Yeah, it's probably because those carriers don't deliver to a PO Box. Of course that doesn't help you if those are the only options for where you live.
Hi,
I registered on the Telltale forums for the sole purpose of replying to this thread! The reason I still haven't bought any of the Bone games is because of the DRM system Telltale uses, even in the boxed versions of the games. I don't want to rely on your servers to be able to play my games. Please, please do release a version without the fingerprinting system. Anyway, is it really safer than a system like Starforce?
Thanks for reading.
It looks like TellTale is hiding in a dark alley and entirely avoiding the DRM questions here. LOL
All this effort to take people's basic freedom of product ownership for what? What are they trying to achive by siding with the evil DRM alliance?
When it comes to adventure games DRM has zero pozitive effect on the sales (says me). Only dedicated adventure gamers buy advneture games anyways and only beacuse they want to, not because they have to!
Personally, I see purchasing my adventure games as a way to support this genre and to say thanks to the people who keep designing adventures. Centralized DRM is bad joke which breaches the gamer-developer trust relation. Wouldn't you agree?
And one final thought... what would happen if my new car comes with DRM? How fun would it be if your car dials in to see if you are on the dealer's White List every time you want to turn the key. Jeez!
It looks like TellTale is hiding in a dark alley and entirely avoiding the DRM questions here. LOL
No, not really. It's just that we've spoken to that issue in many other places (including on this very forum!) and the answer hasn't changed. Gets to the point where it's more productive to work on the next game than to repeat the answer.
Believe me when I say that everyone's feedback is taken into account. Just because we don't respond to something directly doesn't mean we haven't read it and thought about it.
Sorry if my response above was snarky. I guess I should be grateful we're back on this topic, and everyone's done discussing Sam & Max's voices.
Unfortunately the search function on this forum leaves a lot to be desired, and I can't find the thread I was referring to. It was back when the first Bone game came out, and Troy responded several times about Telltale's rationale behind using a DRM system. The thread on AG is essentially the same question and the same answer, anyway.
It would not make sense from a business perspective for Telltale to sell games without any form of copy protection. We might as well leave our office doors wide open and invite people to come in off the street and steal our equipment and IP. The decision to go with the DRM we use was made with a number of considerations in mind, and really the only complaint I've consistently heard about it is "What if you go out of business in ten years?" As Troy said in the thread I can't find, if that happens, Telltale will unlock the games so anyone who owns a copy can play them forever (or, at least, as long as your hardware permits!)
Well, that was all I wanted to read ! That eventually, a patch will be released to unlock the games. I had browsed the Telltale forums but had never read that. I think it would be a nice to write this in a F.A.Q. or sticky thread.
Concerning the BONE games, I will buy boxed copies tomorrow from your online store!
Concerning Sam & Max, let me tell you that I am dying to play it but I will wait for the complete season to come out in a boxed version. Two reasons:
- I want a box. Because hard drives are not reliable! And because I enjoy owning the physical item.
- I don't want to play a few hours every month. I prefer to get 15 hours in one chunk.
Not that I am complaining about the episodic system; I just wanted to tell you why I will wait to buy S&M:E1.
I haven't purchased the game yet, but I will...someday. I loved the demo, and am simply waiting for another episode to be finished. I like the idea of an episodic game, but I've heard some chatter that the next Bone won't be released for a while, with Sam & Max coming. So I just want to make sure I don't obsess over the game this weekend and then have to wait eight months for a new version.
And I'll purchase Sam & Max, too, but won't subscribe to the gaming network thing it's being released on exclusively first, mainly because I don't play many games, and only play adventure games.
I'm looking for games to play on my pocketpc right now. Too much time on the road and too many meetings leave too little time to break out the laptop for game play. I really like point-click games like Gilbert Goodmate for the pocket pc and hope that telltale games will supply playable games in that format.
I'm looking for games to play on my pocketpc right now. Too much time on the road and too many meetings leave too little time to break out the laptop for game play. I really like point-click games like Gilbert Goodmate for the pocket pc and hope that telltale games will supply playable games in that format.
My magic 8-Ball says - You should be so f**king lucky B-)
Though there is a PocketPC version of the ScummVM - so you can play all your old LucasArts games from your PocketPC?
I didn't buy it 'cause I got a free copy for working at Telltale. So, Telltale - want to get me and my $$ on your side? Well, here is the magic formula: Stop hiring me.
Don't say it too loud, Brendan! I could try to replace you! B-)
Jokes apart, I wish I could work for Telltale to help winning the graphic adventure battle!
This is my dream, and once it's gonna come true!!!
Let me graduate first, then expect to hire me, guys!!!
I doubt you'll see this since the thread already has so many replies, but let me give a bit of background before I answer.
I started out on a commodore 64, my first adventure game was Maniac Mansion by Lucas Arts. Since then I played the Monkey Island Series, Zak Mckracken & The Alien Mindbenders. All the Indy (Adventure) games. etc.
The biggest problem I have with Bone is the cost vs. the Short episode nature of the game.
I'm not some kid with a short attention span. "I" like to decide when I am done playing a game for the evening. I don't need you to decide for me when enough is enough.
I'd rather spend $50.00 on a full length game that I can play over the course of 3-4 weeks, (or in one weekend, as I played the Monkey Island Games. hehe.) than $13.00 for an hour's enjoyment. It costs less to go to a Movie, and lasts longer. See the problem?
I'm an Adventure Game Fanatic who doesn't play adventure games anymore basically because none of the new stuff can compete with the Humor, Wit, and gameplay of the old Lucas Arts stuff (quite honestly, if they could have competed, they would be very well known companies right now.)
And I don't see Boneville or Sam & Max doing that for me with this new Episode-type-of-delivery-system. Over the course of 4 episodes, we're talking about $50.00, for about 4-5 hours of game play. To me that seems a bit of a ripoff.
And quite frankly, Most game designers have no clue how to write a good story. It's a rare thing when a game actually has a really good story line to go along with the game design, and that is usually lacking in 90% of the adventure games made today, and this is why they fail.
An Adventure Game with a good story line and multiple paths can be a game that is fun to play over and over and over again. I just don't see that with the products you are offering right now. So I don't buy them.
Adventure games could be good again, but this isn't the way to do it. People need to look back to go forward in this Genre. They need good stories, funny/flawed characters who have some real humanistic qualities to them. We need games that will keep us entertained for more than an hour or two at a time. And we need characters that continue to return.
There's a reason why Americans spent 11 years watching Friends. And if ever an Adventure Gaming company could figure it out again (which seems hopeless to me.) They'd have a hit on their hands.... At it's height, The Monkey Island games would have made a fantastic movie. If you don't believe me, Check out Pirates of the Caribbean. That movie had many, many, MANY elements of the Monkey Island series in it.
P.S. It really amazes me that Lucas Arts or some other company hasn't done an Adventure MMORPG yet. It seems to me the multiplayer format would be a fantastic way to deliver an Adventure game, with more profit, and a better, more sustainable customer base (as long as you don't piss off the customers like Sony Online Entertainment)
Thanks for the response. (Of course I saw it - you bumped the thread back to the top!)
Just a few things I want to clarify:
I'd rather spend $50.00 on a full length game that I can play over the course of 3-4 weeks, (or in one weekend, as I played the Monkey Island Games. hehe.) than $13.00 for an hour's enjoyment. It costs less to go to a Movie, and lasts longer. See the problem?
I totally hear you on liking to play at your leisure, although I've found a lot of those older games really aren't as long as I used to think they were. The internet and easy availability of hints shaves off an amazing amount of time.
That said - The Great Cow Race is not a 1 hour game. It's more like 4-6 for most people. So the movie analogy doesn't really hold true in this case. (Boneville is shorter, which really isn't something we can change at this point... but it is something that was taken into account with Cow Race, which is why Cow Race ended up with so much more meat on it. We do what we can. )
And I don't see Boneville or Sam & Max doing that for me with this new Episode-type-of-delivery-system. Over the course of 4 episodes, we're talking about $50.00, for about 4-5 hours of game play. To me that seems a bit of a ripoff.
Again - Cow Race is 4-6 hours by itself, for $13, so we're really not talking $50 for 4-5 hours of gameplay.
Out of curiosity, did you see our announcement of the Sam & Max prices today? Episodes will be $8.95, or you can get the whole season for $34.95 (and if you want, a CD version for only the price of shipping). There are six episodes, and the first one is clocking in at 3-4 hours for a lot of people. You can do the math. I'm wondering, since you seem to feel strongly about the $50/4-5 hour model, if $35 for something like 15-20 hours seems more reasonable?
Adventure games could be good again, but this isn't the way to do it. People need to look back to go forward in this Genre. They need good stories, funny/flawed characters who have some real humanistic qualities to them. We need games that will keep us entertained for more than an hour or two at a time. And we need characters that continue to return.
There's a reason why Americans spent 11 years watching Friends. And if ever an Adventure Gaming company could figure it out again (which seems hopeless to me.)
This is exactly what we're trying to do with Sam & Max! Let's forget about length for a minute - the format, with recurring characters and a sit-com like feel is exactly what we're trying to do. I think you're right that it's something gamers need right now, and I'm really excited to see the reaction to the Sam & Max episodes.
P.S. It really amazes me that Lucas Arts or some other company hasn't done an Adventure MMORPG yet. It seems to me the multiplayer format would be a fantastic way to deliver an Adventure game, with more profit, and a better, more sustainable customer base (as long as you don't piss off the customers like Sony Online Entertainment)
Cyan's doing it with URU Live starting this winter. (Another great reason to check out GameTap!)
Just today our friends at TellTale announced the pricing plan for S&M. Good work, Emily et al! The new pricing plan hit the spot. Me happy!
Individual episodes: $8.95
The entire season (6 episodes): $34.95
If the first episode is as sweet as we all hope, you can count me in for the entire season deal. It will be sweet to be able to play the episodes as they come out and then get the stand-alone DVD with the "complete game" for the permanent collection. Hopefully the DVD/CD won't require activation (what would be the point of getting it if this is the case?).
Thank you for listening and best wishes for a great S&M launch!
...a full length game that I can play over the course of 3-4 weeks...
I don't know about this. To me the average game completion time is not a good metric at all for my enjoyment of the game. It's mostly the story, the characters, the humor, the variety and cleverness of locations, etc.
Take Full Throttle and Grim Fandango, for example. The first time I played both it took me hours to get to the end (maybe 4-5). I had a blast. Since then I've replayed these games multiple time - they both take a little over an hour when you know your way through. And that's great - I enjoy being able to quickly visit the familiar locations, meet the characters, see the cinematics, etc, but I don't have hours to spend on each replay. These games strike the perfect balance in my mind - plenty challenging at first yet breezy on replays.
The other end of the spectrum are The Longest Journey-type games (Syberia, etc). The first time I played TLJ, it took me maybe 20 hours! But I didn't get borded - the story and the plot twists were brillian. However, on a consequent replay, I found out that it's hard to zoom through the game in less than 5h or so. The locations are quite large and April is a lousy runner. The game is sprinkled with a lot of silly back-and-forth puzzles with no shortcut around. The dalogues are too long and so forth... Now that's a complete waste of my time. I don't think I will replay it any time soon.
So, to put it all together - to me the perfect adventure is challenging enough the first time (with clever rewarding puzzles - about 4-8h) and breezy (under 2h) on consequent replays. This is where the real art of game-making is.
As for walkthroughs - It's best to use them sparingly. In the old days of Lucas Arts I used to finish the games without having to look at the walkthrough. These days, almost all adventures contain unreasonable puzzles which demand a walkthrough, so I don't have a choice. Well... actually I managed to finish Still Life without peaking at the w-tru, but then again, the puzzles there are linear, simplistic, and predictable. Yet, it was an enjoyable experience until the cliff-hanger ending (pshaw).
Emily, I just love TTG and what they're doing with AGs! Simple adore the idea- and the episodic downloading with the pricepoints is perfect! Really come a long way since I last checked in (not sure you were even employed back in '04?), and all TTG had was a few basic images (secrets!) of Bones, and that poker game I couldn't get into (hate poker, lol).
Anyway, I want to buy the act1/act2 cd download thing where you get both for a cheaper price, but cannot since there is no Mac version
Just bought a shiny iMac 24" the other week, and I'd rather run these 2 games natively (demo of Bone Act 1 I enjoyed), rather than boot into XP in Boot Camp every time I wish to play (having to close all my work and uni documents, etc.)...
Any ETA on a Mac version of this package, or at least of Bone Cow Race so I can go ahead and order the first? Thanks!
I was employed in '04, but not here! I started working at Telltale in April (although I was a fan from the day they opened their doors...)
We just announced a Mac version of Out from Boneville yesterday. I don't have any news about a Cow Race port right now, so this doesn't fix your dilemma. I've heard that the games run pretty well under Boot Camp, if that is an option for you.
Boot Camp is certainly an option, I have it for HL2 and the likes, but there's nothing more satisfying than running it from within Tiger :P
For the record, Bone: Out from Boneville worked great in OSX (bought the Mac version yesterday, finished it roughly 2 hrs after)- although short, it was highly enjoyable, albeit a little simple- be cool if you could choose a difficulty level, like CMI, or even Runaway....
I guess I'll just buy Act 2 for PC now, because I am so keen to play it, haha. IT's really encouraging to see developers like TTG care about the Mac gaming community though Warms my heart, it does!
Now, I'm curious to hear from those who haven't bought it yet. Why not? Do you have plans to buy it sometime in the future but haven't gotten around to it yet? Is there something holding you back?
The answer is simple. It seems like the Telltale team has taken the decision to aim the games to one target group: People who only play the game because of the story and the jokes, and therefore want it to be as easy as possible.
I am a huge adventure game fan, and I refuse to buy a game that I could finish in one sitting. I want to get stuck, saying "I really have no idea what I'm supposed to do now". -That's when you start to activate your creativity!
So, You've decided to aim your games toward non-hardcore adventure gamers, and by doing so you lost me as a customer (as a matter of fact, this doesn't only apply to the Bone games. -It's the same with your S&M games; sadly).
I think Emimly and Co got the point and are working on improving their products. S&M looks pretty good with a few things (spike the voice actors' eggnog, for instance [>:)]) to be worked out for the next episodes. The pricing is right.
Believe me, I'd be the first to start throwing Molotov cocktails at TTG if they disappoint the AG crowd. But heck, I can't contest the sale plan for S&M and the work they've put in Episode 1. The only thing that can potentially upset me (other than them nuking Sam and Max) would be if my S&M Season 1 CD comes with an annoying activation scheme - but it's too far to tell.
So, I'd say, let's give our friends at TTG bananas (uhhh.... I mean "credit" ) ) for all the hard work and try S&M
To make my previous post more appropriate for the thread topic... I'm looking to buy them, but wonder if they come together or if I should be buying them individually.
They were available as a bundle for a couple dollars less using the old store, but we ran into a few snags bundling games together in the new store, and will be fixing it soon. If the couple dollars isn't much of a difference to you, by all means pick them up today! If you don't mind waiting, the combo deal system should be back up and running in the near future.
Personally I haven't even tried the Bone demos yet. Though when S&M came, I bought the whole season and now having finished ep1, I'm looking for more to play. So Bone is under consideration. What would make me buy it, would probably be something like the season 1 pack with S&M. As prices go, I find Bone to be quite a lot more expensive (if ti really is, cannot say .. only a feeling).. So make a generous offer and I'll bite..
Yes, interesting thing about Telltale's model... I remember an interview where Dan Connors said that each successive episode release pushes up sales of previous episodes, using Bone as an example. A corollary effect, at least to me, is that even other product releases pushes up interest in the other products--I'm mostly interested in Bone (definitely will pick it up eventually) due to Sam and Max.
People who want to play the game can still download the demos from a variety of mirror sites, and you should still be able to purchase the full version through those demos. Once the new versions are available here, you can upgrade for free.
I tried the demo of the Cow Race and I thought it was pretty good.
I will probably buy the whole "season/game" as soon as it's completed, because I prefer having the full story instead a one chapter of it.
I have nothing against the episodic model of distribution, actually I think it's a great way to maintain and improve the quality of the product. Keep up the good work!
I just wanted to add some support for a boxed set or pre-order like Sam & Max. I've paid for all 6 episodes of Sam & Max and I'd love to do the same for Bone, just to help ensure that it'll get finished.
If you offered a season package for Bone like Sam & Max, I'd buy it right now, otherwise I'll keep waiting until something like that does show up. The option to purchase a CD/DVD at the end would be nice too.
I bought the directors cut set and finished the great cow race just now I really liked it great improvement on the first game I just want to know how many bone games are there going to be? and is it going to be at least March before the next one?
when you decide to include an option to choose a language (spanish please), i'm going to buy your games. I'm not asking the voices offcourse, i'm asking at least a cheap text.
I was waiting till i got the bundled version download, and now i did. and what i want now is an upgrade version to buy the box sets!
bone was such an awesome game
I've tried the demos and the reason I haven't bought the Bone games yet is the open-ended, confusing sort of distribution form they have.
I had never heard about Bone until TTG picked up the license and the reason I'd buy it would be to fill in some time between S&M episodes with more of Telltale's zany storytelling
They're already pricier than S&M episodes and the bundle is a very good deal, would save me $6. It's actually too good a deal, because it makes me realize I'd have to pay full price for the next episode, right?
When episode 3 comes out the new bundle deal would be for all three, so unless that episode had some sort of discount for people who already own the first two episodes, I'll be better off just waiting until the Bone series is done in a year or two and then buy the whole thing.
A few other people have mentioned the same thing on this thread, which makes us all ghost-customers hovering around and waiting for the Bone game to become 'complete'. Sort of goes against the very idea of episodic gaming.
I like the S&M distribution a lot better, I can just pay for the whole season and be done with it. You guys get all the money up front and you can pay your bills while working on the games, instead of having to first finish an entire series and then wait to see how many people have been holding off on buying until they could get what in their view is a complete product.
Emily mentioned that the license is different for the two games, and I imagine TTG might not even know at this point how many Bone episodes they are going to make, so I can see the dilemma.
I don't really know what the solution is, but hopefully one of your marketing geniuses can come up with something
Comments
I just sent you a PM.
I registered on the Telltale forums for the sole purpose of replying to this thread! The reason I still haven't bought any of the Bone games is because of the DRM system Telltale uses, even in the boxed versions of the games. I don't want to rely on your servers to be able to play my games. Please, please do release a version without the fingerprinting system. Anyway, is it really safer than a system like Starforce?
Thanks for reading.
All this effort to take people's basic freedom of product ownership for what? What are they trying to achive by siding with the evil DRM alliance?
When it comes to adventure games DRM has zero pozitive effect on the sales (says me). Only dedicated adventure gamers buy advneture games anyways and only beacuse they want to, not because they have to!
Personally, I see purchasing my adventure games as a way to support this genre and to say thanks to the people who keep designing adventures. Centralized DRM is bad joke which breaches the gamer-developer trust relation. Wouldn't you agree?
And one final thought... what would happen if my new car comes with DRM? How fun would it be if your car dials in to see if you are on the dealer's White List every time you want to turn the key. Jeez!
No, not really. It's just that we've spoken to that issue in many other places (including on this very forum!) and the answer hasn't changed. Gets to the point where it's more productive to work on the next game than to repeat the answer.
Believe me when I say that everyone's feedback is taken into account. Just because we don't respond to something directly doesn't mean we haven't read it and thought about it.
So, thanks to everyone who's responded so far!
Ok, cool. Can you please post the links to the posts/threads/forums you are referring to?
Unfortunately the search function on this forum leaves a lot to be desired, and I can't find the thread I was referring to. It was back when the first Bone game came out, and Troy responded several times about Telltale's rationale behind using a DRM system. The thread on AG is essentially the same question and the same answer, anyway.
It would not make sense from a business perspective for Telltale to sell games without any form of copy protection. We might as well leave our office doors wide open and invite people to come in off the street and steal our equipment and IP.
Concerning the BONE games, I will buy boxed copies tomorrow from your online store!
Concerning Sam & Max, let me tell you that I am dying to play it but I will wait for the complete season to come out in a boxed version. Two reasons:
- I want a box. Because hard drives are not reliable! And because I enjoy owning the physical item.
- I don't want to play a few hours every month. I prefer to get 15 hours in one chunk.
Not that I am complaining about the episodic system; I just wanted to tell you why I will wait to buy S&M:E1.
Cheers
Woo! Glad to hear it.
Be sure to buy the combo pack - you save a few dollars that way.
I haven't purchased the game yet, but I will...someday. I loved the demo, and am simply waiting for another episode to be finished. I like the idea of an episodic game, but I've heard some chatter that the next Bone won't be released for a while, with Sam & Max coming. So I just want to make sure I don't obsess over the game this weekend and then have to wait eight months for a new version.
And I'll purchase Sam & Max, too, but won't subscribe to the gaming network thing it's being released on exclusively first, mainly because I don't play many games, and only play adventure games.
No Mac version.
My magic 8-Ball says - You should be so f**king lucky B-)
Though there is a PocketPC version of the ScummVM - so you can play all your old LucasArts games from your PocketPC?
http://www.freewareppc.com/utilities/pocketscumm.shtml
Jokes apart, I wish I could work for Telltale to help winning the graphic adventure battle!
This is my dream, and once it's gonna come true!!!
Let me graduate first, then expect to hire me, guys!!!
I started out on a commodore 64, my first adventure game was Maniac Mansion by Lucas Arts. Since then I played the Monkey Island Series, Zak Mckracken & The Alien Mindbenders. All the Indy (Adventure) games. etc.
The biggest problem I have with Bone is the cost vs. the Short episode nature of the game.
I'm not some kid with a short attention span. "I" like to decide when I am done playing a game for the evening. I don't need you to decide for me when enough is enough.
I'd rather spend $50.00 on a full length game that I can play over the course of 3-4 weeks, (or in one weekend, as I played the Monkey Island Games. hehe.) than $13.00 for an hour's enjoyment. It costs less to go to a Movie, and lasts longer. See the problem?
I'm an Adventure Game Fanatic who doesn't play adventure games anymore basically because none of the new stuff can compete with the Humor, Wit, and gameplay of the old Lucas Arts stuff (quite honestly, if they could have competed, they would be very well known companies right now.)
And I don't see Boneville or Sam & Max doing that for me with this new Episode-type-of-delivery-system. Over the course of 4 episodes, we're talking about $50.00, for about 4-5 hours of game play. To me that seems a bit of a ripoff.
And quite frankly, Most game designers have no clue how to write a good story. It's a rare thing when a game actually has a really good story line to go along with the game design, and that is usually lacking in 90% of the adventure games made today, and this is why they fail.
An Adventure Game with a good story line and multiple paths can be a game that is fun to play over and over and over again. I just don't see that with the products you are offering right now. So I don't buy them.
Adventure games could be good again, but this isn't the way to do it. People need to look back to go forward in this Genre. They need good stories, funny/flawed characters who have some real humanistic qualities to them. We need games that will keep us entertained for more than an hour or two at a time. And we need characters that continue to return.
There's a reason why Americans spent 11 years watching Friends. And if ever an Adventure Gaming company could figure it out again (which seems hopeless to me.) They'd have a hit on their hands.... At it's height, The Monkey Island games would have made a fantastic movie. If you don't believe me, Check out Pirates of the Caribbean. That movie had many, many, MANY elements of the Monkey Island series in it.
P.S. It really amazes me that Lucas Arts or some other company hasn't done an Adventure MMORPG yet. It seems to me the multiplayer format would be a fantastic way to deliver an Adventure game, with more profit, and a better, more sustainable customer base (as long as you don't piss off the customers like Sony Online Entertainment)
Just a few things I want to clarify:
I totally hear you on liking to play at your leisure, although I've found a lot of those older games really aren't as long as I used to think they were. The internet and easy availability of hints shaves off an amazing amount of time.
That said - The Great Cow Race is not a 1 hour game. It's more like 4-6 for most people. So the movie analogy doesn't really hold true in this case. (Boneville is shorter, which really isn't something we can change at this point... but it is something that was taken into account with Cow Race, which is why Cow Race ended up with so much more meat on it. We do what we can.
Again - Cow Race is 4-6 hours by itself, for $13, so we're really not talking $50 for 4-5 hours of gameplay.
Out of curiosity, did you see our announcement of the Sam & Max prices today? Episodes will be $8.95, or you can get the whole season for $34.95 (and if you want, a CD version for only the price of shipping). There are six episodes, and the first one is clocking in at 3-4 hours for a lot of people. You can do the math.
This is exactly what we're trying to do with Sam & Max! Let's forget about length for a minute - the format, with recurring characters and a sit-com like feel is exactly what we're trying to do. I think you're right that it's something gamers need right now, and I'm really excited to see the reaction to the Sam & Max episodes.
Cyan's doing it with URU Live starting this winter.
Just today our friends at TellTale announced the pricing plan for S&M. Good work, Emily et al! The new pricing plan hit the spot. Me happy!
Individual episodes: $8.95
The entire season (6 episodes): $34.95
If the first episode is as sweet as we all hope, you can count me in for the entire season deal. It will be sweet to be able to play the episodes as they come out and then get the stand-alone DVD with the "complete game" for the permanent collection. Hopefully the DVD/CD won't require activation (what would be the point of getting it if this is the case?).
Thank you for listening and best wishes for a great S&M launch!
Glad to hear it.
I don't know about this. To me the average game completion time is not a good metric at all for my enjoyment of the game. It's mostly the story, the characters, the humor, the variety and cleverness of locations, etc.
Take Full Throttle and Grim Fandango, for example. The first time I played both it took me hours to get to the end (maybe 4-5). I had a blast. Since then I've replayed these games multiple time - they both take a little over an hour when you know your way through. And that's great - I enjoy being able to quickly visit the familiar locations, meet the characters, see the cinematics, etc, but I don't have hours to spend on each replay. These games strike the perfect balance in my mind - plenty challenging at first yet breezy on replays.
The other end of the spectrum are The Longest Journey-type games (Syberia, etc). The first time I played TLJ, it took me maybe 20 hours! But I didn't get borded - the story and the plot twists were brillian. However, on a consequent replay, I found out that it's hard to zoom through the game in less than 5h or so. The locations are quite large and April is a lousy runner. The game is sprinkled with a lot of silly back-and-forth puzzles with no shortcut around. The dalogues are too long and so forth... Now that's a complete waste of my time. I don't think I will replay it any time soon.
So, to put it all together - to me the perfect adventure is challenging enough the first time (with clever rewarding puzzles - about 4-8h) and breezy (under 2h) on consequent replays. This is where the real art of game-making is.
As for walkthroughs - It's best to use them sparingly. In the old days of Lucas Arts I used to finish the games without having to look at the walkthrough. These days, almost all adventures contain unreasonable puzzles which demand a walkthrough, so I don't have a choice. Well... actually I managed to finish Still Life without peaking at the w-tru, but then again, the puzzles there are linear, simplistic, and predictable. Yet, it was an enjoyable experience until the cliff-hanger ending (pshaw).
Cheers.
Anyway, I want to buy the act1/act2 cd download thing where you get both for a cheaper price, but cannot since there is no Mac version
Just bought a shiny iMac 24" the other week, and I'd rather run these 2 games natively (demo of Bone Act 1 I enjoyed), rather than boot into XP in Boot Camp every time I wish to play (having to close all my work and uni documents, etc.)...
Any ETA on a Mac version of this package, or at least of Bone Cow Race so I can go ahead and order the first? Thanks!
We just announced a Mac version of Out from Boneville yesterday. I don't have any news about a Cow Race port right now, so this doesn't fix your dilemma. I've heard that the games run pretty well under Boot Camp, if that is an option for you.
Boot Camp is certainly an option, I have it for HL2 and the likes, but there's nothing more satisfying than running it from within Tiger :P
For the record, Bone: Out from Boneville worked great in OSX (bought the Mac version yesterday, finished it roughly 2 hrs after)- although short, it was highly enjoyable, albeit a little simple- be cool if you could choose a difficulty level, like CMI, or even Runaway....
I guess I'll just buy Act 2 for PC now, because I am so keen to play it, haha. IT's really encouraging to see developers like TTG care about the Mac gaming community though
The answer is simple. It seems like the Telltale team has taken the decision to aim the games to one target group: People who only play the game because of the story and the jokes, and therefore want it to be as easy as possible.
I am a huge adventure game fan, and I refuse to buy a game that I could finish in one sitting. I want to get stuck, saying "I really have no idea what I'm supposed to do now". -That's when you start to activate your creativity!
So, You've decided to aim your games toward non-hardcore adventure gamers, and by doing so you lost me as a customer (as a matter of fact, this doesn't only apply to the Bone games. -It's the same with your S&M games; sadly).
I think Emimly and Co got the point and are working on improving their products. S&M looks pretty good with a few things (spike the voice actors' eggnog, for instance [>:)]) to be worked out for the next episodes. The pricing is right.
Believe me, I'd be the first to start throwing Molotov cocktails at TTG if they disappoint the AG crowd. But heck, I can't contest the sale plan for S&M and the work they've put in Episode 1. The only thing that can potentially upset me (other than them nuking Sam and Max) would be if my S&M Season 1 CD comes with an annoying activation scheme - but it's too far to tell.
So, I'd say, let's give our friends at TTG bananas (uhhh.... I mean "credit"
I will probably buy the whole "season/game" as soon as it's completed, because I prefer having the full story instead a one chapter of it.
I have nothing against the episodic model of distribution, actually I think it's a great way to maintain and improve the quality of the product. Keep up the good work!
If you offered a season package for Bone like Sam & Max, I'd buy it right now, otherwise I'll keep waiting until something like that does show up. The option to purchase a CD/DVD at the end would be nice too.
Thanks for everything!
Thanks.
Why people want so badly to destroy the world? "I want a box, I want a car, I want a pile of paper with my burger..."
Why couldn´t you just get the freaking game by downloading it and be one of the good guys?
bone was such an awesome game
I had never heard about Bone until TTG picked up the license and the reason I'd buy it would be to fill in some time between S&M episodes with more of Telltale's zany storytelling
They're already pricier than S&M episodes and the bundle is a very good deal, would save me $6. It's actually too good a deal, because it makes me realize I'd have to pay full price for the next episode, right?
When episode 3 comes out the new bundle deal would be for all three, so unless that episode had some sort of discount for people who already own the first two episodes, I'll be better off just waiting until the Bone series is done in a year or two and then buy the whole thing.
A few other people have mentioned the same thing on this thread, which makes us all ghost-customers hovering around and waiting for the Bone game to become 'complete'. Sort of goes against the very idea of episodic gaming.
I like the S&M distribution a lot better, I can just pay for the whole season and be done with it. You guys get all the money up front and you can pay your bills while working on the games, instead of having to first finish an entire series and then wait to see how many people have been holding off on buying until they could get what in their view is a complete product.
Emily mentioned that the license is different for the two games, and I imagine TTG might not even know at this point how many Bone episodes they are going to make, so I can see the dilemma.
I don't really know what the solution is, but hopefully one of your marketing geniuses can come up with something