Making Typical Video Games Episodic

It’s been a while since I posted a video game design idea, so I thought I’d write one up.

Everyone is familiar with episodic games, where a single game is broken into chapters, each released separately. Telltale Games’ Sam and Max and Back to the Future are examples of this. Those games are broken up into 5 chapters, and released over a period of several months.

That type of release model is all well and good, though seldom used and sometimes abandoned (I’m looking at you, Half Life 2 Episode 3). However I’d like to try something radically different.

I propose that video games which have lengthy play-through times (like RPG’s, typically 40+ hours), are divided up into chapters of 1 to 3 hours each. Thanks to the internal clock of the console, the player would be limited to playing 1 chapter a week. You read that right - they’d have to wait 6 days to play another session.

I know what you’re thinking: This is madness! Drip-feeding a video game! If I want to finish the game in one week, that’s my right! Harumph harumph harumph.

But there is a lesson to be learned from other forms of entertainment, such as television. You have shows like LOST and Breaking Bad, serving up one thrilling hour a week, and then leaving you with much anticipation for the next episode. And it can be cruel with all the cliffhangers, but you have a week to analyze and digest what happened. A week to look forward. That one hour makes a bigger impression standing alone, than if it were viewed amidst a marathon.

And with video games, a lengthy game session can dilute many of the events that’s transpired. A lot of story and characterization could have been dropped on your lap in that time, but it all just blends together as you race through the game. A singular huge event would look underwhelming if it happens within a steady stream of other huge events. Give that huge event some isolation and it will leave a lasting impression.

With a weekly gap between sessions, not only would you endure all the agony a television viewer would after seeing the jaw-dropping conclusion to their show, but you’d also have the week to plan what you’d do next week. And that’s a luxury gamers would have over their television-viewing counterparts: instead of asking what’s going to happen next week? It will be what will I do next week?

The onus would also fall on game designers to plan cliffhanger conclusions for each chapter. For example, you could be playing Final Fantasy, and at the end of a chapter you are captured and all your gear is taken away. You’d spend the next week wondering how you’ll escape and if you can get your stuff back, and cursing those who captured you. It doesn’t always have to be a cliffhanger, but something memorable and wanting you to play more.

Other games could impose a time limitation, granting only a window of time to play in, so make the most of it. Imagine playing Grand Theft Auto, and you are only allowed 3 hours per week. Chances are you’d be very selective of what you do - which missions? Where should I travel to for the end of this session? Sure you could waste a session failing missions, but that would strengthen your resolve for the next week.

This isn’t a ploy to get people to play less. Only a means to get them to truly savor and soak up every aspect of the game - especially the story. That anticipation that existed prior to buying the game will now become a weekly ritual. And when you finish the game, it would feel like a real accomplishment - a completed journey of sorts - instead of a weekend marathon.

Some people could cheat or hack their way into later chapters, but they’d be depriving themselves of all the payoffs and wow moments had they progressed as designed.