Game split into episodes - any thoughts?

[Alessio]

Hello Renaiers,

The game I am working on would lend itself to an episodical structure (not unlike single episodes of an Anime series): Apart from beginning, end, and some key episodes, this would leave a lot of room for additional story.

This brought me to the intriguing idea of offering/asking other people for cooperation on the middle part of the game, especially since I'm sure this would add fresh ideas to the plot.

Now the questions I ask myself (and hope to discuss with you) are the following:

1. Creating a multitude of episodes would require some time. Is it acceptable to release only the beginning of a game? This may motivate people to invent new episodes for the story, but is this also an unsatisfying approach for people who only want to play the game?

2. If episodes are added to the game bit by bit, the resulting overall plot will be quite linear, since earlier episodes weren't written with later episodes in mind. Forking paths are difficult to achieve with self-containing episodes. How to avoid being stuck with a linear plot?

Thanks for sharing your opinions.

Cheers,
Alessio

[mikey]

Reinaiers???
Okay, to the point:

It's easy to get carried away with game length this way, becuase one sees the project as a versatile platform onto which guest writers/makers could mount their own story branches. If you want something like this, I think it could work, provided it really is planned small for starters and planned very well - the chain is only as strong as its weakest element. The story should be a non-story in this respect. Something like Marry Me Misato, where each guest writer would make a game block which could be inserted into the whole project, describing one failed attempt to marry Misa. (and don't get any ideas now, she's mine!) This way you could finish the project at any time by simply saying enough and inserting the epilogue. The game wouldn't be in danger of staying unfinished.

But if you want the episodes to be something like in Heart De Roommate, I'd advise to plan the project as a whole, because you can lose overal game consistency very quickly. Simply put: Make the game first (with small autonomous plot units) and slice it into episodes later.

Town Heat may be an example of a game divided into parts.

All in all, I am one of those who never watch anime until the very final episode is let's call it "available" So I'd prefer a completed game if I had a choice. Hmmm, that's my opinion

[Sai]

I agree with mikey. It will leave things open, but in this situation, whereby enthusiasm is easily lost, having a plan and sticking to it, is key to completion.
I don't know if episodes format will increase enjoyment though. It would feel more like someone releasing a demo, rather than a completed game, since it'd only be part of a game.
But then again, sometimes I'm the same as mikey whereby I like to get an anime series in one go and watch it through.... (but that's also cos I'm lazy... I mean er too busy to keep up with things XD )

Either way have fun with your project and I wish you all the best.

[RedSlash]

Actually I like the idea. I'd be interested in how it'll turn out. Whatever you do, don't make a flashback episode ....

[Alessio]

Thanks for the input!

Mikey, I see the problem of getting all these episodes to match. Since it's definitely not a non-story this time, it probably makes sense to keep it in the hands of one author. And don't worry, Misato is yours, I'm more of a fan of Hitomi/Cat's Eye anyway... :)

Sai, that's a good point. The work might evolve into an endless one and never reach the end. I guess I'll rather focus on writing a consistent finished script first, and if there's time and energy left I'll see if I can add some in-between episodes myself.

RedSlash, that's THE idea! By writing chapter after chapter of flashbacks à la Terry Goodkind I could make the game even longer... just kidding. That was a good one! ;)

Cheers!
Alessio

[Eiji]

alesso..
you wouldnt be the first to release a game in "pieces"...
the classic "Arabian Nights" for the PC and PS2 was originally done this way..

you could download a part of it...then if you liked it you could pay to get the next piece.. or even d-load the whole thing for one price...

[Yang Sei Fu]

Say hello to KEY's Planetarian, the first by-section Kinetic Novel.

There are plans for Project Journeys to be like this - after all, the game is divided into very clear modules (There are 6 of them in 3 time periods to be exact).

With online purchasing, kinetic-novel concepts, and a element of novelty, what doesn't go?

[PyTom]

A similar, if not totally the same concept for a dating sim would be to have one that takes place in realtime, or at least semi-realtime. That is, a game would last a month, and the user could only play it at a rate of one day a day. If the user failed to play it on a given day, then it would be the equivalent of not showing up at all on that day... which could be the game equivalent of a girl being stood up.

I'm not sure how original the idea is... probably not very. Something similar featured in the Ringo manga (which is about DS creators), and it wouldn't surprise me to learn that someone else has actually done this in reality.

The game itself would be produced all at once.

It's not a concept I plan to work on anytime soon, as I plan to focus on smaller projects for the time being.

[Tage]

PyTom: Talk about a lonely person (not you, the one who would play it every minute of the day), lol...but it would actually be awesome. The only drawback is creating enough content to keep the game interesting that long.

[PyTom]

I think the idea wouldn't be to play every minute of the day... but rather, that they would have to play for a few minutes every day, or most every day.

[Megaman Z]

2. If episodes are added to the game bit by bit, the resulting overall plot will be quite linear, since earlier episodes weren't written with later episodes in mind. Forking paths are difficult to achieve with self-containing episodes. How to avoid being stuck with a linear plot?

Password every episode but the first, and make sure you give the password at the end of the episode. if you have a fork, make sure the passwords match up. back when I had an ADRIFT project to be working on, this was the most logical way to still create the large game I wanted with the unregistered version. (the project i'm referring to is loooonnng dead, as are just about all the other projects i've worked on. I still have one I'm working on at school that I may release after school lets out and I can take the diskettes home... provided it doesn't get too big!)

[shadosa]

Password every episode but the first, and make sure you give the password at the end of the episode. if you have a fork, make sure the passwords match up. back when I had an ADRIFT project to be working on, this was the most logical way to still create the large game I wanted with the unregistered version. (the project i'm referring to is loooonnng dead, as are just about all the other projects i've worked on. I still have one I'm working on at school that I may release after school lets out and I can take the diskettes home... provided it doesn't get too big!)

I agree with making passwords if you are using episodes. But There are some games that are episode based that are already out for other systems like PS2 and what not. I would suggest if you have a ps2 and the time to check out a game called "Phantom Brave". That game is put into epsiodes and can give you some ideas.

[Megaman Z]

(OT: welcome to the forums, Shadosa!)

back on topic: I -think- I know what you're getting at, Shadosa, but Phatom Brave was released all at once. I think this person is releasing the games in episodes and is trying to prevent people from "skipping" episodes. (though I think you meant the DOT Hack series. If so... you didn't see this post!)

(proceeds to run away from Shadosa, knowing that he's going to hit me really, really, really hard!)

[Alessio]

I wouldn't actually mind a player skipping episodes. I kind of see it like an Anime series with rather static episodes in the middle. Basically, having story development in the 1st and last third of the story, with the middle just adding to the atmosphere, which thus could be played in any order.

The password idea is a very good one, so there's no need for save-game files. The "episodes" could accept more than just one password each, so that an "episode" could give a slightly different styory depending on the password given. Sounds good to me.

Anyway, this is just for brainstorming. I kind of want to get the ideas straight before it's too late (i.e. before the script is finished, and then it's too late to change).

Thanks again for the input!