The premise was hunting down a bigfoot that had escaped from an amusement park. Of course the story develops a lot from there but I won't spoil it as it sounds as if you haven't played it
He said cancelled game. Freelance Police, not Hit The Road.
What was the premise to the original canceled LucasArts Sam and Max game?
Nobody knows, but my best bet judging from the two sketchbooks I bought and what's in them, it had to do with Steve's "Feature Film" plot he said he would love to do one day.
Basically, what happens is Sam & Max are called to investigate the disappearance of the Statue of Liberty,
which was stolen by aliens who where making an Earth Themed casino where, in the basement, a secret cult made of of children who became lost because of their parent's gambling addiction meet. And something about how all the planets in the entire galaxy are connected by pulleys and zip lines which Sam & Max use to travel between planets, and how eventually you would find a planet populated by nothing but creatures that look like Max.
There's a great Steampunk version of the Mecha-Max from the TV Show in the sketchbooks too! Kind of makes me pine for it to be made.
Zeek, what you described (except for the last part, which I've never heard before) was actually the premise of the Infinite Machine pitch that didn't get published.
The LucasArts version that Stemmle and several of the other Telltalers were working on was different. Since I wasn't there, I don't know what the premise was. And I'm skeptical that those guys can tell y'all what it was -- either LucasArts still owns the story, or if not, ideas from that game may be used in future episodes!
Here's an old interview with Mike Stemmle about Freelance Police, from back before it was cancelled, conducted by my friend Marek Bronstring over at Adventure Gamers.
... hrm that's not the interview I was thinking of. There was one somewhere where he talked about some actual events in the game on the record, but that's not it really. That one's more of the "twisting the knife" variety, for those who refuse to let it die at least.
I have to kind of wonder, what happens to all the resources for games that are canceled like Sam & Max Freelance police or the kind of terrible looking Full Throttle 2. I'm guessing Lucas Arts just keeps all of them stored away or what?
Zeek, what you described (except for the last part, which I've never heard before) was actually the premise of the Infinite Machine pitch that didn't get published.
Oh, thanks. Well, here's hoping that it does get publish, because it sounds randomly epic and fun.
I have to kind of wonder, what happens to all the resources for games that are canceled like Sam & Max Freelance police or the kind of terrible looking Full Throttle 2. I'm guessing Lucas Arts just keeps all of them stored away or what?
If they are anything like Disney, yeah, they probably threw it into a vault.
If they are anything like Universal, they probably threw it into a vault and then burned down the vault.
By the way, Zootch, I'm glad someone here other than me has the courage to talk about "Sam and Max: Freelance Police".
Really, what is everyone else so afraid of? Come on, people! It's the United freakin' States of America! We have freedom of speech, and the First Amendment! If you want to talk about this game, you can! If you want to play the game, then tell us already! There's nothing stopping you from doing it!
By the way, Zootch, I'm glad someone here other than me has the courage to talk about "Sam and Max: Freelance Police".
Really, what is everyone else so afraid of? Come on, people! It's the United freakin' States of America! We have freedom of speech, and the First Amendment! If you want to talk about this game, you can! If you want to play the game, then tell us already! There's nothing stopping you from doing it!
No one is afraid of talking about anything. It's been talked about to death actually.
Hey, I heard the game was 99.2458365% done, all they had to do was an a missing semicolon to one of the subtitles in the game. What the hell Lucas Arts, what the hell? Bad Brain Entertainment shall be our savior though, they'll set everything right.
Yeah, but it's there fault for not stealing his sketch book & using it for the game by not cancelling it in the first place! So yeah, I hate Lucasarts*traitors*.
Yeah, but it's there fault for not stealing his sketch book & using it for the game by not cancelling it in the first place! So yeah, I hate Lucasarts*traitors*.
Yeah, the Judas of the gaming industry. Yo, Lucas! Stop hiding behind the Star Wars license, hypocrites! Quit making excuses! Quit saying that a DS cartridge can't hold the data to a game like Maniac Mansion, which, by the way, can fit on a DS cartridge! You tell us that Electronic Arts is stupid for not releasing the Superman game with the movie, and then you yourself don't release the Indiana Jones: Kingdom of the Crystal Skull game with the movie a few years later!
Don't worry. They'll be kicking themselves in the rear once Spore ships and they realize all of Will Wright's minions are out there making better redesigns of X-Wings and Tie Fighters than they ever could with their own software.
I sent a message to Darrell Rodriguez yesterday asking him to uncancel the game. I hope I get a response from him soon, though I'm not 100% positive...
I actually wouldn't mind that. They have Twinkies and Hostess CupCakes in heaven. Yum.
The sight of a game canceled during development hell always makes fans squirm in their seats and cry. I'll never forget or forgive Capcom for scrapping a perfectly cool Resident Evil 1.5 while it was nearly 80% done. BUT! I will always love Resident Evil 2. If RE 1.5 came out, most likely RE2 wouldn't exist. I feel this is similar to Sam and Max. If Freelance Police came out, we probably wouldn't be here on Telltale's site downloading their wonderful episodes.
I actually wouldn't mind that. They have Twinkies and Hostess CupCakes in heaven. Yum.
Uh no, no they don't. It's paaaaaaaaaaradise so you don't neeeeeeeeed food. Or drinks. Or anything. It is a boring empty existance. And I have been to Development Hell thank you! And it's quite lovely. Most of the time they keep trying to make a Mario game that's actually canon but Shigeru than hits the shock button. And yes it probably won't be a free download game.
Recently, LucasArts has complained about Nintendo hiding the MotionPlus controller from them. Um, LucasArts has hidden more things than that from other people (including S&M:FP), and for much longer than that, so I don't think they're in any position to complain about other companies hiding things from them.
The better thing for them to do is, oh, I don't know, stop hiding things from people? In other words, give the game's source code to Telltale and let them finish what they started! Come on, I need some frickin' closure here!
Recently, LucasArts has complained about Nintendo hiding the MotionPlus controller from them. Um, LucasArts has hidden more things than that from other people (including S&M:FP), and for much longer than that, so I don't think they're in any position to complain about other companies hiding things from them.
Actually, from a Video Game Developers point of view, I would see why they would be upset. You want your product to be the most innovative, and if the company you are going to have your software on is holding back an innovated piece of hardware that you could capitalize on to make the game that much more fun, you'd be mad too. It also helps your bottom line if you can get in on the ground floor of this new technology. That way when it releases, you can be part of the launch titles and (hopefully) make a name for yourself. Or have bragging rights.
'PERFORM DANCE MOVES AND WIN' contest. You had to make (this was not a real function) the right moves and then kill yourself because you danced terribly with Max. Then you woke up and your in a singlet in a stingy apartment and it turned out that Max was your mother. CRAZY!!!
Umm...is it worth mentioning that a lot of the Telltale team are actually pee'd off members of Lucasarts that were miffed when their game was randomly cancelled for no apparent raison so they left and formed Telltale? At least that's what Wikipedia says so who knows if it's true. If it is though, don't they have the rights to the majority of the code?
Since the game's been completely cancelled, Lucasarts shouldn't really have much against letting the script go away and TT have the rights to the "Sam and Max: Freelance Police" name now anyway, so that gives them even more right to do it.
Here's what I think should happen (brace yourselves people):
1) Telltale go to Lucasarts and ask for JUST THE SCRIPT.
2) Lucasarts may want to be paid for it, I dunno how evil they are, but since the game has such a big cult following now thanks to the episodic series done by TT, it shouldn't be too much of a sting as they could make it back through profit. Perhaps TT could make a deal where Lucasarts could have a cut of the profits once the game goes on sale.
3) Use the CURRENT game engine (or adapt it to suit) to make the new game. Therefore, people will feel at home with the current game engine.
4) Combine the TellTale Tool with the Lucasarts script
5) put it in a blender for 30 seconds
6) dilute to taste
7) ???????
8) PROFIT
I hope Telltale have a look at this and give it a shot 'cos there's loads of people out there who'd love to see this game released. If it never happens, I just look forward to season 3.
Comments
He said cancelled game. Freelance Police, not Hit The Road.
Basically, what happens is Sam & Max are called to investigate the disappearance of the Statue of Liberty,
There's a great Steampunk version of the Mecha-Max from the TV Show in the sketchbooks too! Kind of makes me pine for it to be made.
The LucasArts version that Stemmle and several of the other Telltalers were working on was different. Since I wasn't there, I don't know what the premise was. And I'm skeptical that those guys can tell y'all what it was -- either LucasArts still owns the story, or if not, ideas from that game may be used in future episodes!
... hrm that's not the interview I was thinking of. There was one somewhere where he talked about some actual events in the game on the record, but that's not it really. That one's more of the "twisting the knife" variety, for those who refuse to let it die at least.
try it again
If they are anything like Disney, yeah, they probably threw it into a vault.
If they are anything like Universal, they probably threw it into a vault and then burned down the vault.
...What? Too soon?
Really, what is everyone else so afraid of? Come on, people! It's the United freakin' States of America! We have freedom of speech, and the First Amendment! If you want to talk about this game, you can! If you want to play the game, then tell us already! There's nothing stopping you from doing it!
No one is afraid of talking about anything. It's been talked about to death actually.
We're making jerky with it!
Wedges can suck it!
That wasn't LucasArt's idea. That was a sketch drawn by Steve Purcell himself.
Yeah, the Judas of the gaming industry. Yo, Lucas! Stop hiding behind the Star Wars license, hypocrites! Quit making excuses! Quit saying that a DS cartridge can't hold the data to a game like Maniac Mansion, which, by the way, can fit on a DS cartridge! You tell us that Electronic Arts is stupid for not releasing the Superman game with the movie, and then you yourself don't release the Indiana Jones: Kingdom of the Crystal Skull game with the movie a few years later!
I sent a message to Darrell Rodriguez yesterday asking him to uncancel the game. I hope I get a response from him soon, though I'm not 100% positive...
Is that funny, or creepy?
I actually wouldn't mind that. They have Twinkies and Hostess CupCakes in heaven. Yum.
The sight of a game canceled during development hell always makes fans squirm in their seats and cry. I'll never forget or forgive Capcom for scrapping a perfectly cool Resident Evil 1.5 while it was nearly 80% done. BUT! I will always love Resident Evil 2. If RE 1.5 came out, most likely RE2 wouldn't exist. I feel this is similar to Sam and Max. If Freelance Police came out, we probably wouldn't be here on Telltale's site downloading their wonderful episodes.
Uh no, no they don't. It's paaaaaaaaaaradise so you don't neeeeeeeeed food. Or drinks. Or anything. It is a boring empty existance. And I have been to Development Hell thank you! And it's quite lovely. Most of the time they keep trying to make a Mario game that's actually canon but Shigeru than hits the shock button. And yes it probably won't be a free download game.
Recently, LucasArts has complained about Nintendo hiding the MotionPlus controller from them. Um, LucasArts has hidden more things than that from other people (including S&M:FP), and for much longer than that, so I don't think they're in any position to complain about other companies hiding things from them.
The better thing for them to do is, oh, I don't know, stop hiding things from people? In other words, give the game's source code to Telltale and let them finish what they started! Come on, I need some frickin' closure here!
Actually, from a Video Game Developers point of view, I would see why they would be upset. You want your product to be the most innovative, and if the company you are going to have your software on is holding back an innovated piece of hardware that you could capitalize on to make the game that much more fun, you'd be mad too. It also helps your bottom line if you can get in on the ground floor of this new technology. That way when it releases, you can be part of the launch titles and (hopefully) make a name for yourself. Or have bragging rights.
'PERFORM DANCE MOVES AND WIN' contest. You had to make (this was not a real function) the right moves and then kill yourself because you danced terribly with Max. Then you woke up and your in a singlet in a stingy apartment and it turned out that Max was your mother. CRAZY!!!
Since the game's been completely cancelled, Lucasarts shouldn't really have much against letting the script go away and TT have the rights to the "Sam and Max: Freelance Police" name now anyway, so that gives them even more right to do it.
Here's what I think should happen (brace yourselves people):
1) Telltale go to Lucasarts and ask for JUST THE SCRIPT.
2) Lucasarts may want to be paid for it, I dunno how evil they are, but since the game has such a big cult following now thanks to the episodic series done by TT, it shouldn't be too much of a sting as they could make it back through profit. Perhaps TT could make a deal where Lucasarts could have a cut of the profits once the game goes on sale.
3) Use the CURRENT game engine (or adapt it to suit) to make the new game. Therefore, people will feel at home with the current game engine.
4) Combine the TellTale Tool with the Lucasarts script
5) put it in a blender for 30 seconds
6) dilute to taste
7) ???????
8) PROFIT
I hope Telltale have a look at this and give it a shot 'cos there's loads of people out there who'd love to see this game released. If it never happens, I just look forward to season 3.
Oh wait, you already are with Strong Bad and the Wallace & Gromit lisences.