Telltale Games

As the lead designer and writer on the second episode of Sam & Max: The Devil's Playhouse, "The Tomb of Sammun-Mak", Andy Hartzell plays a major role in making the Sam & Max games so fun, challenging and even a little crazy. Andy joined Telltale in 2008. Before joining us, he established a name for himself in the indie comic book scene with Fox Bunny Funny. You can see Andy's handiwork in the Fox Bunny Funny anthology, available at the Telltale Store.

We took a moment to ask Andy a few questions...

"The Tomb of Sammun-Mak" is the next episode in The Devil's Playhouse series. What was it like to work on that?

Fun, of course. I came to Sam & Max right after finishing up on the Wallace & Gromit series...talk about whiplash! The world of West Wallaby Street operates according to strict rules. Steve Purcell's universe, in contrast, promised an arena where I could go wild - an outlet for all my most outlandish, bizarre, and just plain inadvisable ideas. I ultimately discovered that this universe does have rules, but they're pretty loose.

You wanted to be inside the game.
You wanted to sense the depth of the manatee intestine around you.

Now is your chance.

In our efforts to expand to every platform we can, our newest project is to bring Tales of Monkey Island to you in 3D! What else would we pick but one of the most legendary consoles in the world: the Virtual Boy.

Of all the 3D-ready consoles in the world, the Virtual Boy stands out as the greatest. Packed with a charm of the ages, and notoriety beyond all others, the Virtual Boy delivers an immersive experience that any button-masher can enjoy. With a state-of-the-art technology from their goggle-viewer system, the timelessness of the equipment speaks for itself.

Due to the secrecy of this project, we've had to keep the Virtual Boys in the storage space of our office, sometimes gracing the office with guided tours and hands-on demos, because its very presence among the cubicles would cause too much excitement. We couldn't be happier to get our hands on such a legendary console, everyone's all smiles in programming and the testers love the weekly MRI scans and free ibuprofen, it's a game developers dream.

Tales of Monkey Island has never looked better! Whether you're doing a pirace face off, digging for treasure or listening for key puzzle elements through 1/2-inch speakers, it'll feel like the first time you've played. It looks so good, you'll get a headache trying to wrap your mind around it!

Telltale is also researching Smell-O-Vision technology, but development has been held up due to debate as to what scent a Vacaylian would have.

For release dates and more, keep an eye on the blog and our social feeds!

The Devil's Playhouse is fast approaching but maybe you still hunger for more information... here's another tidbit to whet your appetite.

Chuck Jordan is appearing on Today On The Spot show tomorrow, Saturday 3/27, ready to talk about designing The Devil's Playhouse. Tune in for the unique wit and snark that we expect from Chuck. We're just happy he's out of the office for a few hours. Ah... peace.

That's pretty awesome, but are you at PAX East? (Lucky.)
(We're not jealous or anything.)
(We so are.)

Though we are not there as a company, we do have a few roaming Telltalers stalking through the halls of PAX! If you catch a glimpse of Seg or Carl, they may have a Devil's Playhouse button for you to wear. Just ask nicely.

It's been a week and we've finally caught up on sleep (mostly) and tracked down the blackmail photos (hopefully?) and we're ready to let you in on The Telltale GDC Experience!

For those of us working the booth, it was a wonderful time, meeting fresh faces and recruiting for the positions we have available, which you'll be able to find right here. Hint hint. (We're the greatest.)

Some special news outlets got a sneak peek at The Devil's Playhouse demo, so if you're not writing for The Onion, Gamespot or IGN, you may want to check out their articles and live vicariously through their talented journalists.

Things were all going well until someone let Sean Vanaman do a panel. Giving his thoughts about Comedy in Games, Vanaman joined Tim Schaefer and Rhianna Pratchett to expound their vast knowledge of what makes people laugh, and what regrettably does not. There to document where Sean "hides his babies" were 1up, the Onion and Gamespot.

As if that wasn't enough, on Wednesday we hosted our very own party at the Cartoon Art Museum with gallery showings from Steve Purcell himself. Unveiling our trailer for Sam and Max: The Devil's Playhouse (which you can see here) we had food and debates over which of the cartoon panels on the wall best embodied our childhood. Through the wonders of modern technology, you can check out pictures of the party, which is this close to actually being there.

As we step into the week after GDC, our cravings for nightly parties subsiding and the incriminating photographs beginning to surface, we'll call this year's GDC SF a success.
...But before you go, let me talk to you about our wonderful Timeshare opportunities available to all Telltale employees... Wait, you're not an employee? Well, you should give that a try, then!