Telltale Games - Sam & Max & PAX

Posted by emily

August 29, 2007

A few months ago, Kevin came up with this great idea for a PAX panel, to make a Sam & Max episode on the fly. Not a full episode, of course, but a mini episode with dialogue and inventory puzzles and exploration and plenty of jokes. When the panel was over, we'd take the design back to the office, complete the mini episode, and post it on our site for all to download.

Well, those of us who wouldn't actually have to be involved in the making of the episode thought it was a great idea. Then we pitched it to the people who would have to be involved -- specifically, Dave and Brendan on the design side, and Jon on the technical side -- and were convinced that the scope might need to be reined in a little. The final decision was that we would use the panel to write a 15(ish) line dialogue, with the help of hundreds of audience members, and then animate it on the spot. The basic flow of the panel is already described here, so I'll just cut to the end:

(Thanks very much to our impromptu voice actors, whose names I scribbled down on a piece of paper that I now can't find. One of them was a guy from Evil Avatar, and one was our former intern Deirdra, and one was a guy who recently came back from Iraq and couldn't wait to finally play the whole season.)

This scene was written, recorded, and animated right there during the hour-long panel (Dave, Brendan, and Kevin did a Q&A while Jon and Marco had their heads down working on the technical stuff). And it went surprisingly well, compared to some of the technical-difficulty-riddled rehearsals we did here at the office in preparation...

So, yeah, all in all making a Sam & Max scene in a completely artificial environment with the help of 400 strangers is a lot of fun. Shall we do it again next year?

Note: PAX write-up and pictures coming soon. The camera hasn't made it back into the office yet.

Tagged Around the Office, Events, Sam & Max

	Love the dialouge in the second clip.
	Comment by Combustibillion August 29, 2007, 2:33 pm

	So, yeah, all in all making a Sam & Max scene in a completely artificial environment with the help of 400 strangers is a lot of fun. Shall we do it again next year? Yeah! It was a ton of fun. And maybe next year, at least one person out of those 400 will vote for Specs...
	Comment by Kedri August 29, 2007, 3:26 pm

	can't wait for season2
	Comment by splash1 August 29, 2007, 3:53 pm

	I just wish the volunteers had tried to sound like the characters they were supposed to be.
	Comment by tobar August 29, 2007, 5:22 pm

	Hey, how about making a minisode based on posts and suggestions on the forums!!
	Comment by Zeek August 29, 2007, 7:06 pm

	I just wish the volunteers had tried to sound like the characters they were supposed to be. I tried! :(
	Comment by Squinky August 29, 2007, 9:08 pm

	Well okay, I wish EVERYONE had tried. I know a couple of you did!
	Comment by tobar August 30, 2007, 12:58 am

	Sounds like fun. Can't wait for the PAX write-up.
	Comment by Guybrush Threepwood August 30, 2007, 1:28 am

	I'm sure you would have done a better job, tobar! Be sure to come to next year's PAX, where I look forward to your Sam impression!
	Comment by Jake August 30, 2007, 4:03 pm

	I dunno why, but the "It's _Science_, Cybil" line gets me every time. good work!
	Comment by Soup August 30, 2007, 5:42 pm

	Thanks to the Telltale gang for this very fun panel! After hearing Dave Grossman's thoughtful and insightful input at several of the panels, I was motivated to purchase the Sam & Max Season 1 game DVD at Telltale's booth in the exhibition hall. Both my wife and I are currently enjoying ourselves working through the episodes.
	Comment by bryanhbell August 30, 2007, 9:53 pm

	What bryanhbell..? You didn't already own Season 1? ;)
	Comment by barchetta August 30, 2007, 10:25 pm

	Glad you're enjoying it (and glad you enjoyed the panel), bryan! Also, tobar, sorry if my previous post sounded super mean... Re-reading it now, it came out worded more harshly than I intended! No hard feelings, I hope!
	Comment by Jake August 31, 2007, 12:56 am

	I am absolutely thrilled that I was able to contribute to this (Sybil's line about proving science) and take a very small part in Sam & Max history.
	Comment by daniel August 31, 2007, 12:20 pm

	are these games really short or are they close to full length games? cuz I loved the sam and max from years ago
	Comment by travis August 31, 2007, 10:48 pm

	It depends on how quickly you play (i.e. if you rush through just what you need to do to finish it, or if you take the time to click on everything to hear all the funny lines), but the episodes average about 3 hours of playtime each. When you add all the episodes together, the whole season is about the same length as a "full length" adventure game.
	Comment by Emily September 2, 2007, 5:39 pm

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