Question on how to approach development

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TheJerminator15
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Question on how to approach development

#1 Post by TheJerminator15 »

Currently after a break due to personal reasons, I have begun working on my main project again with a renewed passion and with an eye to create a team to development and potentially release it as a commercial product by the end of the year. However, given that my project is most likely going to be extremely lengthy in terms of story (something I was aware of from the beginning). Because of this, I have hit a crossroads on how I want to approach the development.

My original process was to split the story into two commercial products, one establishing the setting with three branching routes and the final game expanding on the true end of each of these routes. As you can see given the original idea was so large I deemed it necessary to split the story. I saw this as the most feasible option given that it'd introduce the world, establish an audience, would reduce the risk of me burning out on the project and if the game did not sell well, it would be wrapped up enough as a narrative that in a creative sense I'd be fine with dropping it.

However after discussing with some fellow developers recently at length, I've also begun to question this method. They have been stressing to me that I should in fact use an episodic format, which would arguably build an audience and a commercial return more consistently, as well as allow me to release the game more frequently (albeit the parts of the story would be smaller). My main issue with this is that I doubt I would be able to retain team members for this long, considering the scope of my story, which also makes me want to stick with my original plan.

I have completed projects previously which I haven't released, but they were very small and also mainly 3D based. I do have the story planned and ready to write, but I don't want to commit to such a large project without having properly considered all options since I will at the very least finish the first story arc/the first game. I would also be my first commercial project.

TL:DR, do any of you have experience with large scope projects and/or episodic development? If so, are there any common pitfalls I should avoid and practices to take into account? And is there anything else I should take into consideration before fully commiting to a plan and trying to recruit? Any discussion on the topic is welcome.
My Current Writing Project: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=37699
Manipulation Teaser Demo: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BzJ4E ... zV6TWVaclk

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papillon
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Re: Question on how to approach development

#2 Post by papillon »

Openly episodic games from an unknown producer are a huge red flag that stop people from being willing to buy in, because of how very, very frequently a newbie developer does not actually finish the series. There's a common loop of failure, in which new developers make games episodic "to judge interest", people are afraid to buy the episode because they aren't sure the story will be completed, interest therefore seems to be low, the developer drops the series, and voila, yet another episodic series bites the dust.

Many, many episodic failures are so completely forgotten that it would take time to dredge them up for examples. Others, the developer is still in business and thus able to argue that they will finish the series eventually. Just because it's been two years since the introductory episode doesn't mean part two (or part one) won't come out someday! (This is true. It may. But I don't think you can call it building a happy audience or a consistent commercial return at that point.)

just to dig around for a few games that never (or at least not yet) got past the first part:

http://store.steampowered.com/app/248800/
http://store.steampowered.com/app/375200/
http://store.steampowered.com/app/358770/
http://store.steampowered.com/app/345700/

That's just the easy obvious finds.

That doesn't mean episodic can never work, but it needs to be approached with caution. My usual suggestions are to either:
- have more than one episode finished before you release the first one, so that you can guarantee a steady stream of releases
- make the first episode standalone so that it's a complete product in itself and people won't be left hanging, don't call it an episode, do the rest as sequels

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TheJerminator15
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Re: Question on how to approach development

#3 Post by TheJerminator15 »

papillon wrote:Openly episodic games from an unknown producer are a huge red flag that stop people from being willing to buy in, because of how very, very frequently a newbie developer does not actually finish the series. There's a common loop of failure, in which new developers make games episodic "to judge interest", people are afraid to buy the episode because they aren't sure the story will be completed, interest therefore seems to be low, the developer drops the series, and voila, yet another episodic series bites the dust.
That's actually a really good point I had completely forgotten about, as my main worry was the time it would take to complete an episode/the entire story given that it frankly wouldn't be that suited for such a format. Personally, I'd much rather release a working prototype/demo for people to experience and judge the game on.

My plan for both was to have the story mostly finished by the beginning of summer and then creating a team, so even if I did create an episodic format, I could have enough material to immediately produce practically all of the episodes. But in all honesty, given that it's not suited for those type of releases and as you have pointed out it generally doesn't work out well, I feel far more comfortable releasing two large products instead of episodes. Thanks for the reply!
My Current Writing Project: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=37699
Manipulation Teaser Demo: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BzJ4E ... zV6TWVaclk

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