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DeadPoolX wrote:I imagine he feels that way because pre-ordering an episodic game series is potentially dangerous. Sure, it's unlikely TellTale wouldn't finish the series (or something worse), but the fact remains you're paying ahead of time based on the promise that future episodes will be released.

My main issue is I hate waiting for future releases. If I buy it as a complete series, I have it all right then and there. I'd rather wait and get everything at once rather than get bits and pieces over time.

^^ This is why I despise pre-ordering episodic game series... which I suppose is why I have yet to purchase a single game made by TellTale Games on their website when it first comes out. Sure we got a good idea that they will finish the Back to the Future season... but the fact remains they are charging $24.95 for the entire season (five episodes) while only giving us access to the first episode up front. They get their money now and the customers that purchase are forced to play a waiting game.

I hate owing people anything and I especially hate it when people owe me something. That's the biggest problem with TellTale's business/distribution model in my opinion. Their entire business is run on the concept of buy now -> receive later.

It works great for Phoenix Online Studios and TSL because they aren't charging anything for the TSL episodes. But of course, TellTale has operating costs, development costs, advertising overhead, etc. They can't afford to release their products for free like POS does... nor should they be expected to. However, their business model is predicated on a degree of trust. As long as they continue to deliver to the people who have bought into their business model, everything is fine and dandy. But on the other side of the coin, if they should ever not deliver, they run the risk of loosing a good portion of their customer base and alienating potential customers.

Let's take a hypothetical example. Let's say Back to the Future doesn't do as well as it's projected to sales-wise by around Episode 3. Let's go a step further and say that Universal revokes the use of the license due to the game's lackluster performance (from their point of view, they could justify such action as maintaining the integrity of the brand). That leaves TellTale in a very bad spot. They will have already sold the entire season set to customers, but are no longer able to deliver the remaining two episodes. So they issue a partial refund for the two missing episodes to their customers and call it a day.

If such a thing happened, their business model would suffer tremendously, because their customers will most likely view the failure to deliver the remaining two episodes as a breach of trust. Never mind the fact that TellTale will have issued a partial refund... the people who purchased the game purchased it under the assumed promise that they would be getting the entire season. They will have invested money and time into the game... and while a portion of the money can be refunded, customers would still be left with an incomplete story and would have to write off whatever time they spent with the game as a loss.

That would be highly detrimental to TellTale when it comes to future projects, as people would remember the above example.

Of course, there's people like me who are immediately distrustful right from the getgo and would rather wait until all five episodes are complete and available for purchase. By waiting until that time, people like me are able to purchase the game in it's entirety without having to worry about playing Russian Roulette on a business model that has way too many variables in it.

Tawmis wrote:This would be my issue as well. Because what if you lose the "feel" for the game, waiting, then need to replay the first, second, third (whatever) episodes, all over again to get into the mindset.

This is one of the greatest dangers for producers, whether games, TV shows or whatever. I have found that the current practice of many distributors doling out TV shows in half seasons stops me from getting hooked on new series as the "season" is often over before I get sucked in. Much better to have a series of complete games than tiny bits and chunks of a single game, even if you have to wait longer for the next game.

I can relate to a lot of this. When I first heard about "Sam & Max" coming out in downloadable episodes years ago, I was outraged at the business model and it kept me from playing the games for a while. I didn't like the idea of episodic gaming, and I especially didn't like the "downloadable-only" part. I eventually played the whole first season after my brother bought it for his Wii and we sat down for the whole weekend eating chips and going through the episodes. After a while, it started to make sense why they did it that way, and I started buying the other seasons that had already finished.

It was around TOMI that I got the hankering to start with the pre-orders, because my co-worker had done that and he kept bringing the episodes to work so we could play them at lunch. I developed a taste for Telltale's story-telling, so it became harder to just sit and wait until a season was finished before playing. And as I found with pre-ordering S&M3 and BTTF, it's nice having that little bit of anticipation every month.

Feel free to wait out the season if you feel uncomfortable with pre-ordering. I know I was at some point. There's a lot to be skeptical about, and seasonal gaming might be an acquired taste for some people. I had to get used to Telltale's Games before I got hooked enough to start pre-ordering.

But back on topic - to Telltale's credit, given their history with weak season-openers, BTTF has one of the best.

Episode Two: Get Tannen has just been released.

http://telltalegames.com/

This is how I find out?! Darn you, delayed newsletter!

*runs off to download right now*

Here you go friends!!! Enjoy

Get Back to the Future Episode I for free (Telltale Games)!!

http://mjr.mn/eI0rTA


- Mike

Downloaded!

Thanks Mike for the heads-up!

Downloading. I am always willing to try something out for free.

I don't mean to sound paranoid, but that link looks a little odd. Where did you get it from?

DeadPoolX wrote:I don't mean to sound paranoid, but that link looks a little odd. Where did you get it from?

It redirects to telltalegames.com. Perhaps a TinyURL.com type thing? Never been a fan of such things. I like to know here I am going before I click. The other thing that I don't like about it is the redirects can get broken.

No worries people, it redirects you to TellTale with the code in place that gives you the game for free. The link is just run through a tiny url service as I put it up on twitter.

Those less trusting of fellow members just go to Telltale games and put this coupon code in after you add game to cart "121GIGAWATTS" and you will get the game for free.


- Mike

The real URL for those that worry about getting rickrolled:

http://www.telltalegames.com/cart/

As I said, I didn't mean to sound paranoid. I'm just naturally wary of stuff on the Internet.

DeadPoolX wrote:As I said, I didn't mean to sound paranoid. I'm just naturally wary of stuff on the Internet.

And with good reason.

Well, I'm playing BTTF Episode 1 and I'm sorry to say that am I less than impressed. While the voice acting and character models are fine, the interface leaves a lot to be desired.

First off, there's an annoying exclamation mark with instructions in the upper left-hand corner. It takes up a good portion of the screen and is a real eye sore. Worst of all, it simply won't go away! I've tried messing with the settings and it makes no difference.

Second, the way Marty controls is horrendous. Why can't I click and have him walk to that point? Instead I have to hold down the left mouse button and steer him, which sounds easy, but is extremely difficult to control. In addition, the keyboard controls make no sense -- if I press UP he goes to the LEFT. What the hell?!

Bottom line: the interface sucks. I really want to play BTTF, but as you all know, I'm very picky when it comes to a game's interface and controls. If I feel the game's interface and controls are terrible, I won't play the game, no matter how great it's supposed to be.

For example... a bad control scheme is the reason I couldn't play Grim Fandango or replay GK1.