Looking into doing an Episodic Release- seeking advice

Hey all, looking for opinions on releasing a Tactical RPG episodically.

At the moment, I and my brother are hobbyist devs, working on a passion project in our free time- We have one game (unrelated to our current project) under our belts- Squid Life on mobile devices. Squid Life did poorly mainly due to our inexperience in marketing. (surprise, surprise!) So we're excited to apply what we've learned to our next attempt.

Our next project is aimed squarely at the Tactical RPG niche- fans of Final Fantasy Tactics, Tactics Ogre, Shining Force games, ect. I'm doing research on how best we can bring this project to market when it's ready.

My theory on what episodic release could offer-

• Recycling- The ability to reuse custom editors, plugins and even assets in multiple releases, thereby doing the hard work "up front" so to speak, and only updating what needs a face-lift or things that change mechanically over the course of several releases.

• Consistency- Because of minimized "new work" in development between episodes, we could release episodes more quickly and provide more regular updates to social media, thereby staying visible and in the forefront of customers minds.

• Faster Application of Feedback/Experience- Over multiple releases, we could more readily apply things we learn from user feedback, and implement improved marketing techniques for the next release.

Our goal by the end of a 3 or 4 episode release schedule would be to have vastly improved our marketing abilities and to have gained an audience with which we can readily engage with new products.

If you have experience in releasing episodically, or advice/links on how a couple guys like us could better handle our next release, we are all ears! Thanks for your time! -Luke

 

I love FFT, good luck. As for you question, I hate episodic games its so XX century to wait for content, also I think episodic is a bad idea because you would have to sustain brand awarness and people interest in between releases.

 

It's odd because people don't like to pay for episodes but will pay for dlc if they think it is bonus/additional content & therefore extra to the original game

 

Advice for episodic games, hmm...

Do:
-Keep the price low, since you plan to sell many titles
-Make the story actually good, since you want people to want more of it
-Have a balance of gameplay and story
-Dream up some IP that is story worthy

Don't:
-Buy the IP of an open world creative game like minecraft and turn it into an interactive DVD like TellTale plans do, ffs microsoft

 

Thanks for the reply Ness!

My thought was that sustaining awareness would be easier to do with a development time of 2-3 months in between episodes rather than 3-6 months in between full projects. I figured that we'd be producing more visual content (easily marketable) and less under the hood stuff. Is this not so? What might I be forgetting? -Luke

 

I appreciate the opinion ted!

I do seem to sense a negative connotation with episodic games- I've never bought one myself. Do you think it's due to poor execution or is it systemic? We consume lots of things episodically- books, comics- Web and print. Why not games?

I was talking about it with my wife- (not a gamer but she's a darn sharp cookie.) Her thought was along the same as yours, that people would be ok with having the same experience, "but now with zombies!" And much less ok with buying what they perceive as an incomplete product because the rest of the story is still on the way.

Do you think that could be countered by better communication? -showing that this chapter is a complete experience in and of itself. -Luke

 

As @Tomnnn said, a low price would help. Serialisation works for comic books but because games were always sold as box products people came to expect a full game for the money they pay. Micro transactions changed that to now making it free but paying for added extras is reasonably acceptable as long as the game could still be played for free. That middle ground is tricky though. It seems that people are ok with $2/hr of gameplay when paying upfront but expect lots of replay value to let that stretch to a few cents/hour. You'd have to have replayability & comparative costs to have a chance & that could be where the initial issue arises, then as you said marketing & explaining that to people.

Another issue to consider is people will be committing to a partial game each time. When they buy a game they get the full game, what guarantee will they have when they buy yours that you will complete the additional chapters? You may still be forced to wait until you have a few chapters done before you start to sell & even then you need to somehow maintain their interest for those months between episodes such that they remain wanting to buy the next instalment instead of moving onto a new game & not returning (comics work as people going to the store & talking & browsing is also a part of that experience).

 

Found several good sources on the subject, in addition to the excellent opinions here-
Are Episodic Games Actually Any Good? (Gamespot, "The Gist" video)
Why Bother With Episodic Games? (Gamasutra)
Is Episodic Gaming Ruining the Industry? (Hardcore Gamer)

My takeaway so far is thus-
Episodic carries a lot of benefits for the publisher, but adds to the already uphill battle of gaining consumer trust.

Developing episodes is cheaper, has a vastly better feedback loop, and the ability to hold consumer awareness for much longer.

BUT

Customers hate waiting for episodes (which are short), and there is a natural disgruntlement if the price of an entire season is cheaper than what they paid in total buying individual episodes. (I would think indie devs ought to reward loyal customers, rather than penalize them.) There is also a fear that should the episode not do well enough, the next game will be canceled, leaving the customers hanging.

 

@LMan sounds like if you invent a procedural episodic game then you'll have monies.