Ragnar let spill the very happy news that Dreamfall’s story will continue. He’s already fended off nay-sayers of the episodic format with a follow up Q&A.
First of all I’m ecstatic that Funcom decided to continue the story. TLJ and Dreamfall represent the equivalent of a very good independent film that was meant to tell a very long story, and you keep hoping they continue to fund it (see Firefly). Even more so than TLJ, Dreamfall ended abruptly, obviously wrapping up a small part of a much larger story. Most criticism directed at it stemmed from this abrupt ending, and many were worried that the story would die out, never to be told.
Much of the renewed criticism addressed in his Q&A is regarding the episode format – where rather than selling a huge game, you develop an online delivery platform and release episodes (Ragnar prefers chapters in this case) with less wait in between. Sam & Max was the first major game to try this format, but it has apparently been completely blundered by its production company – the episodes are disjoint and short, and apparently very unsatisfying.
I agree with Ragnar, in that one point does not a statistic make. I think that the Dreamfall story lends itself very nicely to a chapter based format and Ragnar himself is a self professed gamer, so I believe it is in capable hands.
On a side note, if you read the Q&A, you’ll find some strong opinions on piracy, and how they are working hard to develop an online delivery format that greatly reduces it. I can see how much piracy affects a small independent gaming house like this (much more so than Microsoft, et al). I think this can be done well, and without detriment to the user (hopefully, they will allow backups so we can replay the game… that would be my once concern).