Nettmøtet er avsluttet. Les svarene fra Dan Connors nedenfor.

blah

Shut up, and get back to working on Sam & Max. And make all the Sam & Max games you create available on the Revolution's virtual console. That is all. Thanks.
Innsendt av: khbd

I am going to listen to this guy and get back to work, thanks everybody.

Dan
 

Adventure Games

Do you think there's still room for adventure games on today's platform (including handheld)?

What made the adventure game genre crumble? Is it the technology, natural selection or Miss Croft?
Innsendt av: Carl Bérubé

I think of adventure games as the Jazz of the game world. Just because it isn't number one on the charts doesn't mean it doesn't exist or that it has stopped evolving.

Dan
 

piracy

How successful have you guys been at defending yourselves against piracy? You have interesting anti-piracy protection and I was wondering how cost-effective it has been. Would you suggest the same thing to small indie devs that worry about piracy?
Innsendt av: Robert

It feels like we have done a decent job, we actively seek out cracks and there don't seem to be to many out there. It is cost effective and you don't have to spend a ton upfront so I think it is a good idea if you are worried about piracy

Dan
 

druglord??

why aint annybody making graff or durg-related games..but in an adventure kind of way?
it would be killer if someone did..
Innsendt av: mrObsqr

telltale games does not do durgs under any circumstances.

dan
 

Other LucasArts games

Love the fact that you're making a new Sam&Max game (and adventuregames in general), and as some of you guys are old LucasArts masters, my hopes are high!
But what about other old LucasArts games? Any plans for buying out the licenses for eg. Monkey Island or DotT?

Good Luck, and keep out what seems like excellent work!
Innsendt av: Bernard

Obviously we would be very enthusiastic to work on any of the old licenses. Sam and Max is a step in that direction, it really depends on how it perform

Dan
 

Consoles and shadows

Will we see any of your games (especially Bone and Sam&Max) on console download services like Xbox Live Arcade and Nintendo Virtual Console?

Could you at least add character shadowing to your graphics engine? I don't need nextgen graphics but things look odd when your character doesn't cast a shadow. I think we should have some basic graphical improvements on hardware that supports it.

Thanks, and keep up the good work.
Innsendt av: Mike St. Clair

Hi Mike,

Here's what Kevin, our chief technology officer, has to say about shadows: "Our game engine (The T3 Tool) is special in that it's got a huge focus on writing, acting and authoring. One of the reasons we don't have shadows yet is a reflection of my commitment to enabling designers and artist more than "eye candy". I firmly believe this is why we've been able to put our so much quality content in such a short amount of time."

Although shadows haven't been implemented yet, we did a lot with lighting effects and shaders in the CSI game that just came out. It gives a good sense of the direction we're going with our graphics.

Emily, Telltale Marketing
 

Story/plot

Is the story/plot already in place for Sam'n'max, or is it still under development? Any teasers you'd be willing to give would of course be a very welcome bonus.
Innsendt av: Eivind

The plot is being fleshed out as we speak its very close.

Dan
 

When

When can we expect the first screenshots from the new Sam'n'Max?
Innsendt av: Olav G. Nilsen

In the next couple of months

Dan
 

WHY, WHY?!

Hey, why did freelance police get canceled ?

Thank you so much for the games, sam and max is truly one of the greates games ever!
Innsendt av: Funkjof

Thanks for the question, but I'm sorry I can't give a very exciting answer. You've probably heard this before...

"After careful evaluation of current market place realities and underlying economic considerations, we've decided that this was not the appropriate time to launch a graphic adventure on the PC."

That was the reason LucasArts gave back in 2004.

Emily, Telltale Marketing
 

Same gametype?

I was just wondering if the game will still be in the same type of game as the old Sam&Max? (Hit the road)

Hope you don't go "new ways" with this game, since many people love it as a classic. You wouldn't wanna ruin a classic, would you? :]

Also, I was wondering how hard it is to actually earn money on a game now a days. I mean, you have to spend a lot developing, creating and producing the games.. And with all the illegal pirate-business you have on the internet today, it must be heard to sell enough games..?
Innsendt av: Øyvind Sandnes

Telltale has had to go to great lengths to make Sam and Max a reality and because of the reasons you mention its not easy.

If you support the decisions we make, we will deliver you a very cool Sam and max experience

Dan
 

Aaron Conners

Any truth to the rumors that old Access Software-man Aaron Conners is now with Telltale..?
Innsendt av: Fred

*looks around the office*

Nope, no one named Aaron Conners here!

Our most recent hire is a programmer named Mark Darin, who is known around adventure gaming circles as the creator of the Nick Bounty adventure games. (You can get his games from www.pinheadgames.com -- they're free!)

Emily, Telltale Marketing
 

Violence in games.

Hi, there.

Do you think that violence in games affects people so that they commit violent crimes? Or that this is just some silly thing caused by the older genration?

Thanks, pal!

Greetings from an 15 year old dude.
Innsendt av: Olav

Olav this is a tough question. Some people think games help people blow off steam so it reduces violent crime others think it deadens peoples senses to real violence.

Either way with or without videogames there has alway been voilence and not just with this silly older generation.

No matter what its good to think about it and make informed choices.

Thanks for the greeting Dude, Right on!

Dan
 

Console games

Hi

Thnx for your great games! I wonder why releases like CSI doesn't get published for the consoles? The gameplay of the CSI games and/or Sam'n'Max (nudge nudge) would be great for the consoles!

Keep up the good work!
Innsendt av: Lars Werner

One of the CSI games did come out for the Xbox, and there seem to be more and more adventure games coming out for consoles these days. We think consoles could be great platforms for adventure games. We're definitely open to the idea. :)

Emily, Telltale Marketing
 

Pikmins and Pandas

Is it true that the Revolution is powered by Pikmin and Pandas?
Innsendt av: Dave the Egg

You're going to have to ask Satoru Iwata about that! :)

Emily, Telltale Marketing
 

Monkey Island...?

Did Guybrush die with starwars? Is there any hope?

I want my chicken with a pully in the middle....
Innsendt av: Mr. Lee

The rights to the Monkey Island franchise belong to LucasArts, so whether Guybrush ever makes a comeback isn't up to us. Ron Gilbert no longer works for LucasArts, anyway, and many fans have said that they wouldn't want to play a new Monkey Island game if he wasn't involved.

We do have Dave Grossman working with us at Telltale. He was involved in the Secret of Monkey Island (and, of course, Day of the Tentacle!) If you play Bone: The Great Cow Race, you'll see a lot of his influence in that game (and there are even a couple of Monkey Island jokes tucked in!) So while Guybrush himself might not be making a comeback, we hope that some of the "magic" of the old LucasArts classics will reemerge in some of our new games. :)

Emily, Telltale Marketing
 

Interactivity in episodic adventures

Hi!
I must admit that I am yet to try the new chapter of your Bone Adventure, so I don't know if this has been fixed.
But I remember that The verb system in the first game was wery elementary. Every time you highlighted an object you only had one verb to use on it. And I found that to be a little too easy for an old adventure-fan. You get the distinct feeling that there is no problem beating the game (in theory, it seemed, you could just click away at every object and beat the game eventually). Will you be introducing more verbs for each object in the future (Some of the fun of older adventuregames was hearing the protagonists reaction to completely strange efforts on solving a puzzle).

I also noted at least one nasty clip between cameras that made the characters seem to change places (I guess you flipped the camera to the other side of them).
Will you try to improve your camerawork for Sam and Max? (one of the greatest things about the Sam and Max trailer was its cinematic feel, making you think that perhaps the new way to play games was more akind movies)

Other that that, thanks for making a Sam & Max game for us. I wish you all the best luck in your efforts.
Innsendt av: A. McDow

With Boneville we wanted to introduce people to the genre and as a result the game was easy for old schoolers

In the Great Cow Race we added more interactivity for old adventure gamers and so far the response has been very good from adventure gamers

Everything will continue to improve as we keep growing and developing as a company

Dan
 

Graphics

A lot of the old school adventure games is in a 2D enviroment. They all have that distinguishing cartoon look we all love (like discworld, full throttle and broken sword).. Will you keep that, or will you be looking for other ways to tell these adventure stories?
I guess I'm a little conservative on that point, I didn't even like monkey island 4 because of the graphics ;)
Innsendt av: Dan Richard Davidsen

Hi Dan,

I answered a similar question a minute ago (called Why 3D?) Our games so far have all been in 3D. There are several reasons for this, the biggest being that it's a lot more efficient and cost-effective to make a game in 3D these days.

One problem I see with some 3D games is that they change the interface or the way that you explore the world too much from what old school adventure fans are used to. Something we've tried to do with the Bone games is to maintain the point-and-click interface and gameplay of some of the classic 2D adventure games. So even though Bone is in 3D, in many ways it behaves similarly to a 2D game.

There's also a lot that can be done in 3D in terms of graphics (if you compare screenshots of Bone to screenshots of the new CSI game, you'll see that -- we used the same engine for both but the graphics look completely different). I think as we continue making games this way, you'll see that there's a lot that can be done in 3D to make it cartoony. And 3D gives us a lot more freedom to animate the characters, which can be very important in a cartoon game.

Emily, Telltale Marketing
 

Pure Pwnage

Have you seen Pure Pwnange? If so, what do you think of it?
Innsendt av: Olav

Hi Olav,

Are you talking about www.purepwnage.com? I'm not familiar with this site, but I'll check it out now that you've mentioned it!

Emily, Telltale Marketing
 

other old classics.

Innsendt av:

We are planning on getting together some live sessions that hopefully will include Pete and Mike. We currently work with Bay Area Sound Department which was formed by Clint Bajakian and Julian Kwasneski. Jared Emerson trained under Clint and has done all the music for Bone which we love. So he will be taking the lead on it

Dan
 

Mac support

I was wondering if you are going to support OS X somewhere along the line? Or should I keep playing the old Sam&Max on SCUMMvm in order to enjoy Sam&Max? Same question goes to Bone really.

Another question: Which games did you enjoy back in the "good old days" of adventure games?
Innsendt av: Kalvå

Hi Kalvå,

We have a lot of Mac fans here at Telltale (in fact, Kevin Bruner, our chief technology officer, is a Mac user!) Right now making PC games makes the most sense because that's the largest audience for adventure games, but we're certainly open to the possibility of Mac versions of our games. (Also, with the XP support that's going to be offered under OSX for the new Intel-based Macs, it might turn out that Bone and other PC games can be run on Macs without porting them!)

Pretty much everyone at Telltale enjoyed the old LucasArts and Sierra adventures. We have a shelf full of old adventure games (going all the way back to text games like A Mind Forever Voyaging) in the office.

Heather Logas, who is one of the designers on Bone, really liked the Quest for Glory series. Randy Tudor, the lead programmer on the Bone games, says Day of the Tentacle and the Monkey Island series are his favorites. Dave Grossman mentioned recently that Legend of Zelda on the SNES was a very influential game for him.

Hope that answers your questions! :)

Emily Morganti, Telltale Marketing
 

XBLA

Any chance of seeing Bone or any of your future games on XBox Live Arcade? Seems like they'd be a perfect match.
Innsendt av: Daniel Coleman

Definitely, our goal is to get all our games on to the Xbox live arcade. I think it would be a great fit as well.

I think I will forward this note to Microsoft today

Dan
 

A difficult question!

What is your favorite game? (No, not one of your own games!) And who is your "mentor" of sorts (which game creator has made the biggest impact on your style?).
Innsendt av: Erik Fossum

I liked Thief alot because of the immersiveness of it. It's very logical and thoughtful.

I think as a mentor Larry Holland has had a big effect because of the way he tells the story through the gameplay, and Jonathan Ackley because of the way he brought all the creativity out of every member of his team while making Monkey 3

Dan
 

The Most Beautiful Animal in the World

Could you include some Giraffes in some of your games for me?
Innsendt av: Bolleh

I don't know about giraffes, but The Great Cow Race has chickens! (And cows, of course.)

Emily, Telltale Marketing
 

Violence?

Please tell me you'll turn a cat inside out!? Will there be more insane gratuitous violence? SnM is the funnies thing I have ever played. Made me giggle till coke (a cola) came out my nose back then, and I'm sure I haven grown too old.
Innsendt av: Anders Whist

Bunnies turning cats inside out is just the natural order of things. Especially psychotic bunnies....

Dan
 

Why 3D?

One thing that springs to mind when I see all these sequels and remakes of classic games, is that very few actually manage to capture the good ol' feel of the originals. Some come close, (Monkey Island 4) and others swing and miss by a mile (Leisure Suit Larry: Cum Laudly or whatever.)

One of the main problems, as I see it, is that they feel to slick and massproduced. With sleek, but stiff 3D models, you never get the same handmade feel that you had in 2D. So my plea, or question is:

Why can't we see an 2D animated adventure game? Is it too hard to sell, or are people to lazy to make them?
Innsendt av: Lyn Gordon

Hi Lyn,

At Telltale, we're all big fans of the old 2D games, too. The problem with 2D, compared to 3D, is that it takes more time and money to make the game. It's not a matter of being lazy, but of having to choose the method that lets us make games with the budgets we have, and sell them so we can stay in business and make more games!

We've put a lot of work into our engine (and continue to refine it), and we hope the 3D games we make will keep getting better and better.

Emily, Telltale Marketing
 

Tim Schafer

What is your relationship with producer Tim Schafer, and what is your oppinion on his games?
Innsendt av: ss

I like Tim and think Double Fine is a great company, he has a lot of great talent there. I have a lot of respect for the fact that he sticks to his vision. I loved all the games he did at LEC where he worked with our CTO Kevin Bruner, but I haven't played psychanauts yet though I know I need to.

Dan
 

Development time

Hi,

How long time does it take to make one episode of Bone? Do you start making one episode once the previous one is done, or do you "multitask" on different episodes?

And will the Telltale-engine also be used for Sam'n'Max?
Innsendt av: Curious George

This is something we are still ironing out. After doing two episodes we have a good understanding of the flow of an individual episode. Now we have to figure out how they work together. This will be the next step in pulling in dev times.

Dan
 

Bone

Will your adaptation of The Great Cow Race involve some kickass Cow Racing? I certainly hope so.
Innsendt av: ståle

Hi Everyone, thanks for all the great questions.

As far as The Great Cow race obviously with a name like the Great Cow Race there is some pressure to make kick ass Cow racing. Our goal was to make the Race itself a highly dramatic experience in the spirit of Ben Hur but keep the interactivity consistent with the rest of the game. I think we did good job and I am very happy with the result. You will have to check it out for yourself and see if you agree

Dan