Batman SXSW Panel Discussion done - Coming Summer, 5 Eps, uses notably updated engine
Blind Sniper
Moderator
"BATMAN: Telltale Unmasked at SXSW with Greg Miller" SXSW Panel
Watch the Twitch stream archive
Read the official Telltale Blog Post about Batman's SXSW Panel for more details!
For more news and information that Telltale shares, follow our community Batman Pre-Season News thread.
Info on Batman:
(Summarized by volunteer community moderators)
Why make a Batman game? There are plenty of games where you feel like Batman - however, this gives you insight on Bruce. Telltale feels that Batman is an interesting character to explore because of his duality.
What is the split between Bruce and Batman in the story? They are pushing for more Bruce than typical games (compared to movies; fair share of both). Unlike typical action games, the focus won't be placed as heavily on Batman alone.
How will the game handle playing as Bruce/Batman? In some scenes, you get to directly choose playing as either Bruce or Batman in a scene. However, several scenes will likely predetermine whether you play as Bruce or Batman.
When does the game release? Batman releases this Summer. (Volunteer Mod note: Summer can end around as late as September 21st).
What choices do you make? As Batman, you can decide between violence or mercy when confronting someone. As both Bruce/Batman, you have lots of power in being able to shape what the city looks like, your friendships, etc. Batman and Gotham are heavily implied to shape each other based around your player choices...
What will the style of the game be like? Telltale will embrace their own style/identity, and stated on the blog that the game is not tied to any previously existing continuity from comics, movies, etc. They are aiming for an M rating presentation, and stated the story will be like a gritty "R-rated movie". It won't be photorealistic - instead, it will use a comic art style. Expect the presentation to be something similar to Wolf Among Us.
How will the Telltale engine be? Kevin Bruner stated that the engine will be "very upgraded" from past Telltale games, and will act as a more significant step up from past games on a technical/creative level than previous Telltale games. Lots of new technical and creative additions to future Telltale titles will first premiere in Batman.
What villains are in the game? No comment has been given from Telltale for now; they did, however, note that they want to subvert typical expectations for villains.
How Telltale responds to criticisms from lots of work: Kevin Bruner states that Telltale have grown a lot, and are currently around 350 people while they only had 65-70 people around Season 1. In the time since, Telltale have been built up to have four full projects at once. He then stated that growing quick is hard, but they reached end goal and you will see Telltale "settling in" this year. You will also see "episodes coming out on time," and see new technology that will "finally blossom." After the success of Season 1 of Walking Dead, they aim to make Telltale feel more like a movie studio than a game company, looking to Netflix, HBO, etc. for inspiration.
How many episodes? Batman will be a typical five episode Telltale series. As said above, Kevin Bruner confirmed Telltale are looking towards timely releases for newer games. Monthly releases in particular were not directly confirmed or hinted at yet for Batman, but if other recent Telltale series such as Minecraft/Michonne are any indication, monthly episodic releases for new Telltale series going forward can potentially become the default standard for modern Telltale series.
Comments
Could someone record the stream. I have a doctor's appointment around that exact time.
The SXSW Twitch account archives the streams so you will be able to watch it later.
OzzyUK is usually pretty good at recording these types of events, but even beyond that, I think Twitch archives these livestreams anyways, and Telltale usually uploads panels like these onto YouTube as well; they did that when Tales from the Borderlands had a similar SXSW Panel in 2014 that also revealed the first info on the game for the public.
30 minutes left! : )
Very excited to see the game at last (and maybe getting some details about the Marvel game next year too?).
Just as an update, kenjisalk confirmed on Twitter that the Stream is going to be archived.
In other news, the stream starts in twenty minutes from this post.
Looks like I can watch because I forgot about different time zones! woo!
Five minutes! I'll make an attempt at live updates, but feel free to take screen captures if they show any art/screens/etc as I probably can't capture screens and attempt to do live updates at the same time.
I am ready to watch
Just started!
It's starting!
Why make a Batman game?
There are plenty of games where you feel like Batman - this gives you insight on Bruce.
50/50 Batman/Bruce Wayne?
They are pushing for more Bruce than typical games (compared to movies; fair share of both)
They want to see what choices you have to make as Bruce Wayne. Batman/Gotham/etc linked together in the series.
You do play as Bruce/Batman, sometimes you get to choose playing as Bruce or Batman in a scene.
They want people to play a Batman game where people can "try to use Batman as little as possible" so they can use Bruce when necessary.
Batman premieres this Summer, confirmed by Job.
For Telltale games, the scripts take long time to develop. They test it out by doing table reads of the script.
Batman script
As Batman, you can decide between violence or mercy when confronting someone.
As both Bruce/Batman, you have lots of power in being able to shape what the city looks like, your friendships, etc.
Ends of people's seasons might feel different. They aren't retelling stories from before.
Style of Batman: Telltale will embrace their own style/identity. They are aiming for an M rating.
It won't be photorealistic - will use a comic art style.
They are using new tech you will see in Batman and other TTG games going forward. Expect something similar to Wolf.
"Very upgraded" from past Telltale games. More significant step up from past games on a technical/creative level than previous ttg games. Premiering lots of "new" TTG stuff in Batman.
Expect some staple characters, but won't focus on Batman family. They aren't commenting on villains.
Some I heard were Gordon, Alfred, Vicki Vale and Rene something.
Villains - lots of different villains, they want to "light lots of different fuses" - can you defuse all of them?
Universe
Own universe if I heard correctly.
"You gotta get creative with 75 years of History to tell a fresh story."
They will try to do different things with villains/characters...
Player choices/statistics may influence the end of the Season as Telltale goes along in making stories.
Greg asks: How Telltale responds to criticism of doing too much:
Kevin: They have grown a lot, currently have 350 people. Had 70 people around Season 1.
Built to have four full projects at once, growing quick is hard but they reached end goal, you will see Telltale settling in this year. You will see "episodes coming out on time," new technology will "finally blossom"
They aim to make Telltale feel more like a movie studio than a game company - they look to Netflix, HBO, etc
Greg: Basically asks how Telltale can get a M-rated Batman game:
Job: Explains how different companies like HBO, Skybound, etc. use Telltale as an outlet for an interactive story.
How is DC allowing to let Telltale work with Batman when they are working with Marvel too?
Brands and partners want to come to Telltale, they don't take it for granted. They let TTG do it because they share vision of story telling.
They are only in pre-production for Marvel. 2017 is Dog years for Telltale.
(Minecraft Ep 5 announcement next Tuesday.)
TTG have not announced all projects they are currently working on.
^ it's fair to say the fourth is Game of Thrones
Fan Questions
Telltale aren't announcing actors yet.
Batman writers working with Telltale? WB consults with Telltale, some writers came to creative meetings/conferences. But, no, they don't actively write with Telltale during main production. None they can confirm.
5 episode series.
For those who care, Batman will have platinum trophies on PSN.
TTG trying new gameplay things with Batman, aware of feedback.
Will TTG have more endings? - No, they want to focus on Season choices. But, they are doing something "ambitious" for Batman. "About the Journey, not the Destination."
Is Telltale planning more Seasons or is this a one shot? - They will see how the game goes.
Scripts have tons of writing, over 600/700+ pages per episode.
5 episodes confirmed
Rene Montoya.
600+ pages for one episode, dear God.
It's finished, not as much as I was expecting, and no trailer was disappointing. Least we have a rough release window though!
SUMMER RELEASE!! Ability to choose when to be Bruce or batman! I'm 100%
HYPED
Well well!! Now I'm officially hyped for this. A summer release? Telltale
Telltale story with an updated engine? This will be unprecedented territory yet again. Can't wait to see if they can take another massive step forward.