Will the episodes be linked to each other?
Here's why I ask this: Because it impacts the game's difficulty.
If you do say, a 1000 piece puzzle, The easiest way to do this is to split it into smaller puzzles. Split into 10 100 piece puzzles (sky, ground, house, whatever). It is more than 10 times easier to do a 100 piece puzzle than a 1000 piece puzzle.
And that's why Culture shock is fairly easy. You don't collect very many items. You don't have that many locations to try them in. In larger adventures there are many more combinations of things to use/explore/etc.
I'm not sure what the solution is - but if the episodes are tied together, in a way, that could help.
For example, you could start having things in your inventory that you don't even use in this particular episode. Culture shock had what - 5 locations? If the second one can add 5 more to that, and you have say, 10 locations to wander about in (with new things showing up in the previous locations),
then by the time you get to episode #5, & #6, then there's all sorts of stuff to try, and places to try them in.
If each game will be distinct though, with X locations each, then they will
all probably be about the same difficulty level. (unless you go into bizarro abstract mode with the puzzles, which isn't ideal)
If you do say, a 1000 piece puzzle, The easiest way to do this is to split it into smaller puzzles. Split into 10 100 piece puzzles (sky, ground, house, whatever). It is more than 10 times easier to do a 100 piece puzzle than a 1000 piece puzzle.
And that's why Culture shock is fairly easy. You don't collect very many items. You don't have that many locations to try them in. In larger adventures there are many more combinations of things to use/explore/etc.
I'm not sure what the solution is - but if the episodes are tied together, in a way, that could help.
For example, you could start having things in your inventory that you don't even use in this particular episode. Culture shock had what - 5 locations? If the second one can add 5 more to that, and you have say, 10 locations to wander about in (with new things showing up in the previous locations),
then by the time you get to episode #5, & #6, then there's all sorts of stuff to try, and places to try them in.
If each game will be distinct though, with X locations each, then they will
all probably be about the same difficulty level. (unless you go into bizarro abstract mode with the puzzles, which isn't ideal)
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For instance, if episode two takes place mostly at a zoo, and the zoo consists of five "rooms", the size of the game (from a disk space standpoint) would potentially be twice that of episode one if they were to also include the office, Sybil's office, Bosco's store, and the street.
And since it's been said that Sybil and Bosco will be in future episodes, it would seem that at least her office and his store will also need to be included in future episodes. This seems to indicate that many of the locations will be reused, and only a couple will be added each episode. Maybe Brady Culture's hideout will be removed, and two other rooms will be added. And at that point, we're dangerously close to a feeling of "been there, done that" after only a couple of episodes.
That's not to say that I'm worried that this will be the case. It's just something I've wondered about. I'm sure Telltale has taken this all into consideration and they've come up with a creative solution. I'm just interested to see what it is. Seeing this evolution is very interesting, and my suspicion is that episodes will get better and better (if the Bone series is any indication).
If they are carried over I think its a great move.
The other thing I think it would be good to add is a variable hint system (or VHS just to be confusing) but that's being covered in another thread.
Basically Culture Shock was a pilot so they're going to make it easier/less zany to attract more people and make sure they have a large enough fan base to continue the series. I trust Telltale to take on the suggestions (and demands) in the forum in order to make each game the best they can. It's why they're using an episodic model after all. I'm sure as the series progress we'll see plenty more locations and harder puzzles.
Really? Cool. I thought it was pretty much implied in comments like this;
Guess I was reading too much into it.
Still, it's hard to see what use a carried over inventory item would have, considering that (as far as we've been led to believe) the episodes are playable in any order and it's not necessary to have played expisode 'X' before episode 'Y'.
Or are you just saying that if at the end of episode 3 you're holding a mummified gerbil (which everyone must have picked up to complete the game), then in Episode 4 the mummified gerbil may be in your inventory right from the start regardless of whether you'd played episode 3 or not?
That was my favorite item. Ever.
I'd be happy if they led to Easter Eggs.
That's what I'm saying. What else would I mean? It would be insane and make very little sense to track inventory items across episodes other than that... it would make no sense in the story and would have no impact on puzzles other than creating an additional layer of puzzle-lie to allow hardcore gamers into fooling themselves to believe they were getting more challenge.
So it's great that you've clarified, thanks.
Anyway woo! Sorry if I sounded rude in my last post... that wasn't my intent!