I’ve just been looking at my files for the first two parts of my game and noticed that Episode 2 is currently larger than the pilot and episode 1. I’m curious how long do you think each part should be?
Do you think there should be a minimum size per part or doesn’t it bother you if part three is smaller than parts one and two but part 4 is twice as long?
I’m just trying to gauge opinions on how long a part should be (especially if decide to submit my game to COG)
Hm, I think it’d depend on the importance of the episode to the overarching plot, as well as the individual episode’s complexity. If it’s a simple “go kill the thing” episode, then it should stay short and sweet. If it’s an episode rife with complex plot points and foreshadowing, then it has license to be as long as it needs to be to properly tell the tale.
That’s entirely dependent on two factors, in my opinion:
The Story in Question
The Type of Save System
If you’ve got a reliable turn off/close the browser and come back to it whenever you feel like it without starting again, then I really don’t think anything is “too” long.
But since we usually don’t, I think it depends entirely upon your story; is it about making lots of choices and actively engaging the reader as quickly as possible?
Choice of the Dragon/Choice of Zombies - I think these kind of games should be kept sweet and short, they’re a bit of a fun on the road or something, but they’re not too “serious”. The plot will get old pretty quickly if you drag it out too long.
Something like - what I’m guessing from playthroughs - Unnatural is, I think should be much longer… It’s pace is slower, the choices further apart and the story element is a lot deeper and more novel-like (You expect novels to last quite some time).
I would say it definitely depends on how intricate the plot is. Trying to stretch something out to a “minimum” length, or cram something into a “maximum” length usually doesn’t end well in my experience.
Personally, I don’t care if the parts are even, as long as the size of the part makes sense with the depth of the plot in that part.