Too thin, missing the Next Gen?
Telltale how do you position your resources to work on 4 series/projects at one time but completely skip or avoid next gen console porting, and availability for previous and current series? Something isn't adding up here. I get that you are doing TWD S2, we are all excited, and working on EP 2 of TWA, and now Borderlands and GOT - but aren't you spreading yourself a little think here when a large bit of us purchased next generation consoles and expect to be able to play your games on them?
I'm really disappointed in you, and I never have been able to say that - you've always been one of the top 3 dev houses for me. Please respond and tell me you are working on PS4 and XB1 ports, and development so you can put my mind at ease.
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There is already a thread about this isn't there? About how people are fed up with things. Anyway I know the new console will take a while to get a lot of games for it so again we will have to wait
"so again we will have to wait" - with that kind of attitude yea, you will. But you fortunately don't speak for the rest of Telltales fanbase, or Telltale themselves.
Patience? sure... but when Telltale announces they are working on 4 projects simultaneously and disregard the next generation completely well that's another story isn't it?
So patience is not something most people on here have?
Sorry if this sound snippy but the constant complaining just grates me a bit, its just reading page after page of whining on every thread
I dont mind them working on all these projects i'm sure they have had meetings about this and decided that it was possible to pull off. but only with time can we judge them fully.
Not just based on when they put out new episodes. But i do agree waiting for new ones is frustrating but that is because the quality of their games stories are great so far or we wouldn't care. But we will see if they can keep that quality while undertaking this many projects.
Have you ever thought about the fact that Telltale is still pondering ways to transfer saves between systems? The fact that there's a lot of weight over their shoulders concerning them making more than two games within one year? That haven't really grown accustomed to producing games on next-gen systems? No of course you haven't.
I swear, the internet would be better off if people that always complain would just get out.
I'm a developer so lets just get that out of the way so we can continue since you want to sound 'intelligent', lets walk that path browngamer93, shall we? Taking a step back how about you read my post first before making an idiotic comment? Particularly these lines:
"I'm really disappointed in you, and I never have been able to say that - you've always been one of the top 3 dev houses for me. Please respond and tell me you are working on PS4 and XB1 ports, and development so you can put my mind at ease."
Okay, so if you're reading smart ### you see that I asked for them to tell me they are working on it, not that it's ready. Secondly, from a development standpoint I highly doubt that if they were able to create a save file that works on PC, IOS, PS3 and XB360 among other formats that they will have that difficult of a time making it work with the next generation of consoles. Sorry, but since their engine already understands the process, the development to make that work on other systems would not be that difficult.
I am sure they already know how to do it, it's just a matter of slaving to do it.
Games take time to import to next-gen systems. It isn't as simple as saying "It's on next-gen too.". They have to take a lot of different steps towards this.
GeneralTrumbo, you're absolutely correct, but that doesn't mean that they ignore the resources it takes to port to the next gen consoles, and put them on 2 other projects (GOT and Borderlands). That's a stupid mistake, unless they do have the necessary resources working on the next gen ports, and stuff - but I have not heard that yet officially.. so what am I missing here?
Don't get self-righteous on me buddy just because you just so happen to be a developer. You could be a crappy one for all we know. You pretty much said you were disappointed in them because they haven't announced games for next-gen platforms yet. You act as though some gamers are unforgiving and don't somewhat understand games in development, there loads of other ways to play this game and you're worried about your next-gen console when it JUST CAME OUT?!. If you were a good developer then you wouldn't be so lenient on them for not announcing games for the next-gen. They already said they are looking at ways so why are you pestering them?
Including save transfers as well. Their games are always about choices and importing saves. So I agree. It's not they they aren't considering them at all anyways.
Designer, writer, programmer? Done something we might know?
Easy. They don't, they just work on two to release at the same time. That's kind of the step they're trying out at the moment. They have only just announced having acquired the licenses for two other franchises to be 'worked on' and starting to release next year (probably late next year). As a developer, you should make that very important difference.
As far as I know, TWD Season 2 is meant to be ported to PS4, and we can probably expect all following games to be on that platform and the XBO. I'd actually prefer they waited with that until for example Sony has figured out how to manufacture functional consoles though.
Take a look into the 30+ year history of the console kind of game entertainment and THEN evaluate if that has ever been a priority on any console, ever. Consoles are for the new stuff, have always been and will probably always be...
I think I'll be ignoring you for now on because you've added no 'positive, or constructive' comments to this at all, you've only been rude. I really don't care what you think. You're responding to my original post, not vice versa.
Says the guy that blatantly attempts to insult my intelligence lol.
Hi Vainamoinen,
Co-founded www.mmorpg.com at an early age, got into a few game studios and then eventually went on to build an MMORPG with a company based out of Pittsburgh PA, but we failed to get the additional rounds of funding that were required. I moved on to work on some cell phone titles, and now I build major hospital interfaces in the medical field, while still dabbling in game design. My brother is also a programmer, and also worked at a few of the same companies. I can program in many languages, and I'm pretty savvy to most of the game engines that are available to the public to like ogre 3d, unity 3d, etc. I can do physics, and engine design/programmer, and I use OOP in everything I do.
I'm not sure how many developers are in house, or remote over at TTG, but I would assume that taking on 4 projects at one time (maybe even more that are unannounced) could be a big mistake, not only are they moving their resources to these projects, meaning the top guys are playing part in most of them I'm sure, but they are skipping next gen ports on their biggest titles, let alone upcoming ones - big mistake. Now you could be correct they may not have pulled, or hired the resources needed for all four projects at one time, but even then you'd think that next gen would be 'huge' to a game dev house as small, or medium as TTG.
So I have a PS4 and mine functions perfectly, it's a well built console system. I have yet to try an XB1 but I also hear they had some manufacturer issues, something like 42% of consoles, that's pretty bad. I believe the Sony is reporting 6.2% now, but none of them would report valid numbers because they are not forced to and doing so would be dumb for marketing value.
While I understand your comments about the current series, and the evaluation of time before games appear on consoles I have to state that you have to understand that this is future of game consoles, and we won't see another for probably 6-10+ years, these new consoles are more powerful, and both have a 'cloud' option, so with that said.. TTG should be all over this and the other older systems to. I mean, lets be honest, from a developers stand point how difficult is it to follow instructions from a devkit and slave code away?
All I want from TTG is for them to say.. "we are working on porting to the next gen consoles, and we are hoping to have that available in 2-3 monhts", something like that.. they have chosen to not talk about it, which makes me wonder if they are skipping it for now. At any rate, many people exchanged their current gens for next gens at gamestop, and this will have an effect on sales, so maybe TTG is growing to big for its own good, hopefully I'm wrong.
An interesting vita, absolutely.
I do insist that the idea that Telltale "took on four franchises at once" is misleading. Temporary design teams may have formed and early concepts and goals been discussed, but that's about it for Borderlands and Game of Thrones. Apart from that, all these franchises are is 'announced'. In February 2011, Telltale announced five franchises at once in the very same way - in April the same year, yet another one to boot. These early stages didn't bind resources in any visible way. The series running back then was Back to the Future; the only delay this series experienced was due to surprise voice actor guest Michael J. Fox' busy schedule. Planning the next projects is always on Telltale's schedule, from day one I would guess. There's no cutting that out. If no one makes an appearance at HBO or chats up take2 in time with a decent game pitch, Telltale would end up with dangerously long times of inactivity and utter inefficiency after concluding a Season. Telltale's way of releasing games is just plain too fast for that.
Telltale's only just trying out simultaneous releases (probably starting December 17th) with two games on their plate, not four. All energy and manpower pours into The Walking Dead and The Wolf among Us. Sadly, the Wolf among Us episode 2 seems to experience significant ignition problems, and new announcements seem to be under quite a scrutiny by the community. As I know how easily Telltale can just freeze up announced projects ( The Wolf among Us - two and a half years ), I'm not at all worried and in fact quite happy that Telltale's looking forward with two new franchises in the future. Other announcements might worry me more. Porting their back catalog to PS4? Trying to bring The Wolf among Us on yet another console while fans are still craving for episode 2? That stuff would have me worried far more. That actually is the kind of work where I'd say: "Guys, I wouldn't exactly say that's your priority right now".
In this forum, Telltale's moves are under some scrutiny right now, and sadly, any announcement besides a release date announcement for TWaU or screenshots and trailers for TWD Season 2 will unjustly be understood by some members as an insult. Setting a concrete time frame for the next gen console ports right here, right now while such a time frame is still missing for TWaU episode 2 would be a grave PR mistake. Possibly mob law material.
A whole lot of early adopters are now switching to brand new consoles. Their first snatches, however, will likely be the new and shiny graphic intense multi million dollar launch titles instead of the smaller, story-centered and certainly not quite as visually appealing games Telltale makes. In fact, your plea is the first of this sort I've seen on this forum, while I've seen two or three threads from people being really worried that Telltale would stop making games for the PS3 and Xbox360 immediately. The next gen revolution is unstoppable in any case - but here, we might want to give it a bit more time!
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I appreciate your intelligent post, unlike most of my responses on here. So let me help you understand a few things, first it was the DOC I believe who's time schedule was an issue for the Back to the Future game, the guy who played Marty's voice was not MJF.
Another thing, porting a game to PS4/XB1 would not consume the same resources it would take (typically) to release an episode of TWAU or TWD, these would be different players completely I would assume. The process for these titles as far as development are all in place, the game engine they use allows them to quickly add things, make decisions, make the game follow paths, etc. etc. It's the content team, and writers, the guys who make the polys, texture them, animate them, and add story are the ones holding those projects back, the coders it takes to add those little 'scripts' are typically not the same guys who figure out how to port to a console, or write the game engine new features, etc. We are talking about different groups, which is why I again worry why we have not heard they are working on next gen ports. That to me tells me they have spread out their resources too thin, because the big deals who work on the engine are right now working on stuff for the new titles, maybe new engine features to deliver "wars" in GOT? I'm just saying, something isn't right here.
Help him understand a few things? MJF guest-voiced older Marty in the last BttF episode.
While Michael J. Fox did not play Marty (A.J. LoCascio did, and quite brilliantly, might I add), Vainamoinen is quite correct in stating that Michael J. Fox's busy schedule was the reason for a delay, as he had a small cameo in episode five.
Don't worry, this still is absolutely my area of expertise. Marty McFly was voiced by A. J. LoCascio. However, two characters in episode five were indeed voiced by Michael J. Fox, which was the reason why the last episode was delayed. Christopher Lloyd's schedule did not interfere with the release schedule Telltale had set, as all the previous episodes had released within the time frame announced in the very first trailer.
On the other hand, refining/adjusting Telltale's game engine to routinely incorporate a PS4/XBO version into their simultaneous release schedule would consume far more resources than the work done by programmers on one of their usual episodes. That, I believe, is the workload in question. Whether they're ready for the next generation certainly isn't proven by shoveling their wrinkly old back catalog on the new console; and I'd assume you'd find precious few video game companies who would jump at such an opportunity.
An extensive Telltale engine update is loooong overdue, regardless of any franchise Telltale may or may not do. I'm rather certain this update WILL come for Game of Thrones or Borderlands; but I'd also assume that this update in fact goes hand in hand with switching over to next gen completely, by utilizing these consoles' power for their future games. Telltale's engine has always been very RAM hungry... and the consoles just plain didn't deliver as of yet.
Ah, I wasn't aware of that. Thanks for the update on that, I never finished the series, I quit playing it once they went to the future and they were brainwashing the entire town.
You have to keep in mind there are specific resources for specific things, major game engine overhauls and porting/ features are all done by another group of people, or at least in every studio I've ever seen.
Welp... they never said simultaneously, it's not rare at all for companies to at least have preemptive work for future plans. They have 4 at the moment, imagine what other companies have.