I found a topic on MSDN called Silverlight Splash Screens. It looks promising. If I use the model described in that article, and don't use any image files, and kill the sound, I should be able to make a splash screen that will start immediately, and run while the whole app downloads.
Also learned while creating this brainstorming demo, a Silverlight app should run entirely from MainPage.xaml, and you shouldn't switch between Silverlight apps like my demo is currently doing (the intro and the level are two apps). You should suck all your content into the main page of one app, like it describes here at Silverlight Tip of the Day #84 – How to Dynamically Load a Control from a DLL. You can also suck raw XAML into a frame in your main page, but I'll need whole controls, with coded functionality.
So, the demo isn't much. Just an intro page to set the mood, and then a test layout page for playing. It's funny, but I've had this layout in my mind for ages, thinking it was the best, and now that I see it in practice... I hate it. I hate how busy the screen is. Sure, everything is easy to get to, but the playing frame is too small, and the experience won't be immersive.
The only thing I like is the three videos that play as you mouse over them. I think that mechanism for delivering instructional info is perfect. They let the player view at their own pace.
OMG! The guy who wrote the Tip of the Day article (Mike Snow) wrote a whole book, Game Programming with Silverlight. I'm gonna check it out.
Another thought, after 45-second download time, is the two right-hand windows are the killers. Charts might look more like the right side of the REO metaphor. - b
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