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Adventure game length
There doesn’t seem to be development money for both length and high resolution modern-looking graphics—at least not with the current system.
It’s difficult to find a recent adventure game that has an “epic feel” to it. Not a short game with padding, but something that warrants its length. There’s more to an “epic feel” than sheer length, though length does play a part. And right now I usually have to go to other genres, or replay older adventure games if I want a lengthy, immersive game as opposed to a casual.
As a player of adventure games, I’m having the exact same problem. I’ve been waiting for ages for something akin to Curse of Monkey Island to come along - something lengthier, hi-res, preferably cartoonier and with that _epic_ (such an overused term lately) feel of, you know, adventuring. Games tend to either be lengthy and satisfying but graphically modest, minimalistic or pixelated, or hi-res and short.
I think it’s pretty obviously the effect of the paradigm shifting from big, budget-heavy studios like Lucas and Sierra to indies who 9 times out of 10 work from home, with small teams, small budgets, sometimes only at night after their day jobs. The perfect example being the Journey of Iesir, which is stunning but took what, 4 years to have a demo, because it was a labor of love that folks could mostly work on in their spare time, IIRC.
It gets even harder as a developer, especially if you want your adventure game to feel like a proper adventure, not in the game genre sense - multiple plot threads, dozens of characters, dozens of locations… It’s not that you’re shooting for your game to be lengthy, necessarily, it’s just that there’s no way around it. Try as you might, no matter how good of a story teller or game designer you are, you can’t really tell an epic story in a couple of hours.
There’s also the factor of emotional investment in the characters. Yes, you might fall in love with a game character before the 2 or 3 hour gameplay is up, but they really grow on you if the game’s longer, and the devs really have time to tell and show you who they are. What would Game of Thrones be like if you compressed all 6 seasons into one miniseries? 
I do love short games that you can tell a lot of attention and love was poured into, like The Little Acre. It’s over before you know it, and you can’t help but fall in love with the beautifully animated characters… But the kind of p&c I’ll sit down in front of, cracking my knucles, drink and snacks at the ready, is usually at least 5 hours long. Thimbleweed Park was a treat in this respect.
Anyway, I’d love to see more lengthy adventure games, and that’s without the padding. Not that I have any time to play them, but I don’t mind having a backlog. Love the idea that they’re there, patiently waiting for me to have the time to dig into them. Sorry for the wall of text 
Sorry for the wall of text
You made some good points, expressed them clearly, and didn’t call anyone names. Good wall of text!
It is a bit like the difference between reading War and Peace compared to watching TV. Hands up, how many can actually remember what they watched on TV last week or even just yesterday?
That’s a terrible analogy. The difference is akin to reading a novel vs. reading a novelette or a short story. Mixing mediums, even allowing for your outdated disdain for TV, makes no sense here.
I don’t think it is, it might be mixing media but it illustrates the point I was making, which is the whole point of an analogy.
And I don’t have any disdain for TV, or for that matter for short games, if that is what you are getting from what I wrote, then you have misunderstood me.
You have to play the game, to find out why you are playing the game! - eXistenZ
I can’t remember what happened in War and Peace either.
I don’t think it is, it might be mixing media but it illustrates the point I was making, which is the whole point of an analogy.
And I don’t have any disdain for TV, or for that matter for short games, if that is what you are getting from what I wrote, then you have misunderstood me.
Then I don’t get it. I thought you were aiming to say that short games are inherently limited in their ability to deliver a meaningful experience. What did you mean to say?
Basically, with walkthroughs readily available on the Internet, games started to feel much shorter, because people weren’t getting stuck as much, and this led to some designers overcompensating by just adding more and more content (usually, lousy filler puzzles) and making games that frankly overstayed their welcome.
But most of all, each game should be the right length for that game!
I agree with these statements. This comes from someone who never understood the gaming cultures obsession with measuring gaming time by quantity over quality.
NP: A Link Between Worlds, Beneath a Steel Sky and Vampyr
I don’t think it is, it might be mixing media but it illustrates the point I was making, which is the whole point of an analogy.
And I don’t have any disdain for TV, or for that matter for short games, if that is what you are getting from what I wrote, then you have misunderstood me.
Then I don’t get it. I thought you were aiming to say that short games are inherently limited in their ability to deliver a meaningful experience. What did you mean to say?
Close, but not spot on.
Put in a few words, I meant to say that short games have an inherent handicap, or long games a build in advantage, when it comes to leaving a lasting impression on our brains. That short games, TV programs or whatever easily get drowned in our media consumption, and that they need to really stand out in order to be remembered.
Its really basic psychology or rather neurology. Repetition enforces our memory, whereas distraction hinders our memory. This is also why many trauma specialists uses distraction as a tool to mellow our memory of a traumatic event. (To the best of my knowledge, I’m not in any way a specialist on the subject)
You have to play the game, to find out why you are playing the game! - eXistenZ
Put in a few words, I meant to say that short games have an inherent handicap, or long games a build in advantage, when it comes to leaving a lasting impression on our brains. That short games, TV programs or whatever easily get drowned in our media consumption, and that they need to really stand out in order to be remembered.
Its really basic psychology or rather neurology. Repetition enforces our memory, whereas distraction hinders our memory. This is also why many trauma specialists uses distraction as a tool to mellow our memory of a traumatic event. (To the best of my knowledge, I’m not in any way a specialist on the subject)
The argument has value, even though I may not fully agree with it, but you really need to leave TV out of it. TV shows go on for years! Something like, say, Breaking Bad aired 62 hour-long episodes over the course of 6 years. By your own argument, that’s a lot more memorable than a 15-hour-long game.
Maybe it’s just me but I find myself wanting a play long solid story with lots of plot twists and puzzles to sink my teeth into and take weeks to finish. Are those games more rare? I mean like the old Sherlock Holmes, Tex Murphy. The new Frogwares games have ‘bite sized’ cases which is not satisfying.
The same with ‘pixel art’, I think it’s just dwindling budgets
For me the Unwritten Tales Series seems like some of the longest games in recent years and deserves it’s higher purchase price as the nearest thing to AAA the genre will see
The same with ‘pixel art’, I think it’s just dwindling budgets
For me the Unwritten Tales Series seems like some of the longest games in recent years and deserves it’s higher purchase price as the nearest thing to AAA the genre will see
with the 2nd part of BouT they really presented a very good quality for the standard of z adventure gaming these days., also Daedalic presented a different new quality for them for the first time at Silence, but they are so hush about thier products and the new direction, i think what troubles Daedalic is the decision to make; - whether they will go totally with ttg style - or - be keeping their at least minimum of what they have gathered their fans with until now
I don’t care if the game lasts only five minutes, if it’s a good game that provides a rewarding gaming experience.
Game length also depends on so many things which are up to the player. Do you go through every dialogue tree option? Do you study every hotspot? Do you try to combine objects which you know to be a wrong solution just to see if there’s something like a gag or whatever hidden behind that attempt? Do you use walkthrough or try to go through the game without it?
I think a better way to measure game size/scope is to count rooms rather than minutes. How much time you spend in a room is very subjective, but how many rooms there are in a game is a measurable fact.
The room count might reveal something about the complexity of the story-telling etc. but even that doesn’t mean that a game with more rooms is a better game.
In the end it all comes to immersion. I read somewhere that Star Trek: The Next Generation - A Final Unity had a very different kind of graphical quality in different rooms. And when playing the game I saw that it was in fact the case. But I noticed that only during the third playthrough and after having read that comment somewhere. During the first two playthroughs I was probably too immersed to the story and everything to notice that. And that to me is what adventure games are all about. Not whether it’s prerendered photorealism or pixelart, not whether it takes a minute or an hour to finish a room.
To me talking about game length is kind of like asking, how many pages does a book need to have in order to be a good book.
I don’t care if the game lasts only five minutes, if it’s a good game that provides a rewarding gaming experience.
Game length also depends on so many things which are up to the player. Do you go through every dialogue tree option? Do you study every hotspot? Do you try to combine objects which you know to be a wrong solution just to see if there’s something like a gag or whatever hidden behind that attempt? Do you use walkthrough or try to go through the game without it?
I think a better way to measure game size/scope is to count rooms rather than minutes. How much time you spend in a room is very subjective, but how many rooms there are in a game is a measurable fact.
The room count might reveal something about the complexity of the story-telling etc. but even that doesn’t mean that a game with more rooms is a better game.
In the end it all comes to immersion. I read somewhere that Star Trek: The Next Generation - A Final Unity had a very different kind of graphical quality in different rooms. And when playing the game I saw that it was in fact the case. But I noticed that only during the third playthrough and after having read that comment somewhere. During the first two playthroughs I was probably too immersed to the story and everything to notice that. And that to me is what adventure games are all about. Not whether it’s prerendered photorealism or pixelart, not whether it takes a minute or an hour to finish a room.
To me talking about game length is kind of like asking, how many pages does a book need to have in order to be a good book.
I think you are wrong, sir, I mean people have been wishing for a new Johnathan Boakes game for decades and he put out 2 short games but are people satisfied?? You can read the threads yourself, they still don’t forgive him for not delivering the sequel, doesn’t matter if he puts out 2 very short games they are never going to be something like The Lost Crown
I don’t care if the game lasts only five minutes, if it’s a good game that provides a rewarding gaming experience….
...To me talking about game length is kind of like asking, how many pages does a book need to have in order to be a good book.
This^
Games are better if they aren’t just padding and fluff. Make it as long as it needs to be.
I Am the Knight of the Order of the Sun!
I think you are wrong, sir, I mean people have been wishing for a new Johnathan Boakes game for decades and he put out 2 short games but are people satisfied?? You can read the threads yourself, they still don’t forgive him for not delivering the sequel, doesn’t matter if he puts out 2 very short games they are never going to be something like The Lost Crown
I’m afraid you misunderstood those people in those threads, sir. They are not happy that Jonathan Boakes has been announcing new release dates for many years.
Butter my buns and call me a biscuit! - Agent A
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