Is Episodic the way to go?

[EwanG]

Was interested to see this Dischan announcement this morning:
https://dischan.org/devblog/2013/01/dys ... ouncement/

Basically looks like they are doing an episodic/serial VN and charging $5/installment. From a purely commercial standpoint I would think they would do better to make the first one free and then charge after that once you have the reader hooked, but then I am hardly in a position to make that argument

Just curious whether y'all think this is the start of something, or just the start of one thing?

[KomiTsuku]

Was interested to see this Dischan announcement this morning:
https://dischan.org/devblog/2013/01/dys ... ouncement/

Basically looks like they are doing an episodic/serial VN and charging $5/installment. From a purely commercial standpoint I would think they would do better to make the first one free and then charge after that once you have the reader hooked, but then I am hardly in a position to make that argument

Just curious whether y'all think this is the start of something, or just the start of one thing?

They aren't the first to try episodic nor will they be the last. The problem is that it is heavily dependent on continued work. Due to the number of episodic series that don't tend to get very far, people are understandably leery of them. I don't honestly see them being all that successful.

[TheGuraGuraMan]

Do as you want, I don't see any problem about that, it would be like buying a manga...

[jack_norton]

I am not sure, some people dislike something exactly because is episodic. I remember some complaints for Heileen or Vera Blanc because they said "the story is not complete" or other similar things.

Walking Dead was episodic but I remember they had lots of delays, it was hard for a big company to keep a release schedule of 1 episode every 2 months. And every wait was cause of frustration/disappointment by the players (but I think because they were eager to play the next episode )

Beside what players think (they're not always right) I think is also risky to say that a project will be episodic, because if the first game is a flop and you have already worked on the 2nd, will be hard to just finish the 2nd episode (what happened to me with Vera Blanc).

That game visual quality is very good of course, so will be interesting to see how it does. Personally I'm never going to do episodic games again, but series for sure (sequels of previous successful games).

[EwanG]

Do as you want, I don't see any problem about that, it would be like buying a manga...

Oh, I have no personal thought of doing one of these as I would drive myself, and other team members, crazy trying to meet the deadlines. Only way I could see doing it would be to have the whole thing complete, and then release a part at a time since you could be sure you could meet the dates.

Worse, I have to think programming it so that the parts would hang together would be a bit of a pain. I can see how I can save the stats in a file between episodes - but if they do a save file in the middle of part three, and then bring up part two, what am I supposed to think they do/don't know?

[TheGuraGuraMan]

I think we can compare it with manga in a way : the per chapter release in a magazine, then the volume come out with a lot of chaps. What about making two versions ? If there are 4 chapters, the last one can be released alone and you can then add a pack with the 4 in one.

BUT I think each part should have a real end, like for Higurashi/Umineko.

Also, I don't really get what you meant in your last sentence ?

[EwanG]

What I meant is, I presume folks are going to play each chapter as they come out. And I presume I am going to want to save some stats between chapters. Of course I am also going to want to give the player an ability to save their position in a chapter. So perhaps they play through episode 3, and then decide they want to go back to episode 2 to check something out that looks different, etc. So they start up episode 2, and do I pretend that they know nothing about episode 2 even though they've played through it? Or do I give them something to indicate what parts they want to do differently? Or... ?

[TheGuraGuraMan]

You underlined something quite important I completely forgot : episodic aren't a good idea for VN with choices, or at least a game with a real interactivity.
Higurashi and Umineko don't have any, same for the new VN Dischan (I think), that's why they can be episodic.

[SundownKid]

I think episodic works for them because they're doing it on a hobby basis and it will take a lot longer for them to complete the project. They really don't have any other choice in the matter.

[Cardboardbubble]

I'm afraid you need lots of hype to pull a successful episodic game.
Let's look at Tell Tale.
- Using own established fan base.
- Using a IP with established fan base.
- Times between episodes.
- - With returning press for every episode.
- - A hungry returning fan base for the next episode.
- - hungry fan dom active on forums and social media. (See save Doug/Carly)

The walking Dead pretty mush dominated 2012 as an event. If it was a single game release, I don't think I would have cared as mush about it. (Still one of my favoret games of 2012)

Visual novels could work verry well as episodic games. But be ready to plan a lot ahead.

[leon]

You underlined something quite important I completely forgot : episodic aren't a good idea for VN with choices, or at least a game with a real interactivity.
Higurashi and Umineko don't have any, same for the new VN Dischan (I think), that's why they can be episodic.

It may be difficult to pull off, but I think it could work. Mass Effect triology has several hundred choices, that are transferred from episode to episode (and Mass Effect is really a VN in disguise ).

A simpler option is to just continue with the canon version of the story, ignoring all earlier choices in the later episodes. Plenty of sequels of games with choices / multiple endings take this approach. Thou I'm not sure if most sequels can be considered episodic, since they are usually not planned in advance.

[netravelr]

Well, I know that Telltale has a majority of their episodes completed (aside from bug fixes) before they even release the first episode. (I've playtested for them) And for them, their model works because they've proven that they will release the content, usually within a month since the last one going for a more tv-like experience with cliffhangers and the like.

I think the episodic model can work, but people have to assume that what they are getting is of value and that there is an arch of what is going on.

I think the Surviving High School game on iOS does this really well. They do an episode every week, but if you play the game that week, that episode is free for you to play. Otherwise, you need to pay .99 for it or I think $10 for the entire season. You can also purchase the next episode up front for .99 in case you don't like the cliffhanger. Just my .02 of course.

[dramspringfeald]

Depends, can you spend what could easily be a quarter of your life on one game?

[EroBotan]

The problem is that it is heavily dependent on continued work. Due to the number of episodic series that don't tend to get very far, people are understandably leery of them.

For me that's the main interest of episodic method:
- when the 1st episode didn't successful enough, I can simply make the story end there. (the story should be able to stand alone though, otherwise I will have fans raging on my door - and off course I shouldn't market the game as episodic, I should keep that fact for myself)
- Since it's actually only a part of the story, it's faster to produce.

[nyaatrap]

If the story is bigger than the secured deadline, it should be cut into this length. Usually, Length is the fastest thing which should be decided. Story should follow it.

- when the 1st episode didn't successful enough, I can simply make the story end there.

And this is the main reason why almost mangas/novels e.t.c. are episodic. Company can abandon unsuccessful projects anytime before losing huge money and time.