Is the Episodic Model a Waste of Time?

At one point I remember “episodic” being one of those buzzwords in the game industry that everyone was trying to latch onto. Either developers were putting their single player campaigns into an episodic TV structure (Alan Wake, Alone in the Dark, Battlefield: Hardline, etc) or games were going to be cut down into chunks and released on a “schedule” where you could purchase the “season” (essentially everything Telltale games has done). I never really bought onto this concept and it seemed most people didn’t care as long as they were getting the games.

Now, I wonder if the entire model isn’t largely a waste of time. Specifically I am referring to Telltale’s episodic release structure for their games. I can’t remember the last time they had a consistent release schedule. I suppose one way to alleviate this is just don’t buy a Telltale game until all the episodes are out, but I get a little annoyed when I do purchase something like Tales from the Borderlands (which I’ve really enjoyed) and then the next episode is over a month late for release…all while they keep announcing new collaborations and projects.

The first episode for Tales from the Borderlands (TftB) was released in late November and the second episode in mid-March…nearly 4 months apart. If the rest of the game’s 6 episodes were released on this kind of schedule we’d see TftB fully released in 2 years. I under the word “episodes” is merely a marketing ploy, but at the same time shouldn’t there at least be some truth in advertising? As of right now Game of Thrones has had a bit better of a track record as they have released 3 episodes on the following dates: 12/2/14, 2/3/15, 3/24/15. Of course another caveat to this is that TT games is currently releasing their titles across…8 platforms (4 consoles, 2 OS, and 2 phone platforms), so perhaps in that lies some of the problem. While they had 2 announced games mid-release they announced that they were working with Microsoft on a Minecraft episodic game and now they have announced they are collaborating with Marvel Comics on a game as well; its worth noting that these two additional projects are only the ones announced so you know they are already working on stuff that hasn't been announced yet.

Either way, in terms of episodic game release is there really any legitimate love from the community for it? Wouldn’t it be better, much like “television” shows on Netflix, to get the full game released all at once and you play what you want and when you want it? While I understand the episodic structure allows company’s like TT games to release a product much earlier in their dev cycle (and the amount of bugs those games release with shows it) I don’t know that it does the consumer/gamer any favors. The only company I've seen really come out and say episodic just wouldn't work for them is Valve...and I don't really think its a wonder why. I mean, when you release your episodes 18 months apart it starts to make some eyes roll.

I suppose you can kind of already assume my opinion, but I didn’t know what you duders thought about it. I haven’t really heard much regarding criticism of the episodic model outside some minor gripes regarding the release structure of games, though that was really back with The Wolf Among Us (which I really liked). As I mentioned above, it is always an option to just purchase the episodes in a bundle once they are released and as always buyer beware. I suppose at the end of the day, this is more a discussion on Telltale game's release structure more than anything as they are really the only company who does this consistently. TT's studio has grown way more than most people realize, but I wonder when the straw will actually break that causes them to actually say, "Yeah...maybe we should step back just a bit."

For the episodic model to work, I think you have to hit 1 of two things:

1. You HAVE to hit a consistent schedule of releases for your episodes. Pretty much everyone besides RE Revelations 2 has failed on this count.
2. OR each episode of your game needs to feel like it can stand on its own, to a certain degree. Season 1 of The Walking Dead worked because each episode told its own story pretty well and the quality bar was pretty high for each episode. I really enjoyed the first episode of The Fall and don't mind waiting for the next part because that first one was really good and left off at a really natural point.

I think the complaining about the episode structure kind of hit its peak when The Wolf Among Us was coming out, and I think that's largely because that game failed on both these counts. The release structure was all over the place, and some of those episodes really felt like filler.

If they were released monthly I would be cool with it, since it would give the community plenty of time to discuss the episode online and all of that jazz, but four months between episodes is just way too much. It makes me so glad that I've implemented my self imposed rule of only buying their games when they are fully complete, because then I won't have to suffer through long droughts of having no episode and getting little to no communication from Telltale. I feel like I really enjoyed The Wolf Among Us more than I would have otherwise since I got all five episodes at once and could play them back to back, with small breaks between episodes. That way I can actually remember the small things that happened and so on - really, how many people were able to see the connection between the beginning of episode 1 and the ending of episode 5 in The Wolf Among Us? Probably only a small handful, since they were released nearly a year apart from one another. It's very obvious if you've played them back to back, but I'd have a hard time believing anyone who played episode one eight months prior would have gotten it.

I don't think the episodic model is a waste of time, but I DO believe Telltale should pull back and focus only on a couple of projects at a time, rather than juggling so many at once, since it appears to be making them slip more and more on their releases.

Nah it's not a waste of time, Telltale are just awful at doing it properly. Life Is Strange and that recent Resident Evil game both seem to be doing it right, actually putting out episodes in some sort of periodic time frame, but Telltale just seem to put them out whenever they're done. They can't stick to a schedule and as such I'm done buying their games before the entire season is done mostly because by the time it's almost done it'll have been on sale for a cheaper price.

- If we as players want the episodes to release on time, you have to have the first few "in the can" ready and waiting for release. YET, WHY THE FUCK would players want to wait if THEY KNOW it already been made? Players have universally said they don't even like the impression that teh game is done when then can't get it all at once. They hate even the impression of that, let alone the reality.

- If we as players want these to games to adapt to people's impressions of the first game and "course" correct, then you can't have them all done when put the first one out. There needs to be time to make slight changes if the games are to get better or solve issues.

- If players want game to evolve even just slightly as the episodes come out or fix issue, then players need to wait and not nail down release dates.

We as players keep bitching that games are not movies and games are not tv shows, or graphics novels or anything else. We bitch our faces blue, but then very second a episodes of a game are slightly variable we bitch "THAT'S NOT HOW TV EPISODES WORK!!! THAT' NOT HOW COMICS WORK!"

"Episodic" content is a garbage idea and it always has been. I liked The Wolf Among us immensely. I thought it was the best thing TT has ever done, and it exceeds the comic book, Fables. But, then, I played the entire game at one time. The only people I know who speak of the game negatively? They played it as "episodes".

The only people who benefit from "episodic" gaming is developers accounting department. It makes tremendous sense economically. But in terms of making a quality game, it absolutely cripples game design. That's why TT games have devolved to being "walking around and talking" games alongside quicktime events. Actual gameplay when in the player interacts with the environment or solves puzzles has been almost completely removed.

I really liked how Resident Evil Revelations 2 handled being 'episodic'. Granted, I knew it was already finished before the first episode released, but the episodes were just long enough for me to play in one sitting, and knowing there'd be another new episode the next week kept me coming back to that game, and playing a lot more of its raid mode, for a good month. Also, if it'd all come out at once, I'd of probably ploughed through it in 2 or 3 sittings and not given it much thought, but having the week between episodes to think about the story really helped it stick with me, even if it wasn't amazing. It kept me thinking about it longer than I would of if it hadn't been episodic.

It's also the only episodic game I've played thats had a second episode come out that I remembered to play, because it wasn't a huge wait. I very quickly dropped off TellTales games because of the wait between episodes.

Once the engine is up and running I get the impression the amount of work left to go into each episode is limited. So the only rationale for this splitting up is if we enjoy it. Personally, while I enjoyed the walking dead first 2 episodes, which I played consecutively, by the time the rest came out I was not really as excited about it. Its possible that if the writing is better, that the suspense won't fade away but I doubt it could be any better than it was in the Walking dead. I mean even Game of Thrones, which I watched all 4 episodes at the leak, that was a really fun experience but hype and enthusiasm for the next one has almost faded and its only been two weeks since I last watched it. I think the weekly release schedule is MANDATORY.

@jesus_phish I think nailed it. I don't think episodic is a bad idea but its creates a lot of frustration when the schedule for release is so whimsical. I mean even if an "episode" came out every quarter, 3months, and there were 6 of them so it took 1.5yr to complete a story, that actually pretty reasonable as long as you know when its coming so you can get excited about the release. Instead we get, "That was great! Wonder when the next one will be out..."

But then the concept also suffers from not every game episode can be equivalent to the red wedding in GOT. Some are going to be less dramatic than others. Not sure. TL;DR: I don't think the concept is garbage, I just don't think we've seen great execution of it

@lord_anime: I suppose some of that boils down to the writing. If an episode feels like filler then there is a problem. Watching Daredevil on Netflix I never really felt like there were filler episodes, and I could have watched one episode a week until I finished it.

Resident Evil Revelations 2 was actually a great Episodic game that hit on schedule and was really cool. Judging all episodic releases because Telltale fucks it up all the time is silly, because Telltale fucks everything up.

@make_me_mad: Well, at this point Resident Evil: Revelations and Life is Strange are both outliers and not the standard.

I really like the episodic format at this point. First off, I don't really ever wanna play more than an episode at a time. Secondly, with so many different seasons all happening right now, there's episodic content coming out all the time. I also don't really think about them often when there isn't a new episode. I like how telltale doesn't do any marketing for an episode except a trailer a couple days before. When I see the trailer is up then the game pops back to the forefront and I only have to wait 2 days.

I think Telltale have certainly failed when it comes to the delivery of their episodic games. People sometimes make the excuse that they have a ton on with so many projects at once. However you’d like to think they’ve expanded their team to cope with this. Also you’d like to think some of Lionsgate money for that project is going to put together a new team perhaps or something so as not to detract from their own projects.

However this is only part of the problem even thinking back Back to the Future was plagued by taking forever to launch and then between episodes there were issues.

Resident Evil Revelations 2 arguably got it right…but that was as a result of it being a full game ripped into episodes so to speak. I’m assuming it went gold some time before the digital releases so it could be done at that schedule and perhaps that is the way to do it. I think some of Telltales problems show that the lead time with this content just doesn’t lend itself to a steady release schedule. So perhaps this the way forward but then arguably what’s the point then it’s just delaying the full game for those who want to play all in one go!

Life is Strange was a big hope for me but episode 2 got delayed and missed it’s 6 week window. So let’s see how that goes going forward.

Let's ask Gabe

Episodic stuff is OK. I just treat it like a TV show. Ignore the weekly broadcast and just binge the Bluray release.

Y'all think the the release times between TT games is long, go look at Kentucky Route Zero. 5 months between act 1 & 2, a year between 2 & 3 and we're a couple weeks off it being a year since 3 came out, with no sign of act 4. Don't get me wrong, KRZ is one of the best games ever imo and it's not even finished, but god damn they take their sweet time on them.

For me personally yes. WD Season 1 was the only one so far to grab me in that way. Now I just wait for the whole season to be out then enjoy it in one swoop. Also by the time it all comes out you can get it for easily half off if not more. Episodic just doesn't work for me.

For all the complaints about Telltale, they are really the only company that have been truly successful with this type of release structure.

I think what really needs to happen is for a date to be nailed down and announced as soon as you finish the previous episode.

I think Telltale has handled it pretty well for the most part. Even when the time between episodes slips to 2-4 months or so, it's not really so long that I think it causes an issue with following the continuity of the story. I've personally found it pretty satisfying to have these games broken up into smaller chunks - while they're enjoyable and well written for the most part, I'm not sure the gameplay mechanics really are substantial enough to keep me hooked playing 10+ hours within a shorter time-frame.

Besides, it could be worse...

I like episodic games only because nowadays I usually buy and consume them as a finished, compiled product.

I like the episodic nature in terms of gameplay because it gives me natural, structured points in which to stop and pick up from later. If I were to have to wait for each episode to release before I could play them (something I used to do with Telltales very early games) that would drive me a little crazy. I have games with multi-year release dates like Kentucky Route Zero, The Dream Machine, and The Journey Down just sitting unplayed in my Steam library because I don't want to play them until they are complete.

I felt Walking Dead season 1 benefited from the episodic release schedule. It was all very good, and it was a bit of an event each time it came out.

Also, having the story stretch over a decent amount of real-world time made me "feel" some of the big decisions more.

I think the impact that story had on me would have been lessened quite a bit if I'd played the whole thing in a single weekend.

So conceptually,I think episodic content can certainly work.

I think the original idea behind Telltales episodes is that they didnt want people to finish a game over a weekend, which is the norm these days and wanted to make it last in a way.

While Telltale needs to get on a more consistent schedule (they actually use to be better about that from what I remember), I think the episodic structure greatly benefits the types of games they make. I've played the majority of the games they've released, and I've enjoyed most of them (to varying degrees), but the few times I've waited until the full season was out to play one I found myself more fatigued playing them all at once than I did the games I waited between episodes. Maybe it's just because those games weren't as good, but my favorite Telltale experiences have been the ones I picked up an episode at a time. I've also enjoyed discussing each episode as they are released. Discussing the whole thing once you've played every episode isn't really the same experience.

I guess it's kinda ironic that I enjoy episodic gaming when I've pretty much gone the opposite direction when it comes to TV. I have a hard time keeping up with television on a weekly basis these days. I much prefer to binge watch when I can. Maybe it's because Telltale's are a bit meatier than your average TV show, so even if I do have to wait (a ridiculous) 4 months I don't necessarily feel like I need the next episode immediately.

You're right. I don't really care because I don't tend to play until the whole game is out, or most of it is.

But it's what Telltale does and it's worked for them so far. It's not a big deal.

There have been a few other developers that have done it what I assume was successfully as well (Kentucky Route Zero comes to mind).

It's really just a form of early access if you think about it. But instead of them releasing an unfinished product, they release finished increments of a product and call them episodes- as well as create them contextually as episodes. It works when it's done well, and at this point at least Telltale seems to make money off of working this way.

It's all whatever to me. I just buy the game when I afford it and when it's at least close to being done. Not that it even matters because I don't finish games in one sitting these days anyway haha.

I don't know if the Alan Wake/BF Hardline "episodic" and the Walking Dead "episodic" are really that comparable. The Alan Wake kind of episodic is a specific presentation style and the other is an actual release schedule with separate chunks.

I think it can work. For the consumer, you can buy the first episode for $5 or whatever and then buy into the rest of the season if you enjoy it. So it's a low barrier of entry.

On network TV shows are generally shot quite a few weeks in advance. You'll get the first 5-10 episodes and then if the show is working you'll get a "back half" order where you shoot the remaining episodes during the winter break. That way you have a full half season of episodes ready to go, but you can tinker and change what isn't working for the back half of the season (March-May). I think using a strategy like that might benefit these games. Have half of it mostly done at the start and then have a 2-4 month break while you work on the back half.

@reverendk: its not, but I'm fairly sure I wasn't saying they were the same...only both styles of episodic came about around the same time.

One thing you are missing I think is that "Episodic" games aren't that way primarily for our benefit... It's for the developer first and foremost. Our experience is more a side effect.

By charging for the game in pieces and stretching the dev time out, a developer can cut the cord early, rather than commit ressources ahead of time. This allows for far more flexible budgeting. Episodes doing great? Throw mo money at em. Not so much? Scale it back. As well, you have some time to absorb feedback and implement changes in accordance. Theoreticaly your bottomline could be bigger as price perception is huge for these games. Some people are far more likely to get hooked buying $5-10 episodes than they are to dump 40-50 bucks on the whole thing. Especially the fabled "casual market" these games want/need.

As for me personally... I never really cared about the scheduling problem, but either way I prefer eating the whole salami rather than piece by piece.

It is a great form for small devs though, and I would reccomend it for some projects.

I don't think the release schedule really benefits the consumers, but it's certainly good for Telltale. If they were waiting to release these games until all the episodes are done, you're looking at one or two releases a year. With the episodic structure, they are in the news every 6-10 weeks (more often if they have multiple series going at once, which they usually do). Year round you have people talking about Telltale releases, reviews of them going up, and just generally a much bigger mindshare for the Telltale brand than if they put out one or two full games a year.

I don't think it's a waste of time for consumers, although I don't think Telltale handles their version particularly well. Game development is of course uncertain, but I think for this to truly work out well for both parties, there needs to be at least a basic release guaranteed schedule they can stick to. Just so I know when I'm probably getting what I purchased.

Personally I've discovered I don't enjoy playing games the Episodic way. When I set a game down for more then 7-10 days, it's very hard for me to pick it up again. Not sure why that is, but it's always been that way. It's not that I can't remember what I was doing, I think it's just because I've emotionally moved on to the next thing.

I'll probably stick to buying and consuming complete seasons.

I also have to wonder if this actually makes more money for the companies. I'd think you run the risk of losing not getting enough new people to jump on with each episode. Wouldn't surprise me if we see one of these episodic games not manage their funds properly and not finish a season at some point. Probably not Telltale itself, but one of their imitators (although I guess Telltale already had one that didn't finish in Bone)

From my perspective, I sometimes wonder exactly what the delays are really about. I mean, it seems like the engine doesn't change that much. I know this is a perspective ignorant of the backend details with the engine and the complexities of releasing across 7 platforms, but man...if episode 1 works...wouldn't episode 2 work just as well unless you really were so behind in the development process?