A couple things bothering me...
As you know, we've all been waiting for a long time for this, but now I'm reading things on the front page that are making this game sound almost experimental and unappealing, and I'm hoping some answers can be cleared up.
1. It sounds like instead of playing a big full-scale adventure game, we instead get little tiny episodes that we could probably finish in ten minutes each. This sounds almost like "Star Trek 25th Anniversary" and "Victor Vector" which were both royally disappointing in both the short and long run. Personally, I prefer my games to have at least fifty "advertised" hours, so how big is this going to be exactly?
2. This whole webisode thing sounds like pay-per-view, where you play a bit of the story, and then have to pay for the next bit of the story. Personally, I'd rather have a whole game on a nice store-bought disc that I can even install on computers that aren't connected to the internet. I don't to want to pay $20 for something I'll have to burn onto a crappy CD.
Yes, I've been waiting forever for Sam & Max to come back out and yes, beggars shouldn't be choosers, but why does there HAVE to be a catch? This is the equivalent of finding out Final Fantasy XI will be multi-player only - it just ruins everything you've hoped for.
Anyway, if someone could make everything clearer on the detail of this game and how it will be distributed, I'd probably feel a lot more at ease.
1. It sounds like instead of playing a big full-scale adventure game, we instead get little tiny episodes that we could probably finish in ten minutes each. This sounds almost like "Star Trek 25th Anniversary" and "Victor Vector" which were both royally disappointing in both the short and long run. Personally, I prefer my games to have at least fifty "advertised" hours, so how big is this going to be exactly?
2. This whole webisode thing sounds like pay-per-view, where you play a bit of the story, and then have to pay for the next bit of the story. Personally, I'd rather have a whole game on a nice store-bought disc that I can even install on computers that aren't connected to the internet. I don't to want to pay $20 for something I'll have to burn onto a crappy CD.
Yes, I've been waiting forever for Sam & Max to come back out and yes, beggars shouldn't be choosers, but why does there HAVE to be a catch? This is the equivalent of finding out Final Fantasy XI will be multi-player only - it just ruins everything you've hoped for.
Anyway, if someone could make everything clearer on the detail of this game and how it will be distributed, I'd probably feel a lot more at ease.
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The games will be shorter than a normal game. That's your "catch." But there are benefits to this, such as the games being released in short intervals and the possibility of having many of them. The games will not be ten minutes long, that's completely ridiculous. They're going to be smaller than your normal epic-sized adventure because Telltale doesn't have the money to fund a full-scale adventure game for over two years and to release it as a boxed product on retail shelf, where without the kind of marketing and financial muscle that a company like EA can provide it won't have a prayer of selling over well-known franchises that dominate the marketplace. You and I know Sam & Max are quality characters, but I don't think you'd disagree with me that these days if someone was spending fifty bucks on a game they'd buy something they were familar with, something they know is just like any other game because fifty dollars is too much money to gamble with for some weird crimefighting animals. And unless your game is a prominent title, it's not going to get stocked everywhere or stay on the shelf for a prolonged period of time, further decreasing its chance of being bought or even noticed. In short, Telltale pushing one huge Sam & Max adventure game in a market not receptive to it would be suicide in more than one way. They're a company less than two years old, and while they're former LucasArts employees I'm guessing they don't share the comany's pocket book. So think a little bit before accusing the Telltale Sam & Max game of being an unappealing experiment as if Telltale has complete choice over the matter.
Secondly, nothing I've read about the game implies that it will be like pay-per-view (brilliant analogy, by the way, just like your Final Fantasy one). My understanding is that each episode will consist of a "case," that will be self-contained in some way. I think we'd all like to have a big game sold in a box, but maybe it's just not possible. And perhaps if everyone would stop seeing online distribution as some wretched replacement for buying the game in the store you might discover that the idea has, gasp, some pretty exciting possibilities. Further, online distribution provides an effective outlet to get adventure games directly to people who want it. It's beneficial for both sides and gives Telltale's titles a better chance of finding an audience, especially if their budget is tight.
I think we should voice our concerns here, but let's at least be slightly open instead of knocking everything before we've tried it or know anything about it?
Well, that's also why I needed a bit more information. I've been ripped off before and I'd hate to have it happen again, especially with these characters. I can tolerate a game that has at least a 3-hour running time (such as Full Throttle) and a complete story.
I suppose it's a little better than paying to see a movie in theatres, but there's always that intangibility that I find difficult to grasp. For instance, there's something completely impersonal about having a hard drive full of movies in comparison to a video shelf full. I sort of expected it to become completely like that someday, but I was hoping they'd develop some type of "safe-keeping" technology for computers first, so that you're not forced to back-up or re-download everything you buy. Our current technology still isn't that convenient.
Say, for example, shortly after you buy, download, and install your new game, your whole hard drive goes belly up unexpectedly and cannot be restored even by a technician (I'm talking from personal experience here.) Will you have to buy the game all over again?
Software is software, whether it's on your hard disk itself or a CD.
Also, DVDs and CDs ARE more convenient.. you can just make an image and play them anytime you want without any hassle. That is not piracy in my eyes.. a backup for personal use is not piracy.
I do that with all my games.. and I know I can have these games for as long as I want, there is no expiration date on them.
You just have to think of it like a tv show, and while it hurts to wait for the next game-ep to be released, you just have to be paitent. At least this way you have the game sooner. For a small company like Telltale, you people would be up in arms waiting 2 or 3 years for a full length game to be developed and released.
That was my philosophy when I was making games a few years back. It was the pioneering days of releasing games by chapter, with the "to be continued line..." at the end of each act. While my games were only amateur, they became quite popular and downloaded by a few hundred people, even getting a mention in a few PC mags.
The point is, for smaller companies, this is the most viable option, and at least we are getting adventure! It also makes games a bit more interactive as in design - as in the game can change based on players initial comments. eg. The fans love a minor character in part 1, the design team can then ensure this character gets more of an appearance through the rest of the game!
If you want to check out my free game, which will provide you with a few hours of point-n-click adventure gameplay in this episodic style, check out http://www.scurvyliver.com
cheers
Scurvyliver
Hate to break this to you laffer old son. Have you tried the DVD version of FEAR? Apparently the latest versions of Macrovisions securom and safedisc and so on add so much corruption to the physical layout of the disc that it was unplayable on a huge number of DVD drives. Personally I think this is the most convenient way in terms of piracy.
And for heavens sake, they've already said that if they go under the functionality will be ensured afterwards. Seriously, give it a go kids..
A day or two? Games go gold a month before they actually reach stores all the time. Plus with online distribution everyone gets the game at the same time; Europe doesn't have to wait any longer to get the game, for example.
What are you talking about? Nothing's being "chopped" here. Where do you even get this idea that there's one big game being chopped up into little parts? That's insane. Each game is being made on at the time, as a complete experience however short.
Want to give me some details on this? You know, since you seem to know all about it. The game doesn't "expire." You pay for the game, and then you are licensed to it, just as you are to a game you buy at the store. Once you've downloaded the game you have it - all the resource files are there. The only time you'd have to re-activate is if the game gets deleted off your computer or you want to install it on another machine. In that case it's a matter of going to the web site and having it re-activated. Oooh.
Hey chief, you've got to do that with any game you buy if you want a back-up. Except in the case of Bone you've only got fifty megs to worry about. And that's if you have this fear that the internet will blow up and you'll never get a copy of the installer again.
How about the game? Is that part important maybe?
I've said this before: Why does everyone care so much about the box? I mean, it'd be one thing if the boxes we get these days are any good or had any cool extras in it, but this isn't the early 90s where you get this awesome box with endless junk in it. The best case scenario would be a small, cheap cardboard box and a jewel case (or even just a paper sleeve) with a tiny manual. In the UK, DVD cases are standard. What exactly are we missing out on here? Sure, a box is nice, but so what? Telltale might not have the money to distribute its games to stores anyway, and if they spent all kinds of money on getting their games to stores, would they sell? I'm serious - imagine the kind of stuff you see on your local game shelf, and tell me if Bone would sell like hot cakes in that sort of environment.
Also, there's an official Bone manual online. If you have to touch it, print it out. Find a new complaint.
The game was released at twenty bucks. That's hardly a fortune. And they're already offering discounts. And 40% off a $19.99 game out for two months is a little extreme. Wait a while.
You really don't know what you're talking about, do you? Once you activate it that's it. There's no need for internet connection.
Same thing with Telltale's games.
You know it could be a sly way for Telltale to test ideas - use Dank or Dudebrough in a free downloadable minigame (or as an in-browser flash game), and gauge the fanbase reaction.
Refine and tweak for similar use in a future Bone or Sam & Max episode...
I guess Telltale aren't adverse to that general concept, considering Hold'em was kind of a character test and distribution test.
The speculation of 1-3 hours of gameplay for a $20 episode I think isn't giving enough credit to them. Adventure games always take twice and sometimes three times as long to get through the first time around, I think we all know that.
My first playthrough of Grim Fandango took me probably a month of playing three or four hours a day. Nowadays I can zip through that game so fast it's like an interactive movie, but I hardly think I was ripped off because of it.
There may be 3 hours of content in these episodes assuming you already know what to do... but beyond that, I seriously doubt it.
At any rate, if people are serious about wanting to see Sam & Max and adventure gaming live, I believe the whole genre's success is hinging on Telltale's successfulness, so we need to do all we can to help them out.
That way, you can swear at the softwear, and hardwear*, no matter what!!!!
*unless your into bats/lead pipes
I remember playing Call of Duty and it had 9 hours of content. I paid $50 for it which comes to around $5.55 per hour. What an amazing game.
Episode III, not including the babysitter, popcorn, parking, etc. cost $9.50 per person to see. At 2 hours and 20 minutes, that's $4.07 per hour (not including the crappy commercials for 35 minutes before the movie).
Bone, maybe you rushed through the game, but if you actually enjoy the dialog and explore the game, you get AT LEAST 4 hours of great gameplay. That's $4.99 per hour.
Put it all together and you'll see that the model is in line with the value of the content. On top of the fact that we're talking about an amazingly creative dvelopment studio giving us something we can't get anywhere else, I don't understand why people keep talking about 50 hours as being some kind of metric for what makes a game good.