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Will we ever see S&M Freelance Police

Obsolete CriticObsolete Critic
edited February 2010 in Sam & Max
Well, since most of the team from this unreleased game is on staff. I personally would like to see it, what it is, what it would have been. Could it be possibly released as Freeware? Will Lucasarts make some kind of Agreement? I would like to know. I LOVE Sam and Max, I am craving for another game (I still have to wait for a retail release or buy another debit card for STEAM, which doesn't always work).
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Comments

  • DetectiveDetective
    edited August 2009
    Personally, I think people just need to let it go.

    Yeah, it looked awesome and everything, but the reality is that it was canceled. Obviously LucasArts had a reason for doing so, even if it was poorly explained and ridiculous. Plus they already handed over the rights to Sam and Max to TTG, so I don't see how the game seeing the light of day would be possible.

    TTG's already revived the franchise with Season 1 and Season 2 and they're working on Season 3. What more could you ask for?
  • SHODANFreemanSHODANFreeman
    edited August 2009
    Detective wrote: »
    Personally, I think people just need to let it go.

    Yeah, it looked awesome and everything, but the reality is that it was canceled. Obviously LucasArts had a reason for doing so, even if it was poorly explained and ridiculous. Plus they already handed over the rights to Sam and Max to TTG, so I don't see how the game seeing the light of day would be possible.

    TTG's already revived the franchise with Season 1 and Season 2 and they're working on Season 3. What more could you ask for?

    They didn't "hand over" the rights, they let their access to the rights expire, they reverted to Steve's ownership, and he made a deal with TTG.
  • DetectiveDetective
    edited August 2009
    Pale Man wrote: »
    They didn't "hand over" the rights, they let their access to the rights expire, they reverted to Steve's ownership, and he made a deal with TTG.

    Sorry about that. I'm not too clear on all the licensing issues and whatnot.
  • LogicDeLuxeLogicDeLuxe
    edited August 2009
    Jutia wrote: »
    Could it be possibly released as Freeware?
    That was a good one.:D
  • Sausy GibbonSausy Gibbon
    edited August 2009
    I think most of the ideas form Freelance Police were put Season One. On the Wiki it said FP had several cases the duo solve and they are all interweaved with a main story line. And if you look at the few screenshots of the office and street they look very simalar to that of the Telltale series.
  • S@breS@bre
    edited August 2009
    Aye, the similar story structure following six separate but intertwined cases from Freelance Police was fully realised in episodic form for Save the World, and series staples such as the office are similar, but those simularities end there. They couldn't make Save the World be Freelance Police.
    Gamasutra wrote:
    Interviewer: Do you know how much of that original treatment [for Freelance Police] carried over, if at all?

    Grossman: Oh, essentially none of it. I mean, we couldn't really do the same stuff, we couldn't use any of the assets, and using the design stuff would have been questionable too. Also I, as the lead designer, I was not familiar with that. I wasn't there working on that. So we basically just started over. And we also wanted the treatment to be different. This, coming from Steve himself, he wanted it to be a little more gritty, like the comics. The Lucasarts treatments were always a little more polished up, and we wanted to get a little bit more of that dirt on the streets, and the paper cups and people being mean and nasty. There's a lot of that in the comics, and it doesn't come off in the Lucasarts games.

    Source
  • Harald BHarald B
    edited August 2009
    That last remark is interesting. I get the impression that most people here consider Hit the Road (and what can be seen of Freelance Police) to be significantly grittier than Season One, so they seem to have dropped the ball on that one.
  • Sausy GibbonSausy Gibbon
    edited August 2009
    Grossman lied, I never saw one paper cup in Season One.
  • lattsamlattsam
    edited August 2009
    Methinks he was forced to say that at gunpoint by a selfish LucasArts employee who wanted Telltale to make Sam and Max HIS way, and HIS way only.

    I could be wrong, though...
  • Rather DashingRather Dashing
    edited August 2009
    I think Season One is "grittier" than Hit the Road, in the same way that two things that really aren't that gritty at all can be compared in terms of "grittyness".
  • City Of DelusionCity Of Delusion
    edited September 2009
    So, we're back to "almost certainly not", although considering ToMI, a 3D remake by Telltale or LucasArts under the guidence of Telltale is probably the most likely way.
  • S@breS@bre
    edited September 2009
    You never know, "Season Three: Sam & Max Freelance Police" is a possibility. A stupidly low probability, but a possibility...
  • lattsamlattsam
    edited September 2009
    City Of Delusion wrote: »
    So, we're back to "almost certainly not", although considering ToMI, a 3D remake by Telltale or LucasArts under the guidence of Telltale is probably the most likely way.

    Or they could pull a Mother 3 on us and remake the game entirely with 2D sprites and backgrounds (possibly using Adventure Game Studio). You know, return the series to its roots for a bit?
  • ShwooShwoo
    edited September 2009
    What do you mean by "pull a Mother 3"? Mother 3 is a GBA game, it was bound by the limitations of the hardware.
  • City Of DelusionCity Of Delusion
    edited September 2009
    Shwoo wrote: »
    What do you mean by "pull a Mother 3"? Mother 3 is a GBA game, it was bound by the limitations of the hardware.

    Plus there was never a 3D Mother/EarthBound that made it to release, I think. "Pulling a Mother 3" would be announcing Season 3, and then reveal it's really Freelance Police split up into episodes, in 2D, with a DSiWare version.
  • Rather DashingRather Dashing
    edited September 2009
    All the same:

    Freelance Police is unfinished, dated, and doesn't fit with the Telltale interpretation of the characters. The best I can hope for in terms of Freelance Police is to have more parts of the unfinished game get released as public information or to have aspects used with LucasArts permission in a new Season. These both sound fairly unlikely to me.
  • SS the Free!SS the Free!
    edited September 2009
    City Of Delusion wrote: »
    Plus there was never a 3D Mother/EarthBound that made it to release, I think. "Pulling a Mother 3" would be announcing Season 3, and then reveal it's really Freelance Police split up into episodes, in 2D, with a DSiWare version.
    Mother 3 was originaly Earthbound 64. -_-
  • EvanEvan
    edited September 2009
    I was never a fan of the 3D animation style. It just looked too lifelike. However, I was - and still are - hoping for Plunge through Space. I know it will probably never happen, but it would have been awesome, nonetheless.
  • ChuckChuck
    edited September 2009
    Evan wrote: »
    I was never a fan of the 3D animation style. It just looked too lifelike. However, I was - and still are - hoping for Plunge through Space. I know it will probably never happen, but it would have been awesome, nonetheless.
    That one's extremely unlikely as a game; it never really made it past the pitch and concept art stage.
  • Sausy GibbonSausy Gibbon
    edited September 2009
    Steve Purcell should write a comic based on Plunge through Space. I think it was originally a story by him that he planned to make into a comic.

    Also, it would be great if Lucusarts would publish the script for Freelance Police.
  • lattsamlattsam
    edited September 2009
    And do you know what would be even more great? If both of the above turned into games that I can actually play!
    ;)
  • IcedhopeIcedhope
    edited September 2009
    lattsam wrote: »
    And do you know what would be even more great? If both of the above turned into games that I can actually play!
    ;)

    Agreed, but we now we have a world with sam and max in it, let's just be happy for what we have before it goes into hiatus for another 10 or so years.
  • Sausy GibbonSausy Gibbon
    edited September 2009
    lattsam wrote: »
    And do you know what would be even more great? If both of the above turned into games that I can actually play!
    ;)

    Realy I'd prefer a comic over a game.
  • thatdude98thatdude98
    edited September 2009
    I think season three is enough for us, isn't it?
  • IcedhopeIcedhope
    edited November 2009
    thatdude98 wrote: »
    I think season three is enough for us, isn't it?

    Never, there will be never enough Sam&Max!
  • LaokinLaokin
    edited November 2009
    Rather Dashing wrote: »
    I think Season One is "grittier" than Hit the Road, in the same way that two things that really aren't that gritty at all can be compared in terms of "grittyness".

    Yeah, because ya know... Max didn't turn a cat on the street inside out, There wasn't a pool of blood on the curb, bars on the windows at the pawn shop.... Stretching the unknown villains lower lip over the back of his head....

    The ticking bomb that blew up a bus full of innocent people..... the well placed cusses, the dark and twisted areas like the vortex. What about the cone of tragedy with the pocket knives. It had a dirty pallet. Everything in TTG's version was like squeaky clean. Also, they reused boscoe to death.... Every episode was the same format... Find large amount of money, give it to boscoe, use his gadget in the last puzzle, episode over. I really have to say I appreciate them bringing Sam n Max back, but they didn't do it very well at all. Season 2 was better I guess.... but still lacked pretty much everything that made HTR so classic. Oh and Sam's voice is horrible. Total drag, sounds like he's tone def and lacks complete emotion. HTR talkie edition had a much superior cast of voice talent, and better sounding audio... and it was made in 94.

    HTR was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay superior to both seasons by TTG. TTG gave SnM the saturday morning cartoon treatment. Adding in other permanent characters that are so annoying an unlikable like the soda poppers. Really seemed like it was made for kids, not adults like HtR.

    Here is to hoping that season 3 will be more structured like TOMI. It's okay to have some supporting characters... but make them like able and don't over use them. Less Boscoe and Sybil, no soda poppers and more Flint Paper please. Leave out the whack jobs like hugh bliss.

    With this said, I am highly awaiting Season 3 hoping it tries out a new format... like a real Sam n Max game broken up into chapters instead of self contained episodes that only have small overtones to connect each episode.

    I think some people need to go back and play Hit the Road. Freelance police looked infinitely better than the TTG version... I also hate the new desoto.
  • Harald BHarald B
    edited November 2009
    Laokin wrote: »
    Yeah, because ya know... Max didn't turn a cat on the street inside out, There wasn't a pool of blood on the curb, bars on the windows at the pawn shop.... Stretching the unknown villains lower lip over the back of his head....
    The problem with that is that the good examples are all early. In my opinion once you leave that street the grittiness of Hit the Road drops like a brick. The Telltale series could certainly use improvement in this regard, but I don't think Hit the Road does it much better once you leave the street behind.
  • GinnyNGinnyN
    edited November 2009
    Am I the only one who plays the games for the sillyness and not for the grittyness?

    I like the games because they are silly. I like the cartoon too because they are silly. Even the comics are silly. If any one is for "adults" is just because they add all kind of sillyness (Including sadistics ones).

    If the thing make me laugh, I'm happy. It's doing the job, that it! Point! Take it easy!
  • GinnyNGinnyN
    edited November 2009
    (Uff... double post. My bad T_T)
  • IcedhopeIcedhope
    edited November 2009
    GinnyN wrote: »
    Am I the only one who plays the games for the sillyness and not for the grittyness?

    I like the games because they are silly. I like the cartoon too because they are silly. Even the comics are silly. If any one is for "adults" is just because they add all kind of sillyness (Including sadistics ones).

    If the thing make me laugh, I'm happy. It's doing the job, that it! Point! Take it easy!

    Nope, I play it because it's Sam&Max, and the humor. Like why I read Sam&Max for the humor.
  • GinnyNGinnyN
    edited November 2009
    Icedhope wrote: »
    Nope, I play it because it's Sam&Max, and the humor. Like why I read Sam&Max for the humor.

    I guess I used the wrong word.

    But, ok. At the end we're agree =P
  • lattsamlattsam
    edited November 2009
    Icedhope wrote: »
    Never, there will be never enough Sam&Max!

    Hallelujah!
  • lattsamlattsam
    edited November 2009
    Laokin wrote: »
    Yeah, because ya know... Max didn't turn a cat on the street inside out, There wasn't a pool of blood on the curb, bars on the windows at the pawn shop.... Stretching the unknown villains lower lip over the back of his head....

    The ticking bomb that blew up a bus full of innocent people..... the well placed cusses, the dark and twisted areas like the vortex. What about the cone of tragedy with the pocket knives. It had a dirty pallet. Everything in TTG's version was like squeaky clean. Also, they reused boscoe to death.... Every episode was the same format... Find large amount of money, give it to boscoe, use his gadget in the last puzzle, episode over. I really have to say I appreciate them bringing Sam n Max back, but they didn't do it very well at all. Season 2 was better I guess.... but still lacked pretty much everything that made HTR so classic. Oh and Sam's voice is horrible. Total drag, sounds like he's tone def and lacks complete emotion. HTR talkie edition had a much superior cast of voice talent, and better sounding audio... and it was made in 94.

    HTR was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay superior to both seasons by TTG. TTG gave SnM the saturday morning cartoon treatment. Adding in other permanent characters that are so annoying an unlikable like the soda poppers. Really seemed like it was made for kids, not adults like HtR.

    Here is to hoping that season 3 will be more structured like TOMI. It's okay to have some supporting characters... but make them like able and don't over use them. Less Boscoe and Sybil, no soda poppers and more Flint Paper please. Leave out the whack jobs like hugh bliss.

    With this said, I am highly awaiting Season 3 hoping it tries out a new format... like a real Sam n Max game broken up into chapters instead of self contained episodes that only have small overtones to connect each episode.

    I think some people need to go back and play Hit the Road. Freelance police looked infinitely better than the TTG version... I also hate the new desoto.

    Now if only Hit the Road would be rereleased here... Lucasarts, are you reading all this?
  • Rather DashingRather Dashing
    edited November 2009
    Laokin wrote: »
    Yeah, because ya know... Max didn't turn a cat on the street inside out, There wasn't a pool of blood on the curb, bars on the windows at the pawn shop.... Stretching the unknown villains lower lip over the back of his head....
    All pulled off in a very cartoony fashion. It was a cartoon's imperfect facsimile of a noir setting, with ridiculous cartoon antics cranked up to 100. There's nothing "gritty" about these things, unless all you've seen in your life is sterilized and childish entertainment.
    The ticking bomb that blew up a bus full of innocent people.....
    Which, by the way, you don't see. And it's played off in a joking fashion. Just as gritty: The SpongeBob SquarePants "My Leg!" fish.
    the well placed cusses, the dark and twisted areas like the vortex. What about the cone of tragedy with the pocket knives.
    I fail to see how that's anything but cartoon antics, the likes of which we'd see commonly in Looney Tunes.
    It had a dirty pallet. Everything in TTG's version was like squeaky clean. Also, they reused boscoe to death.... Every episode was the same format... Find large amount of money, give it to boscoe, use his gadget in the last puzzle, episode over. I really have to say I appreciate them bringing Sam n Max back, but they didn't do it very well at all. Season 2 was better I guess.... but still lacked pretty much everything that made HTR so classic.
    I'm confused. Other than being very loosely based off a noir-esque world, Hit the Road is every bit as childish as your average cartoon short from the 1920s.
    Oh and Sam's voice is horrible. Total drag, sounds like he's tone def and lacks complete emotion. HTR talkie edition had a much superior cast of voice talent, and better sounding audio... and it was made in 94.
    I suppose it's all subjective here, because there definitely is a difference in voice casting. But I prefer the new voices. They took some getting used to, mind you, but the voices pull off that "detective duo" while keeping that irreverent attitude of the comics and Hit the Road. I think that the Telltale game is the closet to emulating what we got in the comics.
    HTR was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay superior to both seasons by TTG. TTG gave SnM the saturday morning cartoon treatment. Adding in other permanent characters that are so annoying an unlikable like the soda poppers.
    I'm pretty sure the saturday morning cartoon is what gave it the saturday morning cartoon treatment. :P
    Really seemed like it was made for kids, not adults like HtR.
    I played Hit the Road when I was five. Sam and Max aren't inherently "mature". We're not talking about a product like Citizen Kane, Un Chien Andalou, or Der Untergang. We're talking about a dog and rabbit that run around spewing one-liners, running around a wacky and skewed cartoonified noir setting, with irreverence embraced and caution tossed to the wind. Maybe I'm taking "gritty" too literally, but your first few points make me think that you're confusing what would be rated "mature content" by the ESRB with what is actually used for serious, adult entertainment. The great thing about being an adult is that you can enjoy light and stupid entertainment if you want to. It's a privilege that a children's society doesn't have, due to a constant desire to grow up.
    Here is to hoping that season 3 will be more structured like TOMI. It's okay to have some supporting characters... but make them like able and don't over use them. Less Boscoe and Sybil, no soda poppers and more Flint Paper please. Leave out the whack jobs like hugh bliss.
    I liked the whole supporting cast, but that's just me. I liked the structure, but I like sitcoms, so what do I know?
    With this said, I am highly awaiting Season 3 hoping it tries out a new format... like a real Sam n Max game broken up into chapters instead of self contained episodes that only have small overtones to connect each episode.
    The Season One and Two structure feels like it works better, though. If you read the comics, they're all very short and self-contained cases that have little to no continuity. Considering the source material is the comics, not Hit the Road, I think the pacing is warranted.
    I think some people need to go back and play Hit the Road.
    I did earlier this year. Great game, great art, great humor. Not perfect, and not as good as Telltale's Season Two. But it definitely holds up after all these years, and that's pretty admirable. :)
    Freelance police looked infinitely better than the TTG version... I also hate the new desoto.
    Really? I was pretty worried and ambivalent about everything I heard about Freelance Police before it came out. And anyway, it's all moot, as the whole project was scrapped. We have no idea how good that would have been. We can imagine it as the worst or greatest thing in the world, but that doesn't change that it was more or less never made. Also, the street looked way cleaner in the Freelance Police ads.
  • lattsamlattsam
    edited November 2009
    Oh, give it a rest, Rather Dashing. You're just discouraging people from wanting that game.

    Seriously, I hope Lucasarts uncancels that game, hopefully before PAX East!
  • RobDRobD
    edited November 2009
    lattsam wrote: »
    Oh, give it a rest, Rather Dashing. You're just discouraging people from wanting that game.

    Seriously, I hope Lucasarts uncancels that game, hopefully before PAX East!

    You mean the game that actually became Sam & Max Season 1? Just look at some of the screenshots - even the office has the same design, the theme was hypnotic children's toys (some more of the Steve's concept art for that can also be seen in The Effigy Mound).

    Let it go, because firstly being clingy is never attractive, and secondly and more importantly the game has pretty much already been released about 3 or 4 years ago.:rolleyes:
  • lattsamlattsam
    edited November 2009
    RobD wrote: »
    You mean the game that actually became Sam & Max Season 1? Just look at some of the screenshots - even the office has the same design, the theme was hypnotic children's toys (some more of the Steve's concept art for that can also be seen in The Effigy Mound).

    Let it go, because firstly being clingy is never attractive, and secondly and more importantly the game has pretty much already been released about 3 or 4 years ago.:rolleyes:

    LA is so clingy with the Freelance Police source code.
  • AshtonAshton
    edited November 2009
    Evan wrote: »
    I was never a fan of the 3D animation style. It just looked too lifelike.

    I hear you, though personally I felt it was too in-between. it looked bot very realistic and very fake at the same time almost like trying to take a RL image and cell-shade it. It's good and its trying to hard to be real but you can tell it's fake.
  • SHODANFreemanSHODANFreeman
    edited November 2009
    lattsam wrote: »
    LA is so clingy with the Freelance Police source code.

    Do you not realize that the majority of people who worked on Freelance Police also worked on Season One?
  • Brian, Mighty PirateBrian, Mighty Pirate
    edited November 2009
    if you want to know what it would have been like, you should watch the unsceen clips on youtube from freelance police. sorry if these have been posted already. i especially love the second one
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SY65fu7EsCw&feature=channel
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoDpeQmTUds&feature=channel
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ek03mP1k-cc&feature=channel
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_GZIRieVZw&feature=channel
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