the monthly release is only more pleasant: it makes you enjoy the game longer Just like a piece of candy you can hold in your mouth and get the sweet taste from as long as possible, instead of immediately biting through the center, consuming the candy much faster. I mean, how much anticipation have people have before release? Now you can have that 4 more times Together with possible other nifty icing Tell Tale adds to the cake
Come on, A Monthly release is one day of game play in every 30. Thats more like that piece of gum you put in your mouth 3 hours ago, but you foolishly tossed out the wrapper and now it tastes like rubber and you don't have a polite way of getting rid of it. You would really like a new fresh piece but that was you last one and you have to wait until next month for the next one.
Other problems would include maintaining design parity across episodes when you are working with a team 4 times the size as before, the not insignificant problem of having to arrange voiceover recordings every week with people who live all over the country (and world) and have other commitments, the fact that they would need to come up with four times as much story as they already have planned for this season and still keep it interesting, the complications of having so many episodes in development simultaneously (when changes in one episode may have knock-on effects in 6 or 7 others, for example), Michael Land would have to produce the music for each episode at such a fast rate, episodes not getting reviewed by the press or being reviewed late because not every online or offline publication has the resources or the inclination to do it on a weekly basis, which would adversely impact marketing ...
shall I continue?
Although I am not privy to the team size Telltale has dedicated to this project, i'm sure a 4x increase would still not be a huge unmanageable size. There are well managed development teams much larger than this game would require.
There would be a lot more voice acting, but they wouldn't have to come in every week. once the dialog was written they could record 4 episodes at a time.
If Michael Land found it too much work i'm sure we could work some other composers into the mix.
As for the marketing, well nobody has ever done anything like this before, it would be a sensational thing to do, and every game rag would be talking about it.
Sure, continue, but I think you are running out of excuses
As for the marketing, well nobody has ever done anything like this before, it would be a sensational thing to do, and every game rag would be talking about it.
Apparently not, considering you've not heard of this
Come on you pulled that 25% number out of your hat. I did say Dominic Armato would have to work harder. I doubt any of the other voice actors are over stressed. Writing teams, graphics artists, programmers, should all be scalable. The rest of your post is all GIGO. Show me an acutal Gant chart of the Teltail development and I will show you how to scale it. I have been a software Engineer/ Project manager for 25 years.
Yes, it's true. I pulled 25% out of my hat. I pulled all of my numbers out of nowhere. But I didn't pull my concepts out of my hat. I pulled them out of what's obvious and necessary.
First of all, you being such a brilliant software engineer, you know as well as I that design is top-down. You start at the broad strokes (i.e. season-level) and then once that's done, you fill in the gaps. I'm sure you could do it differently, but I'm inclined to not ignore the accumulated experience of fifty years of software engineers just because one in particular is telling me something different.
Starting writing and programming before finishing design, yes, you could do that, I'm sure. But since you've been a software engineer for 25 years you know as well as I what a damn stupid idea that is. You just DON'T begin implementation of your program before its done being designed. If you disagree, I pity the company you work for.
But here's where it gets interesting. It's actually physically impossible to begin voice acting before writing is finished. The only way to do that would be to record every line the instant it's written, which any writer will tell you is dumb, since it's essentially giving redesign, rewriting, and revising the finger.
And you know, you do have a point that didn't occur to me. There's going to be a certain amount of ability to overlap the voice recording simply because some voice actors get more work than others. But I'm not convinced you're looking at it from the right perspective if you assume that it's only Dom that would get the bottleneck. First of all, you have absolutely no way of knowing that, since you don't even know how many recurring characters there will be over the course of this season, and you likewise don't know how much they will recur. But I've played all their previous games, and every single one of them had a significant recurring cast.
But there's more than that. Not only did they have a recurring cast of characters, they also had a recurring cast of voice actors. Yes, that's right. Over the course of a season, one VA plays multiple characters. And instantly that bottleneck multiplies, tightens.
And certainly you can do a certain amount of incremental testing, but you do need a goodly amount of time dedicated to it throughout the process, and it does add up to something significant.
Incidentally, have you read The Mythical Man-Month? I haven't, but I probably should and I think you might find it interesting.
Well, your reasoning hasn't got any less faulty, but how about this one:
The fact that Telltale have stated they would like to be in a position of releasing an episode every week of different franchises, e.g.
Week 1: Sam and Max episode 3
Week 2: Monkey Island episode 2
Week 3: Mysterious franchise A season Premiere
Week 4: Whatever episode 4
Week 5: Sam and Max episode 4
and so on. This is the eventual ideal for them, they've said, and whether it's a good idea or not, it conflicts with your idea of one episode per week of the same series.
Well, your reasoning hasn't got any less faulty, but how about this one:
The fact that Telltale have stated they would like to be in a position of releasing an episode every week of different franchises, e.g.
Week 1: Sam and Max episode 3
Week 2: Monkey Island episode 2
Week 3: Mysterious franchise A season Premiere
Week 4: Whatever episode 4
Week 5: Sam and Max episode 4
and so on. This is the eventual ideal for them, they've said, and whether it's a good idea or not, it conflicts with your idea of one episode per week of the same series.
If enough people would buy it the only problem would be voice talent, you'd need a buffer but with 7 or 8 complete teams it would be entirely possible, so long as you found a way around the voice acting issue (no voice for main character, different actor in each team, different main character in each team and so on).
The downside is I don't think you'd get close to 4x sales, and my guess is you'd end up with less than 1x sales with that level of saturation.
Also, I would like a dance number with dozens of tapdancing LeChucks, a retail box made out of a delicate system of magnets within which is contained a gently spinning Guybrush model and if I could sing the theme tune in chapter 2 that would, all things considered, be ideal. I will pay you £3,924. Do we have a deal?
I'd buy this, and pay Telltale £3924. Every week. Economy problem solved.
I know the owner of the pawn shop a few blocks down the street. Should be able to work something out...
No, every month for each series, but running several different series in parallel so that in effect there would be a new release of a different series every week. I'd link you up the quote if I could remember where I read it, but I know what I read. Sorry!
Given it takes a team of size X to create one episode per month and this produces profit Y. then a team of size 4X could create one episode per week with a profit of 4Y.
I'm not sure one episode a week is the best idea because as someone has mentioned the saturation would bore us all, but a month is way too long (that gum metaphor was spot on). And I don't know about everybody else, but if they had a team of 2X producing an episode every two weeks I would pay 4Y for the convenience.
I think if Telltale were to make weekly episodes they'd have to either make the whole season in advance
Just thought I'd throw this back out there.
Neighbours (Australian tv show, I don't know if other countries get it) churns out an episode per day (five times faster than the average tv series, this would just be two times faster than it currently is) and they're always months and months ahead of production.
Week 1: Sam and Max episode 3
Week 2: Monkey Island episode 2
Week 3: Mysterious franchise A season Premiere
Week 4: Whatever episode 4
Week 5: Sam and Max episode 4
if they're capable of releasing an episode a week of different franchises is it completely impossible to imagine them releasing an episode every two weeks of the same franchise?
Well, your reasoning hasn't got any less faulty, but how about this one:
The fact that Telltale have stated they would like to be in a position of releasing an episode every week of different franchises, e.g.
Week 1: Sam and Max episode 3
Week 2: Monkey Island episode 2
Week 3: Mysterious franchise A season Premiere
Week 4: Whatever episode 4
Week 5: Sam and Max episode 4
and so on. This is the eventual ideal for them, they've said, and whether it's a good idea or not, it conflicts with your idea of one episode per week of the same series.
A company needs to have a massive structured team with a massive income to be able to do this insane schedule. TTG is barely starting and are starting to be known to the media and to the fans. I myself personally got to know em because of of the release of TOMI, and that led me to know there where games of SamnMax.
The day a company makes that schedule possible, is the day it bankrupts also, cuzz the games will be glitched and bugged. I prefer to wait for a good quality game, than faster and worst. I dont think TTG has the $$$ to release that fast. Its ridiculous and unreal cuzz you guys dnt know (like me) how much it takes to make a game.
if they're capable of releasing an episode a week of different franchises is it completely impossible to imagine them releasing an episode every two weeks of the same franchise?
They have different teams working on different series, that's why they've, just recently I might add, had two series going at the same time. Just having the whole company work on one game might not really speed things up that much because
A) If you pull Ferguson and Jordan from working on Sam and Max Season 3 I will hunt you down and force you to eat 4,567 lbs of marshmallows and Putting more people on a project does not automatically mean it will be finished faster and better. That is not to say that they couldn't release the episodes quicker, I'm just saying it's not a 100% sure thing that more people would equal a faster release.
And C)
Seriously, don't mess with my Sam and Max.
Oops! Think that's rodentia. Always got the rabbity thing and the ratty thing mixed up.
Actually I was quoting Max. Sorry, I forget that some people still don't know who he is, even though he is the president of the United States! (Although he did sell us to Canada, so I'm not really sure why we still have a president.)
Actually I was quoting Max. Sorry, I forget that some people still don't know who he is, even though he is the president of the United States! (Although he did sell us to Canada, so I'm not really sure why we still have a president.)
Eh. He lit this mother up and got the choice of cruel OR unusual punishment. I think he's doing a good job, even if Sybil is over him.
Comments
Come on, A Monthly release is one day of game play in every 30. Thats more like that piece of gum you put in your mouth 3 hours ago, but you foolishly tossed out the wrapper and now it tastes like rubber and you don't have a polite way of getting rid of it. You would really like a new fresh piece but that was you last one and you have to wait until next month for the next one.
Depends on how much time is left in the level, and if I have to make a run to the fridge or not.
Although I am not privy to the team size Telltale has dedicated to this project, i'm sure a 4x increase would still not be a huge unmanageable size. There are well managed development teams much larger than this game would require.
There would be a lot more voice acting, but they wouldn't have to come in every week. once the dialog was written they could record 4 episodes at a time.
If Michael Land found it too much work i'm sure we could work some other composers into the mix.
As for the marketing, well nobody has ever done anything like this before, it would be a sensational thing to do, and every game rag would be talking about it.
Sure, continue, but I think you are running out of excuses
Yes, it's true. I pulled 25% out of my hat. I pulled all of my numbers out of nowhere. But I didn't pull my concepts out of my hat. I pulled them out of what's obvious and necessary.
First of all, you being such a brilliant software engineer, you know as well as I that design is top-down. You start at the broad strokes (i.e. season-level) and then once that's done, you fill in the gaps. I'm sure you could do it differently, but I'm inclined to not ignore the accumulated experience of fifty years of software engineers just because one in particular is telling me something different.
Starting writing and programming before finishing design, yes, you could do that, I'm sure. But since you've been a software engineer for 25 years you know as well as I what a damn stupid idea that is. You just DON'T begin implementation of your program before its done being designed. If you disagree, I pity the company you work for.
But here's where it gets interesting. It's actually physically impossible to begin voice acting before writing is finished. The only way to do that would be to record every line the instant it's written, which any writer will tell you is dumb, since it's essentially giving redesign, rewriting, and revising the finger.
And you know, you do have a point that didn't occur to me. There's going to be a certain amount of ability to overlap the voice recording simply because some voice actors get more work than others. But I'm not convinced you're looking at it from the right perspective if you assume that it's only Dom that would get the bottleneck. First of all, you have absolutely no way of knowing that, since you don't even know how many recurring characters there will be over the course of this season, and you likewise don't know how much they will recur. But I've played all their previous games, and every single one of them had a significant recurring cast.
But there's more than that. Not only did they have a recurring cast of characters, they also had a recurring cast of voice actors. Yes, that's right. Over the course of a season, one VA plays multiple characters. And instantly that bottleneck multiplies, tightens.
And certainly you can do a certain amount of incremental testing, but you do need a goodly amount of time dedicated to it throughout the process, and it does add up to something significant.
Incidentally, have you read The Mythical Man-Month? I haven't, but I probably should and I think you might find it interesting.
The fact that Telltale have stated they would like to be in a position of releasing an episode every week of different franchises, e.g.
Week 1: Sam and Max episode 3
Week 2: Monkey Island episode 2
Week 3: Mysterious franchise A season Premiere
Week 4: Whatever episode 4
Week 5: Sam and Max episode 4
and so on. This is the eventual ideal for them, they've said, and whether it's a good idea or not, it conflicts with your idea of one episode per week of the same series.
I like that schedule!
All they have to do is
Hugh Laurie knows the answer
ha ha. Yep.
The downside is I don't think you'd get close to 4x sales, and my guess is you'd end up with less than 1x sales with that level of saturation.
Thank you for making me lol literally
I'd end up with no voice if that were to happen! My voice actor would work his way into an early grave...
I'd buy this, and pay Telltale £3924. Every week. Economy problem solved.
I know the owner of the pawn shop a few blocks down the street. Should be able to work something out...
No, every month for each series, but running several different series in parallel so that in effect there would be a new release of a different series every week. I'd link you up the quote if I could remember where I read it, but I know what I read. Sorry!
Someone should make a funny MI picture with this phrase to post.
Alot of times, people take stuff too seriously.
I'm not sure one episode a week is the best idea because as someone has mentioned the saturation would bore us all, but a month is way too long (that gum metaphor was spot on). And I don't know about everybody else, but if they had a team of 2X producing an episode every two weeks I would pay 4Y for the convenience.
Just thought I'd throw this back out there.
Neighbours (Australian tv show, I don't know if other countries get it) churns out an episode per day (five times faster than the average tv series, this would just be two times faster than it currently is) and they're always months and months ahead of production.
if they're capable of releasing an episode a week of different franchises is it completely impossible to imagine them releasing an episode every two weeks of the same franchise?
A company needs to have a massive structured team with a massive income to be able to do this insane schedule. TTG is barely starting and are starting to be known to the media and to the fans. I myself personally got to know em because of of the release of TOMI, and that led me to know there where games of SamnMax.
The day a company makes that schedule possible, is the day it bankrupts also, cuzz the games will be glitched and bugged. I prefer to wait for a good quality game, than faster and worst. I dont think TTG has the $$$ to release that fast. Its ridiculous and unreal cuzz you guys dnt know (like me) how much it takes to make a game.
They have different teams working on different series, that's why they've, just recently I might add, had two series going at the same time. Just having the whole company work on one game might not really speed things up that much because
A) If you pull Ferguson and Jordan from working on Sam and Max Season 3 I will hunt you down and force you to eat 4,567 lbs of marshmallows and
And C)
Seriously, don't mess with my Sam and Max.
Fanboy! Or Fangirl. Or stangely-cat-like-thing-with-fanatical-preference.
I prefer the term "lagomorph"
Oh my! That's the second biggest rat I'd seen.
Oops! Think that's rodentia. Always got the rabbity thing and the ratty thing mixed up.
Actually I was quoting Max. Sorry, I forget that some people still don't know who he is, even though he is the president of the United States! (Although he did sell us to Canada, so I'm not really sure why we still have a president.)
Eh. He lit this mother up and got the choice of cruel OR unusual punishment. I think he's doing a good job, even if Sybil is over him.