The Sapphire Claw - thinking about the future
 

As I'm moving into the last stages of the development of Mr. Smoozles Goes Nutso, I've been giving some thought towards what I should do next. Without funding for The Sapphire Claw I was intending to work on Mekapods first. However, this would push back the development of SC too far and I'm thinking of other ways I might move this forward as my next project.

One thing I'm considering is to work on The Sapphire Claw as an episodic game, with each episode coming out every 6-8 months with around 5 or 6 hours of gameplay (perhaps more). Clearly this looks like it's working out well for Telltale Games with Bone and soon with Sam & Max, so I'm hoping I can make it work for me.

Would you be interested in playing The Sapphire Claw as a series of episodes if by doing so you were able to play it sooner? What considerations would I have to take into account? Any other thoughts?

Steve, I think that's an excellent idea, so long as it doesn't sacrefic the quality of any script you might have already. As the game is reminescent of a television show, visually, I think this method would work out quite well, even if it's temperary before you get enough funding for a full developed game.

P.S. I LOVE the Mr. Snozzles comic strips on the site. Keep em up ^^

I personally would prefer a single lengthy game. I wouldn`t care if I had to wait a while longer.

But you got to do what you think is right, and whatever you do, I hope you succeed. :)

PS: SC looks really interesting, so I probably will pick it up no matter what. :D

No. For me and, I think, for lots of other people, episodic games spoil the fun. I'd rather wait months, a year, all the time it takes and then play the full game at once :P If it came out by episodes, I wouldn't consider it.

I would love to see it as an episodic game. Sure, I'd prefer if it was just one monolithic whole, but if it would make it easier for you and if we'd get to play it sooner, than go for it.

But no cliffhangers, please. If in any way possible, make every episode a small, more ot less self-contained story arc, but plan them out so that in the end they all form a bigger story. Kind of like what Sandman did, Bone wasn't as well planned in that regard. In fact, if you could pull that off, I'd prefer it in episodic form. :)

I think Episodic content for fan/indie creations are really great because of the extremely long development times.

I like episodic games and if it would give us the chance to see Sapphire claw earlier - go for it!! Others may have the patience of Job to wait years for a long, single game but I'm not one of them. :P

I kind of like having smaller, shorter games to play along side the bigger ones. It's a nice change of pace.

I am on the fence when it comes to "episodic gaming". On one hand, I feel it's geared toward a specific type of game like a saturday morning cartoon where chapters and snippets work. On the other, I personally enjoy an epic story - one where the game has a beginning and an end. Or at least a full chunk of a bigger story (a la Day of the Tentacle or something). I like the games of yesteryear where you buy and play a full adventure. I specifically hate waiting to play the next piece of the story because (as a friend of mine mentioned) by the time the next episode comes around I have either forgotten the details and/or lost interest in the story. It's not fresh in my mind.

I'm rambling. But really, I prefer a nice long full game rather than something split into episodes. I'm not a big fan of this "episodic gaming" thing. The games just aren't the same.

Episodes can be an ongoing story, like HL2 Aftermath. 3 Episodes with a 6 month wait in between.

There's a hesitation about episodic gaming (see the Telltale forums too). It seems in this day and age of publishing costs and the fight that the adventure genre has to get itself recognized, episodic gaming is a great alternative.

I don't all games should or could go to this but for some I think it's wonderful. I think the one drawback is overcharging for each episode so that after all have been purchased, a big chunk of money has been spent by the gamer.

I lose total interest in episodes. Half Life 2 is such a grand game. I hate waiting around for the next piece of the story. Bone, on the other hand, I am enjoying quite a bit. They improved the second episode. And maybe that's one benefit to episodic gaming - the ability to improve each successive game in smaller chunks. Is Steve's game fit for episodic gaming since it's in the same style as Bone? A saturday morning cartoon affair methinks.

I'm not really sure exactly what about episodic gaming irks me. I would still rather play the whole "Bone" story in one big game. But it's not quite as bothersome as playing a game like Half Life 2 in episodic format. I mean, I can't imagine playing "The Longest Journey" or "Grim Fandango" in episodes. I'm sure whatever format you decide it will still be a fun adventure. But I wanted to chime in that there are those of us who do enjoy a full-fledged contained adventure game.

I agree with you, Eriq. That`s exactly how I feel about episodic gaming, I just didn`t manage to give as good an explanation as you. :)

I think there is room for both.

Episodic gaming is as valid a method of entertainment as TV shows.

Nobody compares TV shows to movies because they tell stories in a completely different format and fashion, but there is something inherently great about tuning in every week to the next episode.

I don't see why people are comparing it to Grim Fandango or TLJ which are the movies and Bone, S&M which are more TV type. (Although with the split for years in GF you could have made it epsiodic).

I'd be happy with episodic as long as the price was right and I liked the game.

That's exactly how I feel. So if the story can be divided in smaller parts that are self-contained enough to feel individually rewarding, then I'm all for an episodic game.

right. This is the point I was trying to get across. Some games are more fit to episodic gaming than others. On the other hand, just because a game like Sam and Max is "cartoony" and able to be fit into "chapters" doesn't mean it can't be grand and epic in scale. Just look at the original Sam and Max game. It was perfect! A nice big chunk of a game with a great big ol' story. I can't imagine playing that in episode format.

My biggest problem with episodic games is that sometimes it can take too long between the episodes. If you can't release at least two episodes a year, stick with the traditional format.

The good thing though about episodic is what to do after feedback. If you spend 6 months making an episode and no-one likes it or, no one likes it enough to keep buying, the maker can say "OK, I wasted 6 months on that, no one likes it, I can stop".
However, this is better than someone spending 2 years on a game, not living up the to the hype, spending more money, looking for a bigger publishing deal, and then no-one liking it and the maker saying "After 2 looong years of battling, it was all for this...". In this respect, an episodic would be better of the two scenarios.

I mean, episodics are like demos but longer. I wouldn't mind even if you make just one episode and, if it goes down a treat, starting a full production game.

Thanks for the great feedback everyone.

There are lots of valid concerns voiced here and value - the amount of gameplay you get for your money - is clearly one of the most important, and certainly one that I agree with. It would be my intention to give more total gameplay in the sum of the episodes than if I were to create the game as a single entity.

The story, too, must be handled differently. Taking the existing story and simply chopping it into chunks would not work, so each episode will have its own conclusions while still adding to the overall story arc. What I hope this will mean is that people could play any episode and still get something worthwhile from it, but would get more if they played all the episodes in order.

The series would not be a long one - only three or four episodes - so I hope that the overall time frame is not going to be too much longer than you would expect from a full length game.

If you can make the game work in episode format, go for it Steve. :)

I used to have problems with episode format games before I actually tried them, but I don't anymore, thanks to Bone and Half-Life 2.

Of course the price will have to be right so that people will actually buy the episodic games. The price is always a key point to many people. :)

Hey Steve. You go for the episodic thing, and then you can release it whole as a package in the end to those who want to play the whole thing at once.

Good luck.