Dreamfall Goes Episodic

IronCladChicken

This has gotta be a result of TellTales success with episodic gaming?
(It definitely can't be a reflection of Valves attempts?)

Dreamfall Chapters

My favourite thing about more games becoming episodic is how much some people get angry about the whole thing - Games must be released whole and in a manner with which doesn't scare and confuse me!

Rasher

I'm sorry, but I'll probably give this one a pass. I'm fine with episodic gaming. Telltale is an obvious example of how it can be done right. It's Dreamfall I didn't like. The fact that the game was starfoced didn't help. It was the first and last starforced game I ever bought.

IronCladChicken

Although I was just posting for another episodic game being developed - I'm actually kinda looking forward to this - I really enjoyed both the Longest Journey and Dreamfall (actually I wouldnt have minded waiting a few years before it's release - Given the 7 year gap between TLG 1 & 2).... & I'll definitely be interested to see what they come up with (the chapter set-up for the games as-is seem to fit into the episodic pretty neatly?)

If were talking about games that didn't really work for us...
I always thought Fahrenheit/ Indigo Prophecy was annoying...
I also thought Psychonauts was kinda fun, but no where near as amazing as most people seem to think?

Rasher

I think episodic gaming could very well be the future, like it or not. Games are becoming more and more expensive to produce, we are talking movie-like budgets. When a movie goes bust, you at least have the DVD sales to cushion your losses. Not so with games. I see episodic games and additional game plug-ins in the future.

The best thing about episodic content is it opens the door for indie games to compete. The games industry really needs that. Video games are stagnating and need a fresh and inviative idea to give it a kick in the kiester.

AdamG

I pretty much gave up on new games a year or so ago. They just kept getting worse and worse, so I turned into a gold digger and play old games most of the time now. It's actually a lot better then it sounds.

Rasher

I don't blame you one bit for giving up on new games. I started playing old games too. It seems all the creativity and innovation has been sucked out of the games industry. No one wants to take a risk anymore, so we just get the same old same old .... with next-gan graphics! You'll be lucky to get 20 hours of gaming from a $60 game.

I hope episodic gaming changes that. You have to stay fresh and creative if you're going to keep the customer hooked. Telltale is doing a fantastic job. I want to know who is behind this whole hypnotic consiperacy. Episodic gaming really is more like TV episodes and full games are like straight-to-DVD movies.

Anyways, Telltale is the king of Episodic Gaming and could reallty teach the others a thing or two Alll hail Telltale.

jp-30

Rasher wrote: »

I don't blame you one bit for giving up on new games. I started playing old games too. It seems all the creativity and innovation has been sucked out of the games industry. No one wants to take a risk anymore, so we just get the same old same old .... with next-gan graphics! You'll be lucky to get 20 hours of gaming from a $60 game.

I see the same argument levelled an 'new' (bad) music vs. 'old' music (good) and even movies.

There has always been good and bad music, just as there have always been good and bad games. Just as you rarely find exciting, innovative new interesting music on the Top 20 shelves in record stores, you'll only find new, innovative games if you look a little past those being shoved in your face in your standard chain-store Gaming shops. Companies will tend to throw their marketing dollars at tried-and-tested guaranteed sellers, but that's not to say they aren't also releasing interesting stuff. It's just not being marketed at the save level.

It may take a little more research to uncover the gems, but they're there if you look for them.

ShaggE

A great example of under-the-radar innovation...

Deus Ex and System Shock. Plenty of people know OF these games, but not nearly as many have actually played them. They both flopped at release, since nobody wanted to risk buying a hybrid FPS-RPG. Only after a few fansites went up did people play them. Shame, considering their both incredible games, that few others have emulated. Luckily GameTap has Deus Ex 2, so more people will be inclined to play it and realize what they've been missing.

Hero1

jp-30 wrote: »

I see the same argument levelled an 'new' (bad) music vs. 'old' music (good) and even movies.

There has always been good and bad music, just as there have always been good and bad games. Just as you rarely find exciting, innovative new interesting music on the Top 20 shelves in record stores, you'll only find new, innovative games if you look a little past those being shoved in your face in your standard chain-store Gaming shops. Companies will tend to throw their marketing dollars at tried-and-tested guaranteed sellers, but that's not to say they aren't also releasing interesting stuff. It's just not being marketed at the save level.

It may take a little more research to uncover the gems, but they're there if you look for them.

I was just about to say that.. Great post!

Mel

I read someone in some thread here bring up the serialization of novels and I ran across this article. Many of the caveats and benefits that go with episodic gaming, episodic TV, etc. are not new.

Phoonzang

The sequel to Dreamfall maybe episodic or not. I won't buy it. I bought Dreamfall without hesitation and have been utterly disappointed. This is not much of an Adventure, hell, it has not even been close to a _game_. Walk there, talk to this, watch cinematics. Fight somone (lose ten times and curse the controls), walk around the corner, cinematics.
Sorry, after Telltale just showed that classic PnC-Adventure are still fun (and hopefully selling well) this "Xboxisation" of one of my Favorite Games of all time (TLJ, that is) even feels worse.

Phoo

IronCladChicken

Definitely the second game was trying to appeal to a broader audience (Trying to get backers for adventure games these days has gotta be pretty tough?) - But I still found it really enjoyable

It seemed to match the sort of thing TellTale were talking about when discussing the Sam&Max episodic game styles - when responding to people complaining about it being too easy and not enough like 'proper' adventure game - Like Fry says "Clever things make people feel stupid and unexpected things make them feel scared."

Also the Inquirer has a story about it...
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=37985

Steve2000

I, for one, am very excited about this. I think that this is the way that the entire adventure game industry should go: episodic, and digital distribution. I like the format for all the same reasons I like my TIVO; I can watch short chunks of the stuff I like whenever I want. Sometimes it sucks, but it doesn't really cost me that much money.

CharlyTrippo

well, episodic or not, as long as the game`s epic it`s fine by me

Emily

I finally played Dreamfall a few weeks ago and really liked it. The game had some flaws, but the presentation was beautiful and the story resonated emotionally for me. I am really interested to see what the episodic sequel will be like.

marsan

Dreamfall was a piece of art. It was the kind of game that I am not so sure if I will play again anytime soon, but this is also the case for Morrowind and many other great games. Still, I enjoyed every piece of it(alright, the stealth put me off sometimes, but so did the stealth in Broken Sword 3, and that was still a really good game). The battle annoyed me before I got into one, and then I found out they were quite easy and non-disruptive. The only puzzle that had me really bamboozled was the first one(down in the cave). But once I got past it I had the time of my life. I loved crow! when he got into dreamfall, I couldn't put the game down. I hope he will be in the episodes. Of course, hard to say if I will "go for" the episodes, but it's like that with everything when it's just announced. Deciding so early would be like buying a new movie just based on the prequels

I could really see some aspects of Dreamfall in Broken Sword 4 and Broken Sword 3, which leads me to believe these game producers were a little inspired of each other good games to get inspired by.

Armakuni

Gah! Well I'm glad they're making more though, Dreamfall really needed a sequel. I don't really like episodic gaming though. Sam & Max is rather good but that's the only episodic series I've liked so far.

marsan

actually, what I missed the most in Dreamfall was April I really loved April in the first game, and I dunno... she didn't seem like the April in TLJ in Dreamfall. She was very sweet and likeable in the first game(the kind of girl I could really go for :P) and I wish we could have seen what happened with her between TLJ and Dreamfall in the game after TLJ(which was Dreamfall), (confused yet?). I bought Dreamfall straight away as I saw there was a sequel to TLJ, so I didn't know April wasn't the April I used to know But if I consider the game a own piece, and forgetting all about TLJ(which was easy for me, since I had almost forgotten TLJ when Dreamfall was released - it was like... so long time ago...) I thought it was at least worth the time I spent on playing through it.

Aerothorn

The more time passed, the more I liked Dreamfall. It had a lot of gameplay issues, and it suffered from Invisible War syndrome (which is to say, it was so short, and the locations so small, that many characters just felt like cameos), and I had issues with some of the writing, blah blah blah - but it's still great. It's beautiful artistically, the voice acting is incredible, music is top-notch, and the story is very innovative. Most game stories are straightforward - what you see is what you get, whether it be a simple FPS or Metal Gear Solid 2. But Dreamfall is many-layered - it presents a seemingly simple story, but then you hop over to the Dreamfall forums and realize it's about as complex as Primer, nothing is as it seems. The crazy ending was only the beginning. I'm very excited about Dreamfall Episodes.

Armakuni

I hope it will sell enough so that the series is finished! That's my main concern now.

Jake

I don't think Funcom would half-ass it. They seem like a pretty stand-up company.

AdamG

Invisible War? GAG! That was one of the worst games I ever played. It was terrible! Every single new location you went to was exactly like the last... Everything was just... So... Well... Bad!

Armakuni

This grant is part of an effort by the Norwegian government to foster the expansion of Norway's game development industry.

Our government is pretty cool sometimes

Jake - I didn't mean they would half-ass it, all I was saying is that if the eps don't sell they might not be able to finish the series.

Jake

Right but... with something like The Longest Journey, the one big commodity that they have to keep the game selling is the idea that you've got a complete story. I think that if Funcom takes the plunge and starts actually producing episodes, they'll finish out the story arc. Otherwise they'll be left in a similar situation to Sin episodes, where all they've got to sell is a couple chapters of a story that everyone knows they'll never see the conclusion to.

marsan

not to brag, but... I used to work on the same street as Funcom and Opera Software Opera was across the street and funcom was a little farer up the street.

Jake

I work on the same street as Telltale Games... and a mysterious hypnotherapy clinic, an anger management group center, and a suspect massage parlor that's always open but doesn't seem to have a front door!