Q&A With the Design Team

[Chuck]

Originally Posted by akajackfrost

Was The Devil's Playhouse title chosen as an homage to the show that originally gave start to Rod Sterling's Twilight Zone, Desilu Playhouse? I hope it is.

Then it is!

Well, close, anyway. We were trying to get the feel of the old anthology series like Twilight Zone and Night Gallery, but the closest one I knew of was a show called Playhouse 90. How exactly that title fits into the season, you'll have to play the games to see.

Originally Posted by Hassat Hunter

Hmmm, and you don't record the mimications of the actor?

I know that when making animated movies, they generally look at that stuff in order to make the characters on screen mimic the characteristics of the voice actor at that time... or make it easier to convey the attached emotion by looking at the experssions and features of the actor.

Motion capture is getting more common in games, and there are plenty of studios who use it like you describe. It's still too time- space- and labor-intensive for episodic adventure games from a smaller studio, though. All our stuff is animated "by hand."

Also I'm pretty sure you made up the word "mimications."

Originally Posted by Pak-Man

When Max was elected president waaay back in 104. was it always the intention to keep him president for as long as you have, or was that a puzzle solution that grew its own legs?

I don't think it was intended to last past 104, actually. But it kept turning out to be useful to the story for one reason or another if Max was still in office.

Originally Posted by borgtrek7

have you ever consiserd making a doctor who game{from bbc a tv program] it is a good show no humor but fun also in the preview there was a robor who said" where are youre wepons" is it a hal like thing { from 2001 space oddesy}

There are several people in the studio who are fans of Doctor Who, so I doubt anybody would be opposed to doing a Doctor Who game if the opportunity came up. And the references from the game and the trailer are all over the place, and HAL 9000 will keep popping up in one form or another.

[Hassat Hunter]

Originally Posted by Chuck

Motion capture is getting more common in games, and there are plenty of studios who use it like you describe. It's still too time- space- and labor-intensive for episodic adventure games from a smaller studio, though. All our stuff is animated "by hand."

For facial expressions too? I know for body animation, Fahrenheit used it very nicely for example. I guess I should play Heavy Rain to see, but it's a PS3 exclusive still.

And by hand ain't bad or anything. Just wondering if they used a tape of the voiceactors to add specific gestures and stuff they made up during it, that otherwise would never be imagined by the animator to add, but add to the whole.
Animated movie featuretes always praise how that helped them all after all...

Also I'm pretty sure you made up the word "mimications."

I probably have .

[Fury]

Who was the idiot who thought it would be a good idea to release for Ipad first?

[Jake]

Originally Posted by Fury

Who was the idiot who thought it would be a good idea to release for Ipad first?

I think you first suggested it in a thread back in 2007. Weird, huh, the way things work out?

[Fury]

Originally Posted by Jake

I think you first suggested it in a thread back in 2007. Weird, huh, the way things work out?

Oh god.

I remember that post.

What was I thinking?!?

[Nojh]

Originally Posted by Fury

Oh god.

I remember that post.

What was I thinking?!?

Okay that exchange was hilarious. You both get tons of points for that.

[Nojh]

Originally Posted by Will

To be fair, the opportunity [Sam 'n Max for the iPad] didn't present itself until after we had already started pre-orders, and we couldn't just come out and tell everyone about it because we were contractually obliged not to.

In fact, 90% of the studio didn't even know about it until yesterday. It's been kept under extreme lock and key at Apple's bequest. I still haven't even seen the sucker, and I've got my hands in a bit of everything around here.

(Copied from http://www.telltalegames.com/forums/...t=15844&page=2)

That is actually very interesting to learn. So does that mean the Telltale engine is easily ported to the iPad or did you guys just steal one or two programmers and locked them away in a bathroom with an iPad SDK manual, throw in some occasional soy kaf and something inflatable and get out some killer code in record time?

Are you guys allowed to answer questions about developing the game for the iPad now that the news is broke?

[[TTG] Yare]

Originally Posted by Fury

Who was the idiot who thought it would be a good idea to release for Ipad first?

I'm interested in hearing on what actual, measurable criteria this person would be judged as an idiot.

[corruptbiggins]

I'd be interested in knowing what compromises, if any, had to be made to make it runnable on the iPad.

[Will]

Originally Posted by Nojh

(Copied from http://www.telltalegames.com/forums/...t=15844&page=2)

That is actually very interesting to learn. So does that mean the Telltale engine is easily ported to the iPad or did you guys just steal one or two programmers and locked them away in a bathroom with an iPad SDK manual, throw in some occasional soy kaf and something inflatable and get out some killer code in record time?

Are you guys allowed to answer questions about developing the game for the iPad now that the news is broke?

All of our core engineers happen to be in one room together in the back. So we just papered over the windows and no one was allowed in that back room. We all knew that a big secret project was going on, just not what it was.

[Jake]

Originally Posted by Nojh

(Copied from http://www.telltalegames.com/forums/...t=15844&page=2)

That is actually very interesting to learn. So does that mean the Telltale engine is easily ported to the iPad or did you guys just steal one or two programmers and locked them away in a bathroom with an iPad SDK manual, throw in some occasional soy kaf and something inflatable and get out some killer code in record time?

Are you guys allowed to answer questions about developing the game for the iPad now that the news is broke?

It wasn't two guys locked in a bathroom, it was three guys locked in a small office in the back. So you were pretty close!

Originally Posted by corruptbiggins

I'd be interested in knowing what compromises, if any, had to be made to make it runnable on the iPad.

The game, content-wise, is identical to its PC/PS3 counterparts. Same puzzles, dialog, core art. The interface got a decently-sized makeover so that it is touch-friendly (and works at the iPad's different aspect ratios and orientations), the same way we clean up the interface to work with a PS3 controller instead of a keyboard, or whatever else. So, at it's heart it is the same core engine and the same game scripts running. The iPad can't match a PS3 or PC for raw power, so the textures and models are often a bit lower resolution, and some of the full screen effects (like color tinting and glow/bloom) are reduced or removed. Fortunately, the iPad has a pretty high pixel density -- the pixels are pretty tiny! -- and runs at 1024x768, so the game still looks very crisp and nice even with a few of the PC's details missing. We think it's pretty impressive and fun to play the game in its full 3D, full voice and music glory, on such a weird slim device like the iPad.

[corruptbiggins]

That is quite impressive, and better that I would have expected.

[Silverwolfpet]

Hey everybody!!

I don't really have any questions.. I'm just taking this as an opportunity to tell you again that you are awesome! Every one of you! ...except for Majus. He constantly refuses to send me american food via mail. The nerve!!
Keep up the brilliant work!

[Irishmile]

whats your address Silverwolfpet I will send you candy... and you do not even have to get into a creepy van to get it.... BONUS

[Tjibbbe]

Wow, didn't see this coming at all. I would love to be able to play the Ipad-version some day! Congratulations!

One question - I noticed on the screenshots that the inventory is the old cardboard box viewed from above, and in the GiantBomb QuickLook of the PS3-version the box was missing. Are there more menu-changes like this between the different versions?

Edit: this is the screenshot I was talking about:

[puzzlebox]

Are you able to tell us whether TTG approached Apple, or Apple approached TTG? I'm curious.

Well done by the way to your programmer slaves in the back room the guys who got it working so quickly on something they'd (presumably) never programmed for before.

[thatdude98]

Hey guys, I have some questions: (and no, they aren't about the iPad. )

How does it feel to revisit Sam and Max again?
Do you think you can top season 2?
Will Bluster Blaster make a return?
Can I have a cookie?

[Irishmile]

So I am assuming TTG has their hands on an iPad.... is it cool?

[Silverwolfpet]

Originally Posted by Irishmile

whats your address Silverwolfpet I will send you candy... and you do not even have to get into a creepy van to get it.... BONUS

Yeah, right! That's what the nice people in the alley said, and after I gave them my address, they stole my stuff. They DID leave candy though... so they were half-nice, I guess.

[Icedhope]

Originally Posted by Silverwolfpet

Yeah, right! That's what the nice people in the alley said, and after I gave them my address, they stole my stuff. They DID leave candy though... so they were half-nice, I guess.

What the hell are you talking about I sent you a Mcrib a week ago, and I sent you those awesome Jalepeno Poppers..now I know my american food isn't good for you, I'm hurt...Ooooh! I found A NICKEL!