New Genres? Intriguing...

edited January 2012 in Jurassic Park
The press release says, "The agreement broadens Telltale's product offerings into new genres and new styles of gameplay."

We clearly can't expect these just-announced titles to be the usual Telltale point-and-click fare. As much as I love their adventures games, I think branching out into new genres is great for Telltale. But I'd need to know more before I could say whether or not I'm interested.

On one hand, if I'm going to "be" in the Jurassic Park universe, I'd much rather have an action (or action-adventure) game than a straight-up adventure. But it ain't easy making successful, compelling action games. You can't just graft action elements onto an adventure game style -- you end up displeasing fans of both genres.

Or maybe it's something else entirely. Anyway, I'm looking forward to learning more details as they emerge.

Comments

  • edited June 2010
    I have no problem with Telltale expanding into other genres, just as long as they do continue to make adventure games also.
  • edited June 2010
    I think by new genres they mean "not comedy". Dan Connors has been talking all year about the next IPs being more serious and less comedic.
  • edited June 2010
    Yes, but it also says "new styles of gameplay". I can't imagine pointing and clicking at my leisure with an angry T-Rex on my trail.
  • edited June 2010
    Yeah, I read the first part of that as new licence genres.
  • edited June 2010
    Haggis wrote: »
    Yes, but it also says "new styles of gameplay". I can't imagine pointing and clicking at my leisure with an angry T-Rex on my trail.

    Perhaps the games could incorporate the feature that we see in games like 'Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon', where you have to react and click a particular object at a certain time to avoid dying.

    Example.

    Edit: I guess it's not really clicking at leisure though. And it is slightly different gameplay to your traditional point-and-click adventure game.
  • edited June 2010
    Quick-time events? Hmmm... I'm not really a fan of those. Oh well, as long as Telltale manages to put a proper degree of suspense into this I don't really mind what sort of game this will be. After all, straight-up adventure games can be pretty scary too, if done right.
  • edited June 2010
    There hasn't been so much pointing-and-clicking in Telltale Games for a while now...
  • edited June 2010
    jp-30 wrote: »
    There hasn't been so much pointing-and-clicking in Telltale Games for a while now...
    Hmmm... I always point and click at the items. :)
  • edited June 2010
    They might prove to be more action-oriented games, but it's been stated at least that they won't be "shoot-'em-ups."
    In the official announcement materials, Bill Kispert, interactive vice president at Universal Studios, seems to suggest that these games won't be shoot-'em-ups. Whew. "Jurassic Park and Back to the Future are two of our broadest and most beloved properties," Kispert said in a statement. "We were very interested in bringing them into the interactive space, but they're not exactly the kind of properties that lend themselves to the stereotypical shoot-'em-up style of gameplay."

    http://www.giantbomb.com/news/telltale-to-take-on-jurassic-park-and-back-to-the-future/2089/
  • edited June 2010
    Haggis wrote: »
    Quick-time events? Hmmm... I'm not really a fan of those. Oh well, as long as Telltale manages to put a proper degree of suspense into this I don't really mind what sort of game this will be. After all, straight-up adventure games can be pretty scary too, if done right.

    There's always cutscenes as well.
  • edited June 2010
    Well, it's "Telltale Games" after all, not "Telltale Adventure Games". As far as I'm concerned, they can do as they please. I'm realistic enough to know that not every game they create will appeal to me, be it through choice of graphics, subject matter, or type of gameplay.
  • edited June 2010
    I hope this means they'll finally be accepting the ability to die in a game.
  • edited June 2010
    Uhmmm... great... just what we need... "another" action-adventure game... Here's hoping that atleast they put some originality and twists to the overused action-adventure genre...
  • edited June 2010
    SubSidal wrote: »
    Uhmmm... great... just what we need... "another" action-adventure game... Here's hoping that atleast they put some originality and twists to the overused action-adventure genre...

    Every genre is "over-used". Do you realize how many hundreds of adventure games there are?
  • edited June 2010
    I did a quick investgtion, there does not exist a humourless BTTF match three game, so that seems to be the new logical direction to me. Oh and of course dinosaur chess, you know with cinematic impressive motion captured fighting animations - the season dvd will capture how they fit into the rooms with audio commentry by the T-Rex and his friend Bronto.

    Amongst others they licenced state of the art middleware like dunno beäst for great lightning also on low end machines and what not. Crytek here we come!
  • edited June 2010
    I hope this means they'll finally be accepting the ability to die in a game.

    You do realize you can die in tomb of sammunmak right.
  • edited June 2010
    It's astounding to me how people can so easily jump to conclusions without having any official news whatsoever beyond "experimenting with new genres and new types of gameplay."
    Gman5852 wrote: »
    You do realize you can die in tomb of sammunmak right.

    No. I haven't bought Season 3 yet. That is fantastic news :).
  • edited June 2010
    It's astounding to me how people can so easily jump to conclusions without having any official news whatsoever beyond "experimenting with new genres and new types of gameplay."

    I don't think anyone here is jumping to conclusions, just speculating for the fun of it and talking about what we might like to see. :)
    SubSidal wrote: »
    Uhmmm... great... just what we need... "another" action-adventure game... Here's hoping that atleast they put some originality and twists to the overused action-adventure genre...

    "Overused" is in the eye of the beholder, or rather the genre preferences of the gamer. Personally, I think there are too few high-quality third-person action-adventures. :p
    Haggis wrote: »
    Quick-time events? Hmmm... I'm not really a fan of those.

    I don't mind quick-time events, as long as they add something to the game actions and aren't meant to just punish players without mad button-mashing skillz. I never played Sleeping Dragon (loved the first two Broken Swords), the QTE in that video didn't look very forgiving. :eek:
  • edited June 2010
    thom-22 wrote: »
    I don't think anyone here is jumping to conclusions, just speculating for the fun of it and talking about what we might like to see. :)

    I was referring to the people who are complaining at the (unfounded) idea that TTG are suddenly detracting from the adventure genre altogether.
  • edited June 2010
    When I think of JP as a semi-adventure game, I get flashes of Silent Hill in my mind, games which combine some AG elements with slight combat/escape sequences. Survival horror lends itself naturally to such a concept. Though I'd prefer something less generic.
  • JenniferJennifer Moderator
    edited June 2010
    When I think of JP as a semi-adventure game, I get flashes of Silent Hill in my mind, games which combine some AG elements with slight combat/escape sequences. Survival horror lends itself naturally to such a concept. Though I'd prefer something less generic.
    I wouldn't mind a survival horror game. That would work well for Jurassic Park. As long as the story is good, I'm sure I'll enjoy it. :)
  • edited June 2010
    Capcom did a pretty successful Jurassic Park-esque survival horror game a few years back. Dino Crisis. That could end up being a decent idea for TellTale
  • edited June 2010
    Spykes wrote: »
    Capcom did a pretty successful Jurassic Park-esque survival horror game a few years back. Dino Crisis. That could end up being a decent idea for TellTale

    That game was fun. Although it essentially used Resident Evil as a template and swapped out the models for dinosaurs. xD
  • edited June 2010
    Steve2911 wrote: »
    That game was fun. Although it essentially used Resident Evil as a template and swapped out the models for dinosaurs. xD

    It was. I was simply bringing out the the Survival Horror genre could easily work for Jurassic Park. It seems to fit better than them trying to make a Jurassic Park game as a point and click adventure.
  • edited June 2010
    My mind springs back to an old PC game called Lost Eden. As far as I can recall that was a dinosaur based point and click... but I don't think it was very much like Jurassic Park.
  • edited June 2010
    This seems relevant and will probably be intriguing to most.
    Jurassic Park will be a little bit more of a departure for us. The reasons will probably be obvious to people who are trying to figure out how we will do this game. What we always try and do is whatever's best for the licence. Jurassic Park is going to require a lot of tension and time pressure and stuff like that - you need to run away from dinosaurs. Your standard graphic adventure mechanics are not very good for that.

    So it seems that it will still be an adventure game, but just in a different style.
  • edited June 2010
    Just watched all 3 movies and I think I know what the game would be like.

    I think you'd be part of a group, so you can interact with people every now and then and get new information, items and maybe even hints. The game would probably be fluently jumping between a few modes via character interactions/cutscenes /puzzle solving/etc:

    1. Running from Dinosaurs- There's a dinosaur chasing you so you have a limited control of the movement (Somewhat similar to the DeSoto mini-game in Sam and Max). You jump over roots, dash under giant tree stumps, get in the middle of a herbivore stampede... And if you make too many mistakes, you are dinosaur food.
    2. Trapped - You and a few other characters are trapped in some vehicle/structure/etc, while dinosaurs are trying to break in and eat you. Now you have a limited time before the dinosaur gets to you, so you find a way to solve some puzzle (Start the engine of the car, use items, find another way out, lure the dinosaur away, maybe even interact with another character so he can help). If you fail doing that in time you get eaten. Now it's a different puzzle each time so things won't get repetitive.
    3. In Relative Safety - No dinosaurs nearby, you and your group is resting. This is where you sit down and just talk to other characters, decide what the next goal is and maybe find an item or two in the grass.

    There probably won't be any shooting and stuff like that, it would likely be focused on solving some problem before you get eaten.
    The other characters from your "group" would act on their own. Sometimes they'd betray you, get you or themselves in trouble, help you along the way, basically everything the characters in the movies do.
    And there would be a group of bad guys you'd encounter every now and then who'd make your life difficult.

    Now this is all pure speculation, but we'd wait and see if I'm right about any of those.
  • edited June 2010
    make it so that there is a group of players who are stuck on the island and have to find a way to get off while surviving dinosaurs and collecting dirt on ingen no guns or weapons like in the movies it would be sick
  • edited January 2012
    Funny to see the speculations when the game was announced and how it turned out to be.

    That "Spadge"-guy was pretty close!
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