Will Telltale ever make a 2D Sam & Max game?
Sam & Max in 3D is nice, but I for one think that the series and adventure games in general truly belong in 2D.
Does this even have a chance at becoming reality?
Does this even have a chance at becoming reality?
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...right? '-'
as a flashback; or dream sequence?
I think the decision to do Sam and Max in 3d comes under the definitive progress-inducing categories as "fast production" and "re-usability". I very much doubt they'd have a ball re-drawing Sam and Max's sprites to do all the zany animatic sequences they so often do. That and the carefully hand crafted layouts with a billion things going on take a bit of time to do.
As much as I'm in the same boat as you P-a-C, having an already established library of props, designs and characters already developed, gives Telltale the ability to produce the many episodes they can in the time frame they do.
It would be nice to see a full-length 2d animated S&M game, but I think that's something the fan base has to develop on their own.
That's part of it, but 3D also allows us to do a lot cinematically that we couldn't easily do in 2D (like lighting effects and cool camera cuts), and since we can easily do it in 3D, we do a lot of it! Have you played any recent 2D games and realized how... static they are? I have, and it makes me glad Telltale is a 3D studio.
It should be noted that perhaps an overambition or going over budget or something I'm not sure of in Curse of Monkey Island led to the ending being rushed. Still the first half is packed with a lot of cool animation.
Okay this is a bit of a ramble, my point is that I don't it's a good idea to convince yourself only one way of doing something is the only way. I think both mediums of graphics can be used to do a lot different and great things.
-> http://www.pixeljam.com/dinorun (Oh and don't miss Gamma Bros if you don't know it already.)
Gamma Bros is EPIC.
Anyway.. 3d is a more viable option for episodic gaming, reusable characters make for less work for the staff and more time spent on the script and all that awesome stuff. I miss 2d games yes, they have a certain asthetic I feel can't be obtained with 3d but it's a question of which is best for the particular job at hand.
That said, I miss 2d animation and games. *sniffle*
That said, I fully understand why Telltale uses 3D and I don't mind that much - they do a very good job at it and graphics isn't everything, either.
Making everything 2D would just be too much work, especially if you'd want high quality animation and gorgeously rendered or handdrawn (I prefer the latter) backgrounds.
Unless you have a huge budget, you can do a lot more cool stuff in 3D than you could in 2D.
So I'm happy with how Telltale are doing things, I don't mind the 3D.. they're awesome games, that's what matters.
EDIT - my completely unrealistic dream would be -
Telltale should get the right to Gabriel Knight, hire Jane Jensen to write another one, hire the actors from Gabriel Knight 2 and make a full motion video GK game :eek:
Would be awesome though.
Telltale is doing everything perfectly right now, and I for one would not want them to revert to 2D.
actually the first adventure games didn't have graphics, they used text.
BUT can you imagine Grim Fandango being 2d? ok they could have done it and it probably would have looked freaking cool but it WORKED being 3d.. it just.. did.
I will always prefer 2d because I feel it has more... I dunno.. soul to it I suppose.. but 3d has it's place in the world. I just wish there was less gratuitous 3d around (like all the films made 3d because 3d is cool with the kiddies or some crap)
Having done 4 years of university studying computer animation, I can tell you, 3d animation is a hell of a lot less of a bitch than frame by frame 2d. Once you have a decent model (which I frankly can't do, 3d modeling is a bitch) which is rigged and weighted correctly you can reuse it as many times as you like making it economical. It does mean that in terms of films they can hash out sequels a lot easier and quicker but hey... In terms of episodic gaming it wouldn't make sense to use 2d. It would take too long, every new episode would need to be redrawn at least partially. in 3d you can just make a few new sets, perhaps a few new models and hey presto, completely new episode visually done, time to focus on plot/script and programming.
I love text adventure games.. just for the record.. *sigh* I miss them sooooo.
But no, graphics aren't the be all and end all of a game. It saddens me that so many huge companies don't seem to realise that pretty graphics alone do not a good game make.
More point and click adventure games on the DS would be a dream! It annoys me that they haven't started churning them out like nobodies business yet. It's the ideal platform for point and click!
Mind you, I dont pretend to know how easy cell shading is to produce, or even much about it as it is...as I said, many games that try to look 3D via cell shading dont impress me at all...but, its just a thought...
I recently introduced someone, due to the recent Indy, to the Fate of Atlantis adventure and it's still a lot of fun. It for sure could be done more dynamic with 3D but it also didn't feel static to me in a negative way. I mean books most of the time are still printed the same way, those black letters on white paper, still they can be pretty much amazing.
What i was thinkig for quite some games is that why on earth can't the games share the same look like the covers. For some games this would rock so much. For others it's better going with a more simplified and abstarct look instead. Obviously it has to do with the effort and budget but it just gets you thinking/wishing sometimes.
Saying so, how would it be if you could play Sam&Max S2 in the style of the cover instead?
-> http://www.telltalegames.com
however, a short sequence in one of the upcoming s&m games might be possible. if the game contained something like a flashback that could be done in 2d with purcell doing a handfull of sprites. similar to the text-adventure part in reality 2.0. i would like that, but if this can't be done...3d is also cool.
Actually, a great compromise would be cel-shaded 3D.
The reason that those old LucasArts games were so awesome was exactly because of 2D art. that and good writing of course. But telltale already has excellent writers, they just need more artists to design interesting and original things.
Problem I often see is that 3DCG artists often don't design the things they model. As awesome as the games are so far, there's a room for improvement in the art department.
Sorry to babble on and on, I just miss my childhood games, where people cared about art in media. Oh the times those were...*sigh*
Not all 2d games have more artistic credibility. Many times it is quite the opposite. Photograph textures are a commonly used shortcut to make the backgrounds seem more artsy than they really are.
Riven used photographed textures but it was still a ton of work to make and it looks gorgeous.
A new completely 2D Mario game (ie: no 3D models, pre-rendered or otherwise) for the Wii or whatever would be ace.
Super Paper Mario was close, and the upcoming Wario Land Shake is all 2D hand-drawn animation.