I have a questions about Elaine. The voice actress that played her in CMI is back, correct? Or at least that's who's playing her in the SMI remake (I think). If this is confirmed I'm excited.
Also, how will Elaine be portrayed in these games? Will she be doing much in the stories? Will she be playable? IOn CMI it's usually complained by fans that she became too sweet and too much of a damsel in distress type, although in EMI, I found her to be too brazen and sarcastic to the point of just generally being obnoxious. Not to be a jerk, because I enjoyed a lot of EMI, but her character was nearly so overbearing in that game I couldn't figure out why a loser like Guybrush would want to marry her, let alone anyone else. I feel like the original Elaine from the first two Monkey Islands was somewhere comfortably inbetween the last two portrayals. Is that Elaine coming back?
I believe her name is Alexandra Boyle - the voice of Elaine from CMI, the Special Edition, and, yes, Tales of Monkey Island. And although Elaine does begin the season tied up with rope, in general we've tried to give her an interesting role to play which I think will appeal to people who like her to be cool and capable and the sort of person you'd want as governor of your island.
I suppose I should direct this to Dave. In EMI, it's revealed that Herman Toothrot is Grandpa Marley. Do you have any idea (since you worked on SOMI and MI2 with Ron and Tim) if that was who Herman Toothrot always was supposed to be?
It was me who wrote the scenes with Toothrot in SoMI, so I can tell you with some certainty that at the time he wasn't intended to secretly be anybody in particular. I was just as surprised as you when I heard the news! But that's the great thing about a series: It's forever being elaborated upon, with ideas growing and winding and creating new shapes that you never expected. Like a hairball.
It was me who wrote the scenes with Toothrot in SoMI, so I can tell you with some certainty that at the time he wasn't intended to secretly be anybody in particular. I was just as surprised as you when I heard the news! But that's the great thing about a series: It's forever being elaborated upon, with ideas growing and winding and creating new shapes that you never expected. Like a hairball.
Ah, so you're the one to thank for Herman Toothrot's "talking to the audience" bits? I'm really curious to see what you guys at Telltale do with him in Tales, if he returns, that is.
I asked this before, maybe you didn't answer because you didn't have an answer to give. When do you think we'll get new screenshots or video?
I don't know if the question has come up yet, but how are you guys holding up under the immense pressure of having to deliver a worthy sequel to the most iconic adventure game series in the history of computer gaming?
I can't speak for anyone else, but holy crap is it daunting! Even with the small handful of lines I got to write, it was difficult to keep from over analyzing each and every line. In an attempt to get into the Guybrush mode, I kept youtube longplays up in a constant rotation on my second monitor.
I don't know if the question has come up yet, but how are you guys holding up under the immense pressure of having to deliver a worthy sequel to the most iconic adventure game series in the history of computer gaming?
Sometimes I cry for no apparent reason. And I stress eat.
I can't speak for anyone else, but holy crap is it daunting! Even with the small handful of lines I got to write, it was difficult to keep from over analyzing each and every line. In an attempt to get into the Guybrush mode, I kept youtube longplays up in a constant rotation on my second monitor.
Guys, we trust you, and this should be a comfort not a pressure coming from us, your fans. We know that it will be great! The simple fact that we can't wait for it should make you feel good about the outcome! Besides, you are speaking to us, communicating...that's the most important thing.
Have faith in yourselves, because we sure do!
I don't know if the question has come up yet, but how are you guys holding up under the immense pressure of having to deliver a worthy sequel to the most iconic adventure game series in the history of computer gaming?
I hadn't really thought of it like that until you mentioned it......thanks.
But seriously, I've been coping with it the same way I usually deal with the stress I get from this job: I spontaneously and uncontrollably start reciting excerpts of the scenes I've been working on.
I am not sure whether or not it has already been asked, but will Guybrush acquire a 'rubber chicken with a pulley in the middle' at some point in his TMI adventure?
Will there be a musical number in TMI? Curse of Monkey Island had 'A Pirate I Was Meant to Be,' and many of the Sam & Max episodes had one, as well.
This one is a bit off-topic, but I am curious. How much money does a game designer at Telltale Games make in a month/year?
So... so... so... Considering that you guys actually pull this off (and I secretly know that you will), and I hope I am not out of line for bringing this up to former LucasArts folks and the like, but--you'll be eying the idea of contacting the Activision and pulling some strings to resurrect other dead series of the other adventure giant that rhymed with Gi-era Mom-Sign? You'd do well with it.
You'll be swamped with a million fanboys (myself included) and girls (Let's not be sexist here) that want to be your best friend if that ever happened.
Feel free to answer none of this because I know it's a big and ridiculous Question--but I just had the urge to say it. :-D. I can sleep now.
Just imagine it: Quest for Glory Chronicles. Tales of Gabriel Knight. Leisure Suit Larry: The Non-Sucky Sequel.
Heh, yeah, they castrated Larry Laffer and beat him with his own... well, it was pretty ugly.
Anyway, I have a question regarding music. How does the rights to the tunes work? I figure Telltale is free to use the main theme music, but is TT free to use all of the other themes too? There are a lot of great iconic themes in MI
Examples:
Voodoo Lady's theme
Stan's theme
The "love" theme
The "falling" theme, used when Guybrush dives underwater in MI2 and again when he's falling off Skull Mountain in CMI.
And if we revisit familiar places in TMI, it'd be great to hear echos of the old location theme music in the new music.
Heh, yeah, they castrated Larry Laffer and beat him with his own... well, it was pretty ugly.
Anyway, I have a question regarding music. How does the rights to the tunes work? I figure Telltale is free to use the main theme music, but is TT free to use all of the other themes too? There are a lot of great iconic themes in MI
Examples:
Voodoo Lady's theme
Stan's theme
The "love" theme
The "falling" theme, used when Guybrush dives underwater in MI2 and again when he's falling off Skull Mountain in CMI.
And if we revisit familiar places in TMI, it'd be great to hear echos of the old location theme music in the new music.
I would guess LA gave them the rights to all of the music.
You know, I noticed there wasn't any direct interaction with inventory objects in the gameplay video or trailer, and I was wondering if the feature from Escape from Monkey Island of watching Guybrush running around with inventory objects in-hand is making a comeback? I actually really liked that!
I don't agree with you. Let him make a decent come back. I'm pretty sure TTG can make an excelent job with it. Of course, I'm talking about the good old Larry not that bad parody from last years.
By the way, I would see Indy as a good character too for Teltate. Basically, I want Indy back as point & click. I don't like the Tomb Raider style used for the newest Indy games. Maybe I'm starting to go to old (but not at 31 I guess). I'm really missing the good old point & click games. Thanks to TTG to bringing them back to life.
Thanks man! I usually just sketch out a line drawing of whatever on paper (i'm still getting used to drawing on a cintique, doesn't have the same feel as a pencil across paper), scan it in, then I color it and all that jazz in PS. I used to prefer painter, but have gotten fond of PS's speed. At home i use an old tablet that i've had for like 6 years, but here at work I have the opportunity to use a cintique. Some days i just prefer the tablet..
The TMI sketches were done in PS, with a good amount of selecting for clean edges.
Thanks for this. I always love to hear how creative people work. I'm mostly a Java developer myself although I'm also working on my first iPhone game. Most of the time being a developer means lacking any artistic skills whatsoever. We know what looks good, we just can't do it ourselves.
Before an artist comes along, my (web)applications typically are red with some purple or yellow text and blue borders... or pretty much any other color I can construct using only 00 and ff
As someone who loves to write in my free time I have been wondering, do you guys plan out the scenes/puzzles then bridge them together or is it all an over arcing story that you have to fit the scenes/puzzles into?
I know there's bound to be an A->B of the complete story, but is the flow more of "we have the chicken puzzle then the ship puzzle" or is it "Guybrush does [x] then [y], we need to add a puzzle at [x] and [y]"? I would imagine it would be easier from a writing standpoint to add the puzzles at [x] and [y] than it would be to just bridge puzzles/scenes together.
I imagine it's sort of interdependant but that it's based on situations, eg you start with "Guybrush needs to get off the island", so you decide he'll need a boat and change the winds, thus an opportunity to write bits of story about how the wind's never right on flotsam island, and other bits about stealing a ship, which prompts the writers to come up with the whole routine about stranded pirates stealing an unusable ship from each other just for entertainment, and each of these big puzzles need to be decomposed into smaller puzzles, so those new story ideas provide context for puzzles and so on, but there may also be cases where you want to have a particular puzzle and you search just where in that growing structure it could fit.
By the way, I would see Indy as a good character too for Teltate. Basically, I want Indy back as point & click. I don't like the Tomb Raider style used for the newest Indy games. Maybe I'm starting to go to old (but not at 31 I guess). I'm really missing the good old point & click games. Thanks to TTG to bringing them back to life.
I agree with you. The most memorable Indy games were Last Crusade and Fate of Atlantis. I've played Infernal Machine and Emperor's Tomb, I even pre-ordered Staff of Kings... But I would like to see the good ol' point & click come back to life for new generations to enjoy.
I double your question: Have you guys considered making an Indy game that's a Point & Click adventure?
I agree with you. The most memorable Indy games were Last Crusade and Fate of Atlantis. I've played Infernal Machine and Emperor's Tomb, I even pre-ordered Staff of Kings... But I would like to see the good ol' point & click come back to life for new generations to enjoy.
I double your question: Have you guys considered making an Indy game that's a Point & Click adventure?
I have to say.. while Last Crusade and Fate of Atlantis were good.. I really really really love Infernal Machine and Emperor's Tomb. If they were somehow able to give us adventure, puzzles and dialogue like the point and clicks and action like the Tomb Raider-style Indy games.. I'd be quite happy.
As someone who loves to write in my free time I have been wondering, do you guys plan out the scenes/puzzles then bridge them together or is it all an over arcing story that you have to fit the scenes/puzzles into?
I know there's bound to be an A->B of the complete story, but is the flow more of "we have the chicken puzzle then the ship puzzle" or is it "Guybrush does [x] then [y], we need to add a puzzle at [x] and [y]"? I would imagine it would be easier from a writing standpoint to add the puzzles at [x] and [y] than it would be to just bridge puzzles/scenes together.
A quick answer, as I'm sure this is something Dave (the grand master of adventure game puzzle and story design) would love to expound on.
For something like TMI, we started with a really broad, overarching story. And then we narrow the story down while keeping game play in mind. We try not to take the story in a direction that a) we can't quickly imagine would be fun to play and b) we know would be impossible to produce effectively. Even if we don't know what the exact puzzles are, we know something like "thwart a pirate captain and steal his ship" is full of puzzles (which we usually just start shouting out in the story meetings) so we'll put that down and come back to what exactly they are, which is usually a lot easier once we know the particulars about who the characters are involved in the puzzle, what we'll have in inventory by this time in the game, etc.
A quick answer, as I'm sure this is something Dave (the grand master of adventure game puzzle and story design) would love to expound on.
For something like TMI, we started with a really broad, overarching story. And then we narrow the story down while keeping game play in mind. We try not to take the story in a direction that a) we can't quickly imagine would be fun to play and b) we know would be impossible to produce effectively. Even if we don't know what the exact puzzles are, we know something like "thwart a pirate captain and steal his ship" is full of puzzles (which we usually just start shouting out in the story meetings) so we'll put that down and come back to what exactly they are, which is usually a lot easier once we know the particulars about who the characters are involved in the puzzle, what we'll have in inventory by this time in the game, etc.
You guys have the most fun job ever. If you ever wanted to try taking technical help desk calls from pharmaceutical sales reps, I'd be happy to trade places with any of you for a few ever afters. :cool:
You guys have the most fun job ever. If you ever wanted to try taking technical help desk calls from pharmaceutical sales reps, I'd be happy to trade places with any of you for a few ever afters. :cool:
Sometimes, when schedules are tight, I have to remind myself of that. We're all INCREDIBLY lucky.
I'm in customer services, and I don't consider me too unlucky with my job Though I'd like something artistic, but I got no real idea on what I excel I've been thinking of trying to give 3D Studio a go and try to built a locomotive ready for Rail Simulator for quite some time now, but just not got into it yet
This one is a bit off-topic, but I am curious. How much money does a game designer at Telltale Games make in a month/year?
Remember the scene in The Secret of Monkey Island where Guybrush gets paid a handful of coin for being fired out of a cannon?
The answer to your question is "not nearly enough." Any one of them could be making more money doing something less dangerous. But where's the fun in that?
The answer to your question is "not nearly enough." Any one of them could be making more money doing something less dangerous. But where's the fun in that?
True. Rather do something I enjoy than getting a better salary but going to work with lead in the shoes.
the Giant Monkey Robot was an idea originally conceived for The Secret of Monkey Island. LeChuck's ship was supposed to transform into a giant robot at the end of the game. Then the Monkey Head would have become the Giant Monkey Robot, under Guybrush's control, and there would have been a battle.
Can you confirm or deny this? If true, why didn't SMI end this way?
Comments
I believe her name is Alexandra Boyle - the voice of Elaine from CMI, the Special Edition, and, yes, Tales of Monkey Island. And although Elaine does begin the season tied up with rope, in general we've tried to give her an interesting role to play which I think will appeal to people who like her to be cool and capable and the sort of person you'd want as governor of your island.
It was me who wrote the scenes with Toothrot in SoMI, so I can tell you with some certainty that at the time he wasn't intended to secretly be anybody in particular. I was just as surprised as you when I heard the news! But that's the great thing about a series: It's forever being elaborated upon, with ideas growing and winding and creating new shapes that you never expected. Like a hairball.
I asked this before, maybe you didn't answer because you didn't have an answer to give. When do you think we'll get new screenshots or video?
He's on Hawaii, having some relaxing time... I think Dominic Armato said that he retired and won't be doing that much VO anymore.
I can't speak for anyone else, but holy crap is it daunting! Even with the small handful of lines I got to write, it was difficult to keep from over analyzing each and every line. In an attempt to get into the Guybrush mode, I kept youtube longplays up in a constant rotation on my second monitor.
Sometimes I cry for no apparent reason. And I stress eat.
Well, I for one have faith in you guys. Just really excited and anxious.. I need a sleeping pill that'll put me out for four weeks.
Have faith in yourselves, because we sure do!
I hadn't really thought of it like that until you mentioned it......thanks.
But seriously, I've been coping with it the same way I usually deal with the stress I get from this job: I spontaneously and uncontrollably start reciting excerpts of the scenes I've been working on.
Thanks for sharing! Great art! I'll be following your work from now on
I am not sure whether or not it has already been asked, but will Guybrush acquire a 'rubber chicken with a pulley in the middle' at some point in his TMI adventure?
Will there be a musical number in TMI? Curse of Monkey Island had 'A Pirate I Was Meant to Be,' and many of the Sam & Max episodes had one, as well.
This one is a bit off-topic, but I am curious. How much money does a game designer at Telltale Games make in a month/year?
No.
You'll be swamped with a million fanboys (myself included) and girls (Let's not be sexist here) that want to be your best friend if that ever happened.
Feel free to answer none of this because I know it's a big and ridiculous Question--but I just had the urge to say it. :-D. I can sleep now.
Just imagine it: Quest for Glory Chronicles. Tales of Gabriel Knight. Leisure Suit Larry: The Non-Sucky Sequel.
Larry's dead man, let it go
Anyway, I have a question regarding music. How does the rights to the tunes work? I figure Telltale is free to use the main theme music, but is TT free to use all of the other themes too? There are a lot of great iconic themes in MI
Examples:
Voodoo Lady's theme
Stan's theme
The "love" theme
The "falling" theme, used when Guybrush dives underwater in MI2 and again when he's falling off Skull Mountain in CMI.
And if we revisit familiar places in TMI, it'd be great to hear echos of the old location theme music in the new music.
I would guess LA gave them the rights to all of the music.
eyelet, pilot
I don't agree with you. Let him make a decent come back. I'm pretty sure TTG can make an excelent job with it. Of course, I'm talking about the good old Larry not that bad parody from last years.
By the way, I would see Indy as a good character too for Teltate. Basically, I want Indy back as point & click. I don't like the Tomb Raider style used for the newest Indy games. Maybe I'm starting to go to old (but not at 31 I guess). I'm really missing the good old point & click games. Thanks to TTG to bringing them back to life.
Thanks for this. I always love to hear how creative people work. I'm mostly a Java developer myself although I'm also working on my first iPhone game. Most of the time being a developer means lacking any artistic skills whatsoever. We know what looks good, we just can't do it ourselves.
Before an artist comes along, my (web)applications typically are red with some purple or yellow text and blue borders... or pretty much any other color I can construct using only 00 and ff
I know there's bound to be an A->B of the complete story, but is the flow more of "we have the chicken puzzle then the ship puzzle" or is it "Guybrush does [x] then [y], we need to add a puzzle at [x] and [y]"? I would imagine it would be easier from a writing standpoint to add the puzzles at [x] and [y] than it would be to just bridge puzzles/scenes together.
Will we have more inventory items to pick up in the whole series than in previous TTG games?
MI2 for example had well over 100 items to carry around (Not simultaneously of course)
I love having big inventories!
I agree with you. The most memorable Indy games were Last Crusade and Fate of Atlantis. I've played Infernal Machine and Emperor's Tomb, I even pre-ordered Staff of Kings... But I would like to see the good ol' point & click come back to life for new generations to enjoy.
I double your question: Have you guys considered making an Indy game that's a Point & Click adventure?
A quick answer, as I'm sure this is something Dave (the grand master of adventure game puzzle and story design) would love to expound on.
For something like TMI, we started with a really broad, overarching story. And then we narrow the story down while keeping game play in mind. We try not to take the story in a direction that a) we can't quickly imagine would be fun to play and b) we know would be impossible to produce effectively. Even if we don't know what the exact puzzles are, we know something like "thwart a pirate captain and steal his ship" is full of puzzles (which we usually just start shouting out in the story meetings) so we'll put that down and come back to what exactly they are, which is usually a lot easier once we know the particulars about who the characters are involved in the puzzle, what we'll have in inventory by this time in the game, etc.
mmh perhaps ca. 4 weeks before...
OH! thats now!
so give us the download-link hahaha ;-)
You guys have the most fun job ever. If you ever wanted to try taking technical help desk calls from pharmaceutical sales reps, I'd be happy to trade places with any of you for a few ever afters. :cool:
Sometimes, when schedules are tight, I have to remind myself of that. We're all INCREDIBLY lucky.
im call center cable tech support...in kentucky. I would work with you all for free at this point heh
Remember the scene in The Secret of Monkey Island where Guybrush gets paid a handful of coin for being fired out of a cannon?
The answer to your question is "not nearly enough." Any one of them could be making more money doing something less dangerous. But where's the fun in that?
This website claims this:
Can you confirm or deny this? If true, why didn't SMI end this way?