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Penny Arcade game

numblenumble
edited March 2007 in General Chat
So you guys may have heard that the folks at Penny Arcade are making an episodic adventure/rpg hybrid game called Penny Arcade: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness. Another humor-focused episodic game based on the wacky antics of a pair of comic characters; maybe it'll start being churned out right after Sam and Max Season One finishes up. The trailer was released just recently:

http://kotaku.com/gaming/clips/clip-first-penny-arcade-game-footage-244698.php

Snarky part: I wonder how difficult the adventure parts of this game would be, considering how their fans view the difficulty of the Sam and Max episodes (Hint: Not the wild complaints about it being "too easy" that you may see elsewhere).

Comments

  • EmilyEmily Telltale Alumni
    edited March 2007
    Thanks for posting the clip. It's interesting to finally see what they've been working on.

    The switch from the 2D cutscene to the 3D gameplay was a little jarring, but it'll probably just take some getting used to (I don't want to come across as one of those "they'll be ruined in 3D!" people, what with Sam & Max being 3D and all... :D). The environments look pretty nice... I look forward to exploring them.

    I wonder how much of the game is story and how much is action?

    EDIT: It's funny, reading the comments on Kotaku -- so many of them sound exactly like what people were saying about Sam & Max a year ago. :p
  • ShaggEShaggE
    edited March 2007
    So......... when's Ctrl+Alt+Del: The Game coming?? I've always preferred CAD to Penny Arcade...
  • JakeJake Telltale Alumni
    edited March 2007
    Emily wrote: »
    EDIT: It's funny, reading the comments on Kotaku -- so many of them sound exactly like what people were saying about Sam & Max a year ago. :p

    I noticed that as well :)

    The PA game looks cool!
  • KingsleyKingsley
    edited March 2007
    ShaggE wrote: »
    So......... when's Ctrl+Alt+Del: The Game coming?? I've always preferred CAD to Penny Arcade...

    Ugh, ack, wtf. CAD is such me-too, awful shite. No offense, but you're apparently an awful shite-loving kind of dude.
    I love it when people in the internet say "no offense" and then proceed to offend you.
  • ShaggEShaggE
    edited March 2007
    LMAO! I was about to tear into you before I read the spoiler.... but yeah, I like CAD, I see alot of myself in Ethan, frighteningly enough.
  • BadwolfBadwolf
    edited March 2007
    ShaggE wrote: »
    So......... when's Ctrl+Alt+Del: The Game coming?? I've always preferred CAD to Penny Arcade...
    I don't really like either comic, to be honest, but I still end up reading CAD every day for some totally unknown reason. Penny Arcade, I just can't get into at all.

    Someone on the CAD forums is making an unofficial CAD game. I don't know if it's up to much, I haven't played it yet, but here's the topic anyway: http://www.cad-forums.com/showthread.php?t=65547
  • JakeJake Telltale Alumni
    edited March 2007
    I made a logo* and a few pieces of promo art for an unofficial PA mod for Jedi Academy, themed around the cardboard tube stuff. They never really used it outside a wallpaper or two, and then the project fell apart, like they all do. True story!

    * surprised I still have that around!
  • ReverendTedReverendTed
    edited March 2007
    I'm a little disappointed in the 3D versions of the characters, though they do look a little better in motion than they do just standing still.

    I think part of my disappointment is how much I liked the 3D models from Cardboard Tube Showdown (whose ObeyTheTube.com site is now owned by squatters, unfortunately.).
  • JakeJake Telltale Alumni
    edited March 2007
    Gabe made a post over on the PA forums which has been making the rounds:
    Hey guys, I just wanted to hopefully clarify some of the stuff in that trailer.

    First of all, we probably should not have dropped that trailer just yet. Our 3D stuff just isn’t ready.


    Okay, with that said. I’m glad we can all pretty much agree the 2D intro is cool. It shows off the detective agency that Gabe and Tycho work at and gives some clues about the world. I like it.

    The decision to add the 3D stuff was made at the last minute. We were afraid people might think the entire game was 2D. We put the 3D stuff in there to show that we intend to create a 3D game. It was just way too soon to show that stuff. There are a lot of effects we have planned like cell shading that just aren’t in yet. There’s still a ton of work to do in order to really define the look of the game.

    Honestly the feedback we’re getting here is super valuable so I appreciate that. I can also assure you that I would never allow the game to ship if I didn’t think it looked cool. I’m with you guys. The 3D stuff we have to show now is not up to par. I also know that the people have working on it are good people and they can do this. We’ll get it there.

    I wonder if they deliberately put up this comic only a couple days before the teaser came out.
  • ShauntronShauntron Telltale Alumni
    edited March 2007
    I was an honorable mention in the first Dr. Raven Darktalon coloring contest.
    Original: http://www.penny-arcade.com/raven.jpg
    Colored: http://www.penny-arcade.com/docs/aura2.jpg

    Having material hosted on PA webspace is kinda like a trophy. Score!

    Anyway I figured it was a rough, early build. Cell shading would make the most sense. Usually, unless i'm getting a glimpse of an absolute technical achievement to come (scrambling for the 500meg HL2 footage from E3 2003), i'm not enthused about early game footage.

    A PA game is as good as bought from me though :)
  • KingsleyKingsley
    edited March 2007
    Jake wrote: »
    I made a logo* ....
    Hmm... Meltwizard?

    *select, backspace, enter*

    Ooh, it's a blog! Fancy seeing one of those in the internet!
  • JakeJake Telltale Alumni
    edited March 2007
    I wish I still had my Dr Raven Darktalon Blood coloring contest entry. I printed it out and colored it as quickly as I could with purple and green crayons using my left hand and wrote my name across the left half four or five times. I was really pleased with the result, but apparently nobody else thought it was funny.
  • ChuckChuck
    edited March 2007
    2D, 3D, whatever, I just hope it's funny. There aren't enough genuinely funny games out there. (And I hope they don't just rely on the FF to be funny and leave it at that).

    It's a little encouraging that the writer guy (I can't tell the PA guys apart, sorry) is so long-winded that it's unlikely to be just another platformer. It might actually have attempts at dialogue. Nothing against adventure games (of course), or platformers in general, but we really need to see something that breaks out of the formula.

    No One Lives Forever seemed like it had potential to be a genuinely funny first-person shooter, but it didn't quite pay off as much as I wanted.
  • ShaggEShaggE
    edited March 2007
    Chuck wrote: »
    No One Lives Forever seemed like it had potential to be a genuinely funny first-person shooter, but it didn't quite pay off as much as I wanted.

    NOLF did kind of fail on the humor aspect. It obviously wanted to be Austin Powers very very badly.

    The only truly funny FPSs I can think of are Blood and Serious Sam... (points for the most Smashing Pumpkins puns in a single game)

    EDIT: Also, Shadow Warrior. Lo Wang's rap was one of the funniest things ever.
  • CertifiableCertifiable
    edited March 2007
    Okay, with that said. I’m glad we can all pretty much agree the 2D intro is cool. It shows off the detective agency that Gabe and Tycho work at and gives some clues about the world.

    Uh...call me just a passerby with Penny Arcade, but since when have they had a detective agency, and not just been a web comic that parodies gaming?
    (Sounds like a parody-cross-ripoff of any adventure game that uses a detective agency, like Sam and Max and the Tex Murphy series.)
  • ReverendTedReverendTed
    edited March 2007
    Certifiable wrote: »
    Uh...call me just a passerby with Penny Arcade, but since when have they had a detective agency, and not just been a web comic that parodies gaming?
    I think that's the point - it's a new universe for the characters and they're showing it off - giving us some clues about the world.

    I'm don't know for certain, but I doubt it'll be a detective agency ripoff. I suspect it'll be Lovecraftian in nature.
  • ShauntronShauntron Telltale Alumni
    edited March 2007
    Certifiable wrote: »
    Uh...call me just a passerby with Penny Arcade, but since when have they had a detective agency, and not just been a web comic that parodies gaming?
    (Sounds like a parody-cross-ripoff of any adventure game that uses a detective agency, like Sam and Max and the Tex Murphy series.)

    Since you haven't been a reader, you might not know it's not outside the nature of the comic to visit different genres from time to time.

    edit: Gabe is a cardboard-tube-wielding samurai, periodically:
    http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/search?keyword=samurai
  • CertifiableCertifiable
    edited March 2007
    Shauntron wrote: »
    Since you haven't been a reader, you might not know it's not outside the nature of the comic to visit different genres from time to time.<snip>[/url]

    I have been a reader, just now and then opposed to all the time.
    (Their Dead Rising spoof was fun. :D )
  • AdamGAdamG
    edited March 2007
    What??? You're kidding, I just sent Telltale a suggestion on the survey that they should contact Penny Arcade and make an episodic game out of it! Argggg... Maybe I should've mentioned it to you guys sooner, sorry... That would've been a definate money maker... :(

    Edit. Yeah, the detective agency sounds like a Sam & Max spinoff to me. Penny Arcade has never been anything about that kind of stuff before. I'd say it's a safe bet they have been watching Telltale and the success of Sam & Max Season 1 for awhile.
  • JakeJake Telltale Alumni
    edited March 2007
    There was a Penny Arcade spinoff where Tycho was some sort of hard boiled PI. It was only a couple pages long, black and white or sepia tone I think... but they abandoned it. It started with him in his detective office, solemnly loading bullets into a clip (though I think they were Nerf bullets), with a seedy monologue running along in square narration bubbles.

    I don't know what happened to that project. I tried googling for it and looking through the PA news archives, but I can't remember when they were doing that, and there's little to no record of it anywhere else online.
  • LuigiHannLuigiHann
    edited March 2007
    Reminded me of these strips.

    The Game Detective Part two Part three
  • numblenumble
    edited March 2007
    There's a forum Q&A going on right now for those interested.

    Sam and Max related bit:
    Question: You said this game was an rpg/adventure and I was wondering what the adventure elements would be like. Is it similar to the new Sam and Max games where you have an inventory and you combine and pick up objects and such?
    Answer: I really hate to compare it to other games. Those specific comparisons would not be unfair though I don't think.
  • AdamGAdamG
    edited March 2007
    That's a silly question. It wouldn't be much of a adventure game without an inventory, haw!
  • numblenumble
    edited March 2007
    Eh, plenty of adventure games have no inventory (Loom, Myst, Samorost, etc.) and you just have to go to any game site and look at games classified as action/adventure or adventure/rpg to see that you get a lot of games that are very different from what we know as adventure games.
  • AdamGAdamG
    edited March 2007
    I thought Samorost was a neat little game, but I haven't played Myst yet. I did briefly play Loom, but it seemed a bit bizzare. Uh, then again Samorost is pretty darn bizzare too. :p
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