I am just curious ..But if the question was asked of adventure gamers if they prefer a full game or an episode style of game if it would be almost 100% in favor of the full game at once. This being the case are there bigger companies out there that are going with episode type games? I guess I can understand from smaller indie companies that need to recoup cash flow in order to continue with a game. I am to the point that I am prepared to wait until a few of the episodes are available before I even start a game like this....I am so thankful to games like Deponia Satinav Book of unwritten tales and Zerzura lately that make these whole games at once that are really very good. I guess my point is are the bigger companies making episodic games and if so why if in fact they know the audience wants a full game....especially if there is the chance an episode may not even finish as we have seen countless times.

I know the more vocal members (by vocal I mean more abt to posting versus those that just browse)are partial to full length vs. episodic, but many gamers in general are drawn to the episodic because they require less time commitment. That is the very reason casuals do so well. The success of The Walking Dead and less initial funding for the developer required has definitely fueled the rise of episodic adventures.

Ana

I prefer full games to episodic as a general rule. However, I'll take what I can get. If there is a game I want to play that is episodic, I certainly don't want to miss out on it. For example, Cognition was my favorite game last year, even though it isn't finished yet. It would have been a shame to have skipped over it just because I didn't want to play "episodes."

@Hamer, you could always do what Mad does and wait until after all the episodes are released to play the game. That way you get the full completed games, and you can skip the games that never complete all their episodes.

My thought is that I would prefer a full game to episodes & would prefer to wait until all episodes have been completed - I just hate waiting for a story to continue (that also applies to TV series where I'd rather play them back-to-back on DVD!)

I know that it doesn't help the developers at all but would buy an episode if it was a complete story & doesn't leave you on a cliff-hanger - I've just played a few too many games that have relied on a sequel to continue a story that have just never turned up!

I play Casuals inbetween Adventures or RPGs when I'm stuck for playing time because they still offer a complete story, even if a short one.

I very much dislike episodic releases and have bought very few. And those only to support the one or two particular studios that made them.

As a gamer I prefer full games every time.

As a developer, I would still ideally like to produce full-length games, but realistically the episodic release formula is so much easier in terms of both cashflow (as you mentioned) and development that it must be considered. I'm using both models with different games depending on the specific circumstances.

Also, some themes lend themselves more to an episodic structure than others. Sam and Max I felt worked brilliantly because it felt like an interactive cartoon and thus you didn't actually expect something epic - but with Broken Sword for instance I think it would have been disastrous.

I still replay the "original" Sam & Max on my oldest computer and much prefer it to the more modern episodic version from TellTale

But obviously I'm aware that finances have to be a priority with any developer