Gameworld Network Interview

edited August 2007 in Sam & Max
http://www.gwn.com/articles/article.php/id/940/title/Telltale_Games_Interview.html

Really good interview with Dave & Dan. Lots of cryptic information about season 2.
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Comments

  • edited August 2007
    Hmmm, this Façade looks rather interesting.
  • edited August 2007
    DAN: "We're thinking of threatening people. If they complain about how long the episodes are because we've added a run feature, and they can just run past everything, we're going to remove the ability to run. "

    Ha ha ha ha! :p
  • edited August 2007
    I dunno about the run feature. I didn't find it a problem in Season One that you had to walk everywhere. I think Sam's personality is more of a calm strolling type.
    Not all video games need to be fast paced. I know it might hurt the 13-year old hyped up on red-bull demographic, but so be it.

    It probably won't be so bad.
  • edited August 2007
    Telltale Games has a very unique player-developer dynamic. How do you feel about this?

    DAN:
    That is part of the beauty of where we are now in everything. That's why the Internet works for anyone being creative. We're thinking of games just like any other creative endeavor - we are interacting with our fans, and the fans are giving input. It's great. You could never do this with a retail product; it just couldn't be done. By the time you go through all the hassle of getting it on the shelf, it'd be another eight months at the earliest before the next one comes out. You'd lose the continuity of staying with people and continuing to address them.
    You.... love us... you really love us!
  • EmilyEmily Telltale Alumni
    edited August 2007
    Thanks for the link! That interview came out great.
  • edited August 2007
    I begin to ponder: is someone toying with the idea of a Simpsons\Groening licence?
  • edited August 2007
    Funny, that's the exact thing I've come to speculate as well. With a reference on the second and the third page and one or two references in earlier interviews it's starting to look a bit suspect.
    It would be a good license for telltale to work with, that's for sure. The only downside is that with the simpsons movie being in glorious 2D this is not a good time to announce a 3D simpsons game.
  • MelMel
    edited August 2007
    A 3D Homer has happened before :) (in the episode where he ate the chili):

    homer3d5.jpg
  • edited August 2007
    Simpsons... Hmmm, okay... However, Futurama: BRING IT ON!!! Whoo!

    *cough*

    --Erwin
  • edited August 2007
    xChri5x wrote: »
    I dunno about the run feature. I didn't find it a problem in Season One that you had to walk everywhere. I think Sam's personality is more of a calm strolling type.
    Not all video games need to be fast paced. I know it might hurt the 13-year old hyped up on red-bull demographic, but so be it.

    It probably won't be so bad.

    Actually, only one 13-year-old I know drinks that kind of crap regularly. She's already screwed up without it, so she doesn't really count.
  • edited August 2007
    I'm sure they would like to make an episodic Simpsons game, but they would need another 20 employees and probably another $5,000,000 to fund it. It could be done, but Telltale would have a hard time getting the loan for it when Sam & Max has only gone through one season.

    Of course first they would have to get the rights to make the Simpsons game in the first place. They certainly don't lack the talent, but I doubt Groening would award it to them yet. I think that once Season 2 is underway, and when the sales data for Season 1 is solid, then they would be in a much better position for aquiring the license. If they want it, that is. But they should, because it's the biggest episodic liscense they could get right now.
  • edited August 2007
    xChri5x wrote: »
    I dunno about the run feature. I didn't find it a problem in Season One that you had to walk everywhere. I think Sam's personality is more of a calm strolling type.
    Not all video games need to be fast paced. I know it might hurt the 13-year old hyped up on red-bull demographic, but so be it.

    It probably won't be so bad.

    -eyes Chris wearily and hopes Dan was just joking-
  • edited August 2007
    AdamG wrote: »
    I'm sure they would like to make an episodic Simpsons game, but they would need another 20 employees and probably another $5,000,000 to fund it. It could be done, but Telltale would have a hard time getting the loan for it when Sam & Max has only gone through one season.

    ???
  • edited August 2007
    Are you saying you currently have the capacity to make it without more employees or funding? :confused:
  • edited August 2007
    AdamG wrote: »
    Are you saying you currently have the capacity to make it without more employees or funding? :confused:

    I didn't say that, but you're making up odd facts about us again :(
  • edited August 2007
    Once again, I never claimed anything I said were facts. As you can tell we are all discussing what your boss said. If you do not like my speculation, you are entirely in your will and power to ban me.
  • edited August 2007
    I can see where he's coming from though - your speculation was pretty specifically stated. "They would need" "They would have a hard time".
    The only qualification was at the very beginning of the first sentence, "I'm sure that..."
  • edited August 2007
    Is this a crime? Should I and others here not be allowed to be specific in our speculation? Is there a rule here on the boards that I do not know of restricting this? It was obvious that it was speculation. I do not see how this is a problem. However, if Tabacco and his superiors have a problem with this, I will more then happy to make sure it never happends again.
  • JakeJake Telltale Alumni
    edited August 2007
    You frequently present your opinion as facts, and also frequently present yourself as a voice of authority to new users and people seeking help, but the advice and help you post are usually in fact just your own opinion or speculation. It's misleading. Nobody has a problem that you post a lot - that is awesome - but your posts are rarely positioned as opinion, they're actually usually presented as facts or some sort of enlightened recommendations, until a mod calls you on it and you hastily backtrack and threaten to leave. That's what Doug is taking issue with.

    "I'm sure they would like to make an episodic Simpsons game, but they would need another 20 employees and probably another $5,000,000 to fund it." reads 100% as if you have some sort of evidence or inside knowledge that Telltale is 20 employees and 5 million dollars short of making our dream game: the Simpsons, when actually, every single facet of that sentence is something you imagined. You not only imagined something you think we'd want to do, but you imagined all of the staffing and financial hurdles that would impede that imagined thing we'd want. Speculation is fine, but constructing elaborately structured speculation on top of nothing but prior speculation, then couching it all as fact (or at least not offering a single qualifier that it's not a post based on some real concrete knowledge) is misleading.

    You have a lot of posts on this board, and you're very deep into the Telltale forum community, so people who aren't as "in" as you are going to look at what you say with a certain amount of trust. The fact that you're effectively making everything you say up as "speculation" but don't indicate that anywhere ever does little more than mislead people who come here looking for help and real information about Telltale.
  • edited August 2007
    In any event (great icebreaker, huh?), if Telltale DID make a Simpsons game/series it'd be pretty huge for them. The trick is getting Fox to notice how good the Sam & Max games are. Considering that Simpsons games have had a spotty track record (the arcade game and Hit & Run being the main bright spots), they could be interested in bringing the license to a team that has a proven track record of doing good games with a comedy license. A "proven track record" will, I can only assume, exist after season 2 is done.

    But we're probably focusing too much on an extremely insignificant part of the interview.
  • edited August 2007
    It would certainly be ironic. Fox, the network that only airred Sam & Max: Freelance Police for a single season, turning to the new holders of the Sam & Max video game lisense after their second season turns out to be a hit.

    One can only wonder what the world would be like if the cartoon did go into a second season.
  • edited August 2007
    All of my posts are opinion, they are all speculation. Isn't that what this forum is for, opinions and speculations?! Anyone should know I'm not an employee since I am not labeled as one. That not all Telltale employees are labeled as such on the forum is entirely the fault of Telltale itself.

    Of course I imaged all of the financial and staffing hurdles required to make an episodic Simpsons game. Because that's what we were discussing. I would suggest that Telltale make a notice for new forum users that states speculation of Telltale's bussiness model is against forum rules, so that future individuals don't have to go through this.

    I find it quite unprofessional that you place your own faults and that of Telltale upon me. Others say that Telltale's customer relations are excellent, but apparently there are a few holes that need to be addressed. While you get to that, you might also want to do your job and catch up on, "The Summer of Sam & Max", which is now 9 days behind schedule.
  • edited August 2007
    In any event (great icebreaker, huh?), if Telltale DID make a Simpsons game/series it'd be pretty huge for them.

    Careful, that ice isn't very thick!
  • edited August 2007
    AdamG wrote: »
    While you get to that, you might also want to do your job and catch up on, "The Summer of Sam & Max", which is now 9 days behind schedule.

    It's actually only 2 days behind. There was a scheduled week out for the "Comic-Con Recap, and a small break." Besides, after getting every episode of Season 1 out on time and sometimes even earlier, I think they deserve a bit of slack on something as inconsequential as the concept art reel and Telltale commentaries being late.

    I'm just gonna stay out of this from now on, don't really want to fan the flames.
  • edited August 2007
    Mel wrote: »
    A 3D Homer has happened before :) (in the episode where he ate the chili):

    One of the Hallowe'en episodes, actually :)

    I don't have much interest in seeing a Simpsons game. The classic Simpsons era was made brilliant by its characters, comic timing and originality, and yet its rather everyday setting isn't game material. The new episodes are zanier, and consequently a better model for an adventure game, but this change has been brought about by sacrificing everything that made The Simpsons unique. The game would necessarily be built on these flimsy foundations.

    Regardless, unlike Sam and Max, in whose job-description it's pretty implicit, The Simpsons has never had much to do with anything you'd really call puzzle-solving. Whom would you control? Perhaps you could write a game about Wiggum and create your own extension of the character, but why buy a licence only to change most of it (moreover into a pseudo-Sam-and-Max)? I think Futurama lends itself more to a game format, because it has an excuse to be wacky and freeform and the scenarios they get into are also more adventure-like. Not that I think that should be made, either!

    I guess I've gone off on one, but I'm really just trying to say that a licence is not automatically suited to another genre just because it's popular.

    And I agree walking suits Sam better, whether that outweighs the inconvenience or not!
  • edited August 2007
    Badwolf wrote: »
    It's actually only 2 days behind. There was a scheduled week out for the "Comic-Con Recap, and a small break." Besides, after getting every episode of Season 1 out on time and sometimes even earlier, I think they deserve a bit of slack on something as inconsequential as the concept art reel and Telltale commentaries being late.

    I'm just gonna stay out of this from now on, don't really want to fan the flames.

    A break is needed, yeah, but when you pretty much tote at every pannel and interview that you are happy, if not proud, that you were able to keep your schedule and be able to produce a product that sometimes exceeds the expectations of people who have no idea how long it takes to make six episodic games and release them a month appart from each other...

    ...well, you get the idea. There are people out there that are keeping an eye on TTG, and they can't really afford to fall behind on any schedule. It just wouldn't look good on them.

    But, then again, if they continue to offer unique swag like the Case File and the reprint of Surfin' the Highway, I suppose that I personally can let them slide some.

    That being said, I'm still patiently waiting for the update since everyone else can watch it on their DVDs. Silly me had to get the Case File because I like Omake stuff like that.:p
  • edited August 2007
    I would rather a family guy adventure game than the simpsons.. and to Adam.. you need to say "I think" or "maybe" qualify your statements instead of stating them as facts.. I don't think that is too much to ask for
  • edited August 2007
    Quoted from myself,

    "I think that once Season 2 is underway, and when the sales data for Season 1 is solid, then they would be in a much better position for aquiring the license. If they want it, that is."


    I think they took offense that I don't believe they could even aquire the liscense. I think that's what really got them upset in the first place. I suggest everyone carefully read my original post carefully, without bias.

    I think there needs to be an end user agreement to use the forums.
  • edited August 2007
    Hero1 wrote: »
    I would rather a family guy adventure game than the simpsons..
    Given the number of non-sequiter jokes they have in one episode alone, that would be a nice challenge to cut back and forth between two different sets, a la Abe Lincon Must Die! only on a scale of happening every five minutes.:D
  • edited August 2007
    AdamG wrote: »
    I don't mind delays much myself, mind you. ...
    AdamG wrote: »
    While you get to that, you might also want to do your job and catch up on, "The Summer of Sam & Max", which is now 9 days behind schedule.

    :eek:
  • edited August 2007
    Adam how old are you by the way?
  • EmilyEmily Telltale Alumni
    edited August 2007
    Yes, the fact that The Summer of Sam & Max is behind is a terrible thing and we feel bad about it.

    On the other hand, in the past week we've moved from one office to another (which incidentally caused us to be unable to update the website earlier this week due to a server we needed access to not being hooked up), hand stuffed about 1,000 case files, worked extensively on the localized versions of Season One, spent the better part of a day trying to figure out the logistics of getting everyone to PAX and how our booth and panel are going to work, created UI for Season Two, and answered over 100 support emails.

    I'm sorry that The Summer of Sam & Max is late, but please don't assume it's because we haven't been doing our jobs. If anything, it's because we've been doing our jobs. ;)

    Back on topic - I think a Simpsons game would be awesome, but I can imagine difficulties with voice recording. For Sam & Max, we work mostly with local actors, which is good because we record once a month. Recording that often with the actors who do the Simpsons might be more difficult... or, at least, it might require whoever from Telltale was directing the voice recording to travel to LA quite a bit! (When the CSI stars are recorded, Greg goes to LA, but that only happens once per game as opposed to once a month...)
  • edited August 2007
    Don't you guys record the CSI actors all in one session? I thought I read that in an interview before this one.
    Emily wrote: »
    Yes, the fact that The Summer of Sam & Max is behind is a terrible thing and we feel bad about it.
    At least it's only by two-going-on-three days instead of, say, a week and a half.
  • edited August 2007
    You people all seem to be overlooking the fact that there's currently an apparently-pretty-good Simpsons game in production right now. Then again, there have been a thousand Simpsons games so far, so I suppose another one in the indefinite future could happen. Anyway, this horse has been beaten enough.

    I wouldn't mind a "run" function, as Sam seems to run from time to time in the comics, and it would be nice to get around more quickly, if only for the really large sets we hope to see in Season 2 ;)
  • edited August 2007
    LuigiHann wrote: »
    I wouldn't mind a "run" function, as Sam seems to run from time to time in the comics, and it would be nice to get around more quickly, if only for the really large sets we hope to see in Season 2 ;)

    That isn't running so much as it is "fleeing in terror" from what I remember.:p
  • edited August 2007
    I wonder if the running option had something to do with Dave asking how fast we chew our food?
  • JakeJake Telltale Alumni
    edited August 2007
    LuigiHann wrote: »
    I wouldn't mind a "run" function, as Sam seems to run from time to time in the comics, and it would be nice to get around more quickly, if only for the really large sets we hope to see in Season 2 ;)

    You should read a few of the interviews with Dan, Dave, and Steve that are currently linked in the Telltale Buzz sidebar on the blog! You'll be happy.
  • edited August 2007
    The gleeming review Jared got about the soundtrack you have linked in the Buzz section made me smile.:D
  • edited August 2007
    Yeah, I can't wait to get it in the mail.
    Bosco and Sybils music will be in full swing on the soundtrack instead of sounding like they do in the game right?
    I remember when I first read the titles of the soundtrack and thinking that I didn't really remember Sybil having music in her store. I guess it kind of blends into the background more.
  • edited August 2007
    LuigiHann wrote: »
    There have been a thousand Simpsons games so far, so I suppose another one in the indefinite future could happen. Anyway, this horse has been beaten enough.

    Indeed it has. I'm reminded of the Alan Partridge scene in which he tries to get his ideas for a TV show approved:

    Alan: Right, ok. Shoestring, Taggart, Spender, Bergerac, Morse. What does that tell you about regional detective series?
    BBC Editor: There's too many of them?
    Alan: That's one way of looking at it. Another way is 'people like them, let's make some more!'

    Not sure he's made his way overseas, so it's probably lost on the Americans here.
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