Re: Episodic Release...

[Rieper Profile Website]

Hi, would you like to have the Disclosure modification released in episodes instead of as one complete "game"...

This could prove fine - it could prove a really bad idea...!!?  :-*

One man is to make the desicion on how things are and will be done. Tell him!

Give your arguments on why it could be great with a large, episodic modification - or tell Face why the idea would suck.

No more from here.  8)

-- Casper Daugaard
Director of Design, Hitman II: Silent Assassin

[Icarus Profile WebsiteICQ]

If the mission was released in parts, people might start playing another game or something, lose interest in the mod and never download the rest of it.
Also, some people (like me) have a short attention span and if the mod is released in stages, they might forget the plot line and become confused and angry when/if  they go back to disclosure.
So, although the full thing will take longer, it may hold peoples attention for longer.
A little anticipation helps to build up atmosphere.

EDIT: BTW who the hell would've played the orignal Deus Ex if it'd been released in stages? Not a lot of people I think. And basically because of face's brilliant mapping and coding skills, this is what disclosure is. It's not a mod, it's a mini Deus Ex (And I'm looking forward to Hm2:SA )

[dafrood]

I guess Icarus is right. For myself, I like to get immersed into a game and play it as long as I can stay awake. That is why I complete most shooters in two nights. Deus Ex was the first to take me four days, and I absolutely loved it. But I wouldn't have if I had to stop for days or weeks at every level change...

[Eagle Profile WebsiteICQ]

I'm with Icarus and dafrood. I remember marvelling at DX as I played 13 hours straight one day (I finished it in 3) and if it hadn't kept flowing then I probably would have lost interest, especially as pulling down 20mb of map everytime you have to change levels on a 56k modem is downright stupid if your attention span ceases after about 15mins.

[Administrator]

Although I did give a lot of thought to an episodic release strategy in the early stages of Disclosure, I decided against it for reasons similar to those given above.

Being unable to continue playing Disclosure after one level would put a lot of people off, as there would never be the nice fluid feeling to playing the game. The storyline is complex, and it would be easy to get confused with plot elements if you weren't able to continue playing in your own time.

By releasing it as a whole it gives me the opportunity to work out any minor story/plot holes in earlier stages of the mod (if any) and generally tweak areas that need tweaking.

By now you should know that there's a second demo being released. As with the first mission, there's still not a lot of the plot revealed, again this is intentional. Yes of course there are developments in the story, but it's still a very early stage, meaning that by releasing the second demo your anticipation (hopefully) is going to be even more heightened for the remaining eight missions to be released.

If anyone else has anything to say in support of an episodic release, I'd love to hear.



Face

[bazieboy Profile]

i'd like to give support for episodic realse, but frankly agree whole heartedly with face, looking foreward to the demo though!

[Slim_Dim Profile Website]

Has any one considered a compormise, have the scetions, not neccessarily individual missions, relaesed all at the same time, but avalabe to download seporatly, such as seen on freeloader.com so peploe can choose to download them on mass or seporatly.

[bazieboy Profile]

[Eagle Profile WebsiteICQ]

[Rieper Profile Website]

Great, this.

I must say, that I could not agree more with you clever guys.   8)

For community designs (and pro-projects as well), this counts:

Strong/Complex storyline =
Forget about episodic release. That would be rape of the story's magic.  >:(

Fluiding game atmosphere/player sense =
Forget even more about it. The magic will disappear, the game will have no "style" (the style that players notice when they spot interesting architectural details, character types, you name it...!  

Cliffhangers, what will happen??? =
NOOO!!! If Face has anyway included such plotpoints in the game, tell him to change things immediatly. Cliffhangers can be entertaining in some films and (more rarely) in TV series. Deus Ex was not anyway designed or suited for featuring cliffhangers, and trying to use them yourself, that's too stupid. So no cliffhangers. They would be boring and possibly not make sense (if so, definently not the intented one...)

I am not able to find any arguments there are positive for Disclosure released as an episodic intenity. So, release some teaser demos, make these level even cooler and release it all in the end...

If anyone wants to make an episodic modification for something (actually, it makes production quiet easier), try create a modification for Tomb Raider, fx.
You could make the next level more impressing than the previous and forget everything about story and overall atmosphere... There is nothing wrong by having a 5 months brake between playing a Tomb Raider level. But this is the Deus Ex community, so let's work hard and make things optimal...  ???

And Face, good luck, you genious. I am online Tuesday evening, if you want to talk a bit...  :'(  

-- Casper Daugaard
Director of Design - Hitman II: Silent Assassin  :-X


- check the Malaysia section

[Rieper Profile Website]

To give stupid examples:

Tomb Raider Remote:
The popular, interactive travelling magazine.
Go with Lara Croft to visit some of the globe's most extreme, remote, excting locations. And be with her, as following, when she blows it all into pieces of pieces.

The Secret of Escaping From LeChuck's Revenge on The Return to Monkey Island
Episode I "LeChuck searches LeChick"
The evil LeChuck has for the 15th time returned to ravage the oceans around Monkey Island. That forces Guybrush to leave the rest home and return, casting himself out in a line of intense battles with swords, canon-balls, and perverted sentments...

Final Fantasy: The Series
Episode IIX
When the warrior, Cloud realizes that The Evil has kidnapped his best friends and companions, the crazy and sweet Bongo and....

You name it - Episodic Releases...............  >:(

-- Casper Daugaard
Director of Design - Hitman II: Silent Assassin


- check the Malaysia or the Japan section. Check it all out...!!  8)

[Administrator]

[Administrator]

[Rieper Profile Website]