Hydrophobia will be a "trilogy"

By Robert Purchese Published 26 March, 2010

Three instalments within 12 months.

Hydrophobia developer Dark Energy Digital has told Eurogamer that episodic releases are still 'the plan' but that the term doesn't accurately represent the amount of content on offer.

"The schedule is for three instalments within the first 12 months," revealed Dark Energy Digital senior creative designer Rob Hewson.

"However, we're not really referring to them as episodes; the first instalment is what you would expect from a full retail game, so it's better to think of it as a trilogy."

Dark Energy Digital announced Microsoft as publisher of watery action game Hydrophobia earlier today. The "trilogy" is exclusive to Xbox Live Arcade.

Hewson reckons release date finalisation should "happen shortly". And what about a price? "Again, not finalised," he said, "but I will say that even though Hydrophobia is as big as a retail game, you'll be paying XBLA prices [for it]."

Eurogamer TV has the brand new Hydrophobia trailer - Dive In.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (22) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • sneetch #1 2 years ago

    Hmmm, I'll be impressed if they manage to keep to that schedule, mind you if they resist getting bogged down tweaking the engine they could do it.

  • Machetazo #2 2 years ago

    Has all the time been spent on the one installment, though? I would imagine that at least the second one has also had work put towards its completion, already.

  • alcides #3 2 years ago

    Vapourware, liquidware, iceware? That's three.

  • X #4 2 years ago

    I hope they will be released with less of a gap between them like the Half Life series has been for example. I don't want them leaving me hydro and dry. *cough*

  • space_ace #5 2 years ago

    vapourware gasping for air

  • FireMonkey #6 2 years ago

    This has been in development for so long (and originally not as instalments), that it makes me wonder if most of all 3 is already done.

    I really hope that each episode is enjoyable as a game in it's own right and has some closure, rather than just a single game split into 3 sections to try and make more money.

  • jaxon58 #7 2 years ago

    Blade Interactive not doing this anymore then?
    Might be worth a purchase if that's the case.

  • kangarootoo #8 2 years ago

    @Machetazo

    Well the lion's share of "the work" goes into making the nuts and bolts of the game, which of cousre needs to be completed nefore the first episode can be released.

    The only thing left for episodes 2 and 3 is finishing level construction. Not a small task by any means (and they will of course have already put work into those parts of the trilogy), but a difference worth nothing.

    I think it is a good way of doing things. It means the studio doesn't have to pay for the whole lot up front, when they could be generating revenue from the first batch whilst they finnish up the second and third.



    What I find a little disappointing in these sorts of situations is that there is this immediate feeling among some posters that what we have here is a big rich company, sat on a pile of gold, thinking up ways to squeeze ever more pennies out of the hapless public.

    In reality what we probably have is a smallish studio, trying to find different ways of working so that they don't have the risk of going out of business hanging over them every month.

    If each episode game is good or bad, and worth the money or worth not, judge it on that. How the studio run their projects and balance their books shouldn't matter to you.

  • kangarootoo #9 2 years ago

    @EarlBasset

    This is what I am talking about.


    "For whatever reason, that is not happening, so they are carving their full game into 3 parts to make as much money as possible."

    Lets look at that sentence again. "For whatever reason", implying we don't know..... "to make as much money as possible"... so we do know?

    Perhaps they are carving it up into 3 parts to stay in business. And you know maybe "making as much money as possible" is part of staying in business. Is that really a crime?

    /sighs

  • sneetch #10 2 years ago

    @EarlBassett
    I read the preview of this in EDGE a looong time ago.

    The game was clearly planned as a full boxed release. For whatever reason, that is not happening, so they are carving their full game into 3 parts to make as much money as possible.

    Just like Alien Breed Evolution, this decision will mean I will not buy the game.

    Soooo... a full release would cost 40 quid, this is a trilogy where "the first instalment is what you would expect from a full retail game" and "you'll be paying XBLA prices" for it but you're feeling ripped off somehow?

    I think your paranoia level might be a bit high here. :)

    "It's £40 quid"
    "Sounds reasonable"
    "That's not all, when you buy it we'll give you a free cappuccino!"
    "Wait, what? Free cappuccino? No deal."

  • miiiguel #11 2 years ago

    @kanga: I think the "problem" (if that can be called one) is that this digital entertainment industry is seen as something which is supposed to be "fun" not realy a way of living, even in the 1st world. I guess many ppl still pictures game developers as a bunch on "kids" who have fun all day playing games, and living on their parents allowance. They don't need no money.
    Real work is working in a factory, or planting trees.
    I can be wrong, but I don't see these kinda complaints in for instance the movies industry, 3d movies for example, they use a new tech and doubled the prices, games are now way more complex - HD; MP; leaderboards, etc - and yet if they try find new forms of income (by means of DLC or whatevetthey're accused of being greedy, lazy, evil.
    Edited by miiiguel at 26/03/10 @ 14:59

  • BlueDot #12 2 years ago

    @miiiguel
    It's probably because most of those posters are kids living with their parents and have no idea of what it takes to survive in the work place.

  • dose #13 2 years ago

    @jaxon58
    [link url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Energy_Digital
    ]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Energy...[/link]
    "Dark Energy Digital is a developer and publisher of videogames for all formats, formed by the management team behind Blade Interactive which continues to operate as a separate company."

    So, yeh, it's still Blade basically. Oh well..
    Edited by dose at 26/03/10 @ 15:25

  • kangarootoo #14 2 years ago

    "The fact that it is going to XBLA rather than a boxed release, makes me think that someone doesn't have confidnence in it."

    Well you lack confidence in it clearly, but the reasons for that lack of confidence remain a mystery.


    As it happens, launching a boxed release is really bloody expensive. Putting the game on XBLA is comparatively much cheaper.

    And that doesn't even consider that a boxed release is competing for the attention of shop visiting gamers alongside the very biggest titles of our industry. For a game like this, XBLA can actually be the best place to get the most coverage.


    Quite simply this subject is a little more complex than it first appears. Don't let that stop you though.

  • muscleblade #15 2 years ago

    Games are waaaay to cheap these days. The Super Nintendo games did actually cost more back in the day. I dont remember the whining back then when the games actually where expensive. Did games cost more to make back then. NO.
    Did games sell a lot less back then. NO. Games is actually the only thing i can think of that has decreased in price. A brand new retail game is cheaper now than it ever was.

  • Machetazo #16 2 years ago

    "the first instalment is what you would expect from a full retail game"

    There's potential for that to be proved accurate, from what they've shown today. I appreciate your point, kanga about their wanting to earn some money back, from first episode sales, so they're not just putting moneys in, without anything coming back, waiting for all parts to be finished; although a lot of comments I have read today, read similar to: ah well, I'll just wait for the complete edition.

    Is it the smartest thing to announce a game as being within a proposed trilogy, when it could instead be announced as one game, build on that, in order to surprise/remotivate fans later?
    Edited by Machetazo at 26/03/10 @ 15:32

  • kangarootoo #17 2 years ago

    @Machetazo

    There are a few different things going on here.

    1. Will the game be as good / large as they say?

    I don't know, but it is a seperate issue really. They have said there is a much value in the game as a full release, so when considering episoidal releasing, I think we should assume that is true (because if it is not, that is not the fault of the episoidal releasing, just the fault of one single game).


    2. Should they have marketed this a different way?

    Perhaps. Maybe trilogy is a better word than episode. This is one of those subjects those where I feel that the people being reasonable don't much care about the marketing details so much as they care about what kind of game experience they will get for their money, and the people who wake up in the morning feeling cynical will pick on minutae in an effort to shoot something down.


    As I see it, regardless of the end quality of the title, what we have here is a small developer trying a different method of getting the job done. If that means they are able to release a game, and stay in business long enough to make another, I'm not sure what the problem is.

    If in the end the game isn't that great, we can still choose not to buy it. And if in the end the game is good and we feel it is good value for money, should we really care how much money the devs make?

    Is it not in fact reasonable for a developer that makes a good game that people enjoy and think is well priced, to actually make a decent profit, maybe get a bonus, treat themselves to a new TV and holiday and feel all the hard work was worth it? It makes no difference to us, so why would we begrudge them?

  • Machetazo #18 2 years ago

    The man's made a statement, and I, yes, wonder how it will be lived up to. I find their method of marketing odd, and wanted to obtain some opinion as to whether it was thought a favoured, or frowned upon way to proceed. The trailer tells us that the game exists (vapourware, indeed!) and it tells us that they've a technology they've been working on for a good long while that they're proud of.
    The trailer doesn't tell us much of what we need to discuss the game, however. Nor, of the value present therein. That information just isn't present.
    Further, has any of Hydrophobia in its previous guise survived to this version? THat would present some sort of a starting point...Alright, who is the main character we'd be playing as, and why's she on the ship? I think she used to be some kind of researcher, but now, what Special Forces. Or, would a discussion and assessment of liquid within levels, be more to your taste (albeit, far from my interest)

    What are we meant to discuss, here?

  • bodypopper #19 2 years ago

    Water palaver
    /gets coat

  • tancredo #20 2 years ago

    Besides obvious economic reasons as to why a developer could decide to split its game in three parts, MS has talked before about exploring episodic content. This could be their idea of a lab test.

    Take a game which could have gotten lost among a number of other releases in any goven month, split it in three parts and see if this way the game gets more atention and more sales than going the traditional route.

    Personally, I am fine with the system and will try the demo as I do with any other games before purchasing. I may be more willing to risk a purchase of "Chapter 1" at 800-1200 MSP than to risk spending 60 euros on a DVD release.

  • kangarootoo #21 2 years ago

    @Machetazo

    I agree. Teaser trailers like this don't give us much to go on, though I've seen many trailers with less info in them. I guess this one shows us they have pretty nice water and some shooting :)


    @tancredo

    Absolutely. If someone wants to take a full gam, chop it into 3 bits, and charge me £10 a piece instead of £30 for the lot, I am cool with that. If I then discover that each piece is as big as your average £30 game, I am even more pleased.

  • Goolz #22 2 years ago

    "will be a trilogy" depending on the reviews :p