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Telltale Bags $6 Million in Funding

Posted by Zonk on from the that-is-a-lot-of-tapioca-max dept.

Telltale Games, makers of the recent Sam and Max episodic series of adventure games, has announced that they've gotten ahold of $6 million in funding. GamesIndustry.biz references the press release, which states that a San Francisco-based venture capitalist firm took the plunge ... apparently based on the power of the digital distribution methodology. Telltale's CEO and co-founder Dan Connors said, "This funding will allow us to stay on the cutting edge of innovation by building out our team and our tools, and by taking on new licenses for the episodic treatment ... Telltale has it all-a great group of people who are changing an industry while doing what they love," said Granite Ventures managing director Chris Hollenback, who has now joined Telltale's board of directors." Considering that a year ago no one was sure if the Sam and Max games would work in this format, I think this is telling about the future of games and digital distribution.

25 comments

  1. Excellent! by WidescreenFreak · · Score: 2, Interesting

    This is great news! I love the Sam and Max episodes that they've done and I can't wait to get my Season 1 DVD. Having been a computer gamer since the days of the Atari 2600, Telltale is just proving once again that a small company that makes games for the love of making games can be just as good if not better than an international, gaming mega-corporation that shoves the same crap down our throats year after year trying their best to milk a sports franchise.

    Congrats, Telltale! Now, if you could get into talks with Ron Gilbert and bring back a certain pirate franchise that was also under LucasArts' wings, that would be even better! ;)

    --
    The Overrated mod is for reversing inappropriate, positive mods, not for voicing disagreement with a post.
    1. Re:Excellent! by Ekhymosis · · Score: 3, Interesting
      Indeed! I would absolutely LOVE it if they brought back Monkey Island. For too long has Guybrush been locked up in the brig of LucasArts. Let him and his piratey monkey minions come forth for new adventure!

      I love Star Wars as much as any other geek, but come on LucasArts, don't let the games that made you great die off.

      --
      Fighting over religion is like seeing whose imaginary friend is best.
    2. Re:Excellent! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      This is great news! I love the Sam and Max episodes that they've done and I can't wait to get my Season 1 DVD.
      And hopefully for the DVD they won't compress the voice audio so that it sounds like a ten year old dialup-grade RealAudio stream, like they did with the downloadable episodes. The games are exemplary in every other way, but I won't pay for something that has been butchered for the sake of shaving off a few megabytes.
    3. Re:Excellent! by Aladrin · · Score: 4, Informative

      I think Telltale did an excellent job of capturing the feel of the original Sam & Max, as well as the cartoons. (Which were a little different from each other, even so.)

      My only complaint is that by the third game, I already felt like it was the same game all over again... And by the 6th... Well, there's a place for consistancy, but the plot of 6 episodes is not that place.

      For those who haven't played it, allow me to ruin the plot of all 6 episodes:

      Find out something odd is happening.
      Find out you need (obscene amount of money) to buy a home-made gadget from the store.
      Get around some obstacles with items you pick up.
      Earn obscene amount of money in a dumb way.
      Buy item.
      Use item to advance plot.
      Get around more obstacles.

      That's it. The details differ a -little- in each episode, and the scenery and dialogue (firefox says that's spelled wrong. Bad firefox!) vary wildly, but I got sick of the 'plot' real quick.

      It's like Scooby Doo. Every single episode had the same plot, but just the details differed.

      --
      "If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; But if you really make them think, they'll hate you." - DM
    4. Re:Excellent! by KDR_11k · · Score: 1

      I'd expect MI to be Lucas Arts's property. They could get Sam and Max because that was Steve Purcell's series and they got Purcell to join them.

      --
      Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
    5. Re:Excellent! by buffer-overflowed · · Score: 1

      Yea, that's definately a valid synopsis/complaint. I still have the last 3 to play through, I gave it a rest after the first three, because that was bothering me. I *loved* the first one. The second was great at the TV station, and the third one felt... well... meh. The casino kinda wore on me after a bit, it seemed like there was a ton of untapped potential.

      It doesn't flow well from one game to another, the whole series(well up to 3, I haven't gone through the last 3 yet) doesn't work well as a single complete game, because there's a ton of reuse and repetition(particularly of the office, store, street out front and Sybill's). I really hope they fix that for the next season. Right now it's like bad anime filler episodic, where half the thing is a synopsis, and everything is reused. I get the feeling a big reason for that is that Bone was exactly a smashing success, and they didn't want to pump out a *ton* of new content every episode, or require older episodes to use new ones. So we got a new area. I'd rather it was designed as a single game, split into 6 parts, with revisiting of older areas a part of the game so there's more variety per episode.

      There were also some odd engine glitches at times, like whole sections of polys going missing.

      It's still enjoyable, definately worth the price of admission, and I'm definately on board with buying the next season, but yea, valid complaints, and I hope telltale fixes them. I think a few of them read slashdot, so, I hope they address that in the next season, and in the meantime, can't wait for my season 1 DVD. Oh, and a Wii release.

      --
      The key to the enjoyment of pop music is to replace any instance of "love" with "C.H.U.D."
    6. Re:Excellent! by Aladrin · · Score: 1

      I haven't kept up with the site as I get them with my GameTap subscription.

      I don't want to spoil anything, so I can't respond to some of your issues so far. :( I like the re-use of the office, Sybil's, etc... But they went too far with it. Too many things were static.

      I didn't have a single graphical issue, though... Definitely felt well-done on the programming side.

      As for the Wii version... Is that a definite? I was thinking about buying the PC DVD to support them, but I'm -much- rather have a Wii version.

      --
      "If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; But if you really make them think, they'll hate you." - DM
    7. Re:Excellent! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Telltale is just proving once again
      that you're a tool?
    8. Re:Excellent! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, but maybe more that you're a fscking moron.

    9. Re:Excellent! by buffer-overflowed · · Score: 1

      The last thing I think I heard about Sam&Max on the Wii was that Telltale had hired a Wii programmer. Nintendo contacted them back in September, the blog post on it is here. I don't think a version of season 1, or what if anything they're doing with it has been confirmed yet though.

      I went ahead and finished off season 1. Abe Lincoln must die was awesome. Reality 2.0 was great, and the ending credits for Bright Side of the Moon were great... but constantly having to go back to the same locations, with no real variety in there still kinda bothers me. I wish I could've revisted places like the White House, TV studio, and the Mafia-Free casino to solve some of the later puzzles would've been nice. Instead it's new location, location you started in in the first game, every episode. I got really tired of that same street.

      --
      The key to the enjoyment of pop music is to replace any instance of "love" with "C.H.U.D."
  2. Episodic Content by dontthink · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The thing I liked about the new Sam and Max games was that they were ACTUALLY episodic, as opposed to HL2 "episodes," which have taken over a year each, or SiN Episodes of which there was one. I hope TellTale sticks to the episodic content model for their next project because they seem to handle it well - After this project, I'm sure they've become more used to the different schedule demands of periodically producing content rather than one big push.

  3. Congratulations Telltale! by cgenman · · Score: 1

    I can't imagine a group of developers that deserves it more. Good luck with the infusion, guys!

    --
    The ______ Agenda
  4. Additional hardware platforms by ensignyu · · Score: 1

    From the official press release: "Funds will be used for new titles, expansion to additional hardware platforms, and additional staff"

    Which additional hardware platforms is a bit early to speculate on (and only one of their goals), but I wouldn't be surprised if they were looking into the Wii and/or Mac.

    1. Re:Additional hardware platforms by chrish · · Score: 1

      I'll buy as soon as they support any of the platforms I'm currently interested in (DS, Wii, and/or Mac).

      --
      - chrish
  5. Such awesome games! by seebs · · Score: 1

    I wish I could get the recent Sam & Max to run under WINE. But, you know what? They're good enough to justify keeping a Windows image around.

    --
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  6. I For One by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Dislike our episodic content producing companies.

    It reminds me too much of x-files, lost and prison break, where you will not get a coherent and planned out product, but a " Let's throw it against the wall and hope it sticks" formula, where more stuff will be thrown if something will stick.

    I DO like the concept of downloadable games tough. But only when they're 'full' games. Only thing holding me back is my disliking of credit cards, which is probably a cultural thing (Europe).

    1. Re:I For One by Jaqenn · · Score: 1

      I For One Dislike our episodic content producing companies.
      You misspelled overlords.
      --
      You are awash in a sea of fiercely stated opinions. Obvious exits are: 'File->Quit', 'Reply', and 'Page Down'.
    2. Re:I For One by Langfat · · Score: 1

      Not to be rude, but do you know _anything_ about Lost? It is nothing BUT a coherent, planned out product. Sure minor adjustments need to be made when the occasional actor gets arrested for DUI, but the overarching plot-line is set. ABC has already agreed to 3 more seasons and then the show is finished. This was done to expressly AVOID running the show into the ground like the X-Files did for the latter half of its existence.

      That said, I agree with the general notion that episodic gaming is distasteful. To me it just feels like an excuse to squeeze out more cash for an inferior product.

    3. Re:I For One by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      I agree with your comments about LOST, I was going to say the same.

      But I think episodic gaming the way telltale did it is great. I like the idea of a game that lasts a few hours because I have the time for that. And the episode system allows me to spread out those sessions without having to worry about everything I've forgotten since the last time I played.

      I've just started playing Zelda: Twilight Princess and I know it's going to be difficult to finish it. If I leave it for too long I know I may never see the end.

    4. Re:I For One by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Lost is *not* Babylon 5. It was not conceived and pushed through as a single set number of episodes over a set number of seasons.

  7. Sam & Max for Wii: Probably by LKM · · Score: 1

    I think they've all but confirmed that Sam & Max will come to the Wii. I'm happy!

    Also, the DS is turning out to be a great platform for Adventure lovers. And to think, after all these years, our favourite genre is having a bona fide revival! :-D

  8. The problem with Lost by LKM · · Score: 1

    The issue with TV series like Lost, Heroes or Prison Break is that the creators never know how long their series is going to run. So they have to start out with a story that could go anywhere from one season (or even less) to pretty much an infinite number of seasons, and could at all times provide some kind of satisfactory ending if the show should be cancelled. Which leads to meandering plots that never quite go anywhere and are always ready to end at a moment's notice.

    24 and Dexter get around this by having a fresh story each season, so they only ever have to plan a fixed number of episodes ahead.

    As long as games stick to "24 style" episodic content, where each season provides a finished story line, I have absolutely no issues with episodic content.