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The "theme" of this website.

Unknown
edited September 2005 in General Chat
This is my first post here, and I guess I could tell you my first impression as well (I know similar things have been discussed before).

This website looks somewhat good and professional. Though, with the company's "personality" in mind, I think it has gotten a "wrong" look, so to speak.

What I'm trying to say is that Telltale Games is a company that wants to make adventure games. And not just dull adventure games, but artistic and expressive games. If you look at Bone, Sam & Max, Grim Fandango, EMI etc, you can see lively, colorful, and magical worlds! No doubt this team has creativity.

But the graphical appearance of the games is not the only thing you're interested in, you do also want to tell a good story, thus your name (right?).

I think that this website should literally scream to the visitors "Hey! We're the artists who are going to create your dream world!".
Instead of having this clean and "sterile" look to the site (now I am especially referring to the links at the top of the site, but the rest kinda follows that theme), you could make it more arty (but I don't think that you have to go crazy as many companies do, like creating flash sites with tons of animations. It could be all html-based, with more images. I like when it's easy to navigate through sites - and a good structure and a professional look could actually be combined with a strong artistic look!).

From what I've understood, this company wants to sell the games over the web (through this website?). That would make the appearance of the website even more important. Now the website is the "cover art" of the games if you understand what I mean. I think you should try to design this site with the same approach as you would have when you design a game's cover art.

And lastly, please do not take this criticism the wrong way. I do really love the company's concept, and Bone does truly look fantastic! I just think that minor changes of this site is not enough to show the visitors what you want to accomplish. An arty design would truly be wonderful, both for you and the visitors who get interested.

Well, I really hope no one's gotten offended (for that was not my purpose). I'll buy the games anyway. ;)

//Algotsson

Comments

  • Unknown
    edited August 2005
    I just have to add a thing. I really like the blueish background. This site does look good, but what I was trying to say is that an artistic look would be closer to the "truth", so to speak. :)
  • artwkingartwking
    edited August 2005
    As much as I do like the current look of this site, I think you've got a very good point. It is a bit too "clean and sterile". I know I'm expecting incredible things regarding the creativity, beauty, and perhaps even wackiness of games to come from Telltale. Especially considering the kinds of games they've worked on in the past. Perhaps they could lighten up on the hard edges of the rectangles and lines and borders and stuff. The site layout is a bit more serious than how I expect most of their games to be (although, I think there are rumors that they may be working on a CSI game). Still, Telltale is kind of new still, and they have incorporated some of our ideas in the past already. I'm sure they'll change things as they release different games, and they'll find their own personal distinctive "look" to fit their personality in due time.
  • Unknown
    edited August 2005
    The look of the site has definitely evolved. Believe it or not, this is a lot less sterile than it used to be.
  • Unknown
    edited August 2005
    Just thought I'd post in here about some errors in this forum. Firstly, sometimes peoples posts are slightly smaller than those of above. This is fixed when you refresh the page, but its still annoying. Secondly, the blue gradient background appears to have a line in it. This one is due to the background image (http://www.telltalegames.com/images/style/cool/bg.jpg) having 2 pixels of blue at the bottom that shouldn't be there. Thirdly, in the main forum view, it a topic is too long, it stretches out the forum. This last column should be a fixed width.

    I made a pic to show all this:
    telltaleforumserrors3mw.jpg
  • Unknown
    edited August 2005
    talk about errors... I have no idea what that image in your post was all about... all i know is that my eyes hurt
  • Unknown
    edited August 2005
    Aww I hope it wasn't to hard understand... Incase it's not entirely obvois, that is 3 pics stuck together.
  • Steve2000Steve2000
    edited August 2005
    As far as I am concerned the only two things that matter on a website are:

    1. How fast it loads
    2. How easy it is to find what I want.

    This site does both well as far as I am concerned.

    That is all.
  • Unknown
    edited September 2005
    This website looks somewhat good and professional. Though, with the company's "personality" in mind, I think it has gotten a "wrong" look, so to speak.

    Wow. I was just about a post something saying:

    "Nice work on the website. It's cleaner, easier to use and much more attractive."

    Personally, I can see where you are coming from in terms of personality. However, I would prefer the games to have personality and the website to be usable. This new design is much more usable, in my opinion, and much more attractive.

    Of course, it's all subjective, I suppose. But TellTale, for what it's worth, you get my kudos.
  • Unknown
    edited September 2005
    Ohh. Now this new design is SWEET! Great job guys!
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