AMA with Creative Director Kent Mudle [AMA over; answers posted from mostlypoptarts' account]
mostlypoptarts
ModeratorFormer Telltale Staff
Hey y'all,
The Walking Dead: The Final Season's Creative Director Kent Mudle will be joining us for an AMA this Wednesday, July 25 from 11am-12pm PT.
He's a busy man, being Creative Director of a game and all, so start leaving your questions below so we can get to answering them right away on Wednesday!
Some pro-tips for good questions:
1. Keep them short and simple. We're going to try and answer a lot, so the shorter they are, the better! (Although we'll still answer a really good long question, obviously.)
2. Avoid questions that just ask for spoilers. We obviously can't talk about them. 
3. Upvote your favorite questions so we can easily see which ones you care about the most!
4. Include anything that could be a spoiler in a spoiler tag, but include context outside of the spoiler for what it talks about (the teaser, the 15 minutes of gameplay, etc.). This way everyone can participate!
5. And, of course, make sure your post follows the forum guidelines.
Thanks in advance for a respectful, informative, and fun AMA! See you on Wednesday.
Comments
What is a normal work day like in the making of The Final Season?
Thank you Caroline and Kent!
Will there be any optional romance in The Final Season?
Thank you so much for taking the time to answer questions for us Kent! It is greatly appreciated!
What is your opinion on the Ace Attorney series?
Hey thanks for this AMA...Question how are things different from your pov now that you do not have to worry about mobile for this (finale?) season of TWD? Also would it be possible not kill Clem...please...I am begging you here! Oh and this is for @mostlypoptarts You rock for putting this together Caroline...I was wondering if there would be a chance of having a behind the scenes video of the art department and the animation teams...well along with the VO team...just to show us what goes into the making of our favorite games?
But ok, all thanks aside, here are my questions. Here's hoping the AMA goes well!
A.) Is the Story Generator more robust this time around? It felt a bit lackluster in ANF, especially with the few choices from season one.
B.) Are you guys planning on calling back to other Telltale Games in TFS? In the older Telltale Games there were tons of easter eggs like Banang bottles and the Guybrush Dance. Will be be seeing stuff like the Forrester Emblem and the Minecraft: Story Mode amulet hidden in TFS? Actually scratch that, can you hide those 2 things in TFS?
C.) Feel free to ignore if too spoilery. Is Kenny's hat for Wellington enders still unforgotten?
I have some:
1-what inspiration did you guys take from while creating this seasons storyline and theme.
2-Will ep1 have hubs and puzzles?
3-will this episode make me cry?
Thanks for making this AMA!
While the season is undoubtedly debuting some new gameplay features we have never seen before in TT games, we haven't actually seen anything UI related. Is there anything exciting coming on that front? Something like a collectibles menu, codex/Clem's diary, some tweaks in the decision stats display section, etc?
On the same note, how does S4's menu/episode select compare to S2's menu/episode select (aka, the holy grail of episode slides)? Can we expect something interesting there?
Thanks for the AMA.
Yes. A new and creative menu would be nice. Most of us are tired of the one we've seen in 5 different games
This may end up being a spoiler, but I need to know.
Dr. Lingard said that AJ was at the McCarroll Ranch back in ANF and was being taken care of there. If you're not going to show how they came about reuniting, can you give us the backstory on how Clem found AJ and how they have gotten to the point that we saw them in the 15 minute gameplay footage video? There's a lot of stuff unanswered here, considering how this was a huge plot line that was never resolved in ANF, and I think a lot of fans are curious, at least I am, about how this all came to be, how we got from Point A (Clem leaving Richmond to look for AJ) to Point B (Clem and AJ traveling together in the car).
That's the main one, but a couple other smaller questions:
What's the target length for each episode since there's no 5th episode (based upon what the story needs of course)?
Is there any chance we will be able to talk to AJ about his past, most specifically our s2 endings?
Could you bring back Rewind ?
Will Clementine be able to talk to characters and getting to know them in hubs?
Will any A New Frontier choices effect The Final Season?
Will we find out what happened during the time skip between A New Frontier and The Final Season?
Will The Final Season have gorier/darker deaths?
Will rewind feature be available?
Will previously and next time segments be within the episodes?
Will there be flashbacks?
Will Clementine be able to talk about her past events to other characters?
When can we expect an official trailer with screenshots and a promo picture?
4 and 7 are the same question.
Is the story generator going to be less nuanced than importing your save like it was in ANF? I remember that certain choices like cutting Sarita's arm weren't taken into account in the save generator but they were taken into account if you imported.
I've been purposely avoiding recent gameplay trailers because I want to experience it completely blind and firsthand. That being said, were there any recent games that were major influences in the new shifts in gameplay?
(Also you didn't forget about Kenny's hat right? lol)
Thank you for doing this AMA
Will we get an explanation for what happened at McCarrol Ranch and why Clem didn't return to New Richmond?
Great work on TFS so far (also bring back rewind + S2-esque/custom menu please)
Who are the voice actors for Marlon, Louis, Violet and Ten?
I sadly don't see this getting answered, but still would hope they can at least say "find out in episode 1"
Neither do I, but I want to know. I'm hoping there will be at least something in the game, but I don't have my hopes high.
Good evening, Director Mundle. I ask but two questions:
Who were your favorite characters throughout each Season/Installment?
Will some less emphasized/appreciated characters from the past get some acknowledgement?
1) If you could bring any confirmed-to-be-deceased character (aside from Lee of course) from the previous seasons back to life for story purposes, who would you choose?
2) Clementine quickly became a beloved child character in season 1 for most players. Have there been any challenges in building AJ's character so he is liked by the players but faces different struggles than Clem?
Don't know if this counts as spoiler-ish, but I'm kinda interested to know what are the central themes you want to explore this season? The last 3 installments always had a running theme of family, so will that be continued or will there be a new theme altogether?
Appreciate the AMA. Thanks.
How illiterate is Clem? Her education stopped at 8 years old and as far as I can tell she has not had much time in the past 8ish years to improve it much. I know she is an intelligent person but intelligence and education are separate things. At what grade level could we put her reading skills at; could she read a menu, could she read a YA novel, could she read Hop on Pop? Also how are her math skills?
Pretty sure everyone knows the setting by now, but I'll spoil it anyway....
1.
Will this season keep the traditional three word episode titles?
Kenny's hat! Please don't forget about it! I chose the Wellington ending and I really hope my choice matters, especially as a Kenny fan.
Thank y'all for doing this!!
So Kent, any updates at all for the future of the Batman series?
What has it been like trying to wrap up TFS in a way that feels fulfilling/satisfying to the character of Clem and her fans?
Hello! ?
Can you tell us at least that those characters who will return are from season 1, 2 or 3? Or that's too big spoiler? I really hope that one of them is at least Christa or Lilly.
-Will there be any adult allies?
-Will there be songs at the end of episodes like in Season 2?
-Will Kenny’s hat make an appearance?
Season 3 ends with Clem going to get AJ and her knowing that she has a safe place and a friend to return to when she finds him but season 4 starts with Clem and AJ on the road, seemingly for about 4 or 5 years. Are we going to see why Clem and AJ aren't in Richmond with Javi? That seems like a huge thing just to ignore.
Many people on the forums have been arguing about the man at the end of the trailer. Some think he's Nate from 400 days, others say he's not. Assuming he is in fact not Nate, can you at least confirm that he is not Nate so people can stop arguing about it?
Is Clem going to have a determinant fate or will her fate be the same in the end no matter what we do?
Can you confirm how old Clem is in TFS? I haven't seen anything official but my best estimation is 17.
How did you make the spoiler thing work? I do it and it doesn't work for me.
Hi Kent, i know you are only answering spoiler free questions but a vague answer or a simple yes or no answer will be fine but my question is are there any scenes or choices that you are particularly looking forward to seeing people react to in this episode.
Hello Kent! Thanks for this AMA and I have a silly question - out of all these teens you created as new characters for this season, who's your personal favourite and why (without spoilers)?
So this might be considered as a spoiler question, but I thought i would ask anyway.
So Aj has been shown to be curious of the world before the apocalypse happened and a big part of his character in this season is the fact that unlike other kids, he was actually born into this world.
At the boarding school we have kids that experienced the previous world like Clem did and even some trying to preserve it (Louis)
My question is:
Will there be opportunities where AJ will get to bond with the survivors and learn more about the past world?
Hey Kent! The brick in the first game-play video and a bow in the SDCC teaser are the references to The Last Of Us?
Will we get to wear that Season 3 Red Jacket of Clem that we also saw in the Pax East gameplay video?
Is that man from the trailer Nate from 400 days?