[PTDC]

I know what I'd rather develop but I wonder what people would rather play, lots of small adventures that could be completed in well under an hour or a huge epic in a million acts?

edit: Perhaps this is in the wrong place, I don't know.

[Tom_K]

Originally Posted by PTDC

I know what I'd rather develop but I wonder what people would rather play, lots of small adventures that could be completed in well under an hour or a huge epic in a million acts?

edit: Perhaps this is in the wrong place, I don't know.

Both of your proposals are kind of extreme. I don't know if a game could be an adventure if it was under an hour, at least with a decent plot; unless it's an AGS game. Huge epics are okay, but not necessarily what everyone wants to experience. How about a happy medium? If a professionally developed game is playable for 15-20 hours, (minus back-tracking and other draw-outs) - I'm personally happy with that.

Of course, I think adventures are more easily assimilated if they are broken up into chewable bites - chapters/missions, etc.

Jonathan Boakes proved with Darkfall that even one man shows don't have to be quick and easy - or epic.

[DomStLeger]

Personally I prefer Long games with a well developed story arc and characters. But when playing amateur adventures then it's unreasonable to expect something too long, due to the effort involved. I'd say short (but more than 1hr) but of a good quality.

[PTDC]

Perhaps a little extreme yeah... well what about Full Throttle length or shorter (well quite a bit shorter) compared with Grim Fandango length, or longer? I'm talking more about amateur developed adventures. If I buy an adventure from a professional outfit I expect something that's going to last for a while, hopefully not because the puzzles are too hard . Well I have a few ideas for adventures and if I decide to go for one of the more epic ones, chapters or acts released individually sounds like a good idea.

[twifkak]

Originally Posted by PTDC

well what about Full Throttle length or shorter (well quite a bit shorter) compared with Grim Fandango length, or longer?

I like the length of both, but most people prefer the length of Grim. But if it's a choice between a long game with a shallow, stretched-out plot, and a short game with a tight, clever plot... well, yeah.

[Tom_K]

Originally Posted by PTDC

Perhaps a little extreme yeah... well what about Full Throttle length or shorter (well quite a bit shorter) compared with Grim Fandango length, or longer? I'm talking more about amateur developed adventures. If I buy an adventure from a professional outfit I expect something that's going to last for a while, hopefully not because the puzzles are too hard . Well I have a few ideas for adventures and if I decide to go for one of the more epic ones, chapters or acts released individually sounds like a good idea.

One good example of an amateur adventure game broken into segments/chapters (and a darn good example of what can be done with AGAST) is Ozzie and the Quantum Playwright. I'm assuming this is the entire game, as all links to the producers (Six Demon Bag Productions) site, where once you were able to download this game in chapters, appear to be broken.

[Henke]

Originally Posted by PTDC

Perhaps a little extreme yeah... well what about Full Throttle length or shorter (well quite a bit shorter) compared with Grim Fandango length, or longer? I'm talking more about amateur developed adventures. If I buy an adventure from a professional outfit I expect something that's going to last for a while, hopefully not because the puzzles are too hard . Well I have a few ideas for adventures and if I decide to go for one of the more epic ones, chapters or acts released individually sounds like a good idea.

If you are going to make a game on your own then go for the short version. Unless you can work with the same game for ten years. You can take my word for it.

[PTDC]

Originally Posted by Henke

If you are going to make a game on your own then go for the short version. Unless you can work with the same game for ten years. You can take my word for it.

I'd be suprised if I could stick with it for ten minutes

[remixor]

There's no idea format for games. Take a look at the AGS game 6 Day Assassin, which only has a couple rooms but is quite well designed and isn't any longer than it needs to be. On the other hand is the utterly obvious Grim Fandango, which is quite long compared to most adventures but is certainly not unnecessarily so.

I wouldnt' mind seeing something like an amateur game being released in multiple chapters though. I don't think it would work for a commercial release but it could present some interesting ways of storytelling (ie, there could be gameplay/stylistic variants between chapters that wouldn't make sense if it was one long connected game).

[twifkak]

Good point. I believe the Spielberg mini-series Taken, which spans from the 40s to present, does this, to match the style to the time.

[Zygomaticus]

If a game has likeable/hateable characters and has a good story and ends it well, I'll like it, irrespective of the length.

While I absolutely adored Full Throttle,

Spoiler:

I felt the ending was really rushed, and I didn't feel warm and fuzzy inside

Monkey Island 1 and 2, on the other hand are classic in my book because they had it all - good characters, interesting story, and a respectable length to develop all that.

[remixor]

Wow, it looks like I'm psychic or something. Mere hours after writing my last post in this thread, I come across this. Fascinating.

[twifkak]

Yeah. Is that not getting a picture because it's an Underground thing or something?

[remixor]

No, there's no frontpage ad for it because of technical problems with the site. I'm sure they'll sort it out in due course.