The Walking Dead - Dev Blogs
mostlypoptarts
ModeratorFormer Telltale Staff
Hey all,
One month into the new year and it's time for my first 2018 post in the Walking Dead forums! Woo!
I have one specific question for you related to my job (community management, so think CONTENT).
Basically... looking into this year, what sort of dev blogs are you hoping to read pre-release, during The Final Season, and post-release? Who do you want to hear from (writing, design, audio, animation, art, etc.)? Are there any topics that you'd like to see covered (i.e. Clementine's journey, the thought process behind the first trailer, choosing environments, creating characters, voice-over process, etc.)? If you have an idea, let me know! It's easier to start planning for things you guys want now while we have a little bit of breathing time.
If this leads to a larger discussion about behind-the-scenes content you'd like to see (devs streaming? a podcast? more dev blogs? instagram stories around the office?), I won't be mad - I'd like to hear your ideas there and see where we have bandwidth to do stuff that's a good fit.
Comments
First Comment Yay!! I would love to see Gary Whitta and possibly you discuss Clementines journey from Season One to the end of A New Frontier! If not then that is alright
I appreciate you making this discussion and wanting to listen to the fans ?
And another question (Sorry for annoying you) is what was the original story of Season Two going to be? Was it completely different to the Final Product? What was the overall plot? Again I am sorry for being an annoyance
This is a really good direction for you guys to take staff/fan interaction in and I'm really happy to see you working towards ideas like these. I'll try to get the ball rolling with some quick ideas:
I don't know how practical it would be, but an idea I've had for a while is that maybe Telltale could do like a monthly News Vlog or something, mixed in with general "behind the scenes" stuff, chat with the developers, etc. Nothing super fancy or souped up like Talking Dead or Player's Space with any special sets, hosts, etc - just a low key and casual kind of video.
Each month, you could release a video with a combination of:
I guess something like the Summer Update 2017 video is what I'm getting at (but, of course, not on the same scale of how many big announcements were in that video).
Speaking as a writer myself, I'd love to hear more from the writers and their process when it comes to writing each episode and shaping the series as a whole! Thoughts on characters, themes, narrative, stuff like that.
I think it'd also be really interesting to do other behind the scenes stuff, too. The fight scene choreography videos the Telltale twitter account has been putting out for Batman: The Enemy Within, so if possible, small, well produced behind the scenes videos for TWD S4 in the same vein would be super cool!
Honestly, whatever dev blogs end up being, I'd personally be thrilled to see them regardless bc they're always interesting and neat to read.
Another interesting idea I have: -
In the past, Telltale have alluded to instances of player feedback from previous choices tailoring the story into future episodes of that Season. In the past, Telltale did not elaborate too much on this because they did not want to spoil the story for future episodes, and by the time the Season ended, Telltale found no reason to talk about it I suppose?
As interesting trivia, if you guys could talk about some of the minor revisions you made to the story for previous Walking Dead Seasons based on player feedback, that would be really interesting.
As I said, that gets alluded too a lot, but we don't have many examples outside of some select examples from Season 1 revisions (such as Duck getting more screen time to make him likable before he died in Episode 3, or how they also included more Larry scenes to make it harder to decide if you smashed his head in with the salt lick). Explaining not just the changes, but the thought processes too (to explain what you were trying to aim for) would be really interesting behind-the-scenes trivia.
We could do a running blog update of how many cups of coffee the dev team consumed each day. Or how many puppers we pet. Or how many souls we devoured. But the puppers are probably the most compelling imo
Probably behind the scenes and updates on staffs or the story itself. Maybe interviews with the writers and designers and everybody working on this story.
That is a brilliant idea!! I hope they go through with it!!! That would be awesome!
I would have to agree with Blindsniper. I would really like some type of short youtube video once a month just talking about the current situation of the game and where its at. Or a blog post once a month giving more details. Things that would include small details about what the story will be, or even some screenshots (nothing major) and concept art, just something for us to get a small glimpse.
Lately it seems a lot of Telltale games have just been, announcement, releases in 2 weeks. Or no real details until right before release. It would just be nice to have some more to go on earlier than right before the release.
Also, it be pretty cool if you guys did some type of contest during production like Walking Dead S1 how some fans were able to be placed in the game. Obviously it doesnt have to reach the same amount as something like "be a character in the game!" but it would be cool to run some type of small contest for fans to get a chance to have something implemented in the game, for example there could be a drawing contest, submit your work and have it as graffiti in the background. Kinda a bad example, but I'm sure you guys know what Im trying to say, it would just be cool to try and implement contest for fans to help craft the game, even if it is something super minor like a drawing in the background.
I want to hear from the writers in regards to Clementine's past choices and s2 endings and how this will affect her in the final season.
Past choices mattering and the treatment of the s2 endings was one of the major disappointments of ANF and a huge complaint that fans had. I would like this to be addressed and to see how the writers are going to try and make choices/s2 endings still matter going forward. Kenny/Jane/Wellington may be dead but they still weigh heavy on the hearts and minds of fans as well as Clementine. Having one determinant marking on Clementine is not enough to make the s2 endings matter and as a fan I want to be reassured that we will be able to talk about Clementine's past experiences and choices.
@Alyssa_TTG @mskenney
Forget making the games. This blog should be what you guys do full time.
(Insert shameless plug for @DogsOfTelltale)
Like Blind said, I'd really like to hear from the writers and the thought processes that go into making the decisions that are made when creating the story and why they decided to take the story in one direction over another, how player feedback affects things etc.
I'd also like to hear from whoever creates the environments because that was the best part of ANF to me and it was really disappointing not being able to explore them properly. It must feel pretty bad working on something for months only for it be glanced over and not appreciated by players. I'd like to know what goes into making the environments and if they're designed with the story first in mind or if they're a setpiece for story to come.
One idea for a video is how much Clementine means to the people making this game and possibly the fans.
To just kind of reiterate my suggestions in the thread that’s in the Telltale Talk section
It’d be cool having a few small updates telling us how far the game is in development ?
Slam dunk. That's what that is.
Character details, primarily numerical stats (birthdays, heights) and conceptual design (like concept art and earliest backstory drafts) are something I've been dying to see all series, especially since the only public behind-the-scenes content we've seen since S1 has been for other games. Even if it means paying for it in, like, a collector's book or something.
I'd love for behind the scenes type of stuff. I really would love a true, spoiler filled, the-making-of type of behind the scenes documentary. Something sort of along the lines of those BTS clips they had on VHSs and DVDs back in the day. More importantly, any kind of transparency and communication with the fan base will help make the final season more enjoyable and help build trust within the fan base that you guys will deliver on at minimum a good and proper finale.
So you have my attention. Let the journey begin.
I would like to be updated with news every week upon release.
That's a big ask for Telltale I would imagine. They don't have that much news/updates to warrant weekly updates.
Cross posting my idea from the Batman 205 thread:
What do you mean by "era"?
Were the trailers different?
The "old" trailers tended to have a commentator and less of a Hollywood movie feel. They basically felt like a trailer with a developer commentary. They told us how the team felt or wanted to handle the season. Check out The Wolf Among Us launch trailer for an example. I, personally, preferred that style as it gave us a bit of what to expect.
Oh oh oh oh animation and voice acting! Me loves behind the scenes stuff. Oh oh and concept art and character creation stuff!
Wait, wasn’t there a thread like this somewhere already that you made? o.o getting a case of deja mustard right now.
She made a TWD and a Telltale themed "ideas" thread a while back. I bumped it with a new idea.
For the fan feedback threads posted by staff, bumping after inactivity is okay as long as you have genuine ideas/posts worth sharing.