What if a developer released its game online and in small chunks, and what if it was so amazing that you couldn't wait to download the next chapter? That's what Ritual Entertainment is banking on with its Sin Episodes project, which is a revival of the innovative 1998 FPS, except this time, the game is going to be broken up into 4-6 hour blocks and sold via Valve's Steam. It's an idea that spur other developers to follow, but to get more info on the game as well as episodic content, we asked Ritual's Tom Mustaine and the legendary LEVELORD for some answers.

What was the impetus for switching to an episodic model? Motivated by business/revenue, or motivated by creative?

[Levelord] Both! Episodic development and delivery seems the perfect fit for digital delivery. Having the power and ease of releasing a game with the simple click of an upload-to-server button means that we do not have to wait for enough time to pass, nor provide as much consolidated content to justify putting the product in a box, ...and then in a truck, ...and then on a shelf... ...it's brilliant and it screams "Go episodic!".

Finally, let's remember the shareware model used by game developers not so long ago. It was actually an episodic delivery paradigm. With shareware, we would release the first episode, usually before the completed game was finished. Then the full game would be released, which usually was the second and third episodes. These would then, if the game was successful, be followed by a series of add-on packs, each of which to be called another episode. For the most part, this is very similar to the episodic delivery of a game that we are starting with SiN Episodes.

You've stated that each new episode will be between 3-6 hours long. How much will each episode cost? Will it be dependent on how long each one is, or will it be one flat price?

[LEVELORD] Currently our price point is under $20. This will be a slightly lower price for pre-orders. There is no plan to have varying prices depending on the amount of content or gameplay.

How often can we expect new episodes?

[LEVELORD] We expect to have a new episode every 6-8 months, but this also could change. If we find that a specific aspect, or certain character warrants a spin-off, we may do simultaneous development of more than one episode.

Will the events from the original game (released way back in '98) have any bearing on these episdoes, or will this be all new stuff, new origin, etc?

[LEVELORD] The first episode, Emergence, only has reference to the original game, and these are carried by the main characters and environment (Freeport City). We do anticipate pulling more of the original SiN into future episodes, and we may even do some prequel episodes.

Since you're using the Source Engine, are we going to see as much environmental interaction as we did in Half-Life 2 with the gravity gun?

[LEVELORD] We don't have the Gravity Gun. We do have plenty of environmental interactivity, including using the same physics engine. [John] Blade is a big guy, he doesn't need some silly gun to throw heavy objects.

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