Well Jonas you assume that only based on inital development, The TNM 2 Branched storyline rule would instead work MUCH better as a continuing expansion- I realize its an excellent idea, commercially viable IF you use it in the episodic model and constantly update the original game- BioWare's system results in dropping the previous game in pursuit of a more flashier engine- but the way I see it, if you were actually skilled you'd find a way to migrate the first game directly into the second games technology- that also means that you're in an essence continuing the original story with updated technology and content- the result would be a game far far larger than anything that has even been attempted before. (the best trick would be to use CryTek's Futureproofing technique where you develop your content for a system that doesn't exist yet- ideally that would be building your models in the Highest Poly possible and then applying any new technologies to it later on. High Poly would mean Photorealism- so ideally there's no point in going further than that- the idea is to just allow the technology to catch up before the game can use it. Of course this means those models can be used for PR and Cutscenes should you want to put them to good use.)
With users consuming the content, well its simple really, if you make your game modular you can sell them the entire game piece by piece- see THQ's Dawn of War 1 as a perfect example how its done. You make a series of stand alone expansions-- but when combined create a MASSIVE game filled with as much content as you can handle.. Best of all you only pay for what you think you'll use- but you can also get discounts for content when bought in bulk thus passing the savings onto the consumer (We reward them for buying more content than they can handle and with good reason! this keeps us commercially viable to be able to produce that content that no one even plays but they have the option to
)
I do definitely like the idea of Paragon vs Renegade over Good vs Evil as rather than give us the KARMA system crap, you're instead allowed to craft a personality out of your character- it refers more to how your player acts during play rather than how the game ultimately ends up, because even if you still choose to be a renegade, you've got plenty of options to change your character's attitude. The Paragon ending is similar- but I just enjoy being a xenophobe too much
reminds me of starship troopers.
