Telltale Q&A
May 11, 2007
>>Games Learning from TV: The Sam & Max Story
Yahoo! Video Games: Which came first for Telltale - the Sam & Max license, or the desire to make an episodic series of adventure games?
Brendan Ferguson: Telltale has been geared towards developing episodic games since its inception. In fact, we created two episodes in the Bone series before Sam & Max were even born. But whereas Bone tells a story with an epic sweep, Sam & Max's adventures are better suited to punchier, more frequent games. The quest to be true to Sam & Max gave us a chance to push the episodic model much further than ever before.
YVG: How long does a Sam & Max episode take to make? Did you work on one at a time, or did you have multiple episodes in various states of development simultaneously?
BF: It took a little over a year to make all six episodes of Season 1, or about two months per episode, but we don't work on them one at a time. We have a production pipeline that's divided into three main stages. First the designers come up with the story and gameplay for an episode, then one part of the team comes in to program the game and create the basic art assets, and finally the rest of the team arrives to put it all together for the final product. In the meantime, the designers have already finished designing the next episode, and the cycle continues. From start to finish, it takes about three months to complete an episode, overlapping in that style.
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YVG: How does such a tight schedule impact your team? Do Telltale stress levels run higher than a team with a more normal schedule?
BF: Our stress level is probably similar to most game companies as measured in total fistfights per hour, but they're just a little more evenly distributed. Whereas other game companies likely have longer lulls and longer grinds, we need to remain pretty productive all the time. With each episode our production gets a tiny bit smoother and faster. Of course, that just means we designers push to have even more content each episode, but we hope that will make the games get better and better!
YVG: Now that Season 1 is wrapped up, how do you feel about your episodic model? Do you view it as an economic success?
BF: I haven't checked the latest sales numbers, but last I heard we'd sold about four copies for every man, woman, and child on planet Earth. Bald-faced lies aside, let's just say that we're looking into making more episodic series, because it's proven to be a successful way to make quality games consistently.
YVG: On the same note, why did you succeed with an episodic model where other developers did not?
BF: As with any new endeavor, practice makes perfect. Telltale has the benefit of having been designed to work under an episodic model, and we've had a chance to develop and perfect our processes over the last two-plus years. It's the same method we used to become champion yodelers, a skill we'll unveil on our website any day now.
YVG: Do you expect other developers to look more closely at the episodic model now that you've made it work?
BF: Yes! It's awfully difficult, expensive, and risky to make epic games with three-year production schedules. An episodic model gives developers a chance to try more new things with less risk, which means more variety for everyone. Huzzah!
YVG: Do you have plans for a retail release of Season 1?
BF: Yes! Those who bought the season pass from telltalegames.com can get a DVD of the entire season for the cost of shipping. We're also working with The Adventure Company on a retail release that will be in stores in August. So if you're looking for Sam & Max at your favorite retailer, peel those eyes and keep 'em that way.
YVG: Telltale made headlines when it hired Xbox 360 and Wii programmers earlier this year. What stage are you at with your console projects?
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BF: Personally, I'm at stage 7-3 of my console project, namely Super Paper Mario. But the more responsible people in our company are at the stage of getting our game engine running on the consoles and investigating the best way to control our games with those far-out controllers. Translation: they stink at Super Paper Mario.
YVG: Which episode is your favorite?
BF: I love all the episodes, but story-wise I think Episode 4 is my favorite. I love outrageous story developments and larger-than-life situations, and that's what Episode 4 is all about. Although, when you figure out how to change reality itself in Episode 5, that's just the best. Except of course for that part in Episode 6 that I can't mention because it would totally spoil the whole season. That's easily my favorite.
YVG: Can you tell us a little about the process of composing the games' scores? Where did the idea for Episode 4's song and dance number come from?
BF: The process for creating the scores is actually quite simple. We say, "Hey Jared Emerson-Johnson, could you write some incredible music?" and he does. I have no idea how he does it, but he does. It's like a Jared cult here at Telltale, we're so in awe of his work.
As for the Episode 4 song and dance number, we knew it was only fitting that the declaration of war be the happiest moment ever at the White House, so we wanted something suitably celebratory. And who doesn't love a musical! The thought of a secret service chorus line was just too tempting to pass up. Add a dash of inspiration from Busby Berkeley and friends, and we had the recipe for a deliciously over-the-top number.
YVG: If you could choose any adventure game franchise to revisit, from any company, which would it be?
BF: My own interest lies not in revisiting franchises, per se, but rather in letting players explore interesting new worlds and stories. One reason I love Sam & Max is that they get mixed up in many very different kinds of situations. Sign me up for any gig where we can do things that no one's ever been foolish enough to attempt before.
YVG: Most developers have to release their game all at once and wait for the feedback. Did you modify your approach based on the comments you received from fans or the press as the episodes came out?
BF: Most of us at Telltale learned to read just so that we could understand what all those game reviews and forum posts were saying. And when we did, it turned out to be very enlightening! Thanks to the gracious criticism of our fans, we were able to respond and make each episode better than the last. Like when everyone said they hated Joe the Two-Spleened Mime, we just shot him out of a cannon into Lake Michigan and everyone cheered.
YVG: Each Sam & Max episode is a self-contained story, but you included some plot arcs that spanned multiple episodes. Was it a challenge to balance the two, and will you be shifting the balance in Season 2?
BF: Yes, it's a lot harder to design a story when part of the audience is expecting a continuation of the previous story, and part of it has never played the previous episodes. Given the intrinsically episodic nature of the Sam & Max comics, we wanted to be sure each episode had a distinct feel that could be appreciated on its own merits. Based on feedback from playtesters who played later episodes without having played the earlier ones, I think we succeeded in letting players jump in anywhere in the series, but given how many people do play them through in order, I think we'll continue to work at making the season-wide story arcs more involving.
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YVG: Some Sam & Max episodes drew criticism over the repetitiveness of the roles of a couple of the duo's supporting characters. Do you think that repetition is an inevitable consequence of the episodic model?
BF: Giving Bosco a new disguise and Sybil a new profession each episode was just one way to make players excited to revisit them each episode. I agree that this strategy ended up being too predictable, and we're committed to finding new situations and storylines for recurring characters to keep them fresh and interesting. Maybe Bosco has an affair with Sybil and then Jimmy shoots their illegitimate child when he realizes he's dying of a rare repetitive stress injury... hold on, that's the fifth season of Dallas. Start over, start over.
YVG: There is going to be a Season 2, right? I mean, you would have just called "Season 1" "Season" if there was only going to be one of them.
BF: I can neither confirm nor deny the existence of Season 2, but it's going to be awesome.