NBC Licences Or More LucasArts?

[GTALostHeaven]

Personally I am interested to see how Back To The Future and Jurrassic Park work out and I do have faith in Telltale, BUT would YOU ( being a regular forum Telltallian ) have preferred another Updated LucasArts Type Game like Maniac Mansion, Zak Mckracken, (and although already a Movie Franchise Indiana Jones could have seemed a better choice)

Im just interested to see these results before tons of Jurrassic Park and BTTF Fans drown out the voice of the regualar Terrible Telltallians ( thats you :) )

The Age range is also an important factor in this poll, I think the kids who grew up with the classics are more likely to favor those, as the kids who grew up with GTA and Crash Bandicoot instead of Monkey Island are probabally more into the movies, we shall see.

[Avistew]

I'm not sure. In a way it would have been the same (yet another existing series), in another way it would have been different (less... blockbustery).

I don't think it would have changed much for me, though.

[GuruGuru214]

My initial reaction is to say that I want to see the old LucasArts properties resurrected by Telltale, but I know that my logic is flawed. First, the only old LucasArts games I've played are Monkey Island, Sam & Max, and Grim Fandango, so my answer would be coming less from a desire to see those games and more of a desire not to see the likes of Jurassic Park.

So I suppose what I really want is to play the old LucasArts games I missed, namely Maniac Mansion/Day of the Tentacle, The Dig, Zak McKrakken, Fate of Atlantis, Full Throttle, and Loom, and then I want to come back to this discussion with an opinion of those games, so that my answer won't entirely be a desire not to see disengaging film franchises like Jurassic Park made into Telltale games.

Now, all that said, I reject both of your choices and substitute my own: Futurama.

[LuigiHann]

I like variety, I like that they go back and forth between different types of things. I don't mind them doing two NBC licenses in a row / at the same time, but I would want/expect them to do something completely different for the next couple licenses after that.

[GTALostHeaven]

Now, all that said, I reject both of your choices and substitute my own: Futurama.

Its still a big budget Licence You could have chosen the movie franchise options, but for god sake man, Play Day of the tenticle at least or even 'Beneath a Steel Sky' is even Free to download now, but they are in 2D if you can handle that these days lol

[Secret Fawful]

Why isn't there a poll option for both.

[GuruGuru214]

What I neglected to mention is that I played Hit the Road for the first time a few months ago. I think I can handle 2D just fine.

[jp-30]

Why isn't there a poll option for both.

Seconded.

[Spadge]

Both. Though I can't think of another great NBC franchise that would make a cool adventure game right now.

[Gryffalio]

Seconded.

Thirded.

I think TTG have to do some of their own franchises, but if they want to keep mixing things up, they need to take franchises (such as MI, which seemed successful) from people like LA as well as looking at movies etc.

Plus, there are only so many movies under the sun! I'd personally like to see more of TTG's original concepts so that they might have 2-3 steady franchises of their own which have no legal strings attached, after a few years.

[puzzlebox]

What about an option for "I don't much care, as long as they keep making good games"?

I'm happy to try things that are new to me (for example, I'd barely heard of Sam & Max before I came here for Monkey Island). So personally it doesn't really matter whether it's an NBC licence, a LucasArts licence, or something else altogether. Any of those categories has potential for engaging story/characters/gameplay.

[jeeno0142]

Goodness knows how many times I've said it now: I NEED another Grim Fandango.

[thesporkman]

The Age range is also an important factor in this poll, I think the kids who grew up with the classics are more likely to favor those, as the kids who grew up with GTA and Crash Bandicoot instead of Monkey Island are probabally more into the movies, we shall see.

That's just silly. The kids who grew up with classic '80s and '90s adventure games also grew up with classic '80s and '90s adventure movies. If you're simply basing things on age, then the Back to the Future demographic and the Monkey Island demographic are the same. The kids who grew up with GTA and Crash Bandicoot grew up with the Matrix and Pirates of the Caribbean. I just don't see how you're finding a correlation between age and entertainment medium.

[taumel]

So personally it doesn't really matter whether it's an NBC licence, a LucasArts licence, or something else altogether. Any of those categories has potential for engaging story/characters/gameplay.
Sounds nice but i don't think it's true. A licence always restricts you and binds you to a certain world and rules and there it does matter how things look like, how much freedom you have and so on. Your own IP comes with 100% freedom and there are licences which offer a lot more potential than others.

[Secret Fawful]

All licenses bind you to a certain world or rules, whether original or not. The only difference is that you made those rules and that world, and not someone else. I don't think it restricts your freedom; unless you would even want to completely change the rules and world of a established license...which you might do...if you were a complete git.

[taumel]

In my own world i could let a protagonist die. I don't know if NBC would be amused if Marty would feed the tree.

[corruptbiggins]

I don't see why it has to be one or the other. There's room for both.

[puzzlebox]

@taumel - I'd hope that if Telltale thought they couldn't produce something good from an existing licence, they just wouldn't use that licence. It in no way means that all existing licences are automatically too restrictive to create a good game. Along the lines of what SecretFawful said, there will be existing rules but they don't necessarily mean that nothing new and worthwhile can be added to that world.

Look at Terry Pratchett's Discworld series for example. There are 38 books in the series now and he's still writing good stories, whether they use existing characters or add new ones. It's a rich and detailed world with a specific set of rules, but that doesn't seem to restrict the author's creativity (quite the opposite in fact).

[Secret Fawful]

Taumel you're right. Why that would be almost as crazy as killing off Guybrush in a Monkey Island game. Oh wait..

Actually. I shouldn't be arguing about this. I don't even think the issue matters. I don't see why having set rules and a set world automatically equals bad.

[taumel]

@puzzlebox
I'm with you that you can do a good and enjoyable game with a lot of licences.

But it also happens that some offer way more potential than others and that some IPs are a lot more enjoyable, at least on a personal preference. No, and don't even try to argue against me here, i'll be as stubborn as Avistew (sorry ;O) on this one, you know, hell freezes over and such things.

Clarke, Vance, Farmer, Anthony, Gerrold, Banks, Niven, Dick, Lem, ... they all invented so many awesome, games related most completely unknown worlds, that it just hurts having something unsexy like BTTF instead. It's a little bit like people who get amazed about the ideas in Harry Potter whilst having no idea of what has been written in the fantasy literature already.

@Secret Fawful
I shouldn't argue against you as well. I honour you as a person, or let's just say your nickname, way too much. ;O)

[Secret Fawful]

A lot of intelligent people do like BTTF, not just the uninformed. Not an argument, just a statement. Thanks, BTW.

[taumel]

Then let it just be my very own personal preference, that i see more potential in other IPs.

[Secret Fawful]

So, on another subject, what sort of IPs would you like to see from Telltale in the future? I mean when you say potential, what IPs do you see potential in?

[taumel]

I'll answer later because i'm in a hurry right now.

[GTALostHeaven]

To all the people that wanted Both, I was going to add the option for it but quite frankly I didnt want any fence sitters, Just imagine telltale posted this topic and said "ok we have a budget and we can only spend the money on one series, which one?" you cant choose both.

That's just silly. The kids who grew up with classic '80s and '90s adventure games also grew up with classic '80s and '90s adventure movies. If you're simply basing things on age, then the Back to the Future demographic and the Monkey Island demographic are the same. The kids who grew up with GTA and Crash Bandicoot grew up with the Matrix and Pirates of the Caribbean. I just don't see how you're finding a correlation between age and entertainment medium.

Yes its true I & my age range grew up with Monkey Island & BTTF but I have been a point n clicker since my youth so as I suspected more people my age would favor the classics option , however in a few months im sure there will be BTTF and JP fans who would alter this poll considerabally, Ironically it now occours to me that many new active users on the forum are here because of Tales of Monkey Island so I think they are more likely to choose the classics option also.

[Guinea]

Right now I hope BttF will be awesome.
And like a lot of posters before me, I'd like a balance between this and that. (Assuming that BttF will be awesome)

[MusicallyInspired]

I say let the LA IPs die. They had their day. I don't want to ride on nostalgia for the rest of my life.

[taumel]

@Secret Fawful
Okay back to your previous question, i'll name a few options:

Personally i could deal with some Hard Science like for instance Clement, Clarke or Pohl have written but due to a larger audience i would head for more popular and easier to consume SF books like for instance Jack Vance has written. Alastor is fantastic or if you want some Fantasy then go for Dying Earth serie, both would be just perfect for adventure games. As many other books and series from him (Showboat World, Maske: Thaery, ...) colourful fantasy and space opera always with a interesting unique cultures and characters at their best.

Piers Anthony's Adept serie would be great for both SF and fantasy whilst also enabling lots of well integrated interesting mini games, same as Farmer's World of Tiers.

Something like David Gerrold's Biological Invasion or Ian Banks's Consider Phlebas would be more action oriented or if you want a more current author Richard Morgan's Takeshi Kovacs.

You could explore new words again with Vance, Niven (Ringworld) or Clarke (Rama), …

It really depends on which direction you want to go and there are a couple of wonderful worlds. But again with an Author like Jack Vance alone you're perfectly set already.

[Secret Fawful]

Rama was an adventure game; in fact two. One was by Sierra. I think Ringworld was too, but I might be thinking of another -world (not Discworld). I don't know all of your choices, but you have good taste from what I can tell. I think franchises based on books would be a great thing for the pilot program to try. As long as it's quality like Arthur C. Clarke and not shlock like Stephanie Meyer.

[taumel]

But the were never well done.

Oh and thanks... :O)

Yep the pilot concept would fit perfectly in my opinion as well for something like this.

[taumel]

The beauty of something like Alastor - same is valid for quite some other books - is that it enables adventures and new cultures not only on one planet but on a whole cluster with space travelling between those planets and this is something which in my opinion offers a much more interesting gaming world in comparison to something like BTTF.

And something like the Dying Earth with characters like Cugel, Rhialto, Tamurello, Idelfonse, Liane, ... is so full of mean, funny and weird charatcers and situations that, i mean it would be really hard to screw this one up.

I'm not sure if it's the right one but if i'm right there exists a nice shortstory from him called the dream castle.

[Spykes]

I would vote for more movie games, but they're already making a game based on my absolute favorite movies (BttF), so I'm totally content as far as those go.

I'm still waiting for more Day of the Tentacle games now, so I'd vote for more LucasArts games.

[kenwoods]

I would really like to see more sequels to classic LucasArts games (like Zak McKracken).

I've just started a group on Facebook in order to help us persuade LucasArts
to create Zak McKracken: Special Edition!

http://bit.ly/WeWantZakSE

Maybe Telltale will release a sequel at the same time (kinda like Monkey Island: Special Edition was released at the same time as Tales of Monkey Island)

[Laserschwert]

I voted for more LucasArts stuff, though NOT instead of JP and BTTF, but after that. At least TOMI2 would be something I'd be looking forward to.

I would really like to see more sequels to classic LucasArts games (like Zak McKracken).
I think Zak would have to be re-designed (gameplay-wise) to work as a game now, because it had too many dead ends (an absolute no-go for an adventure game nowadays) and some irrational puzzles. Plot-wise though I think it's still interesting, and visually there's a lot of potential for an SE.

Still, I'd love to see an SE of "Fate of Atlantis" more than anything else, now that MI2 is covered. Actually I'd be even more excited to HEAR an FOA:SE, especially the soundtrack. Having that one played by an orchestra? WOW, that'd be something...

[Neelo]

More LucasArts stuff. I don't think age matters, I'm 14 years old and I've played most LucasArts classics, and I love them.

[Strong Max]

I prefer neither of thoses choices. The thing is that those wouldn't attract new audiences, just a stronger following from the ones they alredy have. Also, I want to be surprised with something completly out of left field like... well if I could think of it, it wouldn't be random

[Laserschwert]

with something completly out of left field like... well if I could think of it, it wouldn't be random
Like "Jurassic Park" or "Back to the Future"? I've NEVER expected those...

[Comrade Pants]

I grew up playing Day of the Tentacle. Now, while NBC is a massive, evil corporation - the sort I relish in dealing with - my petty sentimentality wins out when I am forced to beg Telltale Games for a remake, or perhaps some sort of continuation, of Day of the Tentacle.

[Irishmile]

Either way I think we the gamers win.... but if given a choice I would love more Monkey Island, Grim Fandango, Day of the Tentacle, or Full Throttle..

[Comrade Pants]

Either way I think we the gamers win.... but if given a choice I would love more Monkey Island, Grim Fandango, Day of the Tentacle, or Full Throttle..

Hm... Yes. Yes, we need a new Full Throttle. We have been promised a Full Throttle sequel twice, twice we have been left wanting. I think if anyone can make this game a reality, it's Telltale. Nobody else... save for maybe Ryan Industries. Possibly Double Fine, but Telltale is most likely.

[serializer]

As much as I'm interested to see what TTG will do with BTTF, I do feel it won't be up to the standard of other franchises.

Lots of games have been made in the past of both BTTF and Jurassic Park; and most of them (if not all) have been terrible. Not a pretty legacy to inherit. Besides which, movies don't exactly have a great reputation full stop when it comes to video game tie-ins. I think it'd be a shame to see TTG fall foul of this trap and produce a bad season just through trying to expand into new markets.

On the other hand, I really would love to see brand new DOTT. Perhaps Grim Fandango, although the first story didn't really lend itself neatly to a sequel because the characters' stories were all pretty much tied up by the end (as opposed to DOTT where you can imagine them having equally madcap adventures week in and week out)

On the third hand (and yes I am from a planet where people have three hands), a Futurama season would utterly blow all of these out the water, and considering new Futurama episodes start coming out next week on TV, it would be an active and current franchise rather than something pretty old.

Did I mention new Futurama starts next week?

Who brought up Futurama anyway? Now I'm not going to be able to stop!

[Irishmile]

I will buy them and I fully expect to enjoy them... but I predict they will not sell as well as TTG and Universal are hoping they will.... I hope I am wrong though.