Telltale fans interview Part-2

[anonima]

Okay here's the list. Only 20 maybe chosen. Let's nominate a couple of the rougher questions to kick out, affectively leaving us with the pedigree stuff. I think the rule should be set that anyone who submitted a question should have at least 1 of their questions get in.
Red=nominated for elimination
Blue=removed by owner
1. What does it take to start a company like Telltale? -Burn
2. Does Bone have a release date been set? -Alucard
3. Can we expect to see a Bone demo in the near future? -Alucard
4. Will Bone be released in Retail stores? -Alucard
5. Will the 3D engine you have developed/ are developing ever be licensed for use by a 3rd party developer? -JP
6. What are your potential distribution and marketing channels for bone outside the internet? -JP
7.How do you propose to market the Bone games to Bone/comic fans, rather than adventure games? -JP
8. Anything about the deceased Sam and Max Freelance Police you can share? -Udvarnorky
9. Were there any other franchises besides Sam and Max you were considering? -Burn
10/11.How can one go about auditioning for a Telltale game?-misanthrope
12. Are you going to produce translated versions of your games? -Diduz
13. Is the game engine full real time 3D or simply classic 2D/3D hybrid? -Diduz
14. Is Blades of Stenchtar going to be a real game? -ThreeHeadedMonkey
15. Whatever happened to the whole in Brendan's closet? -ThreeHeadedMonkey
16. Was Dank always going to be a comic? -Burn
17. What sort of developement tools are you using to create the game? -Vark
18. What games are your major influences on the design of Bone? -Vark
19. How do you plan to market Bone? -Vark
20. In the short teaser clip of Bone, Bone appears to be following the cursor around. Do you plan to create interactivity between the characters and player? -Vark
21. How has Telltale Texas Hold Em' performed in contrast to your expectations? -Vark
22. What is the most difficult part for working at Telltale? -Burn
23. Are you going to cater to the still significant part of the gaming community (especially outside of the USA) who are not broadband enabled and for whom a 15 MB download is offputting? -JP
24. How often will the episodes of Bone be released? -spf1978
25. How much will the episodes cost? -spf1978
26. Will the Bone games include the infamous "cut-scenes" that many other adventure games employ as a story-telling device? -spf1978
27. What are your future plans for the characters from TT Texas Holdem? -spf1978
28. How did you get to be so cool? -spf1978
29. Whats the pay structure for those at tell tale? -Alucard
30. What does an entry level position make vs a lead? -Alucard
31. What are the hours like?(hopefully not as evil as EA =P) -Alucard
32. Will there be a physical medium avialable for BONE? In otherwords a CD. -smileyfaceman
33. Will the supporting characters have some kind of AI or will they just have set dialogue paths like previous adventure games? -smileyfaceman
34. Will there be multiple player-controlled characters per title? -smileyfaceman
35. How would someone go about getting an entry level position at TellTale if they have little to no industry experiance? -smileyfaceman
36. You were mentioning in an early interview that you were planning to have a schedule eventually for episodic releases of several game-series, is that something you're still planning to do, or is Bone the main focus for now?- Apignarb
37. Are you planning to exclusively distribute all your games electronically, or are you considering other options aswell? -Apignarb
38. What can we expect from the game-engine, how is it shaping up? -Apignarb
39. Being that many of you were on the Sam&Max team, and founding TellTale was in part inspired by the cancellation of that project, do you have any juicy tidbits to share with us about the game, or the making of the game? -Apignarb
40. Don't you think it's a bit of a risky move to exclusively distributed your games digitally, seeing as most companies who have walked that road before you, has failed? -Apignarb
41. How will you succeed, where others have failed? -Apignarb
42. Describe a typical workday at TellTale. -Apignarb
43. Do you have any plans for any other games than Bone yet, maybe even working on other ideas during the development of Bone? -Apignarb
44. Who killed Brendan? -Apignarb
45.TO KEVIN Will we see "buttless ice chaps" in any of Telltale's games? -Jub
46. Who's Brendan? -misanthrope

Nomination Tally
25/45 20 questions left.

Question Tally

Alucard -6
Burn -4
JP -4
Udvanorky -1
Misanthrope -3
Diduz -2
ThreeHeadedMonkey -2
Vark -5
spf1978 -5
Smileyfaceman -4
Apignarb -9
Jub -1

[anonima]

id throw out

25. How much will the episodes cost?
because thay are not gonna answer this
28. How did you get to be so cool?
29. Whats the pay structure for those at tell tale? again why would they answer this
35. How would someone go about getting an entry level position at TellTale if they have little to no industry experiance? -smileyfaceman im pretty sure the answer is they wouldnt so id leave this off 2

[anonima]

I'm going to nominate
14, because I think the answer is pretty obvious

[Steve2000]

Thanks for leading on this Burn.

I would say that #44 seems like an obvious joke - although I woudn't mind throwing a few of those type in there anyway. Also although I agree with the sentiment of #40 - I think it comes off a bit to antagonistic and #19 and #23 basically cover the same ground as #40 without sounding whiny. (no offense intended Apignarb)

[Alucard]

good job. I say cut the
44. Who killed Brendan? -Apignarb
31. What are the hours like?(hopefully not as evil as EA =P) -Alucard
I also second all the ones already nominated

[apignarb]

I agree that 19 and 23 basically cover the same ground as 40. Those could all be nominated, as my #37 covers the whole area around those type of questions.

Also I nominate/remove my #41, i think that was a part of #40, or just a result of me being heavily "medicated".

[anonima]

I'd cut all the salary questions since thats usually not something they'll talk about (for those interested in industry pay just go over to gamasutra.com, they post a yearly salary survey. Between that and a cost of living index you can get a ballpark figure for what positions pay what in which cities.

Then there's a few questions about the digital distribution that can be combined into one question.

[anonima]

I think those already suggested would be good cuts.

I'll add (#3), because either a demo will come out, or it won't.

And we can cut down many by consolidating simliar questions.

[anonima]

I've added all of those, by the way Apignarb, I broke 40 and 41 apart because it was kind of and multipart question.

[Alucard]

ok I say cut 45 and 46 too those won't yield too much

[Alucard]

4 and 40 seem pretty much the same.
I guess you could cut my other one about pay. Though I am interested in finding out what they are paying compared to other places since I will be looking for a job soon

[anonima]

We can't cut 45 because it'd Jubs only question.

[Alucard]

maybe we can convince him to ask something else =P. but yeah I guess it's only fair that everyone who posts a question gets a chance.

[anonima]

Here's the questions I'm MOST interested in knowing the answers to:

1
2
3 (unless this has already been answered somewhere else)
5
6 (getting an answer to this will also cover #4 #32,and #37)
10
12
13
18
21
24
25
43
45

Here's the questions I'm LEAST interested in:
11
14
15
17
26
28
29
30
31
35
44
46


just my 2 cents

[anonima]

(on your elimination list) We can only cut 15 or 14 because they were ThreeHeadedMonkeys only 2 question.

[artwking]

I haven't contributed anything to this fan interview, but I have an observation. I think there might be way too many YES/NO questions being asked. While Telltale may offer some explanations beyond a simple yes or no, they probably wouldn't be anywhere near as interesting as the answers to questions that ask "what", "why", and "how".

[anonima]

Agreed. Should probably try to steer clear from "Will you?" and "How many?/How much?" questions unless they cant be said any other way, or at least massage them (preferably sensually) into something that can get a more interesting answer.

[anonima]

Okay I went through the list and cornered 2 conflicting questions and a bit of a yes/no question which i think can be reworked.
I added 4, 32 and 40.

4. This is a marketing question. There is alot of marketing questions which I think should be summed up by 1 or 2 questions.
32. This question is likely to be answered by question 4.
40. This question i think could be messed around a bit so it asks Telltales opinion rather than putting a gun to their back and making them sign a confession to a crime they didn't commit.

[anonima]

Burn, great job first of all. But I actually wanted to squish my 2 questions into one. I want it to be this : How can one go about auditioning for a Telltale game?

[anonima]

Done. Anyone else want to reword their questions? Take into consideration what atwking4 and ja2ke have said about yes and no questions.

[anonima]

(on your elimination list) We can only cut 15 or 14 because they were ThreeHeadedMonkeys only 2 question.

I don't really care what happens to mine. I was trying to think of something good but I couldn't so I just threw those two on the table.

[anonima]

I went through the Newsarama interview. There were a couple of already answered questions.

13
18
36
38

I also nominated

22
1
5

If your upset I nominated your question, I also gave two of my own question the axe.

[anonima]

Here's the ROUGH draft of the list. If you have any complaints post below, but get it done as soon as possible.

Can we expect to see a Bone demo in the near future? -Alucard

How do you propose to market the Bone games to Bone/comic fans, rather than adventure games? JP

What were the other franchises besides Sam and Max and Bone that you were considering? Burn

How can one go about auditioning for a Telltale game?-misanthrope

Are you going to produce translated versions of your games? Diduz

Was Dank always going to be a comic? -Burn

In the short teaser clip of Bone, Bone appears to be following the cursor around. Do you plan to create interactivity between the characters and player? Vark

How has Telltale Texas Hold Em' performed in contrast to your expectations? Vark

How often will the episodes of Bone be released? -spf1978


What is your opinion on the infamous "cut-scenes" that many other adventure games employ as a story-telling device? -spf1978

What are your future plans for the characters from TT Texas Holdem? -spf1978


Will the supporting characters have some kind of AI or will they just have set dialogue paths like previous adventure games? smileyfaceman


Will there be multiple player-controlled characters per title? smileyfaceman


Are you planning to exclusively distribute all your games electronically, or are you considering other options as well? Apignarb


Being that many of you were on the Sam&Max team, and founding TellTale was in part inspired by the cancellation of that project, do you have any juicy tidbits to share with us about the game, or the making of the game? -Apignarb/Udvanorky


Describe a typical workday at TellTale. Apignarb

Do you have any plans for any other games than Bone yet, maybe even working on other ideas during the development of Bone? Apignarb


TO KEVIN Will we see "buttless ice chaps" in any of Telltale's games? -Jub

I love adventure games and feel they deserve another chance to shine, but with TellTale Texas Hold'em, you brought personality to a genre that is usually devoid of any such character. What are your plans, if any, to bring this personality into other genres as well? -jerkofalltrades

You were mentioning in an early interview that you were planning to have a schedule eventually for episodic releases of several game-series, is that something you're still planning to do, or is Bone the main focus for now?- Apignarb

[jp-30]

You've done a great job on this Burn! :)

[apignarb]

Ok, I have some comments. I think people should still add questions, as alot of the questions cover the same ground, or are just not very interesting (in my humble opinion)

Does Bone have a release date been set? Alucard

For one, this is yes/no question and the answer is probably "no", as if it had one, it would have been announced.

What are your potential distribution and marketing channels for bone outside the internet? JP

How do you propose to market the Bone games to Bone/comic fans, rather than adventure games? JP

doesn't these two cover the same ground? well not really, but they're still both "marketing-questions". Also "distribution outside the internet" is allready covered in another question.

Anything about the deceased Sam and Max Freelance Police you can share? Udvarnorky

I also asked this question, just different wording.

In the short teaser clip of Bone, Bone appears to be following the cursor around. Do you plan to create interactivity between the characters and player? Vark

Not to be mean, but the answer to this is pretty obvious.


Just my two cents..

[anonima]

Okay, I try to work it around that.


Anything about the deceased Sam and Max Freelance Police you can share?- Udvarnorky


I also asked this question, just different wording.

i know you asked the same question, but it was the only one he had.

Does Bone have a release date been set? Alucard


For one, this is yes/no question and the answer is probably "no", as if it had one, it would have been announced

This one was Alucard one remaining question,(out of 6) I can always replace it with one of his other questions.

I'll try to merge JP's questions,( unless he wants to), and I'll see what I can do with Vark's.

[Alucard]

I'd rather know about. demo plans and if/when we can expect to see one. As well as if they plan to stray from normal adventure game conventions in their games

[anonima]

Done!

[Alucard]

I imagine a beta test would be out of the question for the game too... not a question just wishful thinking....

[apignarb]

I am aware it is his/their only questions, but it seems silly to ask the same question twice, just because the guys who asked them didn't ask any other question. Wouldn't it just be better to pick the one who is worded best, and put both their names/nicks as the author of the question. Or?

[jp-30]

My 2 marketing questions are different (though quite subtley so), but given one of them is more or less asked by someone else, please drop my

"What are your potential distribution and marketing channels for bone outside the internet? -JP"

question.

[Steve2000]

Chnage my question: "Will the Bone games include the infamous "cut-scenes" that many other adventure games employ as a story-telling device? -spf1978" to the following:

What is your opinion on the infamous "cut-scenes" that many other adventure games employ as a story-telling device? -spf1978

That way it is more open ended. They are sure to mention Bone in their response if they have a strong opinion.

[anonima]

My question could stand some rewording as it doesn't really ask what I meant it to now that i've re-read it:

"20. In the short teaser clip of Bone, Bone appears to be following the cursor around. Do you plan to create interactivity between the characters and player?"

It's missing some stuff from the original question that was more to the point.

so I guess reworded it would be:

"In the short teaser clip of Bone, Bone appears to be looking at the cursor and following it around. Do you plan on breaking the fourth wall and creating different levels of interactivity between the characters and player?"

[apignarb]

"In the short teaser clip of Bone, Bone appears to be looking at the cursor and following it around. Do you plan on breaking the fourth wall and creating different levels of interactivity between the characters and player?"

Ok, now I'm with you.

[anonima]

Okay, we're now 2 short of 20.

[anonima]

I have a question.

I love adventure games and feel they deserve another chance to shine, but with TellTale Texas Hold'em, you brought personality to a genre that is usually devoid of any such character. What are your plans, if any, to bring this personality into other genres as well?

[anonima]

I was reading over the questions and alot of the yes/no ones could be fixed with some minor rewording.

1. When can we expect to see a Bone demo? -Alucard

3. What other franchises besides Sam and Max you were considering? Burn

13. How many player-controlled characters will there be per title? smileyfaceman


These are just some easy fixes I saw, of course it would be up to the original author to confirm these changes.

[artwking]

3. What other franchises besides Sam and Max you were considering? Burn

a little off topic, but if Telltale is still interested in acquiring existing franchises, I'd love to see them do Futurama in an adventure style game. A sort of Space Quest replacement.

Ahem.

[anonima]

Jerkofalltrades- I put in your question. I wouldn't have if it wasn't your only one. From now on PLEASE NO MORE QUESTION!!!!!!!! :(

[artwking]

Jerkofalltrades- I put in your question. I wouldn't have if it wasn't your only one. From now on PLEASE NO MORE QUESTION!!!!!!!! :(

Okay, we're now 2 short of 20.

I think he was just trying to fill in the gap. You said you needed two more questions, after all.

[apignarb]

Oh, I hadn't noticed earlier, Burn. I saw you nominated my question #36 for being allready answered in the Newsarama interview, I don't really see where.

[jp-30]

I know it's been dropped, but for the person who asked about pricing structure;

Interview at Lockergnome (http://channels.lockergnome.com/game/archives/20050411_interview_with_telltale_games.phtml)

Alan: Since these episodic games are smaller, does this also mean a smaller price point? Do you have a rough ballpark figure for the price of these types of games?

Dan: Price point is something we are currently doing research on. There are a few very distinct game audiences on the net that have very different expectations for their money.

[anonima]

I took this to mean episodic release.
DC: The first game is based on Out From Boneville the first arc, and collected edition in the series. The design stays very true to the storyline of the comic. We plan on continuing this strategy for the rest of the series so the great cow race is in the next one.

But there was also this in the lockergnome interview.
Dan: Smaller games are definitely necessary because of the economics of game production and distribution. The talk around the industry is that the next generation of games is going to cost in the 15 million dollar range. With this amount of money on the line the model is getting closer to the blockbuster film model. At Telltale we would like to be on the cutting edge of a television production style model, with episodes and ongoing story lines and favorite characters.

[jp-30]

But that doesn't really answer whether or not the 'other' licenses / original adventure games that had been mentined in passing are on the backburner while everyone at Telltale really concentrates their efforts and resources on Bone. (Which is what I think Apingarb was asking).

[anonima]

Fair enough. The question is back on the board. That leaves us with 20. A couple of mumbles of agreement and we can put it up as our final list. Still, any last complaints are being excepted.

[Steve2000]

mumble mumble agree

[jp-30]

Looks fine to me.

[Alucard]

send it to the presses. I think it's good to go.

[anonima]

Okay, I've emailed it to Heather. Done. Umm, I guess that means it's over.

[Alucard]

yes it's over. good job

[anonima]

And there was much rejoicing.

[apignarb]

8 and 39 are the same question, other than that, looks good.

[anonima]

Whoops. I don't think there is much I can do now.

[Alucard]

I wonder how long we'll have to wait for our answers.

[jp-30]

At least as long as it took us to compile them, I'd wager...

[anonima]

why did i miss this :(

[Heatherlee]

You people are amazingly efficient.

I thought I might warn you that your timing in finishing this task did not match up beautifully with a lull in our operations as we had secretly hoped it might. As such, you may have to wait longer than you'd like for your answers. But a deal's a deal, and I will make sure the results of your labor come to you as soon as is possible.

[anonima]

Do we still need a moderator?

if you need one, im there :D

[anonima]

Do we still need a moderator?

if you need one, im there :D

I think I have heard this one before... :)

[artwking]

Yeah... Besides, I think he's too young. And we have Heather, aka "The Enforcer", while Brandon's out. We're doin' fine.

[anonima]

Can u publish pls the list of Q's that was sent, in an organized list?

too bad i couldnt participate in this... :(

[anonima]

It was on page three, but here it is anyway.


Can we expect to see a Bone demo in the near future? -Alucard

How do you propose to market the Bone games to Bone/comic fans, rather than adventure games? JP

What were the other franchises besides Sam and Max and Bone that you were considering? Burn

How can one go about auditioning for a Telltale game?-misanthrope

Are you going to produce translated versions of your games? Diduz

Was Dank always going to be a comic? -Burn

In the short teaser clip of Bone, Bone appears to be following the cursor around. Do you plan to create interactivity between the characters and player? Vark

How has Telltale Texas Hold Em' performed in contrast to your expectations? Vark

How often will the episodes of Bone be released? -spf1978


What is your opinion on the infamous "cut-scenes" that many other adventure games employ as a story-telling device? -spf1978

What are your future plans for the characters from TT Texas Holdem? -spf1978


Will the supporting characters have some kind of AI or will they just have set dialogue paths like previous adventure games? smileyfaceman


Will there be multiple player-controlled characters per title? smileyfaceman


Are you planning to exclusively distribute all your games electronically, or are you considering other options as well? Apignarb


Being that many of you were on the Sam&Max team, and founding TellTale was in part inspired by the cancellation of that project, do you have any juicy tidbits to share with us about the game, or the making of the game? -Apignarb/Udvanorky


Describe a typical workday at TellTale. Apignarb

Do you have any plans for any other games than Bone yet, maybe even working on other ideas during the development of Bone? Apignarb


TO KEVIN Will we see "buttless ice chaps" in any of Telltale's games? -Jub

I love adventure games and feel they deserve another chance to shine, but with TellTale Texas Hold'em, you brought personality to a genre that is usually devoid of any such character. What are your plans, if any, to bring this personality into other genres as well? -jerkofalltrades

You were mentioning in an early interview that you were planning to have a schedule eventually for episodic releases of several game-series, is that something you're still planning to do, or is Bone the main focus for now?- Apignarb

[anonima]

GOOD QUESTIONES! [=D>]
all that i wanna know is in there...
now i just hope they'll give good answers...

[anonima]

Any word as to when they will reply?

[anonima]

I think it will be posted soon. Good job on the questions all its the toughest interview we've had yet!

[Steve2000]

Good job on the answers - it is one of the best we read yet.

[anonima]

where are the answers? :(

[artwking]

where are the answers? :(
Here, the most recent Telltale blog:

http://www.telltalegames.com/blogs/telltale/?permalink=F65A2EB294D03860A50804F3A489602D.txt&smm=y