Beyond Episodic Structure

1
Beyond Episodic Structure

• Time-Shifting Storytelling and Other Content
  Delivery for Greater Player Involvement and
  Retention

2
Primetime TV Schedule
3
Barn Wars Episodic Delivery Schedule
4
Episodic Pitfalls

• Magically appearing content harms immersion
• Player population spikes disrupt community
  building
• Server strain harms performance
• Regular schedule undermines retention
• Regular story moves create an artificial
  structure
• Forces content release and bugs into one package
  in the eyes of players

5
Magically Appearing Content

• Look! Youre Playing a GAME!
• The Trap of Spawning Everything
• In literature foreshadowing
• In the real world hurricanes
• In drama earthquakes

6
Player Population Spikes

• The Global Neighborhood
• The Super Bowl
• Blushing brides at Filenes
• Crossing the valley on the Ventura Freeway
• Lab rats and cannibalism

7
Server Strain

• If you build it, they will come.
• The road to Lourdes
• Asherons Call anomalies in the space-time
  continuum
• Appointment in Samara

8
Retention and Surfing

• The Grass Is Always Greener
• Attack of the Killer Couch Potatoes
• The remote control
• No real choice stagnation

9
Regularly Scheduled Story Moves

• Its June 6th! Time for an Invasion!
• Players ? Dentists
• Scheduling Crises Bad Idea
• Variety is the Spice of Drama, Part 1
• (If TV didnt have to stick to formula, it
  wouldnt.)

10
Content Si! Bugs No!

• The Slippery Slope of Community Relations
• Player confusion
• Player suspicion
• Player confrontation
• Player rebellion

11
Love in the Afternoon

• Overlapping content release
• Planting content
• Scaling content
• Naturally flowing story
• Stories of all shapes and sizes

12
Overlapping Content Release

• Always begin a new episode before you end the
  previous one
• Stagger all content
• Vary the time axis/difficulty

13
Planting Content

• The Designer as Johnny Appleseed
• Mobs
• Loot
• NPCs
• Geographical changes

14
Scaling Content

• For player commitment (length)
• For player level (height)
• For player interest (breadth)

15
Ongoing Story that Flows

• We gotta get a bigger boat.
• Scheduling the shark attacks
• Shortening the gap between story moves without
  adding more story
• Story flows more naturally as in other media.

16
Story Variety is the Spice of Drama, Part 2

• Some Story Specifics
• The last man on earth sat in his room. There was
  a knock on the door. (length)
• I know youll appreciate the beauty of my plan,
  Mr. Bond. Let me explain it to you before you
  die! (height)
• What can a simple barber know about a properly
  braised chop, Mr. Todd? (breadth)

17
Conclusion

• Putting It All Together
• The stable world
• Seeding content
• Choosing a point of attack
• Scheduling crisis, climax resolution
• Misdirection creates surprise
• The evolving world