Good Afternoon!

[HeatherLee]

Good afternoon and wellcome to the Telltale forum. Here you will find answers to all your most pressing questions! Or at least clever avoidances of answering those questions.

Dan will join us shortly, but for now feel free to ply me with your most urgent queries!

Heather
Game Design and sometimes Public Relations

[rincewind]

Can you give us some detaiils about the fabulous telltale companay?
How many people are working on one game(How big is one Team)?
How many strorywriters, 2/3D graphic artists, programmers etc. do you need?
Are you using the same engine for each game Bone/CSI/S'n'M ?

Is there anything else you might tell us?

[HeatherLee]

Hmm...let's see. I don't have Dan looking over my shoulder, so I have to be careful about what I should and should not be saying. Of course, I'd love to tell you just anything you wanted to know, but there are complex business reasons that prevent me from always being able to do so.


Annnnnnnnyway, details, details.
Our teams are much smaller than they would be at one of the huger studios. We have about 20 people total at the company, and those people are broken up into small teams. We are hoping to bring in another 10 or so people for development on Sam and Max.

We currently have 3 designers/writers here, 5 genius programmers, 5 amazing artists, 1 grouchy art tech guy, and 1.5 producers. Then there's all those other folks (among them Dan and Troy) who keep everything going around here.

Our most fantastic engine is used for all our games but at times is tweaked in different ways to support the exact needs of each game. The engine is a fat but sleek beast and is our bestest friend. It makes making games easier and faster when we get to use the same engine again and again.

HLL

[rincewind]

Thanks a lot.
You satisfied my curiosity completly.

...so far.

[artwking4]

Our most fantastic engine is used for all our games but at times is tweaked in different ways to support the exact needs of each game. The engine is a fat but sleek beast and is our bestest friend. It makes making games easier and faster when we get to use the same engine again and again.

I just love that.

[axelkothe]

1 grouchy art tech guy

[Terramax]

I can't seem to find a thread for the 'Bone' games so I'll ask here if that's ok?

I (along with my 7 year-old sister) enjoyed the first 'Bone' game very much - the game had great humour that both younger AND older audiences can enjoy (something that many games or any other mediums seldom achieve), Foney is quickly becoming one of my favourite AG characters and the graphics and interface is simple yet so beautiful to look at.

But that's enough of the sucking up, here's the 2 questions, one which EVERYONE (at least on AE, Just Adventure and Adventure Gamers) is wondering about.

1.) The price of the 'Bone' - $20 (or, for me in England and In paypal, Ł13 with VAT) seems a little excessive. I am aware that your card game was cheaper so, will the next 'Bone' be the same price? Or will it vary depending on my next question.

2.) Will the game be longer or remain at the same size? Will it be longer in terms of more locations, characters or harder puzzles?

Try and wriggle out of THESE questions - AHAHAHA!!! AHAHAHAH!!! (Cue thunder and lightning) *Cough Cough Wheeze*

But seriously, 'Bone' remains may favourite AG game of the year, more enjoyable than 'Still Life' even though I paid Ł3 more and the game wasn't even a 10th of the size.

I know your company is trying hard, and the guy who keeps sending the blog really enjoys writing to all of use. If you keep these things up, this company's gonna go far...

[HeatherLee]

Hah! I don't have to wriggle! I know the answers to these ones!

Will it be the same price?
Pricing is a very, very tricky thing. I've actually come to think of it as somewhat of an art form. An art form that I would personally be quite horrendous at. Some people complained about our price for Bone, others thought it was quite reasonable. Factors going into that included which countries people lived in, whether they were hard-core adventure gamers or casual gamers, and how much coffee they'd had that day. Suffice it to say that pricing is not set in stone for our future products, and that someone much wiser than I in the ways of money will be making that decision.

Will it be longer?
We are trying our best to make the next installment of Bone a longer, more satisfying experience. As a designer I am not a fan of padding the game experience by making the player watch the characters walk around all over the place for hours or making puzzles so hard that you have to try them 20 times and then look for an FAQ. I want the game to be fun and satisfying. Making there just be more to do (that still fits with the story) is one of our goals for Bone 2.

HLL

[Whiskey]

Hello. I have some questions about selling stuff. Were you satisfyed by the Bone 1 sells? Do you think this is the future of selling games? Do you plan to release Bone series on DVD at some point?

[HeatherLee]

I have heard around the office that Bone sales have been satisfying.

I, personally, believe that digital distribution is the future for selling independant games that can't be sold through other channels. Heck, its not just the future, its the present! Look at PopCap or Digital Eel. And they're just two examples off the top of my head of companies that would not have been able to get their games to the public without letting them loose online.

We would like to release Bone in other ways so that those who are still resistant to digital distribution can get their hands on them. Keep an eye on the web-site or sign up for our newsletter to get new information as it happens!

HLL

[jp30]

I guess I'm a little too fashionably late?



Ahh well, I can read the questions now. Probably nothing much I need to know that I haven't already learned from the TT forums.

Anyway "Hi" Telltale...

JP

[HeatherLee]

Hi JP!