The current masters of episodic gaming, TellTale Games, have seen unprecedented success with a very television-like game release structure. With their new Pilot Program, selected independent developers could theoretically share in that success. Similar to Television pilots, the program allows for TellTale to release either a selected portion or chapter of a game on a trial basis, those selling past a to-be-determined point winning further releases in conjunction TellTale’s episodic calendar. The first game to see release with the structure will be the Professor Layton-cum-Monkey Island Puzzle Agent, coming (in some form) this June for PC, Mac, Wii, and iPhone.
“The Pilot Program is an excellent way to expand the boundaries of interactive entertainment and gaming by bringing audiences unique and interesting content they might not see otherwise,” said Dan Connors, CEO of Telltale. “Our internal teams are filled with incredibly talented and creative people, and the Pilot Program will foster the exploration of ideas that will help us evolve Telltale’s product offerings.”