I have been thinking over a game concept i want your opinions on. I have been looking over alot of games made in the past and today. Most take at most a few weeks to beat, when playing a few hours a week. I have seen games beaten in a day, flat out stay up and play non stop. I see games like Final Fantasy online which from what i see have no real in depth story line but can be played for a long time(play with people around the world). My question is if i could produce a game, less a game but more like a interactive movie. Deep story lines lots of characters, massive maps... so on, taking more than a month to finish. I know the creation of such a game would be a killer but would it be worth it? would you buy a game like this? I have already started sketches and code for this epic. Tell me what you think.

I might enjoy such a thing, assuming that one was able to keep up a consistent good quality standard throughout the length of it. It would probably have to be broken up into episodes or similiar kind in order to prevent the user getting lost in the story.

But if you're talking about taking the kinds of story-driven games we have now and just doubling the length or so, I question the value of it. There seems to be a certain length that works well - in movies and story-driven games both - and exceeding that length doesn't necessarily make the product any better, even if you maintain quality standards throughout.

I've seen too many games with a single plot drawn out ad nausium for no partucular reason. By the time you reach the end you can't remember why the hell you are trying to accomplish what you are in the first place. (which for a twitch-and-shoot or button-mash game doesn't really matter, but for a plot-centerd game is a very bad thing) I think it would be enjoyable to have a fairly lengthy game made up of several separate volumes that can be played separetely, but do have a loose chronoligical order. I'm not talking about unlockable missions like the 007 games, I mean complete plots, each one involving enough to be ejoyable in its own right. At the risk of sounding like a total trekkie, might I suggest you consider the ST:TNG series: each episode plotwise can stand on its own, but the episodes all build on familiar characters and have a definate timeline, with the occasional later consequence of a previous plot, but not to the extent that is makes no sense if you forgot about the old plot. But the important part is that I could play one episode, have a sense of accomplishment and closure, become too busy to play for a month, and be able to come back and start another episode with a fresh plot that doesn't rely on something I saw a month ago for support. Hope that made sense...

The story line of this game i am try to make is surrounds this single man. The game would start out with him in his childhood. As the game progresses he actually grows as the story continues. episode 1 (childhood) episode 2 (teenage) episode 3 (adult)

It sounds like it might be doable. But, as you mentioned, it will take a huge amount of work just to design such a thing, to say nothing of actually creating the game. Don't be in too much of a hurry to finish this off. This is something you could spend years writing before a single line of code is typed.

This could take a long time to write but i could do something like getting the base story down, main characters, plotlines then release story updates. I could write a month worth of gameplay, write the next installment while people are playing that current month and release a update, like final fantasy Before Crisis (I hate FF Battle system, Loved Zelda's). Which sounds better? Chapters or episodes? Keep in mind that this will be one solid game.

Unfortunately, building a month's worth of game content will take far longer than a month. Consider that today's games, which as you've mentioned take 2-3 weeks to play, will often be 2-3 years in production.

but thats usually time spent completing the engine, if i create a good enough game editor i can just update main points to the plot and let the engine take care of the inbetween. Like i said the engine would be adaptive.

You might want to look at what Chris Crawford has to say on the topic before you dive in.

http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20050418/kane_01.shtml

Sure, but you still have to have artists create content for each new installment. And creating high quality art assets for a month's worth of gameplay will still take far longer than a month, I am pretty sure.

I would have a large amount of the maps done before release of chapter 1. During the main characters child years he would be limited to a city rather than the entire world. Depending on how many people are working on the project I could have all the worlds completed and just fine tune with each release. Each chapter allows more expansion (as he grows), ships, weapons, abilities and so on. While 70% of the game could be completed at release (main story) side quests, odd jobs, ect. can be completed while waiting for new chapters.