So what happened to breaking games into Episodes?

[HeXen]

Seems some games did fine breaking up games into episodes. HL, Sam and max, tales of monkey island being more recent. Makes sense that some gamers may only play the first few levels or hours of any particular game, so breaking it up as an option along with entire pack later on plus the advantages of quicker releases and the break down of the price?.....So how come more developers has never adopted this?

Was there a fundemental flaw i'm missing or did none of those games sell as well as the publishers hoped and they make more money selling a complete title for $60??

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

It's all about price point comparisons. A new game Episode one at $9.99 or an entire older game online for $9.99?

 

[Anteaus]

Well what you call episodic gaming I call sequels that the developer made on the cheap. I think the premise was that instead of producing a full featured game, they would simply release new storylines that ended up being just a retextured version of the original game. I loved HL2, but only took me about 1 hour of Episode 1 before I felt like I was just playing an extended version of HL2. Maybe for true HL fans this was great, but I'm a casual player and it felt stale. I own the other episodes but yet to even start them.

I can only assume this experience was similar for other gamers.

 

[Red Storm]

A lot of games do this already, they just don't call them episodes. See Call of Duty, Madden, Fifa, etc. Except they still charge full price.

It also doesn't work with every type of game. Could you imagine an Elder Scrolls game split up like that? That would defeat the purpose.

 

[ImpulsE69]

If you like it, do yourself a favor and play EP2. I thought it was far better than Ep1. Granted, the end pisses me since EP3 has never come out

 

[PhatoseAlpha]

Probably lots of reasons. Frequent smaller releases dilute your development budget - but more importantly your marketing budget. You're unlikely to get anywhere near as much coverage on a new episode of a game every 3 months versus once every three years, or even yearly releases.

If you go the "Big release, then DLC" route instead, you get a big profile release and the coverage it brings, plus you get the continuing income from DLC packs. Quite possibly with another surge in interest later on releasing a Game of the Year edition with all the DLC already included.

You take that into consideration, then see that episodic releases don't work real well even when tried by big name developers with their flagship titles (Yes, I'm looking at you Half Life), is it really a surprise there's no rush to adopt the model?

 

[M0oG0oGaiPan]

episode 3

 

[frozentundra123456]

I really liked Sam and Max. It was great for the first year, but kind of got stale after a while in the last year (was it 2 or 3, i dont recall). I think the episode thing makes it easier to get started in a series, but may not be so good for the gamemaker in that they dont get as much of your money up front.
And yes, I played HL2 EP 2. Was all excited that I had "beat" the game after the final battle, but the ending was a real shock and kind of a downer.

 

[Zenoth]

Seems some games did fine breaking up games into episodes. HL, [...]

What.

You think that the episodic part of the Half-Life 2's story arc did "fine"? I think that if it did, we'd have completed Episode Three a few years ago already. Not to mention that Episode One was about... what... three or maybe four hours-long at most? Only Episode Two was really worth it in my opinion. We could argue about Episode One and Two's quality and duration surely, but one thing is for sure, Episode Three is no where to be seen. If episodic content did "fine" with Half-Life then what is Valve waiting for?

Honestly, I still prefer expansion packs. The latest one I bought was Awakening, for Dragon Age: Origins, it was also one of the last few expansion packs that I know of that was made for a major release, and was also made by the original development team, and not some "third-party" team. Generally, I don't like DLCs, but I do prefer DLCs that can sometime provide good content and story progression over a failed episodic content formula any time of the day.

 

[Dankk]

If episodic content did "fine" with Half-Life then what is Valve waiting for?

I think Gabe Newell explicitly stated at one point that the whole episodic thing wasn't working out for them, hence no episode 3. "Half Life 3" would probably be what they're waiting for.

 

[Mike Gayner]

I think Gabe Newell explicitly stated at one point that the whole episodic thing wasn't working out for them, hence no episode 3. "Half Life 3" would probably be what they're waiting for.

Incorrect.

 

[PrayForDeath]

Incorrect.

Pretty sure there won't be an EP3. HL3 will likely come out with a brand new engine.

 

[Golgatha]

If you like it, do yourself a favor and play EP2. I thought it was far better than Ep1. Granted, the end pisses me since EP3 has never come out

There's the problem with this business model right there. A lot of gamers have a bad taste in their mouth from Ep2 because Ep3 hasn't been released, and also a few of us got burned with the Sin episodic content (they released one episode and then dropped the project).

 

[Anteaus]

Pretty sure there won't be an EP3. HL3 will likely come out with a brand new engine.

So since the original engine was called Source, do you think the new engine will be called Spinoff or Offshoot? ahahaha oh wait i'm the only one laughing.

 

[ImpulsE69]

I'm pretty sure the epdisodic part of HL did just fine. I really doubt EP2 didn't make them any money, however they had other cashcows to explore at that time.

 

[DeathReborn]

Valve Time happened to Episodes. The public at large has pretty much forgotten about Episode 3 because Valve have done nothing with it for too long. Other developers then get wind of how bad the public takes no info & no new products poorly so they revert to Console & more Console development. Episodes don't work too well on consoles.

 

[motsm]

There's the problem with this business model right there. A lot of gamers have a bad taste in their mouth from Ep2 because Ep3 hasn't been released, and also a few of us got burned with the Sin episodic content (they released one episode and then dropped the project).

They didn't drop it exactly, they got acquired after they released one episode. Of course that is still an argument against episodic content, so the difference isn't all that important.

 

[Dankk]

Incorrect.

Oh, ok.

Care to elaborate?

 

[blckgrffn]

They didn't drop it exactly, they got acquired after they released one episode. Of course that is still an argument against episodic content, so the difference isn't all that important.

I really liked SIN too... and as far as video game stories, etc. it was fine and there was more CGI boobies to be seen.

That said, I really did play through a few times and enjoyed the different in game titles I was able to earn (that were based on how you were playing the game.)

Something about being a grenade and ammunition hording headshot machine was one of my favorites

 

[AstroManLuca]

A lot of games do this already, they just don't call them episodes. See Call of Duty, Madden, Fifa, etc. Except they still charge full price.

It also doesn't work with every type of game. Could you imagine an Elder Scrolls game split up like that? That would defeat the purpose.

This. Each COD game adds about the same amount of single player content as a typical expansion or episode (4-6 hours), but it costs as much as a full game. COD and most sports games use the same graphics and engine from one year to the next and only make minor gameplay changes.

Halo 3 ODST was similar. It was originally going to be a $30 single player download, but they decided to stick it on a disc and charge $60 instead because... why not?

 

[HeXen]

maybe pay on hours of play up to $60 at which point you get the entire game unlimited time?

Personally, i hear all the time that "i want this game but can't afford it right now" or "i'd like to play this game but not willing to spend $60 or hear the complaints of i paid this much and this game sucks..kinda thing.

How it would also effect piracy if at all, can only be speculated. Just thinking the idea of paying as you play...be it storyline way points or hours of play.

Everyone references HL episodes...well they sold well. Tales of monkey island is more of what i was referencing. All they did was make a complete game and break the storyline up into episodes...not what HL did by making 1 episode then later another. but their idea of quicker releases failed, but theoretically should have worked.

Make a full game, break it up into story way points or hours/quests or what have you.
Madden and Oblivion like games could use the hourly charge up to the full games price limit...that way if you don't like it, you stop. you didnt waste too much money, the Publishers got some at least as apposed to nothing at all or turned pirated.
COD series would just charge more for fewer split up storyline points...if its a short game

just an idea but i think the hourly thing isnt too bad, so long as you can go unlimited once you pay the price limit.

 

[greenhawk]

It's all about price point comparisons.

+1

the HL2 eps were $29.99 USD at release IIRC, and of course, #3 is MIA. Did nto get off to a good start if at all.

1/3 a game and over 1/2 the price of a new game. That was just going to fail.

As to what has been mentioned above, getting a old game that you never played before for $10, makes a partial game/extra levels appear silly.

To add to that though, developers/marketers want as much money for the least amount of work (don't we all?), so DLC has become what they wanted episodes to be. Unfortuntily, DLC also carries with it a lot of extra crap that, unfortunitly, some people are willing to pay for. (ie: Oblivion's armour for the horse. a few dollers just for a skin that did not effect game play and you lost when the horse died).

Overall, I find it is better to spend $10-15 on a indi game than even look at most DLC or episode levels that come out. Of course, I have found a few older games I have missed over the years some how so get them on a steam sale

 

[Anteaus]

This may have already been mentioned, but I was looking through the Half-life wiki page and I found this:

"A final episode, Half-Life 2: Episode Three, has been confirmed to be the next installment of the series"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half-Life_(series)

It wasn't sourced so there is still a chance it's not true, however I think due to Ep.3 conspicious absense and the potential high profile nature of HL3, even without the link its the obvious outcome that they would make it the next major series release. Who knows.