Gamertell

Here’s another great video from March’s Independent Games Festival. Dave Grossman and Kevin Bruner of Telltale Games (the creative force behind the acclaimed Sam and Max series) talk shop in this half-hour lecture on independent episodic game design. It’s a great insight into two progressive minds in independent video-game design.

Grossman begins the presentation by defining episodic gaming and laying out a business plan for economic success in episodic gaming. The basic model apes what we would recognize as television shows or sequential movies, with the idea that a new, standalone Sam and Max game will be made available to customers every thirty days. The games are designed to be played in 3-6 hours and are priced accordingly (about the same you would pay for a movie.)

It seems like independent games have begun to see a lot of success in the market, especially with the easy access and exposure so many smaller games enjoy on Microsoft’s Xbox Live. I’m betting that sometime in the near future we’re going to see something really huge come out of the indie videogame sector, something like The Blair Witch Project only not so stupid. Sam and Max are definitely worth checking out as well. Nothing funnier than a talking rabbit.

Read [Game Set Watch] Also See [Sam and Max]