Smaller TTG Forum Presence? Good or Bad?
Maybe I'm not looking in the right place... but it seems to me that the TTG employees have a much smaller forum presence than before - leaving most of the work to the moderators (and where applicable, the members) For those who are new, year or two ago (before W+G and MI) I'd venture to say atleast half the threads in all forums had 1-or-more posts by a TTG employee.
(though the support forum does seems to be well monitored ---almost exclusivly by will... poor guy must really have his hands full
)
Now, I can see this as a good or a bad thing...
Good:
TTG is spending more time developing, coding, testing, and marketing their games.
Bad:
TTG is neglecting it's customers and leaving us to speculation on topics that we clearly have no clue on (ex: Monkey Island Soundtrack, S+M S2 Casebook, MI Casebook, MI DVD, IP Rights, if follow-up seasons are planned, etc) which will lead to more missinformation and confusion
Personally I feel it's a semi-good thing... I think TTG needs a PR person purely for the forums now that they're so active and large to dispence with questions when ever possible. However from a consuemr PoV I'm glad they're spending time on the games (to me this translate to a faster roll-out for each game and/or higher quality for them)
((please keep in mind I do not prose the W+G, Strongbad, or CSI/TTGTH forums, for all I know EVERY THREAD may be filled with TTG banter))
Thoughts?
((If any TTG employees think this post if out of line, delete it and let me know and I promise I wont venture into this avenue of thought again))
(though the support forum does seems to be well monitored ---almost exclusivly by will... poor guy must really have his hands full
)Now, I can see this as a good or a bad thing...
Good:
TTG is spending more time developing, coding, testing, and marketing their games.
Bad:
TTG is neglecting it's customers and leaving us to speculation on topics that we clearly have no clue on (ex: Monkey Island Soundtrack, S+M S2 Casebook, MI Casebook, MI DVD, IP Rights, if follow-up seasons are planned, etc) which will lead to more missinformation and confusion
Personally I feel it's a semi-good thing... I think TTG needs a PR person purely for the forums now that they're so active and large to dispence with questions when ever possible. However from a consuemr PoV I'm glad they're spending time on the games (to me this translate to a faster roll-out for each game and/or higher quality for them)
((please keep in mind I do not prose the W+G, Strongbad, or CSI/TTGTH forums, for all I know EVERY THREAD may be filled with TTG banter))
Thoughts?
((If any TTG employees think this post if out of line, delete it and let me know and I promise I wont venture into this avenue of thought again))
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Comments
Well, Bonnie and Will do that kind of things whenever possible.
I kinda disagree. You know, I more prefer hearing the words of people who actually take part on making my favorite games. Still, it's not like no employee will post no more after if something like that ever happens. But I believe it will decrease the presence of other TTG employees in forums.
Personally, i love the team interaction, it really made me feel like we had an influence in the games. Plus, even though there are the occasional PR hiccups (Iphone is more powerful than the wii for example. Which is true, (although the wii has more power available to use for games i believe),), it's good for the companies image to interact with the community.
So, your saying that they should only answer posts of paying customers during a short pre-order period of a few months? (and only related to the game that's on pre-order)
How did you read his post to mean that? He just said we got a chance to directly communicate with the designers and artists and people who normally don't post on the forum much at all. Why would you read anything else into that?
Please, oh, please oh please Telltale? I'll do a very good job! I'll watch over these forum goers like a hawk!
Yes, we all remember how idyllic things were back in 2004, long before games had ever been invented. My job in those days was simply to imagine what games would be like if we did invent them, and then to write space-filling puff pieces to hide the fact that we hadn't actually come up with anything.
But now my job is much simpler. I just manufacture space-filling puff directly and sell it from our website. This is a laborious process requiring 15 of my 16 waking hours each day. (The last hour is reserved for watching Designing Women reruns.)
And yes, I miss Emily and Doug and Heather too. But luckily we found a nikasaur in the woods and she's doing a great job!
I miss the old days (Emily, Doug, Heather and Squinky), but I prefer the way it is handled now and to remember the old days fondly, but really looking into the future.
Edit:
Breandan, you're right about nikasaur. She was great doing those live appearances for the Telltale Hearts campaign.
That is EXACTLY why I love freeform (Forum-based) Roleplaying! ...if only it wasnt dead... T_T
I disagree, I think... HEY WAIT A SECOND. You got me again! You rascals!
I've bugged Brendan to write more for us, what is this "job" that people have? Seriously, should it get in the way of entertaining the internet masses? I think not. I'll have some WORDS with him.
Little known fact: Doug, Emily, Heather and Jake are not certifiably human. There's a strange issue with them beeping when they go through metal detectors in airports, and so on. I can't say much, but (spoiler alert!) my Do-It-Yourself Cybernetic Enhancement Kit is in the mail. We'll see where this takes us.
I completely agree that leaving people in the dark is a terrible thing to do... we keep up when we can. I am an advocate of "any answer is better than no answer" and we all fight to keep you as informed as we are- but heck, sometimes we aren't even sure. Community work is a tricky thing, folks, but rest assured we always have you in mind, and best intentions in our hearts.
Who let you near a computer?!
Perhaps when I finally find myself some stylish hats I might come BACK TO LIFE.
But seriously, most of you guys look rather good, some of the guys even good enough even straight guys want them.
I can only do so much programming in my mind!
We're working on pumping it up a bit, looking into not only better communication (with the help of our lovely Moderator team, give yourselves a hand) but increased interactivity in all forms of social media. You guys know what you like best. Give us some ideas.
Wait, you mean we can't just complain about stuff, we have to suggest solutions too?
My mind is boggled.
Since I'm the one who started this topic, I'll go first...
I'd like to see a forum PR group, of course, that, if nothing else, has scripted responces for "what game is comming out next" "is X changing?" "will we see S2 of whatver series" etc. Basically more feedback to users (especially about topics that pop up constantly)
I'd also like to see contests, no matter how complex or simple, that are run by TTG and related to the games. While I'd love to see a game joke about the winner, or a credits mention, even something as simple as a page of winners on the website woudl be nice --- just a way to see that TTG is interested in people's ideas.
Thirdly (and this is probably further from what your asking about) I'd like to see the return of the casefiles/bonuses/etc --- doesnt have to be a massive set of trinkets, could be just 1 that relates to a game/season. It could even be downloads like the MI Tarot cards or Maps.
Those are my 3 thoughts (in oprder of highest to lowest priority) and I thank you for your time to ask us ^____^
Colorful 80's montage of the Telltale Team fixing up a local orphanage.
Barring that, I honestly think everything's great as-is. I do miss some of the madness that occurred before Strong Bad, but that's obviously not possible these days. Even posting on the forum is far more than most developers do. Usually it's nothing more than a canned response from PR, or Joe Siegler snarking at people for asking about DNF. (Not that I'm pointing anybody out, mind you...)
Yes! That woudl be great to see!
Oh, hmm, hold on...
We'll let you know as soon as we know for sure! We can't speak to that now, but stay tuned! That should be happening soon! Thanks for your patience! We don't have a date on that just yet, but hopefully soon! Soon soon soon soon soon. Hopefully hopefully hopefully hopefully!! Pacific Time!!!
Oof. I feel like people would prefer less of that when it can be helped. Sometimes it can't, though!
Similarly, it's never a good idea to discuss IP and rights unless you have 10 years of law school under your belt to read through all the fine print.
Also, things are generally quiet right now because the majority of the team (by which I mean the entire company) is working on stuff that hasn't been seen yet.
That place could also serve as a place where the more tech-savvy folks can talk and explain topics like 3D mapping, coordinates and whatnot that makes games possible (Like some of the explanations given by Yare in the S&M forum about the limits of Point and Click and 2D)
Right now, this kind of topics spring between all games forums and the general forum.
Plus a centralized forum could serve to put FAQs and pinned topics like "Control+Drag is here to stay, sit, good boy", "We love 2D, but we make'em in 3D" and "The Case for Episodic Games"
A page called "Future amazement and products" (Of course you'll have to get a better name)
where you can see all the current games in production (at a glance) and all the current available products. Right now you have to navigate your way around (or go to the store) and you can either be slightly spoiled (if you click the wrong link you can even see screenshots and the walktrough) or be sidetracked elsewhere.
Something like:
Upcoming products:
None that we can talk about, but rest assured: we are working and they're going to be awesome.
Announced:
Sam and Max: 2010! May 4th 2010 (PC Download, Episode 1)
Current Products:
Sam & Max [PC][X-BOX][Wii] Season 1 | Season 2 {layered menu: Episode 1: Ice Station Santa| Episode 2: Moai Better Blues | etc.)
Wallace & Gromit [PC] Season 1
Strong Bad [PC]
And so on...
Hi everyone! Thanks for missing me.
*ducks back into hiding*
Ey, get back out here!
Just a "soon" to confirm that it's not been back-burnered is all some of us would like. Or even (such as "will thre be a S2 of Monkey Island") "well we'd like to do it but we dont know" or "we dont know what's going to happen but we hope we never have to make another of that series again!" You'd be suprised how little it takes to make some of us happy
"We havnt decided yet" is a perfectly valid answer.
Simple answers like (to the soundtrack) "It's not been discussed" are also valid
You guys really overestimate what it takes to make us happy! :cool:
"...working on stuff that hasnt been seen yet"
so your all having to wear a blindfold and go in a dark room to work on it!?!? :eek: (sorry, I had to jump on that pun)
EDIT:
QUICK! GRAB HER!!! *chases after Emily*
Actually. I'm pretty happy either way I guess. You do much better than alot of other companies out there.
Well, last Holiday season was a great thing, to have a fund raiser for Child's Play Charity together with a webcast. Perhaps when doing another fund raiser, try expanding it further. Instead of just advertising it on the forums and the blog, try advertising it further. Perhaps also add a small watermark on the bottom right or something stating people should donate to Child's Play Charity. But it shouldn't just be limited to just that. Perhaps for those who live on the other side of the globe it would be nice to have something like activities or something, like, Telltale will donate so much for every thingy the community does and tapes on camera, with a CPC watermark or something.
Speaking of webcasts, by the way, it would be nice to have another one of those.
Get back to writing!