It all started with a crime-fighting dog and his “rabbity-thing” sidekick. The pair starred in the 1993 PC game Sam & Max: Freelance Police. LucasArts announced the game’s sequel in 2002, but canned it in 2004, just a few months before its planned release.
Although LucasArts wrote off its decision as just not the right time for such a game, most fans suspected a different reason. Sam & Max was an adventure game, and a landmark of the genre that has been nearly lost in the age of first-person shooters and racing games.
The voices of discouraged fans were enough to inspire a team of programmers, artists, and storytellers who were working on the project. They were soon joined by others working on different LucasArts projects. They set out that same year and formed Telltale Games, an independent company with a mission to restore the adventure game genre.
Adventure games have a different premise from what has become the norm in the video game industry. They’re typically non-violent, and are based heavily around character dialogue and thinking of ways to solve different situations.
In the early days of computer games, the now-nearly forgotten genre won the hearts of fans through clever puzzles, lighthearted humor, and the art of storytelling.
“Adventure games were successful at a time when computer gamers were a very specific group,” said Dan Connors, CEO of Telltale Games via e-mail.
“In 1991 even getting a game to run in the first place was a puzzle. So it was a very clever demographic, and adventure content was perfect,” Connors said. “As PCs became more mass-market and easier to use, the audience widened and they were interested in different experiences.”
After forming Telltale Games in San Rafael, Calif., the team of former LucasArts employees spent some time trying to decide which titles would be compatible with the adventure game mechanics.
Although LucasArts wrote off its decision as just not the right time for such a game, most fans suspected a different reason. Sam & Max was an adventure game, and a landmark of the genre that has been nearly lost in the age of first-person shooters and racing games.
The voices of discouraged fans were enough to inspire a team of programmers, artists, and storytellers who were working on the project. They were soon joined by others working on different LucasArts projects. They set out that same year and formed Telltale Games, an independent company with a mission to restore the adventure game genre.
Adventure games have a different premise from what has become the norm in the video game industry. They’re typically non-violent, and are based heavily around character dialogue and thinking of ways to solve different situations.
In the early days of computer games, the now-nearly forgotten genre won the hearts of fans through clever puzzles, lighthearted humor, and the art of storytelling.
“Adventure games were successful at a time when computer gamers were a very specific group,” said Dan Connors, CEO of Telltale Games via e-mail.
“In 1991 even getting a game to run in the first place was a puzzle. So it was a very clever demographic, and adventure content was perfect,” Connors said. “As PCs became more mass-market and easier to use, the audience widened and they were interested in different experiences.”
After forming Telltale Games in San Rafael, Calif., the team of former LucasArts employees spent some time trying to decide which titles would be compatible with the adventure game mechanics.
They already had some of the top talents in the adventure game industry. All of Telltale’s original staff were around in the golden years of LucasArts, in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, when the company was teeming with creativity, according to Connors.
“A character like Guybrush Threepwood could only have been created in that environment,” Connors said, referencing the swashbuckling hero of the “Monkey Island” series, now being produced under Telltale.
According to Connors, they saw there were a couple of modern successes in adventure games, namely in titles based off the “CSI” and “Law and Order” TV series. They found their niche in popular titles that “weren’t about driving and shooting.”
“We felt if we started there and evolved the mechanic we could work on all kinds of franchises that are currently not represented, or poorly represented in the interactive world,” Connors said.
“The franchises really drive the content and we have been lucky enough to work with franchises that allow and even encourage wild ideas and concepts,” he said.
Continued on the next page...
“A character like Guybrush Threepwood could only have been created in that environment,” Connors said, referencing the swashbuckling hero of the “Monkey Island” series, now being produced under Telltale.
According to Connors, they saw there were a couple of modern successes in adventure games, namely in titles based off the “CSI” and “Law and Order” TV series. They found their niche in popular titles that “weren’t about driving and shooting.”
“We felt if we started there and evolved the mechanic we could work on all kinds of franchises that are currently not represented, or poorly represented in the interactive world,” Connors said.
“The franchises really drive the content and we have been lucky enough to work with franchises that allow and even encourage wild ideas and concepts,” he said.
Continued on the next page...
Groundbreaking Model
Since they were basically working with a dead genre, the tricky part was finding a way to market the games without falling into the void. The masters of puzzle-solving found a solution that was arguably one of the most daring and most innovative the industry has yet to see.
“We believed there was going to be a transition in the business where a larger percentage of gamers would be purchasing games digitally,” Connors said. “We believed that in order to build game content that was appropriate for the new digital consumer, we would need to build a company from the ground up focused on that.”
Long before Apple launched its App Store in 2008 and set the bar for downloadable content, Telltale built its company around the Web, rather than retail. The download-focused business model also helped them stay independent, without the need to find distributors or sign onto the game world’s equivalent of a record label.
They took the concept a step further by releasing games in episodes, similar to selling each chapter of a book as it comes out, rather than waiting for the whole thing to finish.
According to Connors, the approach seemed right, as it is “more consistent with the content that users expect online. It is a shorter experience that can be consumed casually at a lower price point.”
“Also by always releasing a new game monthly, the content is always fresh, which is very important in the digital space,” he added.
The model worked in ways they couldn’t have imagined at the time. Video game consoles began placing more emphasis on their online marketplaces, and titles from Telltale can now be readily found on the Xbox, Playstation 3, and the Wii.
They recently launched their first title on the iPhone, and released a free-to-play title for Facebook in anticipation of their upcoming “Back to the Future” game.
It also just happened that the games make near-perfect ports to tablets such as the Apple iPad, since they don’t have complicated control schemes.
At its five-year mark, Telltale released more than 20 games and sold more than a million episodes across its various channels.
“In the six years since we started the company we have seen the digital marketplace for games continue to mature and grow and have established ourselves as a leading digital publisher in that space,” Connors said.
He added that now that their products can be found on every game console, as well as iPads and iPhones: “We are excited at the opportunities as new channels emerge in [that] space.”
“We believed there was going to be a transition in the business where a larger percentage of gamers would be purchasing games digitally,” Connors said. “We believed that in order to build game content that was appropriate for the new digital consumer, we would need to build a company from the ground up focused on that.”
Long before Apple launched its App Store in 2008 and set the bar for downloadable content, Telltale built its company around the Web, rather than retail. The download-focused business model also helped them stay independent, without the need to find distributors or sign onto the game world’s equivalent of a record label.
They took the concept a step further by releasing games in episodes, similar to selling each chapter of a book as it comes out, rather than waiting for the whole thing to finish.
According to Connors, the approach seemed right, as it is “more consistent with the content that users expect online. It is a shorter experience that can be consumed casually at a lower price point.”
“Also by always releasing a new game monthly, the content is always fresh, which is very important in the digital space,” he added.
The model worked in ways they couldn’t have imagined at the time. Video game consoles began placing more emphasis on their online marketplaces, and titles from Telltale can now be readily found on the Xbox, Playstation 3, and the Wii.
They recently launched their first title on the iPhone, and released a free-to-play title for Facebook in anticipation of their upcoming “Back to the Future” game.
It also just happened that the games make near-perfect ports to tablets such as the Apple iPad, since they don’t have complicated control schemes.
At its five-year mark, Telltale released more than 20 games and sold more than a million episodes across its various channels.
“In the six years since we started the company we have seen the digital marketplace for games continue to mature and grow and have established ourselves as a leading digital publisher in that space,” Connors said.
He added that now that their products can be found on every game console, as well as iPads and iPhones: “We are excited at the opportunities as new channels emerge in [that] space.”
