Tutorial](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/tutorial) and ends it, so the hand is gone for good[^6]. ## Reproducing it Start the game for the very first time, with no high scores, watch the title's opening through and walk to the START door: there's no hand. Go into the SCORES door and back out, and the hand is there. The replay of the clip does both, then goes into the START door, to the Tutorial[^7]. Another replay skips the opening with the attack key instead, and has the hand from the start[^8]. ## In the port The spelunky.ai port reproduces it exactly: it's in docs/quirks.md's list of the 1.1 source's oddities[^6], and the oracle's fingerprints of the two replays pin when the hand is made. No option turns it off. ## FAQ ### What does the hand on the Spelunky Classic title screen mean? It's a hint for a new player: it points at the START door, and PRESS UP TO ENTER! shows while the player stands under it. It's there only until the first game starts. ### Why is there no hand on the title screen the first time? The title screen makes the hand only when it starts with the player already standing in it: with the opening skipped, or back from the high scores room. After the whole opening there's none. ### Is the missing hand a bug? Perhaps not: nothing in the code says whether it's meant. But a player who skips the opening gets the hint, and one who watches it doesn't. ## See also - **Related:** [Title screen](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/title-screen) ## References [^1]: Clip [quirks/title-no-hint-hand](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/title-no-hint-hand#clip-quirks-title-no-hint-hand) [^2]: [`objects/oGlobals/create.gml:57-68`](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/source/objects/oGlobals/create#L57-L68) [^3]: [`objects/oPDummy4/step.gml:19-25`](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/source/objects/oPDummy4/step#L19-L25) [^4]: [`objects/oTitle/step.gml:1-23`](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/source/objects/oTitle/step#L1-L23) [^5]: [`objects/oHintHand/draw.gml:1-14`](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/source/objects/oHintHand/draw#L1-L14) [^6]: [“On a first run, the title screen has no hint hand after its opening.”](https://github.com/851-labs/spelunky/blob/ebb9b804d076cb4e81ad3f239dc01016cc07c5cc/docs/quirks.md?plain=1#L86), [docs/quirks.md §1](https://github.com/851-labs/spelunky/blob/ebb9b804d076cb4e81ad3f239dc01016cc07c5cc/docs/quirks.md#1-bugs-and-leftovers-in-the-11-source) [^7]: Replay [`fidelity/replays/title-first-run-hint-hand.txt`](https://github.com/851-labs/spelunky/blob/ebb9b804d076cb4e81ad3f239dc01016cc07c5cc/fidelity/replays/title-first-run-hint-hand.txt), which the clip [No hint hand after the title's opening](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/title-no-hint-hand#clip-quirks-title-no-hint-hand) plays [^8]: Replay [`fidelity/replays/title-first-run-skip-opening.txt`](https://github.com/851-labs/spelunky/blob/ebb9b804d076cb4e81ad3f239dc01016cc07c5cc/fidelity/replays/title-first-run-skip-opening.txt) ### Source code - [`objects/oTitle/create.gml`](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/source/objects/oTitle/create) - [`objects/oTitle/step.gml`](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/source/objects/oTitle/step) - [`objects/oPDummy4/step.gml`](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/source/objects/oPDummy4/step) - [`objects/oHintHand/draw.gml`](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/source/objects/oHintHand/draw) - [`objects/oGlobals/create.gml`](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/source/objects/oGlobals/create)