Telltale interested in "deeper" franchises (Star Wars, Half-Life, Halo)

[Tjibbbe]

Telltale speculating about it's own future is always fun:

Telltale Games had one hell of a 2012. It released its successful adaptation of The Walking Dead (which GamesBeat named its Game of the Year).

How does the developer plan to follow that up? Well, it sounds like it wants to work on some of the biggest video game and movie franchises in existence.

“Coming from LucasArts, we always felt we could do a great Star Wars story game,” Telltale chief executive officer Dan Connors told Red Bull U.K. in an interview. “We also love the idea of building out a deeper story to a great game franchise — something like Half Life Stories or Halo Stories.”
Of course, the developer has nothing in the works that involves Halo, Half-Life, or Star Wars, but Connors and the rest of the team at Telltale believe they are ready for something of that scale.

“[Dan Connors was] speaking more to our goal of wanting to take on a major gaming franchise someday,” Telltale’s senior vice president of publishing Steve Allison told GamesBeat. “[We want] to build a narrative game series that supports another franchise — as we passionately believe [our game] would not compete with or cannibalize [Halo 4 or the next Half-Life.]“

Allison believes that a Telltale adventure game based on a major gaming or movie franchise would only boost player investment in the series. Especially since the developer’s games are so different from what most of these properties are best known for.

“Will we do this? Yes, we believe we will some time very soon,” said Allison. “But the franchises mentioned are totally speculative and used only as an example to frame the idea.”

So maybe Telltale won’t make a Star Wars, Halo, or Half-Life game, but it’s obviously pursuing something along those lines.

I always thought Star Wars was a good match for Telltale, even though I'm not really a fan of the franchise. Can't really imagine what a Telltale version of Halo or Half-Life would look like though.

Ever since Telltale started flirting with Valve with Poker Night, the Sam & Max items in Team Fortress 2 and the TF2 easter eggs in Devil's Playhouse I quite fancied the idea of a Telltale TF2 side-story. The Team Fortress-comics that Valve publishes fit with Telltale's sense of humour pretty well.

Edit: Forgot to add the source: http://venturebeat.com/2013/01/04/th...alf-life-next/

[coolsome]

It's come full circle...

[ryannumber1gamer]

No offence TTG but while a Star Wars game would be great, Halo and Half Life would be pushing it. There are loads of people on the fourms that are saying they want comedy back in TTG's games. We had 2 serious games in a row and as i said before i have no idea if Fables and King's Quest are serious games. Plus in my opinion Tales of Monkey Island and Sam & Max Season 3 were 2 of TTG's best stories. Monkey Island even got darker in Episode 5 and it finally shows what happens if Guybrush loses and while Lechuck has been shown as kinda silly in some games we see what he can do if Guybrush is beaten. S&M had good plot twists in it. Please TTG we get you want to try out some more serious stories but if Fables is a serious game then we will have had 3 serious games in a row. Even with TWD we had people take over S&M Blog posts to complain about TWD Ep 3, People complaining if a episode is not out exactly a month later, Don't get me wrong there is people who are good and don't mind about episodes delay but still it was extremely annoying when someone tried to take over a blog post about S&M's 25th anniversary and try to conplain about TWD. But my point is while a Star Wars game would be great, a comedy game would be greater.

[GaryCXJk]

I'd say they should try for a Team Fortress 2 story.

[MusicallyInspired]

Touch Star Wars and Halo all you want, but Half-Life has some big shoes to fill in place of Mark Laidlaw. If you think you're great enough to write stories for some of the best games in the industry then why don't you just write your own game?

Sigh...

And the thing is, I'm not that worried about any stories they'd write for these franchises. They obviously wouldn't be as good as the original writers, but I could probably accept it. It's the gameplay that would drive me nuts. I just don't like Telltale's gameplay style.

[mosfet]

Why are you reading these forums if you "don't like Telltale's gameplay style"? No one's forcing you to play them, and you're certainly outside Telltale's target audience.

I really like the idea of a Telltale Half-Life game. They could even take a lighter look at it if they wanted. The original Half-Life was a pretty light game compared to Half-Life 2, and the Portal games take place in the Half-Life universe. I would love to see them bridge the gap between Half-Life and Half-Life 2. Centering the game around a pre-HL2 Eli Vance or Dr. Kleiner would be pretty perfect IMO. Show the events of the Combine taking over and the rebellion being formed. The possibilities are endless, really.

[der_ketzer]

Originally Posted by mosfet

Why are you reading these forums if you "don't like Telltale's gameplay style"? No one's forcing you to play them, and you're certainly outside Telltale's target audience.

He's just like me. Sticking around for the people.
You are new here so I guess you like TTGs new style. Others have been around for quite some time seeing the game appeal for them decline more and more while the audience seems to grow exponentially. I am worried and so are a lot of old users here.
And I still stick around just don't expect to see me in the TWD subforum or the Jurassic Dildo The Movie The QTE subforum.

[corruptbiggins]

There are ways not to be dickish about it though. Just because you don't like something doesn't mean that you should be insulting about it every chance you get.

[der_ketzer]

Originally Posted by corruptbiggins

There are ways not to be dickish about it though. Just because you don't like something doesn't mean that you should be insulting about it every chance you get.

Well I don't want an episodic Half-Life QTE movie thing. And I'm sure a lot of people think the same.

[RAnthonyMahan]

Blech. I've never liked Star Wars too much, so I'd rather Telltale not handle that.

The idea of making an adventure spin-off for a non-adventure series is...interesting, though. Especially since as far as I know there's no precedent for that.

Deus Ex would probably be a good candidate for such a treatment, though. That's probably my favorite setting in video game history. And yeah, Telltale handling the TF2 mercs would be incredible, as Poker Night already proved.

[ryannumber1gamer]

I only wish we would get ether 4 things, Sam & Max Season 4, Tales of Monkey Island 2, Strong Bad Season 2 (It would be a great comeback for Strong Bad), and Wallace & Gromit Season 2. If TTG were to take on a Valve game, I would want it to be Team Fortress 2. It would be great if the story was for example the robots manage to beat Red and Blu but both teams survive. They are forced into hiding while the robots take control. Finally it goes down to them having to use their brains and not their guns to take back control from the robots plus get backstory on each class.

[Diduz]

For God's sake, Telltale.
If you have to handle a famous property, choose Indiana Jones. The last game was abismal, the movie franchise...well, "evaporated" . I just need another decent Indy story.

[Sammy]

I just want Sam and Max season 4 and a second season of Monkey Island.

[Hudomonkey]

Indiana Jones I can see working if done to Telltale's usual standard

Star wars as long not working with prequel and maybe staying in a more Star wars universe not star wars story- as in no Star wars film characters other than maybe a short appearance if they were set at the same time

With Star wars I can see a bounty hunter Character working with point and click and universe as it is similar to a detective or other good point and click professions but I'm not sure about Jedi or QTE events as I feel it does a bit cheapen the experience and in this type of point and click I would rather a more classic feel

I'm also not sure about shooters like Halo or half life as they don't suit point and click gameplay/storytelling
Just my opinion and I'm sure whatever they do they will do it justice

[Hudomonkey]

Originally Posted by Sammy

I just want Sam and Max season 4 and a second season of Monkey Island.

Deffinately seconded though I haven't started Tales yet I'm in the middle of Curse of Monkey Island and I'm looking forward to playing the Telltale season

[Bloody Eugene]

Well, if they choose to go for a big videogame IP, they better improve their engine, or the comparison between the original and the TTG's 8 years old engine would be devastating.
Halo and Half-Life gamers-alike are really demanding on graphics... you would turn them off immediately. And BTW, don't they have to be ready for next-gen console later this year?

BTW, it's not the scale of the project, but how you'll develope it.
Save your money for the tech/QA department.

[RAnthonyMahan]

Originally Posted by Bloody Eugene

Well, if they choose to go for a big videogame IP, they better improve their engine, or the comparison between the original and the TTG's 8 years old engine would be devastating.
Halo and Half-Life gamers-alike are really demanding on graphics... you would turn them off immediately. And BTW, don't they have to be ready for next-gen console later this year?

BTW, it's not the scale of the project, but how you'll develope it. Save your money for the tech department.

The Telltale Tool and Source are the same age, for what it's worth.

[thesporkman]

Originally Posted by RAnthonyMahan

The idea of making an adventure spin-off for a non-adventure series is...interesting, though. Especially since as far as I know there's no precedent for that.

Well, there was that unreleased Warcraft adventure game.

[Vainamoinen]

The Star Wars universe is getting crowded. Frankly, it's been enough. I might like the "new" sequels if they try to do something really new (like: forget about the empire entirely, forget about the Jedi academy crap, forget about R2D2 and C3PO and tell a decent story for once); but even more games?! We've had Star Wars games for 30 years now. EVERYONE can do a Star Wars game. EVERY STUDIO "is ready" for a Star Wars game. This franchise has been killed with so many incredibly bad books, movies and games, how could you NOT be ready to make a Star Wars game? How could it go MORE wrong than what is already there, ready to be forgotten?

[ryannumber1gamer]

....Can it really get more worse than Star Wars Kinect?