Many people were curious about what went down today at our "Make a Sam & Max Episode with Telltale" panel at the Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle. I would spend a long time telling you, but Christopher Grant over at Joystiq has written up most of it for me, and even went so far as to post a video of the short we created with the audience! You can check it out here.
In official blog fashion, I will now cite a bunch of his post -- including the video -- without permission in a fit of excitement:
Despite being told we'd be creating an episode, it turns out games (even episodic ones!) take a little longer than an hour (but just barely we imagine). Improv comedy style, they take suggestions from the crowd for events in the game. First, a favorite fruit? Pomegrenates we yell out. A vacation destination? Someone yells "North Pole." A new career for Sybil? "Taxidermist" two blurt out over each other. The writing process has begun.
Sam: Hiya Sybil! Max: What's your story lady? Sybil: I'm an orthopedic surgeon, baby! Sam: Holy heavenly horse radish in a Houston whorehouse! Max: Who cares, I'm running for re-election! Sam: More importantly we need a pastrami on rye to save the world! Sybil: Why do you think I have a pastrami on rye sandwich? Max: Orthopedic surgeons always have pastrami on rye sandwiches! Sam: They use them for lubrication! Max: It's science, Sybil. Sybil: The problem with science is you can't prove it. Also I need condiments. Sam: To Bosco's little buddy!
They pick three people from the audience to record the three voices (including their intern ... nepotism!). Normally they would record these all separately, with real voice actors, but we're on a tight schedule so these fine folks'll do. To show that they didn't do so bad, they show a bloopers reel featuring the actual voice actors. They even animated all the scenes! Our favorite part? The bad words (carefully bleeped out for the youg'ns)
Read the rest at Joystiq's site. We'll have more PAX goodies for you in the near future (including the Season Two trailer!), so stay tuned.
So... are you going to keep that Samism they used in a future episode of Season 2?
Comment by Zeek
August 25, 2007, 8:32 pm
Glad to be of help. :)
...ok, so all I did was ask if Max has been impeached yet, but that's important, too!
Comment by Kedri
August 25, 2007, 8:47 pm
*waits patiently for Season 2 trailer*
Comment by Hero1
August 25, 2007, 9:35 pm
So any news on that new trailer, eh? *nudge, nudge* *wink, wink*
Comment by tobar
August 25, 2007, 9:37 pm
Joystiq: Hopefully coming next week.
Comment by Kedri
August 25, 2007, 9:39 pm
Yeah I saw that just now. Awesome that they want to release a public version of the Telltale Tool for us to use! =D (or at least that's how it sounded)
Comment by tobar
August 25, 2007, 9:45 pm
That was a great panel and I had a lot of fun. Who would have thought a room full of gamers would have such a raunchy sense of humor or that a panel so shortly after the average lunch time might contain many a reference to the art of sandwich making...
awesome trailer guys! season 2 looks sweet! oh wait.... HAHAHAHA
sorry. sometimes i just have to...
Comment by NickTTG
August 26, 2007, 6:41 pm
*cheers* new video! ah man it won't load :(
Comment by splash1
August 27, 2007, 7:17 am
Is that Deirdra playing sybil??
Comment by DesignerGreg
August 27, 2007, 12:37 pm
Yes, it is!
Comment by Emily
August 27, 2007, 12:42 pm
I was lucky enough to be able to play the voice of Max, and I'd like to say that it wouldn't have been possible without my good friends from Evil Avatar shouting "him!" and pointing to me when I made my bid for it. Thanks EvAvers, and thanks to you all at Telltale for such a fantastic series!