GiantBomb.com Interview
GiantBomb have just put up a new video where they interview Kevin and Andy about Telltale in general, and then more specifically Wallace & Gromit. It is interesting listening to Kevin say how they want to expand into their own genre - "telltale" - and it sounded to me as if he was suggesting that they were ditching point and click altogether, which concerns me slightly.
Sign in to comment in this discussion.
Comments
The whole point is that the experimentation with new interfaces should go hand in hand with an experimentation in game design. I liked the first installment of W&G, but it's even less experimental than SGCGFAP. The puzzle design is incredibly akin to the Sam & Max one, which worked great through point 'n' click. I think we're at a crossroad right now.
If they want to keep going on the direct-control path, they need to rethink the game-design to better suit that, otherwise the new interface will always feel unnecessary.
Kevin talks about rpg and/or rts influences. If this means we could skip the nth reiteration of the three-quests puzzle structure, I'm all with it.
On the contrary, if Telltale thinks the old structures are still effective, let's get back to point 'n' click, because there's really no other way to play through a classic adventure game in a more comfortable manner... at least on the PC.
If there's one thing W&G ep. 1 suffers from, that's its being a hybrid step towards that "other" type of game Kevin is hinting at.
P.S.: By the way, W&G feels very cinematic, but I felt Sam & Max Seasons were pretty cinematic as well.
Telltale should stick to improving point'n'click genre, its only recently starting to be revived, the the fascion we like and know
It is interesting because it's true, and it really shows in the games Telltale make.
You're never going to get Telltale making a game as clever as Day of the Tentacle or the like; the puzzles they come up with just aren't anywhere near that level.
But Telltale's games are still good, they're just good in different ways - for example, seeing how the the story-lines and the cast members evolve each month.
Penny Arcade have showed that an Episodic RPG can work, so I'm sure that Telltale could pull one off too. Besides, if a full-length RPG involves traveling from town to town, it's plot in most RPGs are divided into different areas anyway so an RPG would be suitable.
Although on a personal note, if you guys do try an RPG, please make it an Eastern-style one because I hate WRPGs
I wouldn't worry about that. We're committed to making games that tell good stories. We're just not going to limit ourselves by saying that the only way to tell a good story in a game is by making the SCUMM style games of the 1990s. It's not the same as what LucasArts did when they stopped making story games altogether to focus on other genres.
You guys have already seen the type of innovation he's talking about in the games we've made, but if we've done our jobs right, you didn't sit back at the end and go, "Whoa, they totally deviated from the adventure game formula there!" You just said, "Whoa, that was a great story!"
Another thing that really worries me about this interview is that it indicates I might have been right about my initial worry when hearing about the keyboard controls in Wallace & Gromit - these controls may very well be used in future games.
He keeps talking about breaking away from "SCUMM style games" and referring to this direct control thing as "our own voice".
I'm left *very* skeptical and worrying more than ever about any future Sam & Max games. I really hope they won't speak in their own voice when making that game, now that I heard what that is.
But yeah i will say Sam & Max HTR, Day of the tentacle and such games, have an almost impossible to surpase, those games are just so INSANE good, on so many levels. i still play them today. Ironicly they where my first adventure games ever.
But i do hope you will try and atleast take the best or maybe try going back to the Scumm, because sometimes going forward and making new stuff isnt always the best.
I hope for Season 3 of Sam & max, we get more humor and an intro that can rival this, i mean ive seen it 1000times, its just as good as back then when i was alittle kid!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vJioAZ1oIY
there are just so many games today where you see or hear them say, yeah well we gotta do our own things, fine just dont do it on a working games title / series. these arent adventure games ofc, but Price of persia i has gone down the drain, Splinter cell, sam fisher goes from super agent to a homeless man who throws with macrowaves. i mean come on! lol.
It just cant be bad going back and taking a look at the old scumm stuff and saying what can we use or maybe learn from it!, i doubt anyone can deny that it was some of the best in the point'nclick genre ever.
(from this article - http://www.destructoid.com/gdc-09-telltale-games-proved-me-wrong-126317.phtml)
Sorry to say, you're in denial mode.
I guess XBLA versions of S&M Seasons will retain the point 'n' click because it's hard to modify a game which was designed in "point 'n' click".
I don't think that Telltale really began to work on the Season 3 design before Strong Bad wrapped up. They're probably designing Season 3 right now, when the W&G direct control is ready to go...
Seriously though, I guess we'll have to wait and see but I doubt it'll happen. It's not like a series born from a comic needs a cinematic style...
No more Sam & max or strong bad, keep this control system to Wallace and Gromet please.
Instead use time improving the game, isnt of giving us inferior control system
Really? You can tape the (X) button down and the joystick forward and make it through large chunks of most JRPGs without even being in the same room.
That's kind of the opposite of irony. Nostalgia is a powerful filter.
It has nothing to do with Nostalgia, its about what works, and when mouse only works best, they should keep it like that, i can live with keyboard in Wallace and gromet, but i dont like it. it feels silly when you can move with mouse much better. Sometimes bad stuff is just bad, and has nothing to do with nostalgia, but when old stuff works best, leave it at that.
its like with those bad people making bad websites, that people just need to adapt, and get use to it, thats a bad joke, because they make crappy websites. Just focus on what works. Instead of making change where change is not needed, because one wanna be different.
np: The Emperor Machine - Roller Daddy (Amorphous Androgynous - A Monstrous Psychedelic Bubble Vol. 1 (Disc 2))
That's kinda like stopping to listening to music just because your favourite band have "sold out"...
np: Joy Division - Something Must Break (Still)
np: Tocotronic - Auf Den Hund Gekommen (Es Ist Egal, Aber)
np: Telefon Tel Aviv - Helen of Troy (Immolate Yourself)
Chariots of the Dogs definitely was a high point. I'm tempted to agree with you when you say it rivals DOTT.
Possibly I'm a bit discouraged after playing the first Wallace and Gromit game? For Telltale, I think it's a low point, but then Telltale again has had low points before, but then seems to have a habit of giving us an utterly amazing episode immediately after.
I still think Telltale could pull another genre off, but yes I do agree it would be a shame to lose a good source of adventure games.
And I do agree with you that Western RPGs can be good, but only certain ones.