Talk:Episodic video game

Category:Episodic games

As part of the COTW, could we sort out which games belong to the category and which don't? - Hahnchen 12:56, 22 May 2006 (UTC)

I'd argue for this article, we should stick to games that are sold episode to episode, with a likely final completion, similar to OAV sales for anime. Smaller bits of episodic content (like the Oblivion stuff) for games is also relevant, though those games probably still shouldn't be in the Category. My take:

IN: SiN Episodes, Telltale's Bone and Sam & Max, and probably earlier examples like Wing Commander: Secret Ops and Siege of Avalon.

OUT: Shareware games. Even though games like Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, etc. sold themselves by demoing out the first "episode", I would not consider the shareware model to be "episodic", as least the way we're defining it here - because the way you bought them was either all or nothing (well, the first episode being free).

Grey area: Golden Sun series, .hack games, games that actually are sold as full sequels, but storywise and sales-wise were clearly planned as a series from the start and shipped relatively quickly. I would lean towards no. --SevereTireDamage 20:56, 22 May 2006 (UTC)

I pretty much agree with you there and cleared out most of the category. I've left the original hack series in, but got rid of the hack/GU. I've added in Kuma\War as well. What about the MMOs mentioned though? And a quite a few articles on episodic gaming talk about Majestic. I'd probably include Majestic, but aren't that sure about the MMORPGs.- Hahnchen 23:58, 22 May 2006 (UTC)

Bioware

I believe games like Mass Effect or perhaps the Baldur's Gate series with save file transfre should also be mentioned, no? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.1.184.227 (talk) 02:14, 9 May 2013 (UTC)

POV

Whose opinion or research is being reflected in the advantages and disadvantages sections? This looks like POV to me, and I was about to delete it, but I thought I'd give a chance to find references first. --Chris Griswold (☎☓) 01:26, 15 November 2006 (UTC)

I don't think there are any sources per se: it's all just logic. Surely that's permissible. --Tom Edwards 08:39, 15 November 2006 (UTC)

It's original research. --Chris Griswold (☎☓) 08:57, 15 November 2006 (UTC)

Yeah, looks like it is. I vote we leave it until someone makes a serious complaint, though. Looking at it pragmatically, this stuff isn't exactly rocket science and shouldn't cause any problems. --Tom Edwards 09:26, 16 November 2006 (UTC)

Section should be added on GameTap

They have 2 episodic games running (sam and max and Uru) and have two more coming (galactic command and american mcgee's grimm)
their vp has also talked a lot about episodic and has suggested some criteria for defining episodic that make a lot of sense (but exclude SiN and Half Life.) GameTap should be added as one of the main platforms for delivering episodic content in the summary.24.99.90.237 14:36, 20 May 2007 (UTC)

somebody add gw nightfall to the guild wars commment

I suck at wiki, let someone else do it

is the whole pretense of this article's intro and attitude about episodic gaming flawed?

Disclosure: I work for a company which makes episodic games, and my posting this is obviously Just One Guy's Opinion, but some simple Googling around for interviews, op/ed pieces, community sentiment, and news features on the state of episodic gaming are -- at least in spirit if not in actual content -- in agreement with the sentiments I'm trying to express here.

This article opens with the declaration that episodic gaming was born out of the shareware model, further declaring that episodic games are, more or less, one large game split up into chunks which are released one game at a time. This seems, to me, a very flawed definition of what an episodic game is, and I humbly suggest the article be heavily reedited or possibly rewritten. It currently reads as outdated, and possibly predjudiced against episodic games. jrodkin 04:41, 9 July 2007 (UTC)

Thanks, this is some really helpful criticism. :-) I've split it up a little to ease the discussion, I hope you don't mind. --Tom Edwards 18:17, 9 July 2007 (UTC)

Nobody seems to be objecting. I'll start adding to the page. --Tom Edwards 17:45, 16 July 2007 (UTC)

Shareware

Shareware games such as Doom were split into chapters, yes, but they were developed and distributed as one giant, single game, with the first portion being released for free as a demo. The only similarity I see here between something like Doom, and modern episodic games like Half Life Episodes or Sam & Max, is that Doom is split into chapters which the user can play one at a time. That's about it. None of the "major" episodic series use Doom's (admittedly) pioneering shareware method of releasing the first chapter for free, for instance. Episode one of Half Life 2, and episode one of Sam & Max are both full commercial releases, available only for pay. Also, games like Doom were developed all at once, while episodic games are usually produced on, well, an episodic schedule -- with production on each new episode definitely cascading over the production schedule of the previous episode, but still not developed as one gigantic game and then doled out slowly over the Internet. jrodkin 04:41, 9 July 2007 (UTC)

Continuous experiences

Also, I would say at this point the notion that an episodic game is something where "each episode is sold as a separate purchase and in the end together form a continuous story or experience," is a limiting definition, given the breadth and scope seen on television (the widest channel of episidoc content of any sort). While "Lost" may have a storyline which connects all the episodies in a linear order, a viewer could watch "Seinfeld" or "The Simpsons" in any order they choose, with little to no impact on how they percieve the story of each individual episode, and yet "Lost" "Seinfeld" and "The Simpsons" are all released in an "episodic" manner. If episodic content released for TV doesn't have to be serialized, why should the notion of serialization be included in the definition of episodic content that happens to be released for a PC or game console? The weakness of the "episodic games are a continuous story cut up into smaller pieces" definition shows when looking at Sam & Max Season One, where there is a continuous thread which runs through the series, but it is downplayed (some would argue irrelevant) in comparison to the self-contained story within each episode. Much like episodic TV content (like sitcoms) don't necesarilly need to contain serialized story arcs, the concept of serialization shouldn't present in the definition of an episodic game. jrodkin 04:41, 9 July 2007 (UTC)

Micropayments

Finally, the inclusion of micropayments in this article is very off-base. Upgrades and expansion packs (of any scale or scope) have only one major thing in common with episodic games: they are frequently sold over the internet. Micropayments are things like adding a new song to Guitar Hero, or purchasing armor for your horse in Oblivion. These are micropayments or expansion packs - things which build upon an existing full scale retail product. Episodic games are self-contained products which are intended to be released in rapid succession and played together in a group, but are not necesarilly dependent on some larger "master product" to build of of. (For instance, you don't need Half Life 2 to buy Half Life 2 Episode One, you don't need Sam & Max Episode One to buy Sam & Max Episode Two) Microtransactions and episodic games are both released online, and both frequently have regular release schedules and are priced lower than full-length retail "traditional" games, but one is an add-on (in film or TV terms, like adding in a deleted scene, or shooting an alternate ending), and one is a series of related, but independent products (like TV episodes, which collectively form a television series).

Admittedly, some could say the line blurs with something like the downloadable content for Uru Live, or for Guild Wars, but on the other hand, it's very easily arguable that those games are in fact not "episodic games." There are no unique episodes in Uru or Guild Wars like there are for Half Life 2 or Sam & Max (or, from the sounds of it, upcoming episodic series from American McGee and 3000AD) - the MMOs are "master products" which the user buys add-on content for. MMOs, generally, are not episodic games, but actually really deal entirely in microtransactions or expansion packs.

Micropayments already have their full article on Wikipedia, and while a cross-link is appropriate due to their potential similarities (both released online, and both frequently have regular release schedules and are priced lower than full-length retail "traditional" games) and possible confusion of the two concepts, discussing micropayments in the context of episodic gaming is probably inaccurate. jrodkin 04:41, 9 July 2007 (UTC)

Games versus Content

While I've not yet made the necessary research, it should be fairly obvious that episodic games (self contained, bought separately) and episodic content (requires original game, often released free of charge) are two different things. Examples of episodic games are on this page, and episodic content would be things like the World of Warcraft or Team Fortress 2 periodic content updates. I bring this up because, at present, episodic content redirects here. --142.46.153.37 (talk) 12:00, 19 April 2010 (UTC)

Satellaview

I think it should be mentioned in the article. --Mika1h (talk) 22:27, 23 January 2013 (UTC)

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