Twin Peaks (Or, another license idea)
Hi everyone, new to the forums. I absolutely love what Telltale has done with Sam and Max, and having recently finished up to episode 4, I am eagerly anticipating the next entry!
Anyhow, while taking the winter 2007 survey, the following hit me from the blue: Telltale working with David Lynch to create the final, "lost" season of Twin Peaks as an episodic adventure game. I know it might sound weird, but hear me out for a second.
As fans of the series know, Twin Peaks was a wildly popular television series from the early 1990s co-created by David Lynch (Eraserhead, Blue Velvet, Lost Highway, Mullholland Drive). The show was a noir-esque murder mystery that followed the investigation of F.B.I. Agent Dale Cooper into the murder of Laura Palmer., a resident of the Washington town of Twin Peaks.
Aside from being a normal murder mystery television program and having a broad and eccentric cast of characters, the series also featured a very prominent supernatural aspect to its storytelling, something that wasn't very widespread for television dramas if its age. For anyone who is familliar with Lynch's body of work, it comes as no surprise that this emphasis on something even deeper beneath the surface of an already strange murder added a very unique and disturbing aspect to the show.
For the show's second season, the supernatural was almost removed entirely in favor of a more soap-opera-esque show. This eventually did the series in. By the time the underlying themes of the story had returned to the series for the final few episodes of the second season, ratings were down, and ABC had cancelled the show. The last episode featured one of the most notorious cliffhangers in television history.
Since then, Lynch has released <i>Fire Walk With Me</i> a Twin Peaks movie that, arguably, made absolutely no sense, and most certainly did not clear up any mysteries remaining from the end of the show. In fact, I'm pretty sure the movie only created more.
Lynch has recently stated that he does have some interest in finishing up the Twin Peaks story when the time was right, and probably not in the same format as a television show or a movie. What better way to do this than in a game?
I personally think that the Twin Peaks licence would be a perfect match for Telltale games. The episodic nature of the show would lend itself snugly to an episodic game, each episode being one complete "show" of the Twin Peaks series. The noir style supernatural murder mystery would make a great adventure game, players controlling different characters in the story to piece together the puzzle that is the Black Lodge and the entities that reside there. The series does have a devoted fan base, and the story genuinely deserves a digital recreation and conclusion -- this show was a phenomenon at the height of its popularity and still has an entire subculture devoted to it, many people who desperately crave some sort of resolution to the story.
So yeah. Any Peaks fans agree? Am I off my rocker? Let's generate feedback! :-P
Anyhow, while taking the winter 2007 survey, the following hit me from the blue: Telltale working with David Lynch to create the final, "lost" season of Twin Peaks as an episodic adventure game. I know it might sound weird, but hear me out for a second.
As fans of the series know, Twin Peaks was a wildly popular television series from the early 1990s co-created by David Lynch (Eraserhead, Blue Velvet, Lost Highway, Mullholland Drive). The show was a noir-esque murder mystery that followed the investigation of F.B.I. Agent Dale Cooper into the murder of Laura Palmer., a resident of the Washington town of Twin Peaks.
Aside from being a normal murder mystery television program and having a broad and eccentric cast of characters, the series also featured a very prominent supernatural aspect to its storytelling, something that wasn't very widespread for television dramas if its age. For anyone who is familliar with Lynch's body of work, it comes as no surprise that this emphasis on something even deeper beneath the surface of an already strange murder added a very unique and disturbing aspect to the show.
For the show's second season, the supernatural was almost removed entirely in favor of a more soap-opera-esque show. This eventually did the series in. By the time the underlying themes of the story had returned to the series for the final few episodes of the second season, ratings were down, and ABC had cancelled the show. The last episode featured one of the most notorious cliffhangers in television history.
Since then, Lynch has released <i>Fire Walk With Me</i> a Twin Peaks movie that, arguably, made absolutely no sense, and most certainly did not clear up any mysteries remaining from the end of the show. In fact, I'm pretty sure the movie only created more.
Lynch has recently stated that he does have some interest in finishing up the Twin Peaks story when the time was right, and probably not in the same format as a television show or a movie. What better way to do this than in a game?
I personally think that the Twin Peaks licence would be a perfect match for Telltale games. The episodic nature of the show would lend itself snugly to an episodic game, each episode being one complete "show" of the Twin Peaks series. The noir style supernatural murder mystery would make a great adventure game, players controlling different characters in the story to piece together the puzzle that is the Black Lodge and the entities that reside there. The series does have a devoted fan base, and the story genuinely deserves a digital recreation and conclusion -- this show was a phenomenon at the height of its popularity and still has an entire subculture devoted to it, many people who desperately crave some sort of resolution to the story.
So yeah. Any Peaks fans agree? Am I off my rocker? Let's generate feedback! :-P
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Comments
1) That would be awesome
2) I think Fire Walk With Me gets beat on too much. It wasn't some sort of mind-blowing tidy wrap-up to the Twin Peaks series, but anyone expecting that out of David Lynch must be slightly confused!
So interesting premise, but it might be a hard sell to people like me - fans who were lost along the way.
However, maybe something new in that style with David Lynch co-writing / co-producing, while not Twin Peaks per se would be very interesting. So long as the ending was mapped out fully and satisfactorily right from the outset.
Prison Break has the potential for gaming greatness, though.
That'd be my Blade Runner proposal.
a drama of truly episodic proportions
oohh a blubbering dog in a game.. what about Telltale Tango & Cash!
blade runner would be interesting..what about sin city? B.P.R.D? I guess you need to find something with a built in audience who is hungry for a new game/material
Aside from that wee logistical conundrum, I would pay real money to see/play any kind of David Lynch game.
I am not David Lynch. But if I were David Lunch, I probably would not say I was David Lynch. I would probably just post a picture of a giant blue monkey playing the Xylophone.
................ What'd you expect: Michelangelo? It's MSPaint, for cryin' out loud! :P
Pabst Blue Ribbon = Yay!
Dennis Hopper's fist = Boo!
The lighting in Twin peaks was pretty important to set the mood, so Id be more happy if the technology could pull off the kind of landscapes and moods that Alan Wake shows.
Not to take a piss on Telltales engine, but I doubt it could do
(sorry, big images)
But youre right, maybe two Twin Peaks games at the same time would be overkill. I suspect it would also a pretty small market. Alan Wake doesnt rely heavily on people being fimiliar with Twin Peaks, but such a game could easily fail if it only relied on drawing in gamers because they knew about Twin Peaks.
I think however that Remedy might actually turn a few kids into Lynch fans with Alan Wake.
Anyone who havnt see the trailers you should most defenitly check them out here -
Trailers
http://www.alanwake.com/movies/movie.php?movie=AlanWake_1500kbps
http://www.alanwake.com/movies/movie.php?movie=Alan_Wake_video_lowres
Teaser
http://www.alanwake.com/movies/movie.php?movie=Alan_Wake_Teaser_small
Doesn't he though?
Dumb question (I'm too lazy to look it up), what kind of game is this - a shooter or something else?
It's supposed to be a sandbox-horror game... I guess think Grand Theft Auto meets Silent Hill. At least, that's what I can gather from the interviews I've read. There's a structure to the story progression, but freedom of exploration (and, apparently, driving) is supposed to be a major aspect of the gameplay.
I, too, am excited for Alan Wake. It's one of the upcoming games that drove me to purchase a 360. Plus, the fact that Twin Peaks is listed as an influence for Wake is proof that the source material is still viable and influential to this day.
Alan Wake sounds like the perfect hybrid game. With straight-forward survival horror, any horror fan worth their salt can see most of the scares coming from a mile away. With a sandbox horror game, you probably won't see them coming 9 times out of 10, since your experience may be vastly different than anyone else's, depending on your gaming style. Unfortunately, I don't have a 360, and if there's a PC port planned, my system probably won't run it past 5 frames per second, but when the next gen of consoles is out and 360 prices have dropped, I'll be all over this title :P
I say King of the Hill would make a good license to work with. It's creator, Mike Judge, has a cult following (was behind Office Space and Beavis and Butt-head), and the Beavis and Butt-head adventure games in the past would seem to indicate that he's willing to give the adventure genre a shot. The show's been the second-longest running cartoon series behind The Simpsons, so it's obviously got a huge fanbase (it's even known in Finland), and the characters and setting obviously lend themselves well to a standalone episodic model.
Hey, if they were able to make a top-selling and critically acclaimed adventure game in Beavis and Butt-head: Virtual Stupidity, then an adventure game (or game series) based on King of the Hill (which has now far surpassed Beavis and Butt-head in longevity and popularity) should have a good shot, no?
They already did that though, see?
http://www.riddickgame.com
Also, seeing those Alan Wake screenshots reminded me about why i'm building a new computer.