IGN - Why A Game of Thrones is 6 Episodes Long

Rob_K

Just found this:

http://uk.ign.com/articles/2014/11/21/why-telltales-game-of-thrones-is-6-episodes-long

Seems they felt 6 episodes were needed to do the story they have in mind justice, as they didn't think they could do it in 5. Makes sense, and would have even if those details hadn't been shared.

Also, which is to be expected, the first episode is more of an introduction to the different characters, with us being introduced to characters never before seen in the show/books. At the end, there's pretty much a big bang that leads to the rest of the season's events. (Maybe something like a certain event that led to people being split up at the end of book 1?)

Shubbalubbadingdong

Well, 6 episodes is just because the Game of Thrones universe/story is so much more vast than their other projects, so its only necessary that this season is a bit longer.

(Maybe something like a certain event that led to people being split up at the end of book 1?)

I feel like this entire season is going to be like the first book, not the first episode. The characters separate and the story arcs continue in possible more seasons or whatever like how they do in the book series with the other characters.

VinceOrKenny

I guess each one of the 5 protagonists will get their own episode and then in the sixth episode all your past decisions will come in affect the whole outcome of the game.

Firewallcano

Episode 1 seems like its gonna be even more of an intro than normal which I guess I'm okay about given there are six episodes this time around

Firewallcano

I kind of hope not, I want them all in every episode otherwise I'm really not gonna care about ep 1 guy/gal by the end.

Rob_K

Personally, I think you'll be switching multiple times per episode. I know people might find it jarring and feel there's a lack of characterisation (depending on if the episodes are the same length as usual, that being 90 minutes), but for me it won't be that big a deal anyway. Despite choosing dialog and controlling the characters, it's still just like a tv show for me. The tv series jumps around enough and they have 45 - 55 minutes to tell each episode's story?

Anyhow, I feel it's more keeping with the books too to have multiple switches per episode. But fingers crossed the episodes will be longer, given the nature of A Game of Thrones and having 5 characters.

Rob_K

Not to mention the introduction before everything goes to hell should really give us a good insight into the characters. So, that'll be nice really, the slower pace to allow us to get accustomed to everyone (if I got the right impression, when it comes to slower pace).

Rob_K

Could be, though I read it more like crap will really hit the fan at the end of episode 1. Hence thinking people will be split up.

Mind you, some characters are already split up at the start anyway with Asher apparently being in Essos and the female character (MIra was it?) being in King's Landing. Unless they arrive there after episode 1, but for me, that would be spoiling story events, so I doubt that's the case.

But yeah, regardless of whether the entire season is like the first book, I think things will be quite bad at the end.

Blind Sniper

If we are talking about new IGN articles, they also made another one that goes into more detail about the making of the game. I've already shared this one in the Release Date thread, but I'll share it here too for discussion.

Game of Thrones article on IGN

Early in development, before Telltale arrived at the “oil-painting brought to life” aesthetic, its Game of Thrones series looked similar to The Walking Dead, with its thick black lines and vibrant colors. “Oil painting just has this wonderful depth to it that matches the art of a Game of Thrones story,” Director of Design Ryan Kauffman told IGN. “Bloody. Epic. Dark. Gross. All that good stuff.”

In experimenting with different art styles, the goal was to meet the quality of The Walking Dead, to “be equally rich, dark, and complex” with the visuals, without necessarily mimicking its look. That colorful Walking Dead Style, Kauffman said, “is obviously where we started from, because the studio is familiar with it. But we pretty quickly said ‘this isn’t appropriate. It doesn’t quite convey the feeling of the HBO show.’ And that’s what we wanted to put first.”

This is unapologetically a season intended for fans of author George R. R. Martin’s story and the novels it’s based on, but the studio hopes anyone can enjoy it as a Telltale game. “There’ s a lot there that can go over your head if you’re not familiar with it,” Kauffman admitted. “At the same time, this is a story about a family. Ultimately, everyone can relate to that. The drama is that a family doesn’t always agree about what to do.” Fans of the show, naturally, “will have a richer experience.”

Of course, at its heart, Game of Thrones is very much a Telltale game. You’ll have conversations, develop relationships, and explore environments to discover their finer details. Combat and puzzles certainly play a role, as well. “There’s definitely plenty of opportunity for puzzle solving with one character” in Game of Thrones, Kauffman said. “The interesting thing is how they play off each other.”

Your choices as one character can “ripple” to another, even if you do something in Westeros and change perspective to the other side of the world in Esos. Grant said, “A key concept of the game is that one character’s actions can affect another’s destiny, problems, whatever. They all bounce off each other.”

Blind Sniper

Combat and puzzles certainly play a role, as well. “There’s definitely plenty of opportunity for puzzle solving with one character” in Game of Thrones, Kauffman said.

Just to point it out, I find it interesting that they mention puzzles. I don't know if they mean "role playing puzzles" such as solving the murder mystery in Wolf, or actual puzzles.

Walking Dead Season 2 and Wolf Among Us moved from having both puzzles and choice making to just having choice making, so I'm curious if Telltale has listened to forum feedback and added more gameplay beyond choice making? Also, I hope to see episodes that are around 2-3 hours long again instead of just 90 minute episodes. I think that 2-3 hours is still good for one sitting while simultaneously allowing players to immerse themselves more in the story and the universe.

Rob_K

Thanks for the share!

Myself, I have no issues with the length if they're 90 minutes long and I'm sure lack of characterisation won't be a problem for me. I don't think it'll be jarring either, the switching between characters, because we're used to it from tv shows (though sure, we're taking control of characters so it is a bit different). But I know I'm not everyone, as the previous games show, with people claiming an hour and a half isn't enough time for the episodes. And that's with one controllable character instead of five.

So yeah, keeping in mind the complaints against previous games, it'd be nice to have episodes that are at least 2 hours long. But discounting complaints, it'd also be nice to have longer episodes because I feel it's logical with 5 playable characters and well . . . it's A Game of Thrones, epic is the name. (I suppose 6 episodes rather than 5 helps with the epic feeling, but yeah, longer episodes would be ideal in addition to having an extra episode in comparison to previous games.)

OzzyUK

Also, I hope to see episodes that are around 2-3 hours long again instead of just 90 minute episodes.

The Alimo Drafthouse website says TftB has a runtime of 135 minutes, i'm not sure if that is the runtime for the game or the whole event but hopefully we get a slightly longer episode for that and the same for GoT.

Rob_K

It would make sense with the 2 playable characters.

Blind Sniper

That's cool if so. Granted, with the stream being from an actual showing in a theatre with an audience, I imagine they might have some extra bits to show before/after the episode with the Telltale staff interacting with the audience. Still, though, great find!

EDIT: Actually, come to think of it, Wolf Among Us had a long first episode and subsequently shorter episodes. Still, though, Walking Dead: Season 2 premiere afterwards and had consistently 90 minute episodes. Nevertheless, anything is possible I guess. It did seem that overall, from Walking Dead 201 and Wolf Among Us Episode 2 onwards, they were experimenting with shorter, "one sitting" episodes. However, it's possible they may be going back to 2 hour long episodes like they did for Walking Dead: Season 1.

Blind Sniper

Unlike most of the people complaining about length, I don't believe that episode length has a strict correlation with quality, but I still believe it helps though in order to expound character interactions.

There certainly are exceptions in my opinion, as Episode 105 of Walking Dead and Episode 5 of Wolf Among Us were fantastic episodes that were also notably short in comparison to other episodes in each respective Season. As you pointed out, I'm more curious about how 90 minutes would translate to five playable characters as well as the overall grand scale of the Game of Thrones universe.

Rob_K

I've long had it drilled into me that quantity doesn't equal quality. I can understand where you and others come from when it comes to a longer running time expounding on character interactions though.

From my perspective, the show switches around a lot yet still manages to fit in enough character development during 45 - 55 minutes. If we have 90 minutes, that's more than enough really. Granted, a bunch of that time will be spent walking around. (Basically, without increased length, the game shouldn't be far off from being the same length as one of the show's seasons. Actually, I think it'll be longer. But again, this is accounting for the time spent walking around.)

But yeah, I feel longer episodes is definitely the way forward, even if I wouldn't have a problem with them being the usual length, provided it's pulled off well. To be honest, I'm quite curious as to how Telltale will pull the whole thing off, especially with being interested in writing interactive fiction myself. Not only that, but it's quite unique in the video game world. The only game I know of that's similar in giving so many playable characters is Heavy Rain.

Mikejames

Hopefully it doesn't become an excuse to make the episodes even shorter.

Rob_K

There's absolutely no logical reason to assume the episodes won't at least be around 90 minutes, unless you're a cynic and like to think the absolute worst about everything.

If anything, the logical assumption is that the episodes will be longer due to 5 playable characters and the depth of A Game of Thrones.

But still, I'd assume the episodes are going to be around 90 minutes to save possible disappointment.

seanstin

Nooooo! It has to exceed 90 minutes, it has to, it has to.............

Rob_K

I think there's a fair - good chance they'll be longer, but just keep expectations low you know, to save disappointment?

seanstin

Alright, it's fine as long as they do an excellent job with the narrative of the 5 PCs with hopefully enough time in an episode

Rippo

Hope every episode will be 2 hours long or more

Prince_Charming

It makes sense. TWD and TWAU are comics, GoT/ASoIaF are novels. There is a lot more going on and much more to chew on.

TinyCarlos

Yeah, six episodes is necessary. Too bad we have 20%+ waiting time.

I REALLY hope we don't play as one character each episode. That'd ruin the "feel" for me because in the show and novels there's multiple POVs of the characters.

Prince_Charming

Well if you think of each episode as a chapter, then it's just like the books. I get what you're saying though.

WildlingKing

Well I'd be very surprised if they did it that way. It just wouldn't work, the characters are scattered around the world. And it's hard to bond to a character if you just get to play one episode with it.

Prince_Charming

It wouldn't work because you say so? Okay...lol

I think it's even more difficult to cycle through multiple characters in a TTG. You're gonna have two conversations and swap to another character? Talk about having trouble bonding with a character.

Rob_K

Well, we'll soon see how Telltale handles character switching with Borderlands. Granted, with two only, but it should give us an idea. Though you may only switch due to the framed narrative.

Again though, I reckon they will have us switching multiple times per episode. Possibly per scene.

WildlingKing

Well I just meant that if one character is in Essos, one in KL, one in Ironrath, one at the Wall and so on, we wouldn't even see some of the characters in many episodes. And yes if you play a whole episode with one character you start to bond to it but then what? You don't see that character again until maybe last episode? Well let's say that doesn't work for me, at least I highly doubt it does.

beguiler

I'm with @WildlingKing. To be honest if you look at 400 days, we had one character in one contained story and it really didn't work IMO. I thought the storytelling was weak. And if you notice how tied to HBO and the show TT is it seems like we will be following the same story structure that an episode of the show follows. Yes, some episodes might not even get to all characters and that is why we have 6 episodes to fully tell these stories. If it was 1 character per episode we would only have 5 episodes...

TinyCarlos

Not necessarily, they could have one character an episode and the finale would be how the choices impact the ending or something. I really hope they don't do that.

Sounds like they won't, so phew.