New Telltale games to be announced this autumn

edited September 2009 in General Chat
From VG247:
Adventure specialist Telltale is gearing up to announce new titles “around October,” head honcho Dan Connors has told VG247 in a phone interview, and it sounds as though the studio - known for its episodic comedy titles, such as Sam & Max - is about to get more serious.
“Yes, probably in the next few months,” said Connor on the subject of when we’re going to see new Telltale series announced.
“I think there’ll be some combination of things. I think we’ll be sticking with some of the franchises we’ve worked with, and we’ll be announcing some new franchises, probably in some new genres as well, not just comedy.”
Connor went on to say that audiences had allied with TV shows such as Sopranos, True Blood and Lost thanks to their “drama” and “psychological connection,” and added that games like Quantic Dream’s Heavy Rain may lead Telltale towards the same goal.
“Heavy Rain is something that really seems to be going after that sense,” he said.
“We’ve always believed that there was a chance to get there as well. We want to continue to evolve the genre. We’ve already evolved the genre in a lot of ways in what we’ve done with Sam & Max and Wallace & Gromit… but we believe there’s a lot of head-room to make more dramatic advances in storytelling and drama inside of this genre.”
We’ll have more from the interview soon.

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Comments

  • edited September 2009
    Dan Connor always seems to know how to say things in such a way that is equal parts egotism and narcissism. No matter what he's saying, the man finds a way to annoy me with the way he says everything.

    I also hate Announcements of Announcements. They always feel conceited, and they're this big gaming corporation "fad" that is starting to get under my skin.

    All the same, I look forward to the actual announcement. I kinda assumed we'd just get a Sam and Max announcement at the end of the Tales season, and now we're getting apparently multiple announcements in October?

    I guess that's interesting.
  • edited September 2009
    Sounds exciting!

    I liked that he name-dropped Lost, True Blood and The Sopranos, which are my all-time favorite TVshows. :)
    Also looking forward to Heavy Rain!
  • edited September 2009
    You just seem too easy to annoy.
  • edited September 2009
    I don't really enjoy games of a serious nature. Games are for enjoyment, not to get involved in "drama" and "psychological connection". Telltale, stick with what you know works. Don't cater to push over soap opera watchers.

    Keep the Komedy
  • edited September 2009
    Big Download seems to have got the wrong end of the stick with what he's said.

    They've took the "new genres outside of comedy" line to mean "it looks like Telltale may be expanding their reach to include other types of games".


    I'll eat those words if the next series of Sam and Max ends up to be an FPS though.
  • edited September 2009
    Badwolf wrote: »
    Big Download seems to have got the wrong end of the stick with what he's said.

    They've took the "new genres outside of comedy" line to mean "it looks like Telltale may be expanding their reach to include other types of games".


    I'll eat those words if the next series of Sam and Max ends up to be an FPS though.

    well doctor who isnt comedy... :D
  • edited September 2009
    A Sam & Max FPS....that would actually be awesome if done correctly and whimsically enough (not real gore but rather silliness of some nature).
  • edited September 2009
    Badwolf wrote: »
    I'll eat those words if the next series of Sam and Max ends up to be an FPS though.

    Max would make an awesome FPS character, but yeah that would definitely not be good.
  • edited September 2009
    Jagger88 wrote: »
    Games are for enjoyment, not to get involved in "drama" and "psychological connection".

    Two things that elicit enjoyment in an enormous amount of people.
    Telltale, stick with what you know works.

    They did pretty well with CSI.
    Don't cater to push over soap opera watchers.

    Enjoying drama =/= watching "actors" slap each other while organ music plays.
  • edited September 2009
    It seems lately I've been misreading a lot of things, since I almost read "watching 'actors' slap each other with organs", which would actually be pure comedy.
  • edited September 2009
    The Dig is a great example of a serious adventure game. I'd love to play an adventure game where it seems like your actions have real consequences throughout the game world. I can enjoy a game with drama as much as I enjoy a game with comedy (same with tv & film). A good story is always entertaining, regardless of the genre it's pigeon-holed into.
  • edited September 2009
    I've always preferred comedy adventures to all others. It's not that I couldn't play Gabriel Knight or The Dig, but I just never bonded with them in the same way. I've enjoyed most of Telltale's output to varying degrees but the CSI games never did it for me either.

    There are compromises though. If you see games like Pandora Directive, Policenauts, Snatcher... they're not really "comedies" but humor is still a part of their personality. They're able to be funny at times and serious at others. That works for me more than a game that's consistently dreary.

    If they're talking about bringing back franchises, Sam and Max is already known, but I wonder what the other is. Here's hoping for Bone.
  • edited September 2009
    I probably wont buy it is it isn't a comedy, or if it is not released on a console besides PS3.
  • edited September 2009
    The one problem I have with serious adventure games is that there are lots of those out there. TT makes really, really good comedy and I haven't seen good comedy in other games in quite a while.
  • edited September 2009
    You just seem too easy to annoy.

    That's what I've been thinking, also.
  • edited September 2009
    Jagger88 wrote: »
    I don't really enjoy games of a serious nature. Games are for enjoyment, not to get involved in "drama" and "psychological connection". Telltale, stick with what you know works. Don't cater to push over soap opera watchers.

    Keep the Komedy

    Those things are enjoyable. Besides every good serious game has some comedy in it, but it's not the main focus. The main focus is on good characters you can care about, great plot, and the human element.

    Drama and psychological connection doesn't automatically equal soap opera. The only way a good serious story is dreary is if it is badly developed. Is Indiana Jones a comedy? How about Star Wars, Star Trek, Lord of the Rings, Doctor Who, LOST, The Lion King, Batman, Spiderman, etc. And don't just pick one of these out, say I never really liked that one anyway so that proves serious adventures won't work, and use that as your argument.

    That would be like me trying to argue you but spending my entire post complaining about how you spelled comedy with a K.
  • edited September 2009
    *crosses fingers for S&M3, and/or SBCG4AP2*
  • edited September 2009
    Drama doesn't equal soap opera. I love serious games. It'd be refreshing to see TTG tackle a serious series for once.
  • edited September 2009
    I wish that Telltale could get their filthy paws on Doctor Who. The great thing about the show is that covers the whole spectrum from wacky humour and cooky monsters to touching drama and ethical dilemmas. At its best it's both really, really dumb and very, very smart, all at the same time.

    C'mon Telltale/BBC, get the deal done. You know it makes sense. :)
  • edited September 2009
    LukeSW wrote: »
    I wish that Telltale could get their filthy paws on Doctor Who. The great thing about the show is that covers the whole spectrum from wacky humour and cooky monsters to touching drama and ethical dilemmas. At its best it's both really, really dumb and very, very smart, all at the same time.


    cookie1.jpg
    Did somebody say cookie?
  • edited September 2009
    I look forward to October :D
  • edited September 2009
    Those things are enjoyable. Besides every good serious game has some comedy in it, but it's not the main focus. The main focus is on good characters you can care about, great plot, and the human element.

    Drama and psychological connection doesn't automatically equal soap opera. The only way a good serious story is dreary is if it is badly developed. Is Indiana Jones a comedy? How about Star Wars, Star Trek, Lord of the Rings, Doctor Who, LOST, The Lion King, Batman, Spiderman, etc. And don't just pick one of these out, say I never really liked that one anyway so that proves serious adventures won't work, and use that as your argument.

    That would be like me trying to argue you but spending my entire post complaining about how you spelled comedy with a K.

    Ok, well I was exhibiting my opinion. In my experience, every single soap opera I have ever watched sucked. But that is just my opinion. I wasn't trying to force it on anyone else, if it seemed that way.

    Also, your point in stating Star Wars, Indiana Jones, etc. I liked those movies/TV shows, each of them. But each of those has many comedic parts to it. Also, I thought Doctor Who was a comedy...

    Spelling comedy with a K was supposed to be a reference in itself to comedy. Making fun of oneself, Krusty the Klown, you get the picture.

    I feel like you tried to take the crap out of my point that I was stating in my post, which was that I think that Telltale works best with comedy-style games, which are what most of us are here for. Merely stating my opinion. And so were you. But you also made me feel less significant...

    {Adopts sucky soap opera pose and looks away from you, at the window.{{Ever notice how in soap operas when it's an important line they never look at the person on the receiving end?}}}

    Oh, Fawful? How could you do this to me? To think I raised you into this- this- this THING.

    I now feel no more guilt, which I never felt in the first place, towards hiring that assassin to kill you, with my millions of dollars I had hoarded away from my unpaid taxes.

    Furthermore, I am not only your father, but also... YOUR SISTER!!

    (Credits roll for "The Back & the Beautiful)

    That's pretty much a soap opera. Now imagine that as a game. It would suck eggs. And that's, my two cents.

    I'm Jagger88. Good Night, America, Australia, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Antarctica. And you can catch repeats of this show at http://www.mytwocents.com/Jagger88
  • edited September 2009
    Why all this talk about soap operas?
  • edited September 2009
    Jagger88 wrote: »
    That's pretty much a soap opera. Now imagine that as a game. It would suck eggs. And that's, my two cents.

    But what does that have to do with Telltale making a serious game? They never once said that they were turning a soap opera into a game, or using that sort of narrative. There are far more genres out there besides "comedy" and "soap opera".
  • edited September 2009
    Yeah, I know. But I couldn't think of a way to mock dramas! I don't mind dramas, anyway. Just the thought of something like The Sopranos being a game... it gimme the Jibblies!
  • edited September 2009
    How about a full length Nick Bounty game, Mr Darin?
  • edited September 2009
    Frogacuda wrote: »
    Pandora Directive

    I wish Telltale could team up with Aaron Conners and Chris Jones to revive the Tex Murphy series... I'm still hoping to know one day what happens after the cliffhanger ending of Overseer.
  • edited September 2009
    Dan Connor always seems to know how to say things in such a way that is equal parts egotism and narcissism. No matter what he's saying, the man finds a way to annoy me with the way he says everything.

    I also hate Announcements of Announcements. They always feel conceited, and they're this big gaming corporation "fad" that is starting to get under my skin.

    All the same, I look forward to the actual announcement. I kinda assumed we'd just get a Sam and Max announcement at the end of the Tales season, and now we're getting apparently multiple announcements in October?

    I guess that's interesting.

    i think telltale is a pretty cool guy. eh brings the renaissance of adventure games and doesnt afraid of anything
  • edited September 2009
    Jagger88 wrote: »
    Yeah, I know. But I couldn't think of a way to mock dramas! I don't mind dramas, anyway. Just the thought of something like The Sopranos being a game... it gimme the Jibblies!

    I don't understand. Why do you need to mock them?

    I love serious entertainment oh so much more than I do comedy. Comedy can be great, but drama is where all the true emotions lie, and the ability to really move me. I hope that games are able to pull that off more and more in the future. Heavy Rain seems like an excellent candidate to start something big. Alan Wake is another title that has picqued my interest.
  • edited September 2009
    Drama doesn't equal soap opera. I love serious games. It'd be refreshing to see TTG tackle a serious series for once.

    For once? They've already done it twice...
  • edited September 2009
    Jagger88 wrote: »
    Ok, well I was exhibiting my opinion. In my experience, every single soap opera I have ever watched sucked. But that is just my opinion. I wasn't trying to force it on anyone else, if it seemed that way.

    Also, your point in stating Star Wars, Indiana Jones, etc. I liked those movies/TV shows, each of them. But each of those has many comedic parts to it. Also, I thought Doctor Who was a comedy...

    Spelling comedy with a K was supposed to be a reference in itself to comedy. Making fun of oneself, Krusty the Klown, you get the picture.

    I feel like you tried to take the crap out of my point that I was stating in my post, which was that I think that Telltale works best with comedy-style games, which are what most of us are here for. Merely stating my opinion. And so were you. But you also made me feel less significant...

    {Adopts sucky soap opera pose and looks away from you, at the window.{{Ever notice how in soap operas when it's an important line they never look at the person on the receiving end?}}}

    Oh, Fawful? How could you do this to me? To think I raised you into this- this- this THING.

    I now feel no more guilt, which I never felt in the first place, towards hiring that assassin to kill you, with my millions of dollars I had hoarded away from my unpaid taxes.

    Furthermore, I am not only your father, but also... YOUR SISTER!!

    (Credits roll for "The Back & the Beautiful)

    That's pretty much a soap opera. Now imagine that as a game. It would suck eggs. And that's, my two cents.

    I'm Jagger88. Good Night, America, Australia, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Antarctica. And you can catch repeats of this show at http://www.mytwocents.com/Jagger88

    Hah.

    My point was that drama doesn't mean lack of comedy. As far as anything else, I was trying to spare you from making a bad argument. And I understand what the K meant, I wasn't actually making fun of the spelling.
  • edited September 2009
    I'm going to hold out hope for that being Doctor Who. It's pretty much confirmed that the other will be S&M season three.
  • edited September 2009
    JedExodus wrote: »
    i think telltale is a pretty cool guy. eh brings the renaissance of adventure games and doesnt afraid of anything
    I really shouldn't have found that as hilarious as I did. :D
  • edited September 2009
    Drama actually has nothing to do with tragedy. In fact, back in ye old days, drama actually referred to the act of, well, acting. Now, while it's true that it included tragicomedy, it could have been anything.
  • jmmjmm
    edited September 2009
    Alf Fly wrote: »
    How about a full length Nick Bounty game, Mr Darin?

    Seconded
  • edited September 2009
    Telltale making more serious games? .... Gabriel Knight episodes! :eek:

    I guess not, but would be awesome... if they could get Jane on the team.
  • edited September 2009
    Heh, guess we'll just have to wait. More than likely, I won't be very interested. But hey, Telltale has made me into a Monkey Island fan so I guess anything's possible! ;)
  • TorTor
    edited September 2009
    Marzhin wrote: »
    I wish Telltale could team up with Aaron Conners and Chris Jones to revive the Tex Murphy series... I'm still hoping to know one day what happens after the cliffhanger ending of Overseer.
    Well then, good news everyone! Jones and Conners recently founded Big Finish Games. They managed to reacquire the rights to the Tex Murphy series, and the website now lists an unannounced project codenamed "Fedora", which is currently in pre-production.
  • edited September 2009
    The idea of Telltale making soap operas into serious games without any point of reference is about as appealing to me as a FPS game rated "EC". Telltale's awesome at what they do, and while even I admit CSI was a good game from Telltale, the CSI games themselves were a small group of good adventure/mystery games that didn't quite recieve the attention they deserved from their original developer, Ubisoft, when Telltale took the series under it's wing. Unless the soap opera in question has already been made into a game, I really don't see them adapting one from scratch. Instead, I'd keep my eyes peeled for good game series that either fell through the cracks, or that their developers clearly wouldn't mind parting with.
  • edited September 2009
    Armakuni wrote: »
    Telltale making more serious games? .... Gabriel Knight episodes! :eek:

    I guess not, but would be awesome... if they could get Jane on the team.

    Yes. Really, yes. That would be better than any old LucasArts franchise (except Zak McKracken...). Jane has been designing casual games for a few years now (even during the endless production of Gray Matter): I guess she would have no problems with the tight timelines of episodic, or with the Telltale approach in general. And the Gabriel Knight series (or maybe - and that would be even better - an original IP recalling it) seems just perfect: each game is set in a well defined area, with many recurrent locations and characters (just think of GK3), and its time-limited chapters often end with startling cliffhangers. Yes, it would be awesome.
    By the way, I can't understand all the hype about Heavy Rain. Truly, I can't. Indigo Prophecy was intriguing, but this? Not only it looks dreadfully boring as a game: its cliche-ridden dialogue seems incredibly dull even by lame b-movie standars. And, honestly, did you find this moving? I think that there was much more soul in Manny's rough polygons (or in Bone's eyebrows, for that matters). Is this what we really need?
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