Fut Coins On Stranger Tides by Tim Powers GameSpot: How Fifa coins did the episodic nature of the series affect your approach to design David Speyrer: The smaller scope of the episodes relative to Half-Life 2 allowed us to choose a few key design elements to focus on and execute those elements really well. In Episode One the focus was on Alyx as a companion; in Episode Two we continued that focus and added the car, the Hunter, and new outdoor environments.
We're also able to sketch out the complete arc of an episode earlier in development than we can on a larger project like Half-Life 2, which means we're able to do more broad revision on the product as a whole. Reading people's feedback on the game, I think that people are picking up on that as they play Episode Two; there's a cohesion and polish to the game that we might not have achieved had it been a 20-hour game, because the cost of a top-to-bottom revision in a game of that size can be so high.