Should an episodic adventure PC game release a shorter (very shorter) "PROLOGUE" episode for free?

Hello, quite simple question- we are planning a "serious-drama-thriller" like (NO cartoon or stylized) "2.5D" point and click adventure game (not fully 3D, only characters and few other things in 3D, backgrounds pre-rendered). With "episodic" (rather chapter like) format 4-5 "episodes". Each "episode" (we will call them chapters or something) probably 6-8 hours of gameplaye, price probably 19,99 USD per chapter/episode. Time frame between "Chapter" releases should be probably 3-6 months (rather closer to the 6 months).

Production values quite high (full motion capture, nice realistic graphics/backgrounds, Nice realistic characters and faces, probably also facial capture; we have some experience individually, this wont be our first game)etc. It tackles some quite well known (like world known) issue/theme (so i believe its something like using some NOT well known franchise name).

My questions:
1) Is it a good idea to, besides making 4-5 regular "chapters", each around 7 hours of gameplay- released one each 6 months. Besides this, do you believe it is a good idea to release also shorter (around ONLY 1 hour (vs 7 hours)) PROLOGUE "special chapter" for FREE? As a "demo" or rather for promotion reasons? The "Prologue" would be released of course along with the 1st (regular) chapter of the game (so anyone who played the prologue for free and liked it, could imidiatelly buy the 1st chapter).
2) Im not sure if the prologue should contain the actual beggining of the story, or some prequel stuff, or (and i like this the most) would contain a rather "side story" (that is happening at the same time of main story of 1st chapter, but is only mentioned in the regular 1st chapter).

What do you think about this? Would this help to "advertise the game", whats your experience, what did you heart on this account?

(I know only about two similiar games who attempted something similiar but im not sure how it worked out for them in the end... (the games: The Lion's Song: Episode 1 - Silence and The Descendant: Episode 1).

Whats your take on making special shorter additional "zero" chapter released for free (for promotion reasons) in story driven "episodic" adventure point and click game?

 

Life is Strange also had success with an episodic structure.

 

I don't know if there's a "should do this" and "shouldn't do that."

But I can't imagine it hurting.

If it's going to be actually separate from the first chapter, then I would say it should not be the "beginning" of the story. That seems quite debatable though.

 

Not saying it is good or bad but this is actually the approach I am taking with my very low production quality efforts (rectangles possibly some colors and animation). Episodic. Maybe 3. Maybe more. I have no idea. But the very first (and smaller) game will be either free or ridiculously cheap (no more than $1.50) entirely for the purpose of marketing and building a community. Of course now that we have that on here there will be a flood of others doing the same so it might not be as effective by the time you get to first release.

 

ShilohGames: No, i was asking if releasing the first "episode" (or in my case the "prequel" episode) for free is a good idea...
Life is strange episode 1 IS free, but it WAS NOT when the game launched... it was made free (as far as i remember) later in the development when other chapters were already out... I believe also my example of the descendant was a payed (episode 1) and only moved to "free status" later on...

EternalAmbiguity: Well i believe it might actually hurt.
There was several years ago "news" that the reason while games "suddenly" stopped having demos made of themselves was (beside making demo is an additional cost to the game dev) is that fact the some polls showed that having a demo is actually detrimental to the sales of the game... Much better was juct to make a "trailer"...

Because trailer "pumps you up"... while playing the game itself (in demo) simply doesnt (even if the demo or game IS GOOD)...! Not counting that making such a "prequel" chapter would also cost additional money...
So no... the question isnt that easy. It actually can have a negative impact on the game/sales... :-(


Someone else has any tip/suggestion or experience with this?

 

Hey, just so you're aware, if you reply to a person (by clicking the reply option in the lower right corner of their post) it gives us a notification, while just linking our name doesn't. Anyway, I recall hearing the same, but I suspect that's speculative at best...and I just saw an announcement about Forza Motorsport 7 releasing a demo today...so go figure.

 

The demo has a few advantages

• It can help build a community
• If it doesn't take you can cut and run early

 

I'm a fan of adventure games, and your game sounds a lot like what I usually enjoy playing. $19.99 price tag (per episode) seems a bit high for such episodic games, but also 6-8 hours of playing time per episode is also almost twice long of what typical episode of other such games provide, so I wouldn't complain if it has high production quality as you said.

But probably 3-6 month between episodes could be too much, since people can play a lot of other games in the meantime and get oblivious of the story and lose interest. It might be a problem, especially when each episode is twice long than typical episodes from other games in the same format. When it's too long, it's easier to forget the story and it becomes difficult to replay it just before the release of the next episode to refresh the memory, which I believe to be a common practice among the fans of the genre.

Anyway, I guess the key question whether or not such an advertising strategy would work could depend on how much 'hook' your game provides.

<Life is Strange>, for example, released such a short demo and also made its first episode free after it attracted wide fan base. The first episode starts quite slow, but the story begins to gain its momentum when the two protagonists reunited properly after their brief encounter at the beginning.

So, I can imagine how playing the whole first episode for free might give people strong motivation to purchase the rest of the game, because the strong chemistry between the two leads feels quite irresitible, while the story which begins to unfold at the end of the episode can make them want to know what would happen next.

I don't know where they had cut the demo version since I didn't play it, but if it only contained the initial portion of the episode where the pace is quite slow, I can see how some people might misjudge it for a typical 'teen drama' with some mystery element, and decide it's not the type of games they can enjoy.

Of course, in the case with <Life is Strange>, it also features quite exceptional cinematography - especially the camera work and the use of lightings - and unique art style. While they can be apparent even when you play the game just for a few minutes, I'm afraid such aspects are not always appreciated by everyone, as it's obvious from occasional criticism from people complaining about its 'low quality' graphics.

I guess it's ok to make a demo out of the actual game contents, provided the progress is saved so people can resume their game after they purchase the whole episode later. What you probably shouldn't do is revealing too much about the story, because there are a lot of childish people out who love to annoy others by reavealing spoilers.

Again, I'm looking forward to see your game released on Steam, and I'll definitely download and play any such demo or prologue you provide, since it sounds like the kind of a game that I love to play.

 

Kiwasi: No... we would have to develop BOTH the "demo" (its not really a demo, its really a "prequel" with additional story and scenes not present in the payed game) because once you played the prequel we want you to be able to immidiatelly buy the game (the 1st regular payed chapter). Doing it otherwise (release the free prequel without the first chapter ready for buying) would be stupid.

EternalAmbiguity: Yes there are STILL demos, but FAR FAR FAR (like really FAR) LESS (!) then before (several years bacj, maybe even 10 years (?) ). + Its a common fact that the most interesting parts of any movie (and also games?) are their trailers... They just pump you up for the action.... "demos" (or prequels) just "cools you down" really...

Doesnt anybody here have direct experience or results of any polls?

 

Releasing a small demo before you've invested too heavily in the actual game was one of the first suggestions I saw when searching for the value of game demos on Gamasutra. Basically it's advertising for when the game actually ships.

https://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/Jus...game_demos_in_2016__are_they_worth_making.php

 

I like the idea of the free mini episode. Free will get a lot more eyes on your game, and a lot more downloads, than you would otherwise. I don't see how it could hurt other than the additional development time of the free episode.

My only issue with your plan is the 4-5 episodes at $19.95 each spread 6 months apart. I think you'd have far better luck splitting those episodes in half. Release 8-10 episodes spread 3 months apart at $9.95 each. The lower price point will get more people in on the first real episode, and the 3 months between episodes will keep interest high instead of fading after half a year in between. Even that price might still be too high.

 

By the way this price is unrealistically high. Telltale Games, who will likely be your primary competitor, makes far less per episode than you're expecting to charge even with well known and valuable IP. Their most recent release, for example, is a Batman series with the entire five episode series costing $24.99. That's $4.99 per episode.

http://store.steampowered.com/search/?sort_by=Released_DESC&developer=Telltale Games
http://store.steampowered.com/app/675260/Batman_The_Enemy_Within__The_Telltale_Series/

 

Not sure of the modern day buzzword spin on it but it is the Apogee Model (angelic chorus).

 

Thanks thats usefull post. We will refrain from calling it an "episode", but will really use other term (probably chapter), since a lot of what you have written we are aware of. It will really have around 7 hours of gameplay, quite high production values (altough still just pre-rendered backgrounds) and other things... Its not really and episode in the sense that episodes are perceived these days (1-2 hours ofgameplaye, small price tag).

Each chapter would really be almost like entire game. Even the storylines in each chapter are closed more or else, eachchapter having its own separate "secondary" storyline which is opened and closed in the chapter, yet still following the main storyline. Each chapter is rather like whole season of any TV series (rather than an episode of TV series). We have made some "research" and the price tag should be appropriate .

I would also like to ask you as a fan of these games: I have read years ago a post of some other fan of these games. He said that he refrains from buying even the first "episode" (or the whole series) UNTILL all the episodes are out. The reason behind this was simple- he was worried that the game story might be left open ended, without closure if the development were to stop somewhere in the middle (when the 1st episode wouldnt sell as well as the studio expected for example). This was given as a reason why he doesnt buy any episode UNTIL all the episodes are out... If this something that is common in fans of these games in your experience?

About life is strange: AFAIK it never had any demo (EVER) (?). Once the 3rd episode was out, they decided to make the 1st episode free... But there has NEVER been any demo... (or am i wrong?)

(Thank you)

 

From my limited experience which I gathered while frequenting forums of various episodic games, it seems that people are quite divided on that point. I've seen many people who say they don't buy such games until all the episodes are out, and even advise others to do the same.

On the other hand, some people seem to be just too impatient for that or they have many other games (including other episodic games) to play while waiting for the next episode, so don't care too much if they have to wait a couple of months. And there are also other people like me, who think waiting is actually part of the fun when playing such kind of games.

Especially when an episode ends in a cliffhanger, which many actually do, I can see a lot of speculations, theories, sharing what they felt about the episode or how they cannot wait for more, and etc going on in the official forum. It's quite fun to read such posts, and I can also watch some 'let's play' videos in the meantime, enjoying other people's reactions or how the story would have played if I made certain choices differently. And I guess all these things would not be the same if I do that after I binge play the whole episodes in a day or two.

As to the demo of <Life is Strange>, I believe it definitely had existed at some point because I remember seeing it on PS Store when I visited my parent's house last year or so. I guess they had just removed it after they released their first episode for free, because the demo wouldn't make any sense after that.

 

I have already adressed this in some of my previous posts.
But you might have a good idea that people are really so used to "episodes" being short, cheap and not story "full-fulling" and "closure-providing", that even when we call our game "Chapter" Or "Act" or "Book", they will still view it as a mere 1-2 hour episode...
When you look here:
https://howlongtobeat.com/game.php?id=38801
It shows, that the WHOLE (previous) season of Batman from tell tales (released in 2016), the WHOLE season had 8-9 hours of gameplay total... Our one chapter would have around 8 hours on its own... (and would be even cheaper- 19.99 vs 24.99 for Batman)...

Hm... Instead of calling it "chapter" (or act, or book), we might really call it rather "Season" (even though it would come at once- one continuous 8 hour gameplay)... Hm... that might be a better idea for "naming convention"

 

Four to five chapters, each chapter is eight hours, or a total of 32 to 40 hours but with a cost of $80 to $100.

While that may sound acceptable to you, how does it compare to other games of similar price? The Witcher 3 has a base price of $39.99 with an expansion pass costing $24.99. That's a total cost of $64.98. Based on the cost of your game the total hours should be approximately 26, yet according to the site you linked the total hours is actually 166.

You're charging far more for far less and for a completely unknown IP. That's how a gamer will view it.

 

You cannot compare each and every game to another . Comparing witcher 3 to episodic games is not really good idea... you could say that counter strike offers even MORe hours ...
I had made some "research" and the price should be quite ok. I found adventure games that were more expensive, and adventure games that were less expensive. But it is a good point that probably even when we would call it chapter or act people still might think of it as episode...

 

yeah... the third paragraph is an interesting view on the matter and you are probably correct.

Life is strange- and wasnt the "demo" you sew just really the 1st chapter released for free and called a "demo"? At least on consoles... i would swear they didnt make and demo... i will have to look into it more.


But still lets not really derail this thread . If someone knows anybody or has direct experience with releasing small additional story chapter for free (not demo) , i would be glad to hear some experience how it went.

Thank you

 

Did you find any that were $80 to $100 for 32 to 40 hours of gameplay?

Syberia 3 is the only game off the top of my head that I know doesn't belong to Telltale Games. Previous entries in the series had acts that were completely seperate from previous acts. Once you reached a new one you couldn't go to a previous one. It would have worked great as episodic.

Hours of gameplay for the cost, if you know the exact steps to progress flawlessly, are not that dissimilar to your example game but it's not exactly a brand new series by a developer with no history either. Both the author (Benoit Sokal) and the publisher (Microïds) have a reasonable history of titles.

It's a Unity game too.

https://howlongtobeat.com/game.php?id=45367
http://store.steampowered.com/app/464340/Syberia_3/

 

Found it - http://www.pcgamer.com/life-is-strange-demo-debuts-on-steam/

 

It seems to me that the first one is about the first episode of the original series (full version, not a demo), while the latter is about a prequel which was released just a month ago.

 

Yeah I deleted the post when I realized they weren't the same game after all.

 

I love both of them though

 

That's Early Access Syndrome at work. People get tired of playing something incomplete (and probably broken). The more common issue with episodic content is burnout. The hype/energy to keep playing a game three months later isn't there. It's why the norm is to forget about continuing an old save and starting a new game when it's been months to years since they last played it.

As far as a demo goes, you're probably better off selling the first episode on the cheap. That's what would really demonstrate what people should come to expect.

 

Allow me, as someone who bought Life Is Strange on release (and who also owns The Descendent and made the 60 FPS fix on their community guides) and plays many other adventure games, to confirm what was already said - 20 dollars is way too high for 7-8 hours unless you're a AAA putting millions into the game or a very, VERY well known company like Cyan Games.. You may want to think it fits, but it really doesn't.

Additionally, want to point out that these episodic games almost without fail delay their later releases. Don't count on busting them out like nothing.

 

mysticfall: Interesting, i didnt know there was an actual demo... I will look into it.

Ryiah: Of course i did find those , i dont remember all, but some examples:

Syberia 3 as you said
The Walking Dead: Michonne - A Telltale Miniseries
The Walking Dead: A New Frontier
The Walking Dead: Season 2 (more or less)
Batman: The Telltale Series
The Raven - Legacy of a Master Thief (almost)
Gone Home
The Wolf Among Us
Dear Esther
The Darkside Detective
The Doors season 2
The Lion's Song
Night in the Woods (more or less)
Pinstripe
What Remains of Edith Finch (ok not really comparable but still)
Some might even say "Thimbleweed Park" (its longer but comme on... the graphics...)
Samorost 3
The Journey Down: Chapter One
The Journey Down: Chapter Two
Day of the Tentacle Remastered
The Franz Kafka Videogame (that one is especially short)
Detention
Memoranda

And so on and so on...there are more...


+ There a lot of games that are even shorter with such price, you cannot really judge the fun one has with hours of gameplay.

But i would like to stick with the original thread of this... should we make additional small "prequel" chapter (with additional story and scenes not present in the full game) for FREE...?
The other downside i can think of is that the prequel for FREE would be a lot shorter than the full game (1 hour (if at all) vs apx. 8 hours)... And even though we would "bombard" player of the prequel with messages that this is just and example and the "regular-full chapters" are much longer... He still might not get it, and think that all the additional chapters are also VERY short... that might be a downside for releasing a short prequel free chapter...

 

Part of the reason people have been focusing on the price is because there's not much to add to this. There are arguments for and against a free prequel, which have pretty much been already presented.

I'm for it. Partially because I would never in a million years pay $20 for a supposed 8 hours of gameplay from an untested game company.

And that's another thing. I have never, ever, ever, found a developer's estimate of play time to be accurate. It's always, always, longer than most gamers play. I recall comments from the Witcher 3 team, Dragon Age Inquisition's team, and the Final Fantasy XV team. All were hilariously overestimated.

Additionally, a little while back there was a little hubbub before the release of Firewatch because a dev said the game was six hours long in an interview. I was on the Steam forums at the time, and recall a different developer assuring everyone that that was a "quick" run that didn't do anything extra. I actually said the same thing I just said on those forums, that developers always overestimate the time.

And then the game came out...and most finished it within four hours.

So if we estimate 6 hours for your supposed 8 hour game...at $20...that's over $3 per hour. That is most certainly AAA territory, or the closest thing among indies (stuff like Cyan games).

 

Being unable to quantify fun as gameplay hours has never stopped anyone before. After all that website does exist for a reason. There are people who will judge your game off of the hours it takes to play and the cost of those hours. Someone who charges a AAA fee had better be prepared to deliver a AAA experience.

One of the advantages of Telltale's pricing is that it's within the territory of an impulse purchase. People are far less inclined to make a weighted decision the cheaper the price is and if the product was a failure in their eyes they're far less likely to be critical the cheaper it is.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impulse_purchase

 

Ryiah: Hm... i thought that the telltale series can now (and for some time if not ever) be bought ONLY as a whole season (for 23 or 25 or whatever USD/EUR)... I dont see any games, even the recent ones that you can buy only selected episodes...? Could you buy ONLY selected episodes before... Did they changed it now (on steam)?

 

It's pretty common to release the first EP for money, then make it free once ep2 comes out.