Reaching Out: How Telltale Can Show Goodwill to the Community
How do you think Telltale can reach out to King's Quest fans, and to the community as a whole? I've thought of a few possibilities, and I want to see what everyone else thinks of them, as well as anything an
1. Actually Communicate through your existing channels
This one is really important, I think, and so far I personally think there has been a major vacuum where this should be. This company has a Blog, a newsletter, a forum, and Facebook/Twitter accounts. They have a means through which they can communicate to the existing fanbase, and so far it has been mostly radio silence. Even if you are holding back information for a big announcement, a mere presence shown by maybe taking ten minutes out of your day to make a few posts would go a long way.
2. Cut the Bullshit
Specifically, the marketing-speak.
We have very little in terms of information about this project, and what we have gotten so far is laden with marketing speak and terminology that comes off like it could mean something very, very bad for fans of this franchise. It makes a person wonder if the reason the company isn't saying anything is because they can't say anything without it coming out badly. So, when you do go ahead and say something, run it through the filter of human experience rather than a series of robotic drones who calculate the offensiveness of key words and feel they've created an algorithm for saying things by saying nothing(known to some as "The Marketing Department"). Marketing-speak can be detected immediately and comes off as less than genuine at best.
Are you including deaths in the game?
Who is the target audience?
What is your puzzle design philosophy?
How are you approaching this project?
Do you feel that you need to change a lot about the company's usual work habits to fit this franchise? What are you changing and why?
Is this going to be a reboot, a sequel without a number, or a numbered sequel?
Etc etc.
These are simple questions and simple bits of trivia that could be delivered through any of the existing channels. Or perhaps you can join discussions about King's Quest as a fan of King's Quest. I mean, you are a fan of King's Quest, aren't you?
3. Reach out to Sierra employees
Involvement by people who worked for Sierra would be great. The more involvement, the better. At least CONTACT Roberta Williams to see if she wants to, for example, chat about King's Quest or look over your early design documents, even for just an hour. Check with as many franchise heads as you can muster. Make their involvement publicly known in a transparent fashion. "Off to have lunch with Roberta Williams" on the Telltale Twitter feed would be nice to see.
4. Reach out to the fan groups
The fan groups have been keeping this series alive. They have access to a wider King's Quest base, and they understand the franchise. Give them an interview(because they know what to ask!), ask them what they think is important, and reach out to these groups in any other way you can.
5. Show us stuff
Anything at all fits in this. Blurry cameraphone pictures of the concept artists' desk. A work schedule. Pieces of early design documents. What you had for lunch the day development started. Anything. This fits into the "an unimportant presence is better than no presence at all" rule. Show the fans anything, and let them speculate. It doesn't have to be super important or the best quality, just show the fans something.
6. Community Events
This is something that Nikki was able to do in a simple and effective way at a fairly low cost. Telltale Tuesdays and the like showed(or at least gave the impression) that the company was actively interested in engaging the community in an active way. Community events are not something that is difficult to organize, and if you're hiring someone for marketing and don't have them working in a way that can be noticed, you're doing it wrong.
Well, that's all I have on my mind right now. What does everyone think? Anyone else have more suggestions?
1. Actually Communicate through your existing channels
This one is really important, I think, and so far I personally think there has been a major vacuum where this should be. This company has a Blog, a newsletter, a forum, and Facebook/Twitter accounts. They have a means through which they can communicate to the existing fanbase, and so far it has been mostly radio silence. Even if you are holding back information for a big announcement, a mere presence shown by maybe taking ten minutes out of your day to make a few posts would go a long way.
2. Cut the Bullshit
Specifically, the marketing-speak.
We have very little in terms of information about this project, and what we have gotten so far is laden with marketing speak and terminology that comes off like it could mean something very, very bad for fans of this franchise. It makes a person wonder if the reason the company isn't saying anything is because they can't say anything without it coming out badly. So, when you do go ahead and say something, run it through the filter of human experience rather than a series of robotic drones who calculate the offensiveness of key words and feel they've created an algorithm for saying things by saying nothing(known to some as "The Marketing Department"). Marketing-speak can be detected immediately and comes off as less than genuine at best.
Are you including deaths in the game?
Who is the target audience?
What is your puzzle design philosophy?
How are you approaching this project?
Do you feel that you need to change a lot about the company's usual work habits to fit this franchise? What are you changing and why?
Is this going to be a reboot, a sequel without a number, or a numbered sequel?
Etc etc.
These are simple questions and simple bits of trivia that could be delivered through any of the existing channels. Or perhaps you can join discussions about King's Quest as a fan of King's Quest. I mean, you are a fan of King's Quest, aren't you?
3. Reach out to Sierra employees
Involvement by people who worked for Sierra would be great. The more involvement, the better. At least CONTACT Roberta Williams to see if she wants to, for example, chat about King's Quest or look over your early design documents, even for just an hour. Check with as many franchise heads as you can muster. Make their involvement publicly known in a transparent fashion. "Off to have lunch with Roberta Williams" on the Telltale Twitter feed would be nice to see.
4. Reach out to the fan groups
The fan groups have been keeping this series alive. They have access to a wider King's Quest base, and they understand the franchise. Give them an interview(because they know what to ask!), ask them what they think is important, and reach out to these groups in any other way you can.
5. Show us stuff
Anything at all fits in this. Blurry cameraphone pictures of the concept artists' desk. A work schedule. Pieces of early design documents. What you had for lunch the day development started. Anything. This fits into the "an unimportant presence is better than no presence at all" rule. Show the fans anything, and let them speculate. It doesn't have to be super important or the best quality, just show the fans something.
6. Community Events
This is something that Nikki was able to do in a simple and effective way at a fairly low cost. Telltale Tuesdays and the like showed(or at least gave the impression) that the company was actively interested in engaging the community in an active way. Community events are not something that is difficult to organize, and if you're hiring someone for marketing and don't have them working in a way that can be noticed, you're doing it wrong.
Well, that's all I have on my mind right now. What does everyone think? Anyone else have more suggestions?
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Comments
The post seems to read, as if you think Telltale is going out of its way to intentionally "screw the fans", as if there is some kind of conpiracy going on, and as if telltale employees are somehow sadistically trying to drive fans crazy...
The announcement is quite new, and as far as I've experienced for most franchises it takes time for material to be released to the public after an announcement... I don't see Telltale as being any different than most companies that do the same thing... Seems to me some people are quite impatient...
I don't understand why Telltale doesn't communicate with their fans more often. Like you said, just ten minutes a day could make a world of difference.
Seriously in my experience, the moment a company becomes too open, people start to demand more, and when it isn't forthright, they start bashing the company (accusing them of holding out)...
Impatient fanboys and girls are never entirely rational...
Hardly. The post was intended to imply that Telltale isn't going out of its way to do anything.
So basically, your argument boils down to "They shouldn't do anything with the community, since EA and Activision don't."?
It's because they got so tired of everyone bitching and moaning and whining that they stopped paying attention at all, deciding it was all just fanhate. The thing is, when you do that, you close your ears to actual worthwhile discussion as well, and that's when you've screwed yourself.
It would be nice if they would just confirm that there will be no DVD copies of BttF and JP.... Seems that is going to be the case.
Hell back in the day, if you went to visit Sierra, you had to sign one of the NDA waivers, just to be invited inside...
I seriously don't remember Sierra being open directly after a game announcement either. It usually took a few months to a year, before they released the first bits of concept art...
I only started visiting these forums more regularly after the KQ announcement. I wasn't aware that the devs were more active earlier... it's a shame that the fans drove them away. If there was a lot of hate (and I take your word for it that there was), then I can't blame them for closing their ears and lips.
I would like to add that I don't mean to bash Telltale by agreeing with the poster (and I don't expect news so soon after the announcement, especially since it was already said that more will be revealed at E3). It's just that KQ is so dear to so many of us that we're all more excited and anxious than normal.
Point number 3 really hit home for me though, and that has nothing to do with Telltale's relationship with us.
I doubt Activision is involved with the marketing or development whatsoever (e.g. I wouldn't be surprised if Telltale has complete control as long as they hand over the agreed percentage of revenue when the time comes).
That just reminds me, if not posting on these boards, then what about having a developer's diary once every so often? Jane Jensen did it for Gabriel Knight III and Gray Matter, and Mark Seibert did it for King's Quest 8. I think it really helped bridge the developer-fan connection without "getting too close" or opening unwanted doors for criticism.
Doesn't anyone remember how long we asked/argued/complained about what kind of DRM would be on the ToMI DVD? Telltale took a very long time indeed to say anything at all on the subject. Many people were so worried that it was going to have online activation the same as Wallace and Gromit did, and Telltale did very little to alleviate our concerns.
And that's only one example.
You should check old threads a little. Apparently it was possible for them to make all their fans happy when they had less stuff to work with.
Roberta Williams could, and should, be consulted as she is the original creator, if she wants to be involved.
But anyway, TTG will do much better job at this than those morons who did those Larry sequals with out Al Lowe, that's for sure.
I agree. I have seen this happened with companies who were so close to their fans; eventually, the fans develop this false sense of friendship that the company's CEO or whoever is talking to them as their personal friendship. This makes the fans believe that they know the person talking to them personally, and therefore expects them to listen to their every suggestions. In return, the fan becomes very loyal to the company, ignoring obvious flaws or criticisms. Basically, this transforms the fan into an obsessed fanboy
I remember ppl moan and groan when KQ 7 and KQ* were first announced; for both games, ppl didn't like the direction the storyline and design. After a decade, people accepted both KQ7 and MOE as official KQ canon.
That means nothing to me if it's a horrible game.
I accept those as canon because Roberta was involved in the creative processes of every single one of them. And they were released by Sierra. And I like MOE.
Roberta's involvement only went so far as basically deciding on very basic story items, and that the game should be Disney inspired. She's not even created as the writer of KQ7; Lorelei Shannon alone is. Roberta was far too focused on Phantas when KQ7 was in development that Lorelei had free reign.
The credits are as such:
Directed by: Andy Hoyos, Lorelei Shannon and Roberta Williams
Designed by Lorelei Shannon and Roberta Williams
Writing/Dialogue/Story by Lorelei Shannon
Produced by Mark Seibert
Based on Characters Created by Roberta Williams
And KQ8? KQ8 was in Ken Williams' own words "not a Roberta game." In fact, it deviated so far from her vision she asked for her name taken off the game towards the end. Only some negotiation and a few token changes to the name stopped that from happening. Sierra also threatened to sue her because she kept delaying the game, trying to get it back to her vision, and she was forced to hand it over to them.
So a KQ canon game is something made by sierra and by Roberta? What if AGDI somehow gets the King's Quest license and make their own games. Would ya consider them as canon?
Marketspeak is the most insulting form of human communication to date.
It just makes you wanna punch the messenger in the mouth for treating you like a complete retard.
I mean, I can roll with insults about me and/or my family, I accept being mocked, I can endure being criticized & ridiculed about my looks, lifestyle and/or beliefs, but marketspeak? That's just one step too far.
At least to the others, I can respond in kind.
But the day I'll lower myself to such a vile, disgusting & revolting form of communication as marketspeak is the day I become a useless, rancid shitstain in the fabric of this world.
Cheers!
Be that as it may, she was still involved by coming up with the initial idea (even if it was handed off to other people) and giving the "ok" on the design directions. I understand that with MOE this was not entirely the case, but IIRC she would only allow her name on the box if certain requirements were met? That qualifies for me. But I like MOE so I'll consider it canon if I want to. It's my decision.
Ah, I just read your other paragraph which stated exactly that.
Like I said, I'll consider canon whatever I want to consider canon. It's my prerogative as a fan. But I'm a little biased because I'm on the AGDI team. But you're free not to. Or to accept Telltale's KQ game as canonical as well.