Quote:
Originally Posted by Kasper F. Nielsen
What's the reason for not going 2D on something like this? Or atleast 2.5D.
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The reason is no doubt that illustrated backgrounds are too costly and time-consuming for most modern adventure games, particularly ones that are on as swift a schedule as I imagine TMI is. You'll notice that LucasArts never made a game like CMI again, and that's because publishers can't justify throwing millions of dollars and a three year schedule on a graphic adventure game. Adventures don't make the profits of Halo 3, and so their budgets are accordingly smaller. It's just logistics.
That said, it's possible to not look at the situation as one where the glass is half empty and sprung a leak. What TMI lacks in mindblowing visuals it mostly makes up for with an appropriate, appealing style. I don't think the game looks incredible, but I do like it, consider it an improvement over EMI, and recognize that the game isn't out yet. I also suspect, simply given the nature of Telltale's games, that the majority of what will make this game visually impressive can only be seen when the game is in motion. The storytelling through camerawork, for example, tends to be a strong aspect of their products.
Oh, and if you don't already know about it, you'll definitely want to take a look at
Ghost Pirates of Vooju Island, made by Autumn Moon Entertainment (another developer comprised of old LucasArts adventure vets, who also put out
A Vampyre Story). Although it's an original game, the similarities with Monkey Island don't seem slight, and the game has 2D illustrated backgrounds by Bill Tiller (CMI Lead Artist) and looks amazing.
Check out some screenshots. (Before you ask why Autumn Moon can do it and not Telltale, note that Autumn Moon has spent its entire existence struggling to find publishers for its games, whereas Telltale's production processes are the reason it can put out so many quality adventure games in a short amount of time while being able to enjoy what I assume to be some sort of financial stability, which is good both for them and for gamers like us who want adventures to continue to get made. The fact that Telltale has found a way to make adventure games consistently profitable is likely the reason they were able to convince LEC to sign off on a new Monkey Island in the first place after nearly ten years of us clamoring for it!)