Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

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.

6 of 25 comments (clear)

  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.
  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. 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 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.