MaceyNeil: by the sound of the webpage presented he wants to make a really old style game like psychonauts 1 and make episodic content; aka Sam'n'Max.
To which i have to say good luck with that because i specifically stopped buying into the Sam'n'Max franchise as soon as i learned it to be based on episodic content (being equivalent to unfinished, fewer hours of enjoyment & exorbitant price of material).
If not ah well he's not the only publisher unfortunately trying this sort of tactic.
Star Ruler by Blind Mind studios is also reaching out with an unfinished game for peoples hard earned dollars in order to fund development.
I payed for it, played it for a bit and at a demo length glance it looked like it had some real potential.
Now that i've played it for a while i'm not so sure they'll easily fix the basic game mechanics to something at least more enjoyeable than having a person come round and break you're computer with a hammer while playing civilization;
which is at the moment how the game plays with how unintuitive, hard to track, impossible to micromanage and overall meaningless the gameplay currently is.
I aint gonna hold no punches just cause i've bought what amounts to non-profitable shares in the finished product.
This method of development does not seem to favour the consumer at the end of the day and well if you want a positive to it all you'll have to relly on the smug sense of self satisfaction of helping a guy out during the worldwide economic crisis.
I suppose you can also be hopefull that it will actually be DRM-Free on release, but for series and sequels you need go no further than kings bounty the legend for a realistic perspective on wether it will show up at GOG once it's fresh out the doorway.
(Those too silly to look past the first title i mention should look at where to get armoured princess and crossroads DRM free from and i'll give you a hint.... nowhere.)
I would love to have faith in a publisher and psychonauts 1 looked pretty good from what i saw of it, but i would not have faith on it living up to my expectations so i'll stick to purchasing into things once i know what VALUE they inherently possess for me as a consumer.
Just my 2 cents.
I got the whole Tales of Monkey Island series at USD5 during the Talk Like a Pirate sale. I sure felt like I got ripped off. How dare they charge me 1 dollar each per episode, that's exorbitant!
I also got S&M Seasons 1 2 and 3 recently during a non-promo. I think that cost me USD50. The nerve of Telltale!
But yes, Star Ruler is a massive disappointment, and the latest patch doesn't reinvigorate anymore hope than the game did at release.
Back on topic, I am indifferent to the idea if it's done right. I was averse to the idea of episodes at first, what with it being open season to exploitation, but Telltale has proven that it works.
I never said episodic content release or (DLC as a lot of them are) does not work... in fact for bordelands the steam version works very well (as opposed by it's half arsed unfinished microsoft installer 'that they seem to have borrowed from somewhere' retail versions of their DLC).
In fact for COMPANIES it works very well, you get money as you go along, you can play on consumer ignorance as much as other retail sectors with their it's under 10 dollars at $9.99, it's that cheap it's like two hamburgers.
The point i made though was that it does not favour the consumer.
If i go out and buy a game i expect to buy the whole game, that's why when i bought civilization 4 i bought the complete pack because lets face it civ 4 and warlords are little more than filler for what everyone ended up playing... beyond the sword.
Don't get me wrong civ4 by itself is not terrible to play... i never saw the point of playing warlords but not having a few traits or leaders is hardly such a huge step down.
At the time these 'Episodes' as i rightly call them were selling for at least $30 so as much as the original had when on sale.
Would it be worth getting them all at $30? at over $90 with GST etc... not really and the fact is companies are pushing to reestablish the bar for new release pricing at $100 or over for games (team that up with how they want consumers to have to buy multiplayer games 1 for 1 instead of a person like me who in fact own about 5 pc's being able to install the game they have the right to run and play on each of them).
Most upgrades to a computer system will cost about $300 and last in terms of utility for about 2 years.
I'm not saying some games can't manage to be timeless i'm saying that sort of pricing is exhorbitant and companies are trying any cloak and dagger trick in the marketting book to extort the hard earned dollars of consumers that really are only seeking to get fair value for their valuable commodity.
Now you can call me a filthy pirate or a capitalist pig for owning more than one system and complaining about games not being able to be played on all of them; based on how it's a a licence for my use and most people can't use more than one machine at a time.
I say 'WRONG ANSWER' i play and enjoy a number of games played simultaneously and what is sold is touted as a game being played by multiple people as part of it's experience so i should have EVERY right to have that same full experience as that is what i payed for if that is in fact it's primary focus (unreal tournament series, crysis, etc.)
To put thing in colloqual terms it's a pretty slack and greasy way to do business that can help only to hide the end gaming experience from the purchaser until about half the franchise of the game is bought into.
But that's my two cents and i'm sure you hold you're own values on the matter that i don't know or actually care about no offense meant or maliciousness intended.
