I am kicking around the idea of making a fixed-length game. Playing from beginning to end would last exactly 1 hour. I think of it similar to watching a television show, where the viewer knows exactly how long the entertainment will last. Is this completely unusual for a game?
I’ve never heard of that, but certainly some of the later Final Fantasy games play sort of like movies. Funky idea!
-Jon
Hey Randy,
A really good article on “Episodic Games” can be found here http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20070103/sanchez_01.shtml
It’s right in line with what you are thinking.
I think it is a great idea, what would be cool is to sell access to such content at $1.99 a pop…or less.
i think its a great idea (the first thing that popped in my head was “24” - and that seems to be working out well ; )
IMO, while technically speaking i guess it would be “eposodic”, i think you should steer clear of the “just a smaller portion of a larger game” thing like HL. i would set up scenarios that use the time factor creatively force you to always be aware of the time you have left - a few possibly cliche examples could be to stop a specific timed event from happening or maybe defuse a bomb (Bomb Squad, the game ; ) etc.
i’m curious what you come up with keep us posted.
Dingo, Thanks for the link… good article.
The $1.99 per episode is a cool idea. Basically, I’m guessing an episode would equal a ‘level’. And that each new episode would extend the game’s plot/storyline. This is interesting in a number of ways…
- At only $1.99 per episode, there isn’t really a need to offer a free demo.
- At only $1.99 people may not bitch so much of they have a problem with the game. Not trying to get out of support, just saying.
- Episodes are released at irregular intervals. Which could spark “random interval reinforcement” behavior in customers; they get obsessed with checking-in for new episodes.
- Releases the game in episodes, gives the developer time to incorporate customer feedback.
Episodic releases would cause some issues/problems:
- $1.99 is a low sales price and could be eaten-up by transaction costs.
- At only $1.99 per episode, is 10 times less than the normal $19.99 indie game price.
- Could be confusing for the customer. People may not ‘get’ the idea of episodic releases.
An alternative design for an hour long game would be to cap the gameplay at an hour with some kind of in-game event. Then allow the player to make headway throughout gameplay to alter the event somehow. So you can play it multiple ways with multiple outcomes, but always an hour each time. Might be suitable for a mystery/murder game, but could work for a variety of genres.
One of the things I am trying to do is to get around that transaction cost is by creating a cart/user system that works using a “quasi” micropayment system.
Basically, what I would like to do is create a system where one comes to my site, and creates a user login, and can buy credits(dingo duckets).
For example you would be able to buy credits in $5, $10, $20, $50 and you get a discount for more purchasing more credits. One thing that is good about such a system is that you can give free credits as promotions. And you can then roll that into selling other virtual game assets for credits. Or even merchandise.
The hardest thing for me is finding a shopping cart/user management system that supports a “purse” type system. I have been looking everywhere. May have to do it custom in asp or php.
One of the BEST examples of such a system is iStockphoto.com On their site they give you a few “credits” just for creating a log in, or you can buy chunks of credits. Their system was a custom implementation.(If I could find a cart that could do this it would be great).
Another problem is deciding to make the customer interface as a webpage or inside of a Unity player itself. (Definitly leaning towards webpage). It will be way easier for doing secure transactions using a webpage.
Looking at new ways of doing things, I was thinking of television, where you get an hours episode each week. But in game world instead. A “weekly release”-yes, hard work, (or a well organised team), and the thing of selling it bit by bit came up as an issue…
So then I thought why not sell a “season”…A one off payment that buys 8 “episodes”, drip fed each week…Or maybe buy 1 and if you like it, buy as many as you want/can afford…
The idea is to get something(other than multiplayer) that feels like"this is a work evolving that I the player feel part of"…work up that “cult of” aspect.
Maybe using the “load image from web using www class” you could change in game newspaper headlines, players could email in “ads” that appear in the personals section of the paper etc…
Personally I dont really ever miss episodes of 24, or Prision break. I dig watching certain comedies on a regular basis but thats cause we’re pretty broke!
Its good to throw these ideas around
AC
Personally I am a HUGE comic book fan, and I never miss an issue of my favorite comics and go to the comic store every Wednesday for new issues. I think a new game episode every month would be plenty.
Heck there are comic books that I wait for that only come out every 2 months.
Comics have proven that monthly is a proven model for people to wait for content. And that would be a good development cycle. Basically a month to create a new level.
I was also thinking that once someone completes a level they always have access to it, so they can go play that level again if they wanted.
Another thing that will be of critical importance will be to allow people to “gift” levels to others.
Also another good article to look at is “The Long Tail” by Chris Anderson http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.10/tail.html
and his blog and link to his book http://longtail.typepad.com/the_long_tail/
I think a crucial aspect to episodic game releases would be story plot. For instance, I don’t see Zuma working well as a episodic type of game, but something like Myst would work well.
But thats just me, maybe I’m wrong.
–thats an excellent way of putting it!
For some reason I like this guy.
Here’s something for you Randy: Keep them for the hour, but offer the player differing outcomes within the game (left turn into building reveals something, had they taken the right turn they’d find something else down alley). So they’ve taken a set route/s out of several possible routes: At the end of the hour the ‘episode’ will end differently depending on the route (including inventory, knowledge, etc) taken. Save the state of play.
Next ‘episode’: Load the saved state from the previous hour and continue through to the end of the hour. Rinse, repeat.
The ‘one hour’ requirement will reduce the wandering around looking for everything to do/carry, and produce a more focused state of mind, to end the hour as best they can in order to carry on.
Could be a fan puller for saved state swaps.
A ‘film type’ plot might work, at the end of a set of ‘episodes’ the states could be submitted for appraisal by fellow players (the saved states could be compressed by tagging points during play and using Unity like Machinima for the ‘film’ playback). Youtube’s there, might as well use it.
Cheers,
Luis.
With regular games, this is a great philosophy - let the player have a number of paths, multiple endings, etc. But if each one-hour episode has one branching point, then each one will become more and more unweildy. The second episode will require twice as much content to be made as the first, with no added benefit. The third episode, 4 times. Etc etc, until the developer smashes head into keyboard. Episodic games need to remain fairly linear to remain manageable.
The main difference is that after you’re done with one ending of Chrono Trigger, it’s very easy and tempting to go back and beat it again, and again, with different endings each time. But unless all the episodes are created concurrently, you won’t be able to get the same kind of replay value from a nonlinear episodic title.
Additionally, an episodic game would benefit strongly from a tight community - sharing ideas, strategies, rumors about what’s going to happen in the next episode. But as each one diverges, the community would have less and less in common.
Idea 1:
Rather than Monthly gigs, what about quarterly? So we could max out the Seasonal aspect of the set design? Theres heaps to pump into The seasonal theme alone, with nice trees, dramatic moody weather/music, etc…
Idea 2:
Maybe if you got through the four seasons, you get to play the first again but with a new toolset, a key to unlock new prefabs? In the mean time a customer has brought 4 releases and is genuinely on board and their first purchase can be played again thru new eyes?
Using the www class you could let people load their own photos In by making the website in public domain for different things. You could even make it so everytime the origional guy plays the origional game, the decor is changed by the developer who is fiddling with the WWW textures…Newspapers, Clothes, Lightmaps. I wonder if you could make so if you play at night, theres nightime lightmaps, and by day, the lightings different. Can you change things like lights via WWW?
If we could make something that keeps us employed by being ongoing, successful and cultish, thats got to be a good way for an indie dev to work…
Maybe it has to be cool, and funny?
AC
I generally like the idea too. Some sort of fixed length episodic game would work well. Probably more like Tragos said at one point though … do a “season” of episodes or games at various intervals over a year or so. But it’s a cool idea and an excellent way to ensure (given a good game and story/gameplay naturally) that players come back for more each time … which then leads to more $.
Ron and I estimate that if we ever went full-time (that is, abandoned our well-paying jobs and made our wives and kids live in bug-infested apartments for a year) that we could: a) make a go of it cerating fun, simple games with Unity, and b) might be able to turn out two or three per year (one every four-six months or so).
Games that specifically last an hour? Maybe four to six per year, if you’re good.
I definitely think quarterly works. And that offers time for marketing and merchandising.
Think limited edition action figures, animated 30min dvd, candy, stuffed toys.
Another example would be the Japanese anime OVA market. One dvd will come out quarterly(sometimes longer). With the main money being made on merchandising.
I think the first people to use this type of model well, will be the new “wizkids” in video games.
Certainly among the new whizkids, absolutely. Look at the guy whose done the two professor Fizzwhizzle games. And the large number of very cool indie games that are out there (Gish, Eets, etc).
Neil Carter should be looking at merchandising his Phoenix game with schwag we can all purchase in addition to the game. And I can already see an “episode 2” of the game.
If I remember correctly, the original version of Picmin had a fixed, real-time time-limit, only it was many, many hours instead of one. Unfortunately, it didn’t resonate with playters, so they re-released the game without that aspect, much to Sigero Miyamoto’s dismay.
Your game sounds a little different, conceptually, but I figured I’d add this bit of info to the thread for edification.
Really? Wow never heard of this…