At present we are not sure if all episodes will be in one app or spread across multiple apps simply because the first episode is proving to be a sizeable download and we are not sure if people will be happy with having one app taking up so much space on their device because it contains multiple episodes. As for the cost, it is important to note that we haven't just made one game and then arbitrarily split it up into multiple episodes and that the continual development of any game series does require players to pay for the follow up installments as developers need to eat and pay rent etc just like everyone else.
Eh what it sounds like to me is this game is similar to the style of Telltale games. They release a game and split it into episodes, making people pay per episode or in some cases they offer a season pass where you get a discount for buying all the episodes in a bundle type of deal. Not really my type of game because it doesn't feel like a full finished complete game. It's like well here's half our game for now just buy this and enjoy it and when we finish developing the other half we'll get back to you, thanks! But that's just my opinion. Sounds like it could be a fun game but I'll have to hold off on it, thanks for the information. --TearGod.
I'm sorry you feel that way but hopefully we will be able to persuade you otherwise when we release things like a trailer and the testers get their hands on some builds. But naturally you are fully entitled to your opinion and we do understand where you're coming from. We would love to release all episodes in one single package from the beginning as a whole product however the episodic format brings lots of advantages to developers, especially small ones just starting out. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Episodic_video_game#Advantages Here are a few more screenshots...
I find it difficult to manage the space on my iPhone. I have hardly any left as it is so would prefer if games are smaller in size. I usually wait until I have a few episodes and then play them back to back. It wouldn't be a problem buif you could upgrade storage space but unfortunately you can't do this on the iPhone. With only a 16gb device space is tight and I probably wouldn't buy a huge game. And anyway I'm impatient and want ep 1 now and not when all the episodes are finished
The way that I look at it, the situation is no different than reading a multi-issue story arc in a comic book. I don't get to pay just one amount to get all the issues of the comic just because they are telling the same story. As long as there is enough of a game in a given episode then I don't mind having to get two or three to get everything. The perfect example of this concept gone horribly wrong, however, was Amerzone. I would be shocked if the first episode took me more than 15 minutes, and as a result I had no desire to check out the others. In a case like that there's no reason to split the sections up, except for the fact that it is a huge game storage-wise.
That's pretty much the way we were thinking, as long as each episode is interesting and long enough to stand on its own then it should be fine. Out of curiosity, how long do you think a $0.99 game in this genre should take you to complete on average and then the same question for a $1.99 game? It's hard for us to judge play time as we know all the solutions to the puzzles but with our rough idea we think it will be plenty long enough ( don't want to make our guestimate public until we get word back from all the testers about how long they took to see how close we were to it ).
Yea our game has sort of exploded in size due to the iPad 3 artwork so we will probably have to release iPhone and iPad specific sizes. We will see after more optimisation has been done. That's the beauty of episodic gaming, we can get a product out to the player much quicker then we could if we had to build the whole game in a single package
Very happy that you are looking forward to it. We really can't wait to see what people think of it! Here are a couple more screenshots to whet your appetite P.S. I realise a lot of these screenshots might look similar, we do have a lot more to show but are choosing to hold those back as to not ruin any surprises.
Haha, we're working as fast as we can I promise We really want to get builds out to you guys by the end of the week at the latest.
That would be great, but of course I tease. I'd rather have this rockin' than rushed. Take all the time that you need.
We're certainly getting close, at least our to-do list is getting smaller Of course once the builds go out to you guys I'm sure you'll find plenty more items for the list
That's what I thought. You'd be surprised at how well I can come up with ideas on how to make things less user friendly!
I promise the game is still coming, not long now till the tester build is ready In the mean time, here are a few more screenshots...
