A friend joins halfway through the story, so which earlier moments need a recap?

Showing a newcomer everything they missed is boring, and showing nothing leaves them lost. The right recap is neither. This entry shows how to pick only the missed moments that the next scenes really depend on, using the story's own links between moments.

Why this works

A recap is only worth the time it takes to watch if it saves the newcomer from confusion. What a scene leans on, directly or through other moments, is what can confuse; everything else is just history.

When not to use it

Skip it when the story does not build on earlier scenes, or when the newcomer is expected to explore on their own. Also do not guess the links yourself: if nobody wrote them down, a short plain summary is better.

In the full entry

• What to build, step by step
• Starting values and the reason for each
• 3 common mistakes and the fix
• 24 lines of example code with 4 checks that pass
• How your AI shows you that it works

Say this to your AI

Use the Spielerando entry "A friend joins halfway through the story, so which earlier moments need a recap?" (read_entry recap-beats-needed-for-a-late-joiner) in my game. Build it step by step, and show me how you checked that it works.

Or skip this and connect the MCP: your AI then finds all of this by itself.Connect the MCP