What''s a good amount to have in such a game in order to keep the cost low but still benifit from the episodic format? ( just your Opinions)

For instance, lets say it''s a 2D side scroller. Just hypothetically each episode would contain 3 stages( large stages about a total of 2 hours game play) and would cost $5.00 per episode. Maybe a demo would be the first stage only, but then the epsiode would have that first stage plus 3 more, and from there each episode would have 3 stages each.

Thanx

-Sage13

Are you talking total learning/playing time or the time to play the game from start to finish without dying. The first commercial game I ever produced was a 2d scrolling shoot-em-up. I played elements of the game during development. Once the game reached solid beta test I started playing it from start to finish. Apart from a few crash bugs I spent two weeks (full time) playing the game before I beat it.

I don''t consider myself to be a Joystick Jedi so two weeks was probably about right. Some people would take longer and others would take less time. To play that game through from start to finish took approx 50 minutes, which I think is about right for a shoot-em-up where the player does not save the game but must play from start to finish.

The entire game contained 11 levels but it wouldn''t take an equal amount of the two week learning time to crack each level because of the difficulty curve. We very specifically wanted people to get into the game so the first three levels were very easy. Level one should be finished within five minutes because we wanted to give the player the ego boost or a little victory that would make them continue.

As a promo we produced a 1 level demo of the game. That demo only lasted about 5 minutes but the feedback we got was amazing. This was mainly due to the teaser style of the demo. You played the first level and when you got to the end the big boss came on. You blasted away but before you could kill it the demo timed out. People played it again and again in an attempt to kill it without knowing that the boss had infinite hits so it was impossible to kill it before the demo ended.

Of course for an RPG your demo would be totally different. You would want to get the player much more involved before hitting them for cash. You would want them to make an emotional investment into their character so a larger demo would be required.

Dan Marchant
Obscure Productions

quote: Original post by Obscure
As a promo we produced a 1 level demo of the game...You blasted away but before you could kill it the demo timed out. People played it again and again in an attempt to kill it without knowing that the boss had infinite hits so it was impossible to kill it before the demo ended.

That''s the funniest thing I''ve heard all day.


DavidRM
Samu Games

I''m thinking in terms of player learning, exploration, and eventual completion. Each 3 stage compilaiton would contain about 2 hours of gameplay. This is becasue of all the exploring that you CAN do. Similar to MGS where there is no one way to do anything, or certain linera path. But if they were to know everything I''m guessing that they could go through one particular path throughout the game, maybe the easist path taking 30 minutes (from start to finish of the demo).
Thanx

-Sage13

Something you need to consider is that each episode is not just as hard to create as any other. The first episode requires as much development effort as any other normal game. It''s only after the first episode is create that you have the tools to create additional episodes.

In other words, deciding to release a game as a series of episodes does *not* reduce the cost or effort needed to create the *first* episode.

This is true even of art, sound, and other resources since most of these will be usable in future episodes (how many "comfy chairs" does a series of episodes need?). Sure, you''ll have to create some new, episode-specific resources, but the biggest change from episode to the next is simply storyline.

I mention all this because it seems that some people (and I don''t necessarily mean you, Sage13, you don''t seem that unprepared) seem to think that they can reduce the amount of development and resources needed for a game by releasing it "in pieces", ignoring the fact that an episode is essentially a collection of "levels". And levels can''t be created without a working engine and resources.


DavidRM
Samu Games

Yes. I''ve thought about the preproduction R&D that''s going to be needed to create the game engine before we actually start the production of the episodes and that''s mainly why I have been searching to analyse the feasibility of the whole project on our (Hypothetical figure)$100,000 buget.
Thank you some much for your experienced input and advice.

-Sage13