Will it have the same stearing as Monkey Island?

[donut]

Or as the first Sam'n'Max.

Reason why i ask:
If it is the Monkey Island user interface it will be a reason for me not to buy it. Preordering Monky Island was one of my biggest mistakes. (not for the story, i just dislike the user interface so much, that i haven't played through the first episode. (Still like playing adventures from couch to pc on tv, the steering on MI was hell for my setup.)

[Clord]

chances are that when you buy the PC game, controls are made for it, unless controller is specifically supported.

Speaking of good controller.
http://reviews.logitech.com/7061/264/reviews.htm

[Vainamoinen]

Hello donut,

you'd like to know whether this will be "pure" point and click, or also employs WSAD controls ("controls" is the word you mean with "stearing", I think - are you German, by any chance?).

If you can't accept controls like in Tales of Monkey Island, "Back to the Future" is probably nothing for you. It's very, very likely that the same controls are used.

[jp-30]

Yeah, you can learn to use the mouse to control the player if you want to use a PC hooked up to a big screen, or maybe wait and see which console-style PC controllers are supported and buy one of those.

[Strayth]

You realize that most people like to play adventure games because it's like playing "a movie".

Hard to deny that fact on a movie-based game...

I don't know about you, but I would personally HATE to see this horrible stearing circle around the character that has absolutely nothing to do here while using the mouse only.

Moreover, using WASD for adventure games that are thought as point and click is just ... Well, tiring. I loved Monkey Island but how many times did I actually think "Why can't we just click where we want to go ?! There's like 3 actual dynamic backgrounds in the whole game ..."

It wasn't ruining the overall experience for me, but it was definitely annoying... Just propose both PLEASE...

I was forced to play with the joystick of my joypad (which wasn't even working normally...) to get a decent gameplay...

[monkeymovies]

Well the reason MI didn't use Point+Click was so that they could make the games more cinematic and they don't have to worry about showing the ground for you to click on. The click & drag helped with that, though as you say, it can be played with WASD as well.

Sam & Max 3 was pretty much the same reason, except that it was Telltale's first game for PS3, and it seemed like the game was modelled with PS3 in the front of their minds (for instance, there was a thumbstick on the screen when moving characters around), then using the PC as a counterpart. I'd be fine with a similar interface to these games (I actually found the click & drag in MI better than the click & drag in Sam & Max), as long as we can do without the PS3 pushing this time (thumbstick, etc).

[VastGirth]

I love telltale's games, but hate hate hate the godawful controls used in Tales and the latest SM.

I know they only use because it works better on joypads, so hopfully as BTTF is PC/ipad and wii only (to start with at least) they will go back to the far superior control method used in their earlier games.

[Chyron8472]

omg... *WHIIIIIINE*

"waaah! I want genuine point and click! If I don't get it, I'll be so pissed!!1"

-.-


Hasn't Telltale, not to mention myself and several other people, explained at least a dozen times already why a point-and-click interface makes it hard to produce monthly-released episodic games? *sigh.* I'll say it again. With point-and-click, hotspots must be used to tell the character where to walk when you click on the screen. With 3D games in which the camera's perspective has the potential of being low to the ground and a path the character can walk down is directly away from the camera, it is hard to determine exactly where you want him to stop when you click on the 3-dimensional space above that path. This also applies if the camera/foreground is continually moving during gameplay (eg. Guybrush's ship bobbing up and down and moving around at the start of ToMI.) Also, if the developer changes the camera's position/perspective during production, the hotspots for said camera angle must be completely reworked and tested again. Sure, with matte backgrounds and permanently fixed camera angles there might not be as much of an issue, but Telltale doesn't do this.

Also, WTH with people saying that the controls in Sam&Max TDP sucked?! Ridiculous. I admit that for Click&Drag I prefer the appearance of a GameCube-style analog stick appearing where I clicked on the screen (a la S&M:TDP) instead of a steering ring appearing around the character (a la ToMI), but I chalk that up to ToMI being TTG's first attempt at a C&D interface so it would follow that they would improve it over time.


Get over it already, people. Sheesh.

[Strayth]

Get over it already, people. Sheesh.

Okay so, do you think, it's a genuine question, we would complain if we could do that ?

Are we forced to love everything and never talk about what we don't like ?

Do you think if we could "decide" that isn't a problem and make the experience much more enjoyable for us, we wouldn't do it ?

Nah cauz I don't really understand what you're trying to get at.

If I remember, the first Sam and Max was pretty good at doing what we want ...

Anyway, even if it's not possible anymore, that doesn't mean there's only ONE solution (that obviously doesn't please everybody huh). We have the right to say we don't like it, so maybe one day, they'll find something else.

I mean, even with a joypad it's not fun, having to "click" on things with a joypad is horrendous, so is having to use a mouse stearing control...

So if they're really sticking to the "playstation" thingy, at least make it a real adventure game that is playable perfectly with a joypad. Make the puzzles more about figuring them out rather than just picking items...

[Chyron8472]

I'm saying that people are whining about not liking change and are not taking the time to understand why Telltale is using WASD + Click&Drag instead of Point&Click.

They've already said numerous times how much easier it is on them to not have to rework hotspots when they change camera angles, as well they are much more free to use cinematic-style camera angles that don't play nice with Point&Click.

You don't have to like it, but you ought to take the time to understand it. Also, I might say that for someone to never even finish Chapter 1 of ToMI just because they can't abide change is rather irritating. If you're going to complain about how the game sucks based solely on the interface, at least play the game through long enough to allow yourself time to get used to them.


Click&Drag is not that terrible. It takes some getting used to, sure, but it certainly doesn't suck rocks like some people say. I admit to personally avoid using WASD controls for adventure games whenever possible, but this is because they remind me of EMI, as EMI uses WASD (and EMI is a pile of dump compared to CMI and ToMI.) All this means for me though is that I always use Click&Drag over WASD when given the choice.

[VastGirth]

I fully understand the reasons they have given. I still believe the main one by far is that it works better on joypads, which i can see makes sense for telltale from a business perspective.

But that doesn't mean i think its right (or better). I have played all through Tales and SM3 and right up the end i was still having sam run into walls, forgetting and trying to click to make him walk places and generally having finding it a pain to get around. Maybe its just me but i find it completely unintuitive.

Don't get me wrong, the other aspects of the game more than make up for this and i fully intend to carry on being a telltale customer. I just wish they could work out some way of restoring proper point and click controls in addition to what they have already.

[Strayth]

Well, I DO understand it.

That's why I forgive them. And that's why, even if I really hate it I really loved Tales of MI (because of the story, characters, music, puzzles... though character models were over used and puzzles mechanic too). It was really incredible. I'm sure BTTF will be too.

That doesn't mean the controls aren't, FOR ME (and some people), really annoying.

I mean they make incredible adventure games, and yet they probably have the worst controls ever for the kind. (Gosh when I played Runaway 3 after Tales of MI It felt way too good to be normal)

So in my opinion, maybe they should just get rid of the "click" and just make the items and characters to talk to more easy to select with a joypad. I think the problem is that it's not really a point and click and it's not really an "action" game, they should just pick one cauz it's getting frustrating.

That doesn't mean it ruins the game, but it just drags down the whole experience a little bit.

Nothing major, but still.

[Chyron8472]

Originally Posted by VastGirth

I just wish they could work out some way of restoring proper point and click controls in addition to what they have already.

Valid point. It's not this that I get annoyed at. It's people like donut who say that ToMI sucks based solely on the interface when he hasn't even played long enough to be objective about it.

I agree that Point&Click would be nice to have. However, since Telltale's current system of developing games only gives them a month or so of development time between episodes, I'm not sure they can afford to take the time necessary to make Point&Click work properly without sacrificing spending time on something else (which I agree is very unfortunate for us.) If they weren't under a time constraint I could see them being able to do it properly.