›

So LucasArts license on Sam & Max has expired right?

Unknown
edited July 2005 in Sam & Max
shouldnt we all be running around jumping for joy now that telltale can acquire the license.. bone will be a huge success..which will lead to us finally getting the sam and max game we've waited for for so long.. or has recent history made us all jaded abt the whole thing :-/

Comments

  • UdvarnokyUdvarnoky
    edited June 2005
    Well, we don't know for sure Telltale can acquire the license, only that Purcell now has the rights back and is free to do what he wants with them. Here's hoping a deal can be made, because I think it's safe to say that, well, everyone in the world wants to see this happen. :D

    I suspect, considering Telltale's size and the fact that they're in deep development on their first major title, that pretty much all company resources will be totally devoted to Bone until its release. So even if there are Sam & Max negotiations in the works, any possible game might not be started for some time, so it will probably be quite awhile before we hear anything Sam & Max related. Games aren't generally announced until they've been worked on for at least a bit (Or the company, you know, even knows the game will happen...*cough* Bad Brain).

    Oh, and it's about damned time for another Sam & Max comic! Seriously.
  • Unknown
    edited June 2005
    yeah if purcell and telltale could work something out i'd imagine theyd start working on it end of 05 for a late 06 early 07 release.. but you're right we need a new sam and max comic on the meantime..

    as far as a sam and max 2 game if it ever happens..i'd love to see during the game the screen goes black..and max is like "oh shit we've been cancelled" ha you can fit a lot of in-jokes in im sure after what they been through
  • Pvt._PublicPvt._Public
    edited June 2005
    Not only should he make another comic, he should mae it possible to find some of his old comics! christ, i've been looking for a book or something for about 3-4 years now and still nothing.
  • Unknown
    edited June 2005
    Do a google search and check all the ads for comic books that appear on the side. I found some of mine at really good prices that way.
  • Unknown
    edited July 2005
    man I only got Sam and Max about 5 months ago but after finishing that, everytime I see the trailer for the new one, and think about the cancleation, I want to burn lucasarts to the ground [>:)] ...Stupidstarwarscrap!!!!!! X-( X-( And now I have the urge togetr the comics, so thanks for the suggestions on where to look
  • Unknown
    edited July 2005
    Not only should he make another comic, he should mae it possible to find some of his old comics! christ, i've been looking for a book or something for about 3-4 years now and still nothing.

    Well I have finally caved and bought it on ebay. I had to have it in time for a present for my boyfriend as it's our 7 year anniversary in under a month. If they re-print it then it will be annoying but at least I know the Sam N Max love is spreading again ;)

    To be honest LucasArts don't give a flying money - or indeed a flying max. They used to make the best games on the planet and had a wonderful reputation. Now they just make mediocre SW movie licenses and I'm proud to say I've never bought a single one... although when I've been over at friends playing I've had plenty to yawn at ;)

    Thanks guys - TELLTALE GAMES PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE DO YOUR VERY BEST* - we can ask no more of you :)

    *Although we do have a whole legion of horse's heads ready to put in telltale programmers beds if it doesn't come off :D
  • Unknown
    edited July 2005
    Well, the guys at DoubleFine are without a project at the moment, and they could probably pick it up, 'cept for Tim's dislike of working on sequels...

    On the side note, is there any particular reason for LA to hold on to the game material (code, art, music ..) now that the license is gone and they couldn't publish it even if they wanted to ? Wouldn't it make sense to try and sell it so someone for whatever price as it's pretty much useless to them? Maybe I just don’t understand the peculiarity of Corporate Logic TM.
  • jp-30jp-30
    edited July 2005
    One reason LEC may not wish to part with the code is that it's all proprietry stuff (bits of RTX, bits of other game code) and there's a chance the Sam & Max engine may, in some shape or form, be used in forthcoming LucasArts game(s).

    So it would make sense for LucasArts to keep that code in-house 'just in case' there's a future use for it.

    Anyway, looking at Bone & having read a few interviews detailing how flexible their engine is, I'd imagine that should Telltale negotiate a license from Purcell, they'd much rather use their own engine to develop on rather than (hypothetically) continue with LucasArts' old one.
  • UdvarnokyUdvarnoky
    edited July 2005
    Though I've always assumed it was the case, I wonder if LucasArts owns the rights to the actual story and writing of Freelance Police. Like, Telltale couldn't try to remake the game as they had before with the same story and dialogue and models and stuff without being sued, right? Or does that work differently? I guess what I'm asking is, if Telltale wanted to, could they essentially remake the same game?
  • jp-30jp-30
    edited July 2005
    I think it would depend on who wrote the story. If Steve Purcell wrote it then it may have reverted back to being his property when LEC's license expired to now do with as he pleases.

    If a LucasArts employee wrote it (Stemmle?) then it is bound to be the Intellectual Property of LucasArts.

    If LucasArts does own the story though, they may be in a position to sell that as it's of no use to them, even if none of the actual game code is up for grabs.
  • jp-30jp-30
    edited July 2005
    Well I have finally caved and bought it on ebay. I had to have it in time for a present for my boyfriend as it's our 7 year anniversary in under a month. If they re-print it then it will be annoying but at least I know the Sam N Max love is spreading again

    Did you get an original version, or a version in or from a compilation? There is a major sound issue on at least one particular re-release; the 'classic adventures' compilation with Sam & Max & Day Of The Tentacle on the one CD.

    Edit: Please ignore this post. I am an idiot.
  • UdvarnokyUdvarnoky
    edited July 2005
    In addition to Purcell, I think the game was primarily written by Stemmle as well as some other writers on the team like Brendan...not sure who else. I suppose that would make it LucasArts property.

    If the engine really was the problem, maybe all the other stuff like artwork, designs, and voice recordings would be easier to get. Or I'm totally wrong about the whole thing. Gotta have something to wish for!
  • artwkingartwking
    edited July 2005
    Well I have finally caved and bought it on ebay. I had to have it in time for a present for my boyfriend as it's our 7 year anniversary in under a month. If they re-print it then it will be annoying but at least I know the Sam N Max love is spreading again

    Did you get an original version, or a version in or from a compilation? There is a major sound issue on at least one particular re-release; the 'classic adventures' compilation with Sam & Max & Day Of The Tentacle on the one CD.
    I'll say there is a sound issue. ;) Actually, I think she was talking about buying the comic book, but it's okay because no one would expect the comic to be a talkie anyway.
  • jp-30jp-30
    edited July 2005
    Comic Book? [:">]

    Heh. Should have read it more carefully. Move along, you may go about your business...
  • Unknown
    edited July 2005
    if Lucasarts was paying them to work on that freelance police material I doubt they could re-use it in a new game.. I guess we'll just have to picture how funny it was in our minds :((

    with the Telltale Now model it really would suit a Sam and Max game though, because we could just download 1 case at a time.. and if they included a long running arc it would encourage people to buy future installments
  • UdvarnokyUdvarnoky
    edited July 2005
    Yeah, I love how they were going for an episodic model with that game. Supposedly they were going to offer downloadable cases after the game's release as well. Who knows how LucasArts would have handled that.

    Early on Telltale mentioned that they'd rather go for multiple games that stood on their own without depending on another, but I think you can make self-contained games that tell a big story.
  • Unknown
    edited July 2005
    Okay, so the rights of Sam & Max are back to Steve Purcell? So what is stopping him from getting the source code, and all graphics to the unfinished game? Lucasarts should still have the source code and everything.
  • jp-30jp-30
    edited July 2005
    As discussed earlier in this thread LucasArts owns that code, and it has bits and pieces of in-house engines that LucasArts probably don't want other developers to have.

    Who knows, it seems like at one point Bad-Brain were in negotiations to buy that code, but they didn't get too far, so it's not beyond the realm of possibility that LucasArts could one day be convinced to sell it.

    But I'd still imagine a more realistic solution if that particular Sam & Max game is ever to see the light of day would be to buy some of the assetts (models, voice recodings, story) from LucasArts and rebuild the game on a new engine.
  • UdvarnokyUdvarnoky
    edited July 2005
    Steve Purcell only owns the characters. All work done on the game itself is property of LucasArts.

    EDIT: I'm late.
  • Unknown
    edited July 2005
    But they no longer have the rights to release it.
  • UdvarnokyUdvarnoky
    edited July 2005
    No, but they do have the right to keep everything and not sell it off. Whether it's for business reasons (wanting the engine) or out of being stubborn, they can keep the resources and let 'em rot if they want to.
  • Unknown
    edited July 2005
    It's must be because they're stubborn. Purcell is never going to give them the rights back, and LEC refused to sell Bad Brain the code to make money, so yeah...
  • jp-30jp-30
    edited July 2005
    "Purcell is never going to give them the rights back"

    Umm, no he's not, but they're (LEC) never going to want the rights back anyway.

    It's simply good business sense not to give competitors (ie Bad Brain) your source code. You can call it stubbornness if you like. But franky I'm very relieved Bad-Brain missed out, I really don't trust them.

    And imagine what idiots LucasArts would look if their unfinished game was wrapped up by a 3rd party & went on to being a mega-hit. The easy way to avoid such embarrasing situations is to keep hole of the code.
  • Unknown
    edited July 2005
    True, Bad Brain did seem rather... unproffesional. But I was just psyched that someone was trying to get the Freelance Police data.
  • Unknown
    edited July 2005
    He hee, yes it's the comic book I bought. We've got a few copies of the original game because we bought it alone and then in a few packs, and even an "XP friendly" one towards the end. I even have it installed on my IPAQ thanks to scummVM.

    Whilst the first game is sheer genius I am really upset that a S&M game is so near to completion by the adventure gods LucasArts and with no plans for release.

    It's such a shame, why must they continue to make mediocre star wars games and shun what they are really good at. Anyway it's not proper for us to badmouth a rival company on our good host's site but I think it's true :-/
  • Unknown
    edited July 2005
    I'm not trying to bad mouth them. They did a fine job and I'm very happy they did it.

    I just mean they seemed to get a bit caught up in it and couldn't restrain themselves from talking about it (possibly too much). And now they seem to have agreed to make a lot of different games even without much of a team, and none of them seem to be showing a lot of progress (I could be wrong, though).
  • apignarbapignarb
    edited July 2005
    I just mean they seemed to get a bit caught up in it and couldn't restrain themselves from talking about it (possibly too much). And now they seem to have agreed to make a lot of different games even without much of a team, and none of them seem to be showing a lot of progress (I could be wrong, though).

    Or he/they just wisened up and learnt from past errors. Less hype might just equal more work being done.
  • Unknown
    edited July 2005
    Hopefully...
  • jp-30jp-30
    edited July 2005
    http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=6021
    Regarding the recent kerfuffle over a new Sam & Max title in development at LucasArts but subsequently cancelled, Purcell is relatively sanguine: "While at Pixar I was consulting on Sam & Max 2 after hours. I got word that it was cancelled from the team but the subsequent fan backlash was an unexpected side effect. Thirty thousand people signed the online petition protesting the decision. I had no idea there had been that level of anticipation for the game."

    Finally, Steve concludes his comments with equivocation about whether his involvement in the game industry is completely behind him: "Would I get back into games? Sure. The [Sam & Max] license is back in in my hands now so we'll see what happens in the near future. In the meantime, when I'm not working at Pixar, I'm exploring other bizarre concepts, doing some painting, and cobbling together material for my website which will be called Spudvision.com."

    :D
  • Unknown
    edited July 2005
    awesome get JP..that quote from steve is music to my ears..and the canine and rabbit thingy's.. they are back home with steve :D
Sign in to comment in this discussion.