SiN star

Tuesday 18 April 2006
Shawn Ketcherside, lead game designer of SiN Episodes, has offered up some insight into the development process behind Ritual's piecemeal shooter.

"From the beginning of the project we went round and round, thinking about what it means to be 'episodic'. We looked at a number of models and tried to see how they would fit our universe and how we thought the games should fall out," said Ketcherside.

"We realised that, for us, it didn't make sense to simply make one game and chop it up into multiple pieces. To me that seemed to negate many of the advantages of being episodic. Specifically the freedom to innovate and evolve."

Above: After Shawn's insights into SiN Episodes, here's another, erm, refreshing perspective

"To give some examples from other media, let's look at two outstanding television shows: X-Files and, more recently, Lost," explains Ketcherside. "Each episode is written to be a complete experience. For the most part, the episodes are written so that having knowledge about [prior] elements can enhance your viewing experience, but they're certainly not required to enjoy the story being told.

"So what does this actually mean to our fans? Well, it means that you can expect each episode of SiN Episodes to introduce something innovative and new into the mix, you can expect to get a satisfying story, and you can expect a rock solid, fun experience."

CATEGORIES
Latest in Action
Jordan A. Mun looks at herself in a mirror in just a vest in Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet screenshot
The Last of Us creator Neil Druckmann says Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet will also be about "being lonely," as if his zombie apocalypse wasn’t isolating enough: "I really want you to be lost"
A screenshot of Jordan drinking a soda during the reveal trailer for Intergalactic: The Hertic Prophet.
Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet is "a game about faith and religion," which Neil Druckmann jokes will surely get less hate than The Last of Us 2
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle Indy hanging onto a vine as in Raiders of the Lost Ark
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle PS5 release date reportedly set for April after ESRB leak
Death Stranding 2
Hideo Kojima says he'll "apologize beforehand" for Death Stranding 2 moments with Troy Baker's Higgs which are "so ridiculous" that "you'll probably throw the controller"
a titanium watch with grey and orange features on the arms and face
You can look like Solid Snake with this Death Stranding 2 watch, but it'll cost you over $1,500
Players in GTA Online running businesses and playing missions
GTA publisher is suing a GTA Online website that lets you buy hacked accounts, which "risks upending the GTA 5 player experience"
Latest in News
Silent Hill f
After 2 years of silence, the next mainline Silent Hill game is getting a dedicated stream this week with "the latest news"
Original Xbox console
Former Microsoft exec says the first Xbox was killed early in favor of 360 because it was "losing money left right and center," but luckily "we could afford to hemorrhage cash"
A Monster Hunter Wilds character holding binoculars.
Despite Monster Hunter Wilds suffering monstrous performance problems on PC, it still outsold the PS5 and Xbox Series X versions in the US
Jordan A. Mun looks at herself in a mirror in just a vest in Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet screenshot
The Last of Us creator Neil Druckmann says Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet will also be about "being lonely," as if his zombie apocalypse wasn’t isolating enough: "I really want you to be lost"
A screenshot of Jordan drinking a soda during the reveal trailer for Intergalactic: The Hertic Prophet.
Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet is "a game about faith and religion," which Neil Druckmann jokes will surely get less hate than The Last of Us 2
Pedro Pascal as Joel in The Last of Us
The Last of Us is "better" than 28 Days Later, says movie writer Alex Garland: "This is so much more sophisticated and moving"