The Adventuress

Episodic Game Feature on Gamasutra

by Amber on January 3rd, 2007

My, oh, my, I do love my RSS feeder, as it gives me much insight and quicker than ever news from my ever so favorite sites, such as Gamasutra. Today, I found a pretty interesting article that just hit the RSS feeder called Why Bother With Episodic Games? by Gamasutra vice president, Rick Sanchez.

Sanchez poses the previous question of “what’s the dang point of episodic games” and then gives the following reasons as to why you SHOULD play episodic games:

1. Changing consumer behaviors as a result of digital delivery
2. The opportunity for innovation in game design
3. The increasingly challenging model for traditional shrinkwrapped PC content

I’d say I would have to agree with these reasons, all though, like Sanchez says, there are PLENTY other reasons to play episodic games.

Let’s take number one for example. Sanchez makes the point to say that people have been using digital distribution for YEARS, even before the iTunes and Napster craze. People know how to find what they want on the internet, download it and be content without having to leave the comfort of sitting in their underwear at their desk chair. Hell, I’m sitting here right now in my underwear, all nice and comfy. That’s FREEDOM right there, people.

Okay, actually I’m at work and being in my underwear is NOT a good idea. But whatever.

Digital delivery also provides you with smaller games, because again, people don’t want to have to wait forever to download a game. Since we do have these smaller episodic games, it’s easier to sit down for a two hour span and play it all the way through without becoming bored with a 40 hour epic game drama. I know there are a lot of people out there who would happily sit and play Final Fantasy XII all the way through, without eating, drinking, bathing or sleeping. I, however, am not one of those people. I like my games short, because I like little goals, not these huge gigantic ones. This is the reason that I don’t play World of Warcraft for more than 2 week periods, because I get bored. I’m assuming I’m not the only person in the world that has this “problem”.

One game I would love to finish, but can’t bring myself to, because of the SHEER EPICNESS

When Sam and Max: Culture Shock came out, I beat the thing in 2 hours and I actually felt satisfied over the shortness of it. This, in general, is why I like adventure games on a whole more than other genres. Adventure games tend to be short, maybe a total of 15 hours of play time, which is right up my alley.

Episodic gaming at it’s best.

The second point Sanchez makes, The opportunity for innovation in game design, is probably one of the best things to ever happen to games. With the time it takes to create full length, store bought games, a person could wait 5 or 6 years before they see the implementation of any new innovation to their favorite game series.

What’s more is that if you have a problem with some of the content of one of these games and you put in your two cents and the developer says “hey, that’s a great idea” and they totally plan on implementing your idea… well… guess what? Another 5 or 6 years before you see what’s going to happen.

With these episodic games, you can go to TellTale Games forums, whine that a puzzle was way too hard and if other people feel the same way, I’m willing to bet TellTale will not add another puzzle like that to another episode of a game. So, you get to say what’s on your mind and maybe you can help these developers create a much better game.

The third topic Sanchez mentions, The increasingly challenging model for traditional shrinkwrapped PC content is a valid point as well. With these episodic games, as I mentioned in the previous topic, you get to have a lot of innovation. You can see what works and what doesn’t work for your viewers and if something that’s new and has never been done in a game before is well received by players, these big, traditional shrinkwrapped PC games will have to come up with new innovative pieces to put in their games to get people to continue to go to the store and buy your game.

One thing Sanchez says towards the end of the article kind of piqued my interest. He says the following:

There are over 230 million PCs in use in the United States alone, and PCs are present in 78% of homes according to the Computer Industry Almanac. There are 100 million video game consoles in U.S. households according to The NPD group, with a penetration of 40%. So the PC is, bar none, the most pervasive system on which to play games.

Odd, then, that PC game revenue at retail is estimated at $1.0 billion in 2005, while console game revenue hit $4.6 billion. Even adding in the money generated by digital distribution (MMOs, downloads, etc.), estimated at about $720M in 2005 (and rapidly growing), console games still make nearly three times the revenue.

I can tell you exactly why people prefer to play console games over PC games. It’s way more fun to play your games on a big, 50″ plasma tv, than on your 17″ monitor. Sure, you can hook up your computer to the tv, but most computers, except for the newer ones, require you buy a separate bit of hardware to install into your computer to even get it to play on the big screen. What a pain, right?

What’s more is that PC gamers have the problem that PC games are always pushing the boundaries of what computers can do. For a long time, I couldn’t play Oblivion, because I had a piece of crap computer. I sure as heck don’t have the money to go out and buy a new video card, new RAM or a bigger processor just to play a game.

The thing with consoles is that if you’re developing for a PS2, you know the limits of what the PS2 can do and don’t push it any harder. People can’t just go out and buy new processors or video cards for a PS2. You develop to what your console can handle and that’s it. You can go to Blockbuster, throw in your rented game, and bam, you’re good to go. Speaking of Blockbuster, there aren’t many places you can rent PC games from, either, which I would think would be another drawback.

And what about controllers? When I was playing Dreamfall: The Longest Journey, some time ago, I had the HARDEST TIME EVER using the freaking keyboard to control April and Zoe. I went out, bought a stupid USB controller, plugged it in and then had to go to the game options to set up what each button did. What a pain in the butt. Once again, if you have a console, which button does what is already programmed and you’re ready to play. No set up or anything.

Even Zoe can shop for episodic games in her underwear.

I really enjoyed this article, as it made me happy to see that big magazine companies, like Gamasutra, are fully accepting what episodic gaming can bring to the gamer’s world. It’s good stuff.

Go… read.

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POSTED IN: Cool Articles, Gamasutra