Hmmm...I keep wanting to ask things about the writing, as I feel that Telltale's packed with great writers, and they're never asked about it.
Okay, uh,...howww do you make sure something is funny or not?
Do youuu ever write backstories for your characters?
Yeah, I suck at asking questions. It's worth noting that those question marks at the end are related to whether or not this is a decent question, and not for grammatical purposes.
Those aren't bad questions in the slightest.
There's no way to be absolutely sure that something's funny*. But in our experience, if 3 out of 4 guys in the office think something's funny, a lot of other people will probably think it's funny. Also, when in doubt, I check with the wife - if I can't get at least a wry smile out of her, the joke's probably doomed.
Now that we're doing more and more season-long arcs, we'll probably be getting in the habit of writing quick-n-dirty backstories for our original characters. I cobbled together one for De Singe in Tales, some of which crept its way into the game. With the Sam and Max characters, they haven't needed as much backstory... yet.
Mike "If it bends, it's funny... if it breaks, it's hilarious" Stemmle
* Unless it's a baby in sunglasses... that's always funny.
I bought Beyond Good and Evil on Gamecube, there was no English version.
Really? The PC versions got almost all languages known to Europe free to pick.
Obviously, I went with English.
As for actual swears, it depends on the voice actor. Usually they are just written into the dialog as "*censored*" and the actors have to infer the meaning. William Casten used to have fun with that, particularly when the word "soda" was bleeped out at the end of 205. I've never heard David Nowlin swear on the other hand. There was a particularly memorable sequence where his pre-bleeped swears were "button" and "donut button."
Replaying 102, I now wonder what was under the bleeps at the interview. Myra: "You want to *bleep* your brother?"
Joey Camen however created streams of profanity so foul that the unbleeped version never even left the recording studio for fear that someone would get their hands on them.
Which makes me so jelous of Jared and his team, because they know what Tiny Timmy Two-Teeth was really saying in the Christmas episode.
What I want to ask is a "variation" of one of the FAQs.
We know this third series is a good place to start as your first Sam & Max game, but what if you don't know the characters? meaning you never read a comic, etc?
Because this will be my first Sam & Max game, but not only that: it's also my first Sam & Max "media"
Am i good to go? is it noob-friendly?
Hmm... two questions at the top of my head. Sorry for long post btw:)
Q1:
I heard the driving minigames would not be present in this season. I think this is a good thing as the minigames felt very tacked on. They where fun and all, but kinda ruined the atmosphere in some cases.
But I was wondering if there still is a chance of us seeing a "real" car chase in season 3. I always liked the small action sequences we got to play ourselves as they did add lots of drama. In fact I have been a big fan of these sequences ever since the very first desert chase in Out from Boneville.
So is a real Sam & Max car chase, guns blazing, something we may get to see in the new season? If only in one of the episodes?
Q2:
This is just a thought, and not specifically related to season 3 in any way, but...
You see, I love the ideas behind Max`s new powers. Especaly because they are meant to spice up the puzzle gameplay. But have you guys (in your, I'm sure, many brainstorm meetings) ever considered puzzles with multiple solutions? You know, the kind of puzzle where you realize you need to open a sack of flour for some reason and you can use both the screwdriver, the scissor and the gun in your inventory to achieve that.
The idea is to focus the "Puzzle Gameplay" on exploring, chatting and analyzing the environment in order to figure out what you're supposed to do, but then let how you're doing it be a bit easier by adding multiple "use item on object" solutions where it makes sense. (Kinda like detective work )If used correctly the proses shouldn't require much more work on the designers part as animations and cutscenes would almost always be the same, just switch the object used.
Another way to do "open ended puzzles" is having critical items being obtainable at several locations. So if I figured out I needed a knife I could get it both from the kitchen and from the office drawer (plus maybe from the back of a dead guy in the alley)
Of course, it would require some pretty clever puzzle planning to make sure "guessing" your way to the solution wouldn't be too easy. But puzzle planning is one of telltales major expertices, so that should go fine I think
As you probably have discussed this kind of puzzle gameplay at some stage, my question is: Why have you chosen not to go with it? Surprisingly few adventure games do and I would like to know if there is some kind of industry wide reason for this
I really dislike the idea of open-ended, multiple-solution puzzles. At first, they seem like a cool idea. But it's a kind of "on paper" thing.
More solutions means the puzzle is easier, and it's more logical to just try things rather than think about them, because it's more likely that you can just stumble on one of the answers. Take, for instance, Scribblenauts. Its puzzles aren't really puzzles, because you have such a wide variety of solutions that any challenge comes from the game not doing what you told it to do.
When the scripts are being written, how do you test they're funny enough? A lot of companies out there have a test audience, but TellTale obviously revolutionised game developing and have a completely unique cycle, so I can't imagine it would much the same way?
If I were you guys I'd just all sit around a table and discuss it, whether it's funny enough, but I reckon 12 people sat around telling SamNMax jokes you'll all find it funny - how do you test for the "normal" people?
I mean, I assume you still try and target a broad demograph in the endless search for more fans, right?
I really dislike the idea of open-ended, multiple-solution puzzles. At first, they seem like a cool idea. But it's a kind of "on paper" thing.
More solutions means the puzzle is easier, and it's more logical to just try things rather than think about them, because it's more likely that you can just stumble on one of the answers. Take, for instance, Scribblenauts. Its puzzles aren't really puzzles, because you have such a wide variety of solutions that any challenge comes from the game not doing what you told it to do.
I see where you're coming from. And yes, there is a lot of pitfalls when doing open ended puzzles.
However when done right it can be very interesting and rewarding for the player simply because gameplay now is based around actually trying to figure out what to do, instead of figuring out how to do something you already know must be done (like opening a sack of flour).
A good example of this done right (not saying Telltale should do it this way) is a game called "return to mysterious island". It was a game with cheesy story, horrible dialogue and lame cutscenes. Still it gained almost a cult-classic status within the hardcore adventuregame communities, and for one reason: Inventory puzzles was actually fun. I mean really fun, the kind of fun where you were actively entertained for hours just staring at the inventory screen (now picture that kind of puzzle solving fun together with a good story and gameworld!). What the game basically did was giving you simple objectives like: repair the bridge, kill snake or find food. Then you would go around collecting literally hundreds of inventory items which all had some kind of use if you could figure out what, most items had several uses. Items could be combined together to make new items like a fishing rod (and there was many ways to make a fishing rod, using different items), and they could be dismembered later if you needed the items for other uses. All items were useful, but far from all were required. This made you actually think about what you where doing, because it was impossible to guess the answer (there was litterally millions of combinations between all the items and hotspots). But most of all, it was simply pure fun to experiment with combining different items and "build" stuff for later use.
Another game doing open ended puzzles was Riven. Here the puzzles solutions themselves where linear, there was only one way to solve a puzzle. But the game itself, and where you got the answers you needed to do the puzzles where exstremely open ended (to the point where it got confusing). This made many people dropp off, but those that did get through all had a different story to tell about how they figured out the puzzles (or should I say puzzle). The puzzle itsef was actually kind of easy, but you had to litteraly understand and "get" the world around you in order to figoure out the solution, not many did. Riven was a very very hard game because of this openess, but it was also very satisfying for those that got through. Not very telltaley material to be honest
But I'm getting off topic here and I'm not saying future telltale games should be exactly like this or that, actually they should not. I'm just saying there is IMO a very interesting and untapped potential in looking into more "open ended" puzzle games. Even for episodic games with a strict linear story
I have a question.
People here have been talking about language patches. Are you, the telltale team, aware that those do exist (fan-made), and is it with your approval, or do you disapprove?
(PS, Beyond Good & Evil is a French game. Although I guess it's possible the voices were recorded in English at the same time they were recorded in French to reach a broader audience).
(PS, Beyond Good & Evil is a French game. Although I guess it's possible the voices were recorded in English at the same time they were recorded in French to reach a broader audience).
The creator, Michel Ancel, and company who made it, Ubisoft, are both located in France.
However, like with most Ubisoft games, they're developed in English, to reach a broader audience. Because of this, English ís the original language of the game.
The Gamecube version in the Netherlands came with the dutch and french version.
Probably this is not the place to ask this, but, Who has the brilliant idea of make the narrator black and white (except for the rose)? I LOVED his desing since the teaser page, and now I know I going to see him at least once in every chapter I'm HAPPIER. (It's screaming fan art since day one. Which I don't understand why still I'm not do it *Put on the to do list*)
The creator, Michel Ancel, and company who made it, Ubisoft, are both located in France.
However, like with most Ubisoft games, they're developed in English, to reach a broader audience. Because of this, English ís the original language of the game.
The Gamecube version in the Netherlands came with the dutch and french version.
It's not that I don't believe you, but then why do English-language website credit both the French and English voice actors? (and none of the other language actors). That led me to believe it was done either in French first or with both languages simultaneously (a la Inspector Gadget).
Still, if I was to make a name knowing it would be releasing in both languages, and I worked with a French team, I think we'd be discussing it in French and writing the lines in French, then translating into English. The idea of doing it the other way around just seems weird to me.
Another game doing open ended puzzles was Riven. Here the puzzles solutions themselves where linear, there was only one way to solve a puzzle. But the game itself, and where you got the answers you needed to do the puzzles where exstremely open ended (to the point where it got confusing). This made many people dropp off, but those that did get through all had a different story to tell about how they figured out the puzzles (or should I say puzzle). The puzzle itsef was actually kind of easy, but you had to litteraly understand and "get" the world around you in order to figoure out the solution, not many did. Riven was a very very hard game because of this openess, but it was also very satisfying for those that got through. Not very telltaley material to be honest
I haven't played it in a long while and don't remember it well enough to be sure about it, but didn't Blade Runner work more or less in the same way ?
Although i think it was linked more directly to the actual plot in there than to the puzzle solutions..
It's not that I don't believe you, but then why do English-language website credit both the French and English voice actors? (and none of the other language actors). That led me to believe it was done either in French first or with both languages simultaneously (a la Inspector Gadget).
Still, if I was to make a name knowing it would be releasing in both languages, and I worked with a French team, I think we'd be discussing it in French and writing the lines in French, then translating into English. The idea of doing it the other way around just seems weird to me.
Well, french being their main language, they must've worked real closely on that too. I know if I'd be making a game in English and I knew it to get dubbed in dutch, I'd spend some time getting that right too.
Kinda off topic, but the languages talk reminds me of the shooting of the good the bad and the ugly. They had actors from all over the place (americans, spanish, italians, etc...), and each basically said their lines in their own native language, the whole thing being redubbed later. Would be pretty fun to see any footage of this
Oh Goodness Gracious Alberta, there were many, many pages to read through. But I did it, and no one asked my question so YES! Question!
Why the 70's? I love the vibe you've chosen for this season, I just wonder why you chose that decade particularly? Is it just like, gritty New York makes you immediately think of the 70's, or is that when many of the writers/designers were kids themselves so the psychic toys inspired the look? Either way, I love it, and I love that you went with a pre-Star Wars sci-fi.
Still, if I was to make a name knowing it would be releasing in both languages, and I worked with a French team, I think we'd be discussing it in French and writing the lines in French, then translating into English. The idea of doing it the other way around just seems weird to me.
It doesn't always makes sense. Take for example Divinity 2, a RPG made in Belgium (Dutch/French). The original language for it is... German. Because they first released it there. THEN they made an english version of it for the rest of the world (which includes Belgium itself... that had to wait 3 months longer than the Germans). Totally logical, no?
(it's because Germans really like RPG's and adventures, still...)
Why the 70's? I love the vibe you've chosen for this season, I just wonder why you chose that decade particularly? Is it just like, gritty New York makes you immediately think of the 70's, or is that when many of the writers/designers were kids themselves so the psychic toys inspired the look? Either way, I love it, and I love that you went with a pre-Star Wars sci-fi.
I'm pretty sure the original Sam & Max comics (est. 1987) were set in that period (i.e. in the previous decade when Steve was a kid and he and his brother came up with Sam & Max), and I'm pretty sure I read somewhere in this thread that TTG wanted to better capture the comic's feel even better this time around...
Also I own a ps3, and some of my friends are not so old school Adventure game players, so when developing it for the PS3 what are some of the things we can look forward to besides trophies for the Ps3?
Part of the appeal of bringing it to the PS3 is that it's a type of game that you don't see a lot of on the PS3. I can't think of any other games on the PS3 (maybe the Hothead Penny Arcade games?) that have such a big focus on storytelling and comedy. And I think the new season is the closest Telltale has come yet to delivering an interactive animated cartoon.
Do you know if there will be a PS3 demo of the season? I would be curious to try the game on my console. Unfortunately, I had to buy the PC version because I wanted the dvd and the case at the end of the season. I got pretty accustomed to pure digital delivery, but I want the "full Telltale experience" with all the extras and a nice cover by Steve (I assume Steve will handle the cover).
There will be a PS3 demo when the first episode is released (after pre-order, most likely). It will include the opening of the game, which you can see in that GiantBomb quick look video. Remember that the DVD is only planned for the PC/Mac releases (it'll be a hybrid disc) bought through the Telltale store. We haven't even talked about what's going to be on the DVD yet, so I don't know if Steve would do the cover, but I'd certainly hope so.
Will the basic movement and control and movement be the same for all consoles? Because I wasn't really a fan on ToMI's click and hold movement that was meant more for the Wii.
The controls on PS3 are designed specifically for the PS3. You use the left stick to move, and the controller buttons to make Sam interact with stuff.
Are there 'sets' from previous seasons that return, the restaurant and office (and modified street) excluded?
There will be a couple of returning locations. All of the environments have gotten a massive overhaul for the new season, though: the street is the one that looks closest to how it did in season 2, and you can see how much the street has changed in the screenshots and videos.
With the talk of 'one game' ToMI have you guys dedicated effort into making S&M 3 possible to be played as one streamlined game in the end, or would we still be required to end the game and start the new one manually, even having all 5?
They're all one connected story, but they're still episodes and designed to be told as episodes. We don't ever conceive of these things as being 1/5 of a bigger game, but as 5 separate games that are all part of a bigger story. It's intended to be like a TV series, where the gaps between the episodes are as big a part of the pacing as what happens inside the episodes themselves. So, short answer: there's no plan to have all the episodes run into each other, because it doesn't really add anything as far as we're concerned.
Many filmmakers have said that they can't watch the movies they've made. Could you ever sit down and play a game you've worked on? Or does the process of making them kind of burn you out on that prospect? Especially with adventure games, which are mostly very linear experiences?
Of the games I've worked on, the only one that I could still play for fun is SimCity 4. (Although I did go back into the Strong Bad games to play Algebros and the Gel-Arshie games again). You have to wait a few years to go back and play a story-based game again, unless you're the type of person who can watch the same TV show or movie over and over again. I did start watching YouTube playthroughs of Monkey 3 recently, and it was neat seeing scenes I'd forgotten. (And remembering how great the music on that game was).
Speaking of which, I was a big fan of the old point and click mechanic of seasons one and two, any specific reason the old mouse driven control has been switched to a more keyboard driven approach for moving the character?
You can check the threads about the control system in the Sam & Max forum, Monkey Island forum, and Wallace & Gromit forum for more detailed info. A brief history: point-and-click is best suited to mice, not console controllers, so they decided to make a console-friendly controller scheme for W&G. Direct control of Wallace & Gromit turned out to be a lot more engaging than clicking on a screen and watching them walk. It also turned out to open up a lot of opportunities for Telltale: the environment artists could make real 3D, 360 degree environments with changes in height and depth, instead of arranging everything from left to right on a stage. Plus the designers can make puzzles based on movement and exploration instead of just clicking on things to get a cutscene.
Is it really Sam and Max future in Chariots of the Dogs where they finally put their career to rest?
The first rule of Sam & Max is not to get too attached to continuity. We've already seen Sam & Max changing the future (and the past), so nothing's set in stone and you'll just have to take it as it comes.
I loved the music in previous seasons. Come "Tales of Monkey Island", I was disappointed that MZL's music bits were so incredibly short, while JEJ could create such wonderful, lengthy cues even exceeding five minutes. Will we get such long pieces again?
I don't know the actual numbers, but it feels to me like 301 has more music than any other Sam & Max episode. And Jared's outdone himself, both with the compositions themselves and all the different variants on them that we kept asking him to do. As a result, we broke Jared. I hope you're happy.
The new inventory looks very fancy - it also looks as if not much stuff fits in. That's OK, I gather the puzzles center more on psychic powers, nonetheless: What's the maximum inventory items on one page?
You're right, there is more emphasis on powers than inventory with the new season. But the UI fits about as much stuff as the Season 2 UI. I think the actual limit is around 10?
When it comes to deciding which characters you are or aren't going to bring back for a new season, have you ever felt constrained -- or at least pressured -- by fan response to any of them, despite your own plans? For example, do you feel you have more freedom to use (or not use, as it were) characters whose fan feedback was more tepid than not? And, conversely, less freedom if the characters were widely popular or disliked?
We're always listening to what fans are saying (and responding, with super-long posts). But for the most part, the characters the fans like are the same as the ones we like, and we haven't really had any "Nikki and Paolo" situations. (The three characters that fans seemed to hate the most were designed to be annoying, remember). Whenever I've suggested bringing back or not bringing back a character, it's mostly been based on whether I liked them or not, and whether I thought there was something interesting or funny for them to do. If you put in a character just because it's popular, not because it fits into the story, then it becomes obvious pretty quickly.
it was already answered that the game will be english only, but what for other languages? Will they ever be available?
There will be localizations at some point, as you say it's a good way to expand the games to a wider audience. But the reason they've usually been handled by publishing partners (like Atari and the Adventure Company) is because they have the resources to do a localization. At the moment, Telltale just doesn't have the resources to do multiple languages right out of the gate; it's enough work keeping up with multiple platforms AND an episodic release schedule.
Write it, see if it makes you laugh, ask other people around the studio for a second opinion. The surest way to kill a joke is to over-think it.
Also, if you're short on time, a useful trick is to take something that's not funny and then write the opposite of it. THe entire script of 301, for example, is the opposite of Precious Based on the Novel Push By Sapphire.
How do you decide who gets to do which episode (of which series)? Is it just random, or based on personality? Was it just coincidence that Jordan got to do the Trogdor-episode and that Stemmle got to do the episodes that were set on Flotsam?
It's usually semi-coincidental who gets what episode based on timing and scheduling. But what actually ends up going into the episodes besides the main story beats, is decided by who's heading up the episode. So it's not as if it were completely random.
Are there any hysterical moments that you thought were funny, but when you were writing an episode and ended up cutting it?
Nothing's jumping to mind. Usually the really lousy ideas get weeded out during the design process.
(Earlier I said "not a lot gets cut, actually" in response to some question, but that's not really true: A ton of stuff gets cut while the episode is being designed and sometimes while it's being written. By the time the episode goes into production, though, you need to be pretty confident that you've got good source material that can't be easily cut).
Is there any possibility of a Telltale-made HD Remix/Remake of Hit The Road ala Monkey Island Special Edition? Or would that be more for Lucasarts?
That'd be completely for LucasArts to decide, since they own Hit the Road. I would guess (don't take this as even remotely "official," just my understanding) that a remake would be better handled by LucasArts.
We know this third series is a good place to start as your first Sam & Max game, but what if you don't know the characters? meaning you never read a comic, etc?
Because this will be my first Sam & Max game, but not only that: it's also my first Sam & Max "media"
Am i good to go? is it noob-friendly?
It's definitely intended to be, so try it out and let us know how we did. We've got an entire character (the Narrator) devoted to easing people into the season, and we introduce all the returning characters in episode 1, so that you're not feeling like you missed out on stuff if you don't know the comics or previous games.
The key thing with Sam & Max is that they're always constantly surrounded by weird stuff that doesn't quite make sense; half the fun is dumping you into the middle of a bizarre situation and seeing how they just take everything in stride. (And since you're using The Cheat as your forum picture, I'm guessing you're used to that!)
I heard the driving minigames would not be present in this season. I think this is a good thing as the minigames felt very tacked on.[...] But I was wondering if there still is a chance of us seeing a "real" car chase in season 3. [...] So is a real Sam & Max car chase, guns blazing, something we may get to see in the new season? If only in one of the episodes?
The driving minigames from seasons 1 and 2 won't be back in the new season. But we did look at what the driving games were intended to do -- mix in a faster-paced sequence with the usual talking-and-picking-up-things of adventure games -- and apply that to different set pieces. So it might not be a car chase exactly, but we're always looking for ways to change up the pacing and put in scenes that are more exciting.
But have you guys (in your, I'm sure, many brainstorm meetings) ever considered puzzles with multiple solutions? You know, the kind of puzzle where you realize you need to open a sack of flour for some reason and you can use both the screwdriver, the scissor and the gun in your inventory to achieve that.
Everybody's got his own take on it, and you know that kind of thing's one of BioWare's main selling points. But my own take is that I hate any kind of "branching" content at all, whether it's as big as an alternate ending or as seemingly small as using one item instead of another to solve the same puzzle. Some of that's practical: I don't like the idea of making content that half of your players aren't going to see; I'd rather have the team spending their time on stuff that's guaranteed to be in the game.
Even if you had infinite time and money, though, I still wouldn't like branching paths or alternate solutions. (Unless your story's specifically about branching paths or alternate realities). The reason is that it seems like "fake" interactivity -- it's letting players do a bunch of different things instead of the one most interesting thing. I think that your goal when designing an adventure game shouldn't be to come up with whatever solution works, but the best, most interesting, most clever, or funniest solution to a situation. There's usually a moment in the design meetings when somebody suggests a situation and you think "Yes! Brilliant, that's it exactly." I think the goal of a game designer should be to get the player to that moment, instead of presenting you with a situation where there are three things that work equally well. It's all about guiding the player to make the most interesting moment happen.
In your opening-a-sack-of-flour example, I'd probably see if we could get rid of the scissors and screwdriver first. That way, what occurs to you as the "right" answer is the same as what occurs to me as the right answer. If we get to the point where we're doing external playtests, though, and somebody comes up with a solution that hadn't occurred to us, we'd either support both solutions, or try to give a good explanation as to why one solution isn't as "good" as the other one. And of course, we do have lots of situations where there's no one "correct" solution -- dialogs, for example, where we give you the option of saying goofy things that all work equally well.
When the scripts are being written, how do you test they're funny enough? A lot of companies out there have a test audience, but TellTale obviously revolutionised game developing and have a completely unique cycle, so I can't imagine it would much the same way?
We send the script around to the design team and get everybody's feedback, reworking lines that don't work or adding good suggestions for better gags. While the game's in production, we get feedback from the QA team and from anybody else in the company who's playing the game -- if the QA team or the chore guys say they don't like a gag, I'll try to see if there's a way to make it funnier.
We do have external playtests for each episode. But there, we usually just try to gauge whether the episode's funny overall instead of going over each individual line.
Just out of curiosity, on all the cover screens show a "based on..." gag, who comes up with those and do they actually have any connection to the story of that episode at all?
Just out of curiosity, on all the cover screens show a "based on..." gag, who comes up with those and do they actually have any connection to the story of that episode at all?
I knew that they came from the comics. I was just wondering if they had anything to do in fact I was wondering if they were part of a inside joke in the story when they chose them.
Thanks though
Here's a question for the devs:
I live in England, can I have a job as a tester please?
We do all of our testing in-house. It works much MUCH better than having external testing. There really is nothing like being able to walk over to a designer or programmer and hash out an issue on the spot.
But on the off-off-chance that we open up Telltale-London, we will be sure to let you know!
I have several questions, some related and some unrelated...
What's your opinion of the method of joke telling that Family Guy often uses - where many of the jokes are flashbacks or snippets of other events?
For many Sam & Max episodes, there are only 2 locations overall (e.g. Straight & Narrow, and White House in "Abe Lincoln Must Die") Could you tell us what the average amount of locations will be per episode in Season 3?
Any chance of there being any sort of Easter Eggs in the game, such as the 100 000 grubs in "Lair of the Leviathan"?
Everybody's got his own take on it, and you know that kind of thing's one of BioWare's main selling points. But my own take is that I hate any kind of "branching" content at all, whether it's as big as an alternate ending or as seemingly small as using one item instead of another to solve the same puzzle. Some of that's practical: I don't like the idea of making content that half of your players aren't going to see; I'd rather have the team spending their time on stuff that's guaranteed to be in the game.
Even if you had infinite time and money, though, I still wouldn't like branching paths or alternate solutions. (Unless you're story's specifically about branching paths or alternate realities). The reason is that it seems like "fake" interactivity -- it's letting players do a bunch of different things instead of the one most interesting thing. I think that your goal when designing an adventure game shouldn't be to come up with whatever solution works, but the best, most interesting, most clever, or funniest solution to a situation. There's usually a moment in the design meetings when somebody suggests a situation and you think "Yes! Brilliant, that's it exactly." I think the goal of a game designer should be to get the player to that moment, instead of presenting you with a situation where there are three things that work equally well. It's all about guiding the player to make the most interesting moment happen.
This is a fantastic quote for all those people who feel like a lot of games are focusing too much on "choice" can I post it on another forum?
In the same vein of that question, are you guys alright with us taking quotes from this thread?
Also, if you're short on time, a useful trick is to take something that's not funny and then write the opposite of it. THe entire script of 301, for example, is the opposite of Precious Based on the Novel Push By Sapphire.
I am beginning to hate Bill Corbett (only not really).
Comments
Too bad these can't be included as bloopers in the upcoming DVD version that Telltale sends out to the pre-orders.
Those aren't bad questions in the slightest.
There's no way to be absolutely sure that something's funny*. But in our experience, if 3 out of 4 guys in the office think something's funny, a lot of other people will probably think it's funny. Also, when in doubt, I check with the wife - if I can't get at least a wry smile out of her, the joke's probably doomed.
Now that we're doing more and more season-long arcs, we'll probably be getting in the habit of writing quick-n-dirty backstories for our original characters. I cobbled together one for De Singe in Tales, some of which crept its way into the game. With the Sam and Max characters, they haven't needed as much backstory... yet.
Mike "If it bends, it's funny... if it breaks, it's hilarious" Stemmle
* Unless it's a baby in sunglasses... that's always funny.
How would you (no one in particular) define the characters of sam and max ?
I don't think it could get more basic, but who knows, the answer(s) might be interesting;)
(nb, am somewhat intoxicated at time of writing)
Is there any possibility of a Telltale-made HD Remix/Remake of Hit The Road ala Monkey Island Special Edition? Or would that be more for Lucasarts?
Obviously, I went with English. Replaying 102, I now wonder what was under the bleeps at the interview. Myra: "You want to *bleep* your brother?"
*Can't think up new questions at the moment*
Which makes me so jelous of Jared and his team, because they know what Tiny Timmy Two-Teeth was really saying in the Christmas episode.
We know this third series is a good place to start as your first Sam & Max game, but what if you don't know the characters? meaning you never read a comic, etc?
Because this will be my first Sam & Max game, but not only that: it's also my first Sam & Max "media"
Am i good to go? is it noob-friendly?
Q1:
I heard the driving minigames would not be present in this season. I think this is a good thing as the minigames felt very tacked on. They where fun and all, but kinda ruined the atmosphere in some cases.
But I was wondering if there still is a chance of us seeing a "real" car chase in season 3. I always liked the small action sequences we got to play ourselves as they did add lots of drama. In fact I have been a big fan of these sequences ever since the very first desert chase in Out from Boneville.
So is a real Sam & Max car chase, guns blazing, something we may get to see in the new season? If only in one of the episodes?
Q2:
This is just a thought, and not specifically related to season 3 in any way, but...
You see, I love the ideas behind Max`s new powers. Especaly because they are meant to spice up the puzzle gameplay. But have you guys (in your, I'm sure, many brainstorm meetings) ever considered puzzles with multiple solutions? You know, the kind of puzzle where you realize you need to open a sack of flour for some reason and you can use both the screwdriver, the scissor and the gun in your inventory to achieve that.
The idea is to focus the "Puzzle Gameplay" on exploring, chatting and analyzing the environment in order to figure out what you're supposed to do, but then let how you're doing it be a bit easier by adding multiple "use item on object" solutions where it makes sense. (Kinda like detective work
Another way to do "open ended puzzles" is having critical items being obtainable at several locations. So if I figured out I needed a knife I could get it both from the kitchen and from the office drawer (plus maybe from the back of a dead guy in the alley)
Of course, it would require some pretty clever puzzle planning to make sure "guessing" your way to the solution wouldn't be too easy. But puzzle planning is one of telltales major expertices, so that should go fine I think
As you probably have discussed this kind of puzzle gameplay at some stage, my question is: Why have you chosen not to go with it? Surprisingly few adventure games do and I would like to know if there is some kind of industry wide reason for this
More solutions means the puzzle is easier, and it's more logical to just try things rather than think about them, because it's more likely that you can just stumble on one of the answers. Take, for instance, Scribblenauts. Its puzzles aren't really puzzles, because you have such a wide variety of solutions that any challenge comes from the game not doing what you told it to do.
If I were you guys I'd just all sit around a table and discuss it, whether it's funny enough, but I reckon 12 people sat around telling SamNMax jokes you'll all find it funny - how do you test for the "normal" people?
I mean, I assume you still try and target a broad demograph in the endless search for more fans, right?
However when done right it can be very interesting and rewarding for the player simply because gameplay now is based around actually trying to figure out what to do, instead of figuring out how to do something you already know must be done (like opening a sack of flour).
A good example of this done right (not saying Telltale should do it this way) is a game called "return to mysterious island". It was a game with cheesy story, horrible dialogue and lame cutscenes. Still it gained almost a cult-classic status within the hardcore adventuregame communities, and for one reason: Inventory puzzles was actually fun. I mean really fun, the kind of fun where you were actively entertained for hours just staring at the inventory screen (now picture that kind of puzzle solving fun together with a good story and gameworld!). What the game basically did was giving you simple objectives like: repair the bridge, kill snake or find food. Then you would go around collecting literally hundreds of inventory items which all had some kind of use if you could figure out what, most items had several uses. Items could be combined together to make new items like a fishing rod (and there was many ways to make a fishing rod, using different items), and they could be dismembered later if you needed the items for other uses. All items were useful, but far from all were required. This made you actually think about what you where doing, because it was impossible to guess the answer (there was litterally millions of combinations between all the items and hotspots). But most of all, it was simply pure fun to experiment with combining different items and "build" stuff for later use.
Another game doing open ended puzzles was Riven. Here the puzzles solutions themselves where linear, there was only one way to solve a puzzle. But the game itself, and where you got the answers you needed to do the puzzles where exstremely open ended (to the point where it got confusing). This made many people dropp off, but those that did get through all had a different story to tell about how they figured out the puzzles (or should I say puzzle). The puzzle itsef was actually kind of easy, but you had to litteraly understand and "get" the world around you in order to figoure out the solution, not many did. Riven was a very very hard game because of this openess, but it was also very satisfying for those that got through. Not very telltaley material to be honest
But I'm getting off topic here and I'm not saying future telltale games should be exactly like this or that, actually they should not. I'm just saying there is IMO a very interesting and untapped potential in looking into more "open ended" puzzle games. Even for episodic games with a strict linear story
People here have been talking about language patches. Are you, the telltale team, aware that those do exist (fan-made), and is it with your approval, or do you disapprove?
(PS, Beyond Good & Evil is a French game. Although I guess it's possible the voices were recorded in English at the same time they were recorded in French to reach a broader audience).
The creator, Michel Ancel, and company who made it, Ubisoft, are both located in France.
However, like with most Ubisoft games, they're developed in English, to reach a broader audience. Because of this, English ís the original language of the game.
The Gamecube version in the Netherlands came with the dutch and french version.
It's not that I don't believe you, but then why do English-language website credit both the French and English voice actors? (and none of the other language actors). That led me to believe it was done either in French first or with both languages simultaneously (a la Inspector Gadget).
Still, if I was to make a name knowing it would be releasing in both languages, and I worked with a French team, I think we'd be discussing it in French and writing the lines in French, then translating into English. The idea of doing it the other way around just seems weird to me.
I haven't played it in a long while and don't remember it well enough to be sure about it, but didn't Blade Runner work more or less in the same way ?
Although i think it was linked more directly to the actual plot in there than to the puzzle solutions..
Well, french being their main language, they must've worked real closely on that too. I know if I'd be making a game in English and I knew it to get dubbed in dutch, I'd spend some time getting that right too.
Why the 70's? I love the vibe you've chosen for this season, I just wonder why you chose that decade particularly? Is it just like, gritty New York makes you immediately think of the 70's, or is that when many of the writers/designers were kids themselves so the psychic toys inspired the look? Either way, I love it, and I love that you went with a pre-Star Wars sci-fi.
(it's because Germans really like RPG's and adventures, still...) They already mentioned it being a continuous story a la ToMI/end of Season 2.
There will be a PS3 demo when the first episode is released (after pre-order, most likely). It will include the opening of the game, which you can see in that GiantBomb quick look video. Remember that the DVD is only planned for the PC/Mac releases (it'll be a hybrid disc) bought through the Telltale store. We haven't even talked about what's going to be on the DVD yet, so I don't know if Steve would do the cover, but I'd certainly hope so.
The controls on PS3 are designed specifically for the PS3. You use the left stick to move, and the controller buttons to make Sam interact with stuff.
I thought the half-elf was pretty clever.
There will be a couple of returning locations. All of the environments have gotten a massive overhaul for the new season, though: the street is the one that looks closest to how it did in season 2, and you can see how much the street has changed in the screenshots and videos.
They're all one connected story, but they're still episodes and designed to be told as episodes. We don't ever conceive of these things as being 1/5 of a bigger game, but as 5 separate games that are all part of a bigger story. It's intended to be like a TV series, where the gaps between the episodes are as big a part of the pacing as what happens inside the episodes themselves. So, short answer: there's no plan to have all the episodes run into each other, because it doesn't really add anything as far as we're concerned.
Of the games I've worked on, the only one that I could still play for fun is SimCity 4. (Although I did go back into the Strong Bad games to play Algebros and the Gel-Arshie games again). You have to wait a few years to go back and play a story-based game again, unless you're the type of person who can watch the same TV show or movie over and over again. I did start watching YouTube playthroughs of Monkey 3 recently, and it was neat seeing scenes I'd forgotten. (And remembering how great the music on that game was).
You can check the threads about the control system in the Sam & Max forum, Monkey Island forum, and Wallace & Gromit forum for more detailed info. A brief history: point-and-click is best suited to mice, not console controllers, so they decided to make a console-friendly controller scheme for W&G. Direct control of Wallace & Gromit turned out to be a lot more engaging than clicking on a screen and watching them walk. It also turned out to open up a lot of opportunities for Telltale: the environment artists could make real 3D, 360 degree environments with changes in height and depth, instead of arranging everything from left to right on a stage. Plus the designers can make puzzles based on movement and exploration instead of just clicking on things to get a cutscene.
Somewhere between slim and none.
Around 3 and a half.
We will be seeing more of Stinky and Grandpa Stinky's story in the new season. How that plays out, you'll have to play the games to see.
The first rule of Sam & Max is not to get too attached to continuity. We've already seen Sam & Max changing the future (and the past), so nothing's set in stone and you'll just have to take it as it comes.
Each episode of the PS3 version will have its own set of trophies. And I'm sorry, but I don't understand the second question.
The only way to make it happen is to deluge Valve with e-mails telling them you want to see it. Or start an internet petition.
Important note: Don't actually do this it would be sad.
The COPS are back in season 3. You'll have to see what happens to them in the episodes.
I don't know the actual numbers, but it feels to me like 301 has more music than any other Sam & Max episode. And Jared's outdone himself, both with the compositions themselves and all the different variants on them that we kept asking him to do. As a result, we broke Jared. I hope you're happy.
You're right, there is more emphasis on powers than inventory with the new season. But the UI fits about as much stuff as the Season 2 UI. I think the actual limit is around 10?
We're always listening to what fans are saying (and responding, with super-long posts). But for the most part, the characters the fans like are the same as the ones we like, and we haven't really had any "Nikki and Paolo" situations. (The three characters that fans seemed to hate the most were designed to be annoying, remember). Whenever I've suggested bringing back or not bringing back a character, it's mostly been based on whether I liked them or not, and whether I thought there was something interesting or funny for them to do. If you put in a character just because it's popular, not because it fits into the story, then it becomes obvious pretty quickly.
There will be localizations at some point, as you say it's a good way to expand the games to a wider audience. But the reason they've usually been handled by publishing partners (like Atari and the Adventure Company) is because they have the resources to do a localization. At the moment, Telltale just doesn't have the resources to do multiple languages right out of the gate; it's enough work keeping up with multiple platforms AND an episodic release schedule.
Write it, see if it makes you laugh, ask other people around the studio for a second opinion. The surest way to kill a joke is to over-think it.
Also, if you're short on time, a useful trick is to take something that's not funny and then write the opposite of it. THe entire script of 301, for example, is the opposite of Precious Based on the Novel Push By Sapphire.
It's usually semi-coincidental who gets what episode based on timing and scheduling. But what actually ends up going into the episodes besides the main story beats, is decided by who's heading up the episode. So it's not as if it were completely random.
Nothing's jumping to mind. Usually the really lousy ideas get weeded out during the design process.
(Earlier I said "not a lot gets cut, actually" in response to some question, but that's not really true: A ton of stuff gets cut while the episode is being designed and sometimes while it's being written. By the time the episode goes into production, though, you need to be pretty confident that you've got good source material that can't be easily cut).
Sam is the dog and Max is the rabbit.
I heard Steve say one time that both characters were aspects of his personality, with Sam being the slightly more grounded side and Max being pure id.
The hand-made ones are higher quality and worth the investment. Be forewarned, though: they shed like a son-of-a-b.
That'd be completely for LucasArts to decide, since they own Hit the Road. I would guess (don't take this as even remotely "official," just my understanding) that a remake would be better handled by LucasArts.
It's definitely intended to be, so try it out and let us know how we did. We've got an entire character (the Narrator) devoted to easing people into the season, and we introduce all the returning characters in episode 1, so that you're not feeling like you missed out on stuff if you don't know the comics or previous games.
The key thing with Sam & Max is that they're always constantly surrounded by weird stuff that doesn't quite make sense; half the fun is dumping you into the middle of a bizarre situation and seeing how they just take everything in stride. (And since you're using The Cheat as your forum picture, I'm guessing you're used to that!)
The driving minigames from seasons 1 and 2 won't be back in the new season. But we did look at what the driving games were intended to do -- mix in a faster-paced sequence with the usual talking-and-picking-up-things of adventure games -- and apply that to different set pieces. So it might not be a car chase exactly, but we're always looking for ways to change up the pacing and put in scenes that are more exciting.
Everybody's got his own take on it, and you know that kind of thing's one of BioWare's main selling points. But my own take is that I hate any kind of "branching" content at all, whether it's as big as an alternate ending or as seemingly small as using one item instead of another to solve the same puzzle. Some of that's practical: I don't like the idea of making content that half of your players aren't going to see; I'd rather have the team spending their time on stuff that's guaranteed to be in the game.
Even if you had infinite time and money, though, I still wouldn't like branching paths or alternate solutions. (Unless your story's specifically about branching paths or alternate realities). The reason is that it seems like "fake" interactivity -- it's letting players do a bunch of different things instead of the one most interesting thing. I think that your goal when designing an adventure game shouldn't be to come up with whatever solution works, but the best, most interesting, most clever, or funniest solution to a situation. There's usually a moment in the design meetings when somebody suggests a situation and you think "Yes! Brilliant, that's it exactly." I think the goal of a game designer should be to get the player to that moment, instead of presenting you with a situation where there are three things that work equally well. It's all about guiding the player to make the most interesting moment happen.
In your opening-a-sack-of-flour example, I'd probably see if we could get rid of the scissors and screwdriver first. That way, what occurs to you as the "right" answer is the same as what occurs to me as the right answer. If we get to the point where we're doing external playtests, though, and somebody comes up with a solution that hadn't occurred to us, we'd either support both solutions, or try to give a good explanation as to why one solution isn't as "good" as the other one. And of course, we do have lots of situations where there's no one "correct" solution -- dialogs, for example, where we give you the option of saying goofy things that all work equally well.
We send the script around to the design team and get everybody's feedback, reworking lines that don't work or adding good suggestions for better gags. While the game's in production, we get feedback from the QA team and from anybody else in the company who's playing the game -- if the QA team or the chore guys say they don't like a gag, I'll try to see if there's a way to make it funnier.
We do have external playtests for each episode. But there, we usually just try to gauge whether the episode's funny overall instead of going over each individual line.
It's a running joke from the Comics, in fact.
Thanks though
I live in England, can I have a job as a tester please?
We do all of our testing in-house. It works much MUCH better than having external testing. There really is nothing like being able to walk over to a designer or programmer and hash out an issue on the spot.
But on the off-off-chance that we open up Telltale-London, we will be sure to let you know!
What's your opinion of the method of joke telling that Family Guy often uses - where many of the jokes are flashbacks or snippets of other events?
For many Sam & Max episodes, there are only 2 locations overall (e.g. Straight & Narrow, and White House in "Abe Lincoln Must Die") Could you tell us what the average amount of locations will be per episode in Season 3?
Any chance of there being any sort of Easter Eggs in the game, such as the 100 000 grubs in "Lair of the Leviathan"?
Am I one of the poster winners?
When will Chapter 2 be released? (I kid, I kid)
This is a fantastic quote for all those people who feel like a lot of games are focusing too much on "choice" can I post it on another forum?
In the same vein of that question, are you guys alright with us taking quotes from this thread?
I am beginning to hate Bill Corbett (only not really).