Q&A With the Design Team

[Will]

Originally Posted by Hassat Hunter

Talking about Ratings and bleeped out words: I once heard somewhere, in a dev commentary on some TV-show how they would actually swear to properly make the bleeps the correct time, but the Rating Board would get the episodes before this process was done (and thus, with full profanity). How is that at TTG?

We certainly aren't about to send any unbleeped swears off to the ESRB. They don't take too kindly to that sort of shenanigans.

As for actual swears, it depends on the voice actor. Usually they are just written into the dialog as "*censored*" and the actors have to infer the meaning. William Casten used to have fun with that, particularly when the word "soda" was bleeped out at the end of 205. I've never heard David Nowlin swear on the other hand. There was a particularly memorable sequence where his pre-bleeped swears were "button" and "donut button."

Joey Camen however created streams of profanity so foul that the unbleeped version never even left the recording studio for fear that someone would get their hands on them.

[sascha23]

Originally Posted by Will

We certainly aren't about to send any unbleeped swears off to the ESRB. They don't take too kindly to that sort of shenanigans.

Too bad these can't be included as bloopers in the upcoming DVD version that Telltale sends out to the pre-orders.

[ttg_Stemmle]

Originally Posted by Kroms

Hmmm...I keep wanting to ask things about the writing, as I feel that Telltale's packed with great writers, and they're never asked about it.

Okay, uh,...howww do you make sure something is funny or not?

Do youuu ever write backstories for your characters?

Yeah, I suck at asking questions. It's worth noting that those question marks at the end are related to whether or not this is a decent question, and not for grammatical purposes.

Those aren't bad questions in the slightest.

There's no way to be absolutely sure that something's funny*. But in our experience, if 3 out of 4 guys in the office think something's funny, a lot of other people will probably think it's funny. Also, when in doubt, I check with the wife - if I can't get at least a wry smile out of her, the joke's probably doomed.

Now that we're doing more and more season-long arcs, we'll probably be getting in the habit of writing quick-n-dirty backstories for our original characters. I cobbled together one for De Singe in Tales, some of which crept its way into the game. With the Sam and Max characters, they haven't needed as much backstory... yet.

Mike "If it bends, it's funny... if it breaks, it's hilarious" Stemmle

* Unless it's a baby in sunglasses... that's always funny.

[Icedhope]

Are there any hysterical moments that you thought were funny, but when you were writing an episode and ended up cutting it?

[Astro Gnocci]

Well another stupid writing question :

How would you (no one in particular) define the characters of sam and max ?

I don't think it could get more basic, but who knows, the answer(s) might be interesting

[S@bre]

Where do I go to get my own pet Mike Stemmle? Do they come off a factory line, or do I have to pay extra to get one hand-made?

(nb, am somewhat intoxicated at time of writing)

[KaminUkki]

I just wanna ask

Is there any possibility of a Telltale-made HD Remix/Remake of Hit The Road ala Monkey Island Special Edition? Or would that be more for Lucasarts?

[Hassat Hunter]

Originally Posted by Joop

I bought Beyond Good and Evil on Gamecube, there was no English version.

Really? The PC versions got almost all languages known to Europe free to pick.
Obviously, I went with English.

As for actual swears, it depends on the voice actor. Usually they are just written into the dialog as "*censored*" and the actors have to infer the meaning. William Casten used to have fun with that, particularly when the word "soda" was bleeped out at the end of 205. I've never heard David Nowlin swear on the other hand. There was a particularly memorable sequence where his pre-bleeped swears were "button" and "donut button."

Replaying 102, I now wonder what was under the bleeps at the interview. Myra: "You want to *bleep* your brother?"

*Can't think up new questions at the moment*

[Zeek]

Originally Posted by Will

Joey Camen however created streams of profanity so foul that the unbleeped version never even left the recording studio for fear that someone would get their hands on them.

Which makes me so jelous of Jared and his team, because they know what Tiny Timmy Two-Teeth was really saying in the Christmas episode.

[Wizpig]

What I want to ask is a "variation" of one of the FAQs.

We know this third series is a good place to start as your first Sam & Max game, but what if you don't know the characters? meaning you never read a comic, etc?
Because this will be my first Sam & Max game, but not only that: it's also my first Sam & Max "media"
Am i good to go? is it noob-friendly?

[Hayden]

Will there be cliffhangers at the end of some of the episodes? Please say yes.

[GepardenK]

Hmm... two questions at the top of my head. Sorry for long post btw

Q1:
I heard the driving minigames would not be present in this season. I think this is a good thing as the minigames felt very tacked on. They where fun and all, but kinda ruined the atmosphere in some cases.
But I was wondering if there still is a chance of us seeing a "real" car chase in season 3. I always liked the small action sequences we got to play ourselves as they did add lots of drama. In fact I have been a big fan of these sequences ever since the very first desert chase in Out from Boneville.

So is a real Sam & Max car chase, guns blazing, something we may get to see in the new season? If only in one of the episodes?

Q2:
This is just a thought, and not specifically related to season 3 in any way, but...

You see, I love the ideas behind Max`s new powers. Especaly because they are meant to spice up the puzzle gameplay. But have you guys (in your, I'm sure, many brainstorm meetings) ever considered puzzles with multiple solutions? You know, the kind of puzzle where you realize you need to open a sack of flour for some reason and you can use both the screwdriver, the scissor and the gun in your inventory to achieve that.

The idea is to focus the "Puzzle Gameplay" on exploring, chatting and analyzing the environment in order to figure out what you're supposed to do, but then let how you're doing it be a bit easier by adding multiple "use item on object" solutions where it makes sense. (Kinda like detective work )If used correctly the proses shouldn't require much more work on the designers part as animations and cutscenes would almost always be the same, just switch the object used.

Another way to do "open ended puzzles" is having critical items being obtainable at several locations. So if I figured out I needed a knife I could get it both from the kitchen and from the office drawer (plus maybe from the back of a dead guy in the alley)

Of course, it would require some pretty clever puzzle planning to make sure "guessing" your way to the solution wouldn't be too easy. But puzzle planning is one of telltales major expertices, so that should go fine I think

As you probably have discussed this kind of puzzle gameplay at some stage, my question is: Why have you chosen not to go with it? Surprisingly few adventure games do and I would like to know if there is some kind of industry wide reason for this

[Rather Dashing]

I really dislike the idea of open-ended, multiple-solution puzzles. At first, they seem like a cool idea. But it's a kind of "on paper" thing.

More solutions means the puzzle is easier, and it's more logical to just try things rather than think about them, because it's more likely that you can just stumble on one of the answers. Take, for instance, Scribblenauts. Its puzzles aren't really puzzles, because you have such a wide variety of solutions that any challenge comes from the game not doing what you told it to do.

[zmally]

When the scripts are being written, how do you test they're funny enough? A lot of companies out there have a test audience, but TellTale obviously revolutionised game developing and have a completely unique cycle, so I can't imagine it would much the same way?

If I were you guys I'd just all sit around a table and discuss it, whether it's funny enough, but I reckon 12 people sat around telling SamNMax jokes you'll all find it funny - how do you test for the "normal" people?

I mean, I assume you still try and target a broad demograph in the endless search for more fans, right?

[GepardenK]

Originally Posted by Rather Dashing

I really dislike the idea of open-ended, multiple-solution puzzles. At first, they seem like a cool idea. But it's a kind of "on paper" thing.

More solutions means the puzzle is easier, and it's more logical to just try things rather than think about them, because it's more likely that you can just stumble on one of the answers. Take, for instance, Scribblenauts. Its puzzles aren't really puzzles, because you have such a wide variety of solutions that any challenge comes from the game not doing what you told it to do.

I see where you're coming from. And yes, there is a lot of pitfalls when doing open ended puzzles.
However when done right it can be very interesting and rewarding for the player simply because gameplay now is based around actually trying to figure out what to do, instead of figuring out how to do something you already know must be done (like opening a sack of flour).

A good example of this done right (not saying Telltale should do it this way) is a game called "return to mysterious island". It was a game with cheesy story, horrible dialogue and lame cutscenes. Still it gained almost a cult-classic status within the hardcore adventuregame communities, and for one reason: Inventory puzzles was actually fun. I mean really fun, the kind of fun where you were actively entertained for hours just staring at the inventory screen (now picture that kind of puzzle solving fun together with a good story and gameworld!). What the game basically did was giving you simple objectives like: repair the bridge, kill snake or find food. Then you would go around collecting literally hundreds of inventory items which all had some kind of use if you could figure out what, most items had several uses. Items could be combined together to make new items like a fishing rod (and there was many ways to make a fishing rod, using different items), and they could be dismembered later if you needed the items for other uses. All items were useful, but far from all were required. This made you actually think about what you where doing, because it was impossible to guess the answer (there was litterally millions of combinations between all the items and hotspots). But most of all, it was simply pure fun to experiment with combining different items and "build" stuff for later use.

Another game doing open ended puzzles was Riven. Here the puzzles solutions themselves where linear, there was only one way to solve a puzzle. But the game itself, and where you got the answers you needed to do the puzzles where exstremely open ended (to the point where it got confusing). This made many people dropp off, but those that did get through all had a different story to tell about how they figured out the puzzles (or should I say puzzle). The puzzle itsef was actually kind of easy, but you had to litteraly understand and "get" the world around you in order to figoure out the solution, not many did. Riven was a very very hard game because of this openess, but it was also very satisfying for those that got through. Not very telltaley material to be honest

But I'm getting off topic here and I'm not saying future telltale games should be exactly like this or that, actually they should not. I'm just saying there is IMO a very interesting and untapped potential in looking into more "open ended" puzzle games. Even for episodic games with a strict linear story

[Avistew]

I have a question.
People here have been talking about language patches. Are you, the telltale team, aware that those do exist (fan-made), and is it with your approval, or do you disapprove?

(PS, Beyond Good & Evil is a French game. Although I guess it's possible the voices were recorded in English at the same time they were recorded in French to reach a broader audience).

[Joop]

Originally Posted by avistew

(PS, Beyond Good & Evil is a French game. Although I guess it's possible the voices were recorded in English at the same time they were recorded in French to reach a broader audience).

The creator, Michel Ancel, and company who made it, Ubisoft, are both located in France.
However, like with most Ubisoft games, they're developed in English, to reach a broader audience. Because of this, English ís the original language of the game.
The Gamecube version in the Netherlands came with the dutch and french version.

[GinnyN]

Probably this is not the place to ask this, but, Who has the brilliant idea of make the narrator black and white (except for the rose)? I LOVED his desing since the teaser page, and now I know I going to see him at least once in every chapter I'm HAPPIER. (It's screaming fan art since day one. Which I don't understand why still I'm not do it *Put on the to do list*)

[Avistew]

Originally Posted by Joop

The creator, Michel Ancel, and company who made it, Ubisoft, are both located in France.
However, like with most Ubisoft games, they're developed in English, to reach a broader audience. Because of this, English ís the original language of the game.
The Gamecube version in the Netherlands came with the dutch and french version.

It's not that I don't believe you, but then why do English-language website credit both the French and English voice actors? (and none of the other language actors). That led me to believe it was done either in French first or with both languages simultaneously (a la Inspector Gadget).

Still, if I was to make a name knowing it would be releasing in both languages, and I worked with a French team, I think we'd be discussing it in French and writing the lines in French, then translating into English. The idea of doing it the other way around just seems weird to me.

[Astro Gnocci]

Originally Posted by GepardenK

Another game doing open ended puzzles was Riven. Here the puzzles solutions themselves where linear, there was only one way to solve a puzzle. But the game itself, and where you got the answers you needed to do the puzzles where exstremely open ended (to the point where it got confusing). This made many people dropp off, but those that did get through all had a different story to tell about how they figured out the puzzles (or should I say puzzle). The puzzle itsef was actually kind of easy, but you had to litteraly understand and "get" the world around you in order to figoure out the solution, not many did. Riven was a very very hard game because of this openess, but it was also very satisfying for those that got through. Not very telltaley material to be honest

I haven't played it in a long while and don't remember it well enough to be sure about it, but didn't Blade Runner work more or less in the same way ?
Although i think it was linked more directly to the actual plot in there than to the puzzle solutions..