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The Making of Poker Night?

RAnthonyMahanRAnthonyMahan
edited March 2011 in Poker Night at the Inventory / Poker Night 2
From Telltale's blog...

Get some insight on the making of Poker Night at the Inventory on Sunday afternoon in the Making the "Citizen Kane" of Poker Games: Poker Night at the Inventory" panel. You'll hear from Sean Vanaman, Jake Rodkin, Nick Herman, and Tulley Rafferty on the intricacies of putting together last year's cross-over title! Stop by the Wyvern Theatre on Sunday at 3:00pm to get in on the panel!

Any chance there'll be videos of this, or at least a blog post recounting everything said? It sounds interesting.

Comments

  • Alan JohnsonAlan Johnson
    edited March 2011
    RAnthonyMahan wrote: »
    From Telltale's blog...

    Any chance there'll be videos of this, or at least a blog post recounting everything said? It sounds interesting.

    I'm not sure if anyone is filming or recording this. If not, it's unlikely much or any of that would make it into the blog, at least via myself, since I am not attending PAX East this year. :( Sorry.
  • mathman77mathman77
    edited March 2011
    I hope someone films it. It sounds cool, it would be nice to know how the best (well, only) poker game I've played was made. On a related note, are you going to have those Poker Night prints at PAX East?
  • RAnthonyMahanRAnthonyMahan
    edited March 2011
    Alan Johnson wrote: »
    I'm not sure if anyone is filming or recording this. If not, it's unlikely much or any of that would make it into the blog, at least via myself, since I am not attending PAX East this year. :( Sorry.

    Daw. Any chance of asking Sean (or someone else going) to put the details online?

    Thanks for the response, by the way.
  • RAnthonyMahanRAnthonyMahan
    edited March 2011
    So...anyone know what they said?
  • IrishmileIrishmile
    edited March 2011
    Cant you have someone film that.... I mean a sony Handicam is pretty darn cheap... and that is the sort of thing that SHOULD be in the blog section.
  • Alan JohnsonAlan Johnson
    edited March 2011
    Irishmile wrote: »
    Cant you have someone film that.... I mean a sony Handicam is pretty darn cheap... and that is the sort of thing that SHOULD be in the blog section.

    Considering the entirety of our staff that was at PAX East officially on Telltale business was on the panel, it would have been a little tough getting that set up.
    Hell, an iPhone 4 shoots 720p video, so no camera purchase would even have been necessary. Totally agree with you though, but unfortunately, sometimes limitations come into play like this.
  • JakeJake Telltale Alumni
    edited March 2011
    People in the audience may have captured some of it, but that panel will likely only exist in the memories of those who attended. Sorry we couldn't document it.
  • Blind SniperBlind Sniper Moderator
    edited March 2011
    I found this article, which talks a little about the Poker Night panel. Although not too descriptive, it's better than nothing.

    http://thephoenix.com/BLOGS/laserorgy/archive/2011/03/13/pax-east-day-3-telltale-games-indie-start-ups-and-unfortunately-dickwolves.aspx
  • JakeJake Telltale Alumni
    edited March 2011
    Haha that article. It circled the rounds in the office today. That piece sadly makes us sound like a bunch of curmudgeonly grumps. Oh well! On the panel we talked about a lot of the crazy pie in the sky features we dreamed up which we ultimately had to let fall away in favor of the big pieces which we thought would make the game -- poker AI and character banter -- and how we invested all of our time in those. About half the panel was Q&A about Telltale and Poker Night and working with the Chapmans and Tycho and the Team Fortress guys and things like that. I wouldn't mind if there was a copy of the panel up there somewhere but your lives won't be changed by not seeing it :)

    Also everyone who went to the panel got a Poker Night poster! So maybe that part of it will change your life, but a video wouldn't fix that, sorry to say.
  • RAnthonyMahanRAnthonyMahan
    edited March 2011
    Daw. Is there any chance of someone at least posting some of the info they shared? I don't need a video or anything as long as we get to hear all the behind-the-scenes secrets.

    Thanks for getting back to me, by the way.
  • IrishmileIrishmile
    edited March 2011
    Alan Johnson wrote: »
    Considering the entirety of our staff that was at PAX East officially on Telltale business was on the panel, it would have been a little tough getting that set up.
    Hell, an iPhone 4 shoots 720p video, so no camera purchase would even have been necessary. Totally agree with you though, but unfortunately, sometimes limitations come into play like this.

    I will forgive you THIS time Alan.
  • Alan JohnsonAlan Johnson
    edited March 2011
    Irishmile wrote: »
    I will forgive you THIS time Alan.

    :) Yesssss!
  • Gman5852Gman5852
    edited March 2011
    Alan Johnson wrote: »
    :) Yesssss!

    But you are on probation.
  • IrishmileIrishmile
    edited March 2011
    Yeah next time I will take away all your toys and put them on a really high shelf so you can still see them but not play with them.... muaahahahaha
  • Gman5852Gman5852
    edited March 2011
    Irishmile wrote: »
    Yeah next time I will take away all your toys and put them on a really high shelf so you can still see them but not play with them.... muaahahahaha

    That is evil, but I'll..... PLAY WITH THE TOYS!!!!!!!

    Wait that would seem more diabolical from Skunkape. And it would make sense with the storyline:D
  • TjibbbeTjibbbe
    edited March 2011
    Ah, the lost Thumbcast. This is why we need a Telltale podcast, people. If Double Fine can do it, so can you guys! Don't let Schafer win this one. ;)

    I would love to hear more about those "crazy pie in the sky" features.
  • PinchpennyPinchpenny
    edited March 2011
    Jake wrote: »
    Haha that article. It circled the rounds in the office today. That piece sadly makes us sound like a bunch of curmudgeonly grumps.

    "Unmitigated disaster" can be the new marketing line for the game.
  • LuigiHannLuigiHann
    edited March 2011
    Sad that I missed this panel.
  • Bloody EugeneBloody Eugene
    edited March 2011
    80 days to make a videogame????
    I know you are starving for dollars, but why you decided to publish such an "unmitigated disaster"? Working at Telltale means this?
    The artistic direction of Poker Night is beautiful, but with this "incident" you lost a lot of reputation about givin' a stable and bug free release. Again.
    This kind of logic is the real threat for a company like yours.

    No more 80-days games, please. Or, at least, give them for free 'cause my money wasn't broken when I gave you! :D
  • IrishmileIrishmile
    edited March 2011
    Tjibbbe wrote: »
    Ah, the lost Thumbcast. This is why we need a Telltale podcast, people. If Double Fine can do it, so can you guys! Don't let Schafer win this one. ;)

    I would love to hear more about those "crazy pie in the sky" features.

    Yeah point a camera at Grossman that guy always cracks me up in interviews.
  • JakeJake Telltale Alumni
    edited March 2011
    Tjibbbe wrote: »
    I would love to hear more about those "crazy pie in the sky" features.

    Intricate currency system involving a bunch of non-essential non-unlockable items all with monetary values so you could bet and pass around items in combination of / in lieu of cash. "Second pass" at the bluffing system, where characters would show you their hands and laugh at you if they bluffed you out, with more intricate tells. Picture in picture for the hole card cam, like televised poker tournaments. Full first person free-look in the opening cutscene (probably the most gratuitous wishlist feature). There are a lot more. We tried a lot of super crazy stuff, like everyone does, but eventually drilled down to just a few core things that we liked/needed the most.
  • RAnthonyMahanRAnthonyMahan
    edited March 2011
    Interesting stuff.

    I also heard you discussed in-jokes behind some of the dialogue. Care to explain a little of that?

    Also, with Poker Night involving four different licenses, I have to wonder if there's some interesting stories. How familiar were the licensors with the other properties featured beforehand? (Did The Brothers Chaps know about Team Fortress 2? Was Jerry Holkins a fan of Sam and Max? You get the idea.) Was there anything Steve/Chaps/Valve/Jerry requested in the game? Or anything you wanted to include that they rejected? In one of the Penny Arcade blog posts Tycho mentioned writing some lines for other characters. Which ones?

    Sorry for all the stupid questions, but it can't hurt to ask. :p
  • JakeJake Telltale Alumni
    edited March 2011
    I think most all the franchises knew of each other to some degree. The Chaps wrote a lot of Strong Bad's dialog (like they did on SBCG4AP), and Jerry's feedback on Tycho was mostly making it even dirtier and weirder than we had it, but by and large the biggest feedback we got was that we were doing it right with the dialog, which was a huge relief!

    As for the in-jokes behind the dialog, we talked about Paws Hogg: Poker Pro, and the Morale Moose, both of whom were fictional unlockable characters one of the programmers made up, based on weird shit floating around the office (we briefly came into the possession of a full size taxedermied moose, which was too big to fit up the stairs or the elevator, so he lived under the tree outside the office for a day, until someone picked him up off of our Craigslist ad, for instance).
  • Gman5852Gman5852
    edited March 2011
    Bloody Eugene wrote: »
    80 days to make a videogame????
    I know you are starving for dollars, but why you decided to publish such an "unmitigated disaster"? Working at Telltale means this?
    The artistic direction of Poker Night is beautiful, but with this "incident" you lost a lot of reputation about givin' a stable and bug free release. Again.
    This kind of logic is the real threat for a company like yours.

    No more 80-days games, please. Or, at least, give them for free 'cause my money wasn't broken when I gave you! :D

    Oh so the game was rushed. That makes sense on WHY there are a lot of bugs, but still. Really? Granted it is $5 but a delayed game is good eventually, a rushed game is bad forever and the game wasnt bad, it was fun and funny(the look on my friends face when he got both the giraffe line then the hedgedog line in a row is worth more than $5) but come on.
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