This year turned 5 years old Telltale Games. Gambling Talks with the chief designer of the Tales of Monkey Island series Mark Darin, recalls how it all started and tries to understand how a small private studio could become the main quest developer in the world.

The concept of causal connection is one of the basic principles on which human logic is built. Nothing happens by itself, everything has some reason in the past. Given this fact, we can only be amazed at how weak we are in predicting the consequences of our actions. Here is just one example – could the people who closed in March 2004 a sequel to one of the most famous quests Lucasarts , SAM & MAX: Freelance Police, To dream that in this way they practically save the genre from death? It is unlikely.

Mark Darin, chief designer Tales of Monkey Island : “I don’t remember exactly who came the idea that Telltale Games should make games-series. Most likely, it was either Kevin Bruner or Dan Connors – they founded the company and from the very beginning decided that they would create games, divided into approximately equal parts, which are going on monthly so that the consumer regularly receives new portions of content ”.

Freelance Police incident caused a rapid indignation of fans. They scolded the top management of Lucasarts on what the light was standing, organized the collection of signatures in favor of a closed project and sent the developers (which were annoyed no less) touching letters, expressing support and timid hope that over time the high authorities will change his mind and resurrect the game. It is these two factors – the complete indifference of the leadership to quests (the genre in which Lucasarts has traditionally been one of the leaders along with Sierra on-line ) and the unconditional support of the players – pushed several members of the team that pounded on Freelance Police, quit and create their own studio, which they called Telltale Games.

In a press release distributed on October 9 of the same year, one of the founders of the company, Dan Connors, explained: “We see that a rich quest heritage Infocom , Sierra and Lucasarts can serve as an excellent foundation for games, one of the main components of which is the plot. Our goal is to return to this foundation and continue construction, drawing inspiration in interesting licensed universes: book, cinematic, television. Many people crave games with rich plots. Games that make you empathize and move brains. We are going to quench their thirst ". However, even the invigorating founding fathers are unlikely to assume then almost five years ago, that Fortune would change very soon and they will receive a license for a series, whose death prompted them to exchange a well-fed vegetation in Lucasarts for the hardships and dangers of free swimming … and-almost solely one – They will raise the genre from the ruins, to which everyone has already waved his hand.

Telltale Texas Hold’em

Despite the fact that the main projects in the resume of the creators of Telltale were quests ( Grim Fandango And the same SAM & Max: Freelance Police), and they opened the studio specifically to be able to continue to work in their favorite genre, the first game of the newborn company was … poker simulator.

But even in Telltale Texas Hold’em The features of future games of the rebellious Lucasartians were visible. The card game in their performance turned out to be a real museum of unprecedented characters. Opposite the player sat completely independent, voluminous personalities. They constantly released caustic comments to the rivals and entered short, but bright dialogs. “Tell me, granny,” the aging Harry asked between bets, “how much money you have?"And he received a logical answer:" Enough to buy you, Milok, with all the giblets ". So no one made card games – no one – neither before nor after Telltale Games.

Mark: “We have to crush the team and constantly switch from one project to another so that the conveyor does not stop and a new game appears on sale every month. Our designers have not been working on one project for months or even for years, as is customary in other companies, they keep up with several games all the time. But the main difference (our games from full -length ones) is perhaps a very short production cycle. ".

Anyone who works from the deadline to the deadline knows – the shorter this gap, which begins relatively quiet and ending usually by a wild race, the more difficult life and the more important it is to correctly build all the processes, to establish a real conveyor that will regularly give a certain product.

Almost everyone who tried their strength in the creation of games-series turned out to be incapable of constant hard work. Development of three final series Half-Life 2 stretched for years – and has not yet been finished! Died, barely having time to take the first breath, ambitious series Si N episodes , conceived not the last people in the industry. Ragnar Tinkvist, brilliant creator The Longest Journey , I tried the water with my thumb and, making the correct, albeit sad conclusions, went to sculpt a multi -user The Secret World. And only TELLTALALE with the gloomy determination of the suicide bomber continued to experiment, try new approaches, look for a way to make a serial model in games work. The road was long and difficult, and before the first episode of the first season was born SAM & Max, The developers had to work out the necessary experience at a smallest project for several years. But whoever says that their efforts were in vain, he almost certainly has no heart.

BONE: out from boneville and bone: The Great Cow Race

Jeff Smith has (according to his comics series BONE The company made its first quest) in common with TellTale. A talented artist and writer, he did not hope for large publishers: he wrote plots himself, illustrated them himself and even painted the covers for comics himself. And then he published. As a result, a cult status, mentioning in the list of the ten best graphic novels of all time published in Time magazine, and ten Aisner awards (this award can be called an Oscar comic industry).

Apparently, Telltale also saw a kindred soul in Jeff. The result was a slightly lightweight, but disarmingly cute BONE: out from boneville. The interactive arrangement of the history of the three prolubbaev brothers fighting with the lord of the locust, did not win any awards, but sunk into the soul to many.

It was not a game-series in the full sense of the word. It took about seven months to develop the first part, and the second was only the following year. But thanks to Bone Telltale, it was possible to prove: it is able to create not only casual games – its strength is quite enough and more serious for projects.

Mark: “Kevin and Dan very competently approached the creation of the engine on which our games work. It is arranged in such a way that all members of the team (artists, animators, designers) can work in parallel and no one has to wait for someone to finish their part of the work. Plus – a lot is automated. For example, articulation and animation of heroes. Our characters often play their roles themselves, according to previously set algorithms, and thanks to this animators do not have to draw each movement – they can focus on important scenes. So we manage to keep up with the deadline each time, although at first there was a lot of skepticism – they say, this is definitely impossible for you. Spin My Win sister sites ".

By the time of the release of Bone: out from Boneville, the creators of TELLTALA have already managed to agree with the former owners and bought them the right to create games under the brand SAM & Max. But before the release of the game, which was destined to truly glorify the company and put an end to a dispute raging for several years now, whether the games-series are possible, there were more than a year left. In the meantime, TELLTALALE trained on cats, simultaneously earning money to develop their main project.

It is extremely rare in the world there are creative people who also have all the skills of an experienced manager. Telltale was lucky – in her state such people were clearly. Therefore, the company was not in a hurry. Its leaders understood: if the series about Sam and Max will not shoot, they can close the office and go look for happiness in another field.

Apparently, the development of the engine began at the same time, largely thanks to which, according to Mark Darin, the studio manages not to slow down. This is another proof of the perspicacity of Dan Connors, Kevin Brushner and Troy Molander, the people on whom the company rests. Understanding how the mundane technical details are important in any creative process, and has probably become a decisive factor in the fate of Telltale. Although, perhaps, this is only a symptom of something more-a certain orderliness of consciousness, which was missing and lacking competitors of a small California studio.

CSI: 3 Dimensions of Murder

Five killings. Five of the most difficult things. Lies, cruelty, dodgy suspects. At first glance, CSI: 3 Dimensions of Murder – The most uncharacteristic game TELLTALE. There was little sun, no one sang funny songs about the sidewalks spilling soda, and the humor, if meeting, then for the most part black.

But if you look closely, it turns out that for the studio this game was only another step towards perfection. After all, the format itself (the fourth player on the motives of the popular Crime Scene Investigation television. Five different investigations that are eventually interconnected are a finished game-series. We will not be surprised if the studio offered the publisher, Ubisoft , release these stories separately. However, if it was so, then the parties could not agree. The game came out in a traditional format: box, disk, one price tag.

Mark: “We are constantly talking about how cool it would be to create our own IP. But when Dan and Kevin opened the company, they decided: we are going to work in a format that people are not used to, so we must first build fat, releasing games on familiar topics. And now we have strengthened in the market and you can already seriously discuss some new ideas. Nothing specific is planned yet, but in general we are thinking on this topic.

… fortunately, we had no particular difficulties with copying someone else's style. In the end, many TellTale employees used to work at Lucasarts and created original games [which we now continue]. If you participated in the development SAM & Max: Hit the Road, it is not difficult then to copy your own style. On the other hand, we have many talented screenwriters, whom the company appreciates just for their ability to identify the characteristic features of someone else's style and reproduce them in new works ”.

By and large, in TELLTALAL, almost all the way was engaged in the fact that they copied someone else's style. In the Bone dilogy, Jeff Smith's voice is heard, CSI: 3 Dimensions of Murder, without looking up, looks into the mouth of the original series, Wallace was invented in England, and Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People – Generally from the Internet. True for the studio until recently, only Texas Hold’em (which, for obvious reasons, did not count) and SAM & Max.

Nevertheless, even in this, it would seem, not the most noble field, Telltale managed to show herself as much as many “creators” could not until her death. The company so accurately selects topics for new games and so subtly feels the ghostly line between the development of someone’s idea and its simple repetition that even other people's franchises instantly turn into their. “Wallace and Brimit” by Nick Park resembles “game based on” except with appearance and characteristic intonation; About flash series Homestar Runner It is unlikely that anyone will remember in ten years, and Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People got stuck in memory for a long time.

Accepting from the wrong hands interesting, but pretty much forgotten universes, Telltale filled them with new content, forcing the stopped hearts to beat again. If desired, here you can see a certain karmic connection. A company born from the ashes of an ancient genre abandoned yesterday's adherents, as if set out to help out others of the same grief.

SAM & Max

In the latest history of adventure games, the release of the first series SAM & Max equivalent will not be able to find, no matter how much look. Neither specially trained dogs, nor metal detectors will help.

The words “second coming” may seem blasphemous to someone, but it was it that occurred in October 2006. Sam-Sam and his partner, a hyperactive White Rabbit Max with a wide sky in all his face and completely driving a tower, returned after a thirteen-year-old excommunication.

It is impossible to overestimate the psychological impact that the game had both on quests fans and developers. Suddenly it turned out that the quest could be successful in the 21st century, and in order to achieve this success, only patience, painstaking work and understanding of the audience are needed.

Mark (speaking about the reasons for the decline of quests): “Perhaps the quests have ceased to be popular due to the“ Think as a Developer ”approach. The player quickly gets tired when, deciding puzzles, meaningless in the framework of ordinary human logic, he has to guess the course of your thoughts.

Our design director, Dav Grossman, carefully looks through all new scenarios, and if he has doubts about the logic of the puzzle or the situation, if there is a suspicion that a person from a street who has nothing to do with the games, can say: “Listen, this is, yes, this Some kind of nonsense! I don't understand anything!" – then we rewrite a controversial fragment.

Our maximum program is so that the player feels like a winner: “I decided this puzzle! Myself!"And if a person stumbled upon a game of an irresistible barrier, then that's all – he will immediately stop getting pleasure from the process. On the contrary – he will feel like a loser. Therefore, we pay a lot of attention to the logical puzzle ".

Attention to the “man from the street”, to the final consumer – this is probably what Telltale's games are unique. Almost the first of the developers of quests of the classical school Telltale recognized the right to life outside the game. The right to work, family, hobbies, evening fatigue and desire to just unwind, after listening to a funny story and deciding several not very difficult puzzles.

Suddenly it turned out that the quests for the mass of their simply were poorly adapted to use by people who lead any meaningful existence. Whoever wants to, returning from work, sit down at the computer … and start for a new job, attacking the puzzle over and over again, which the author probably liked it very much, but the player only blocks the way and interferes with the rest? Naturally, there are many lovers of various forms of leisure in the world, and among them there are probably those to whom the duel with developers delivers pleasure. But for some reason it seems to us that there are such minorities.

The quests in their hardcore understanding were doomed – they were not killed, they went into the darkness themselves, and this finale was absolutely logical. As the audience grew up and new technologies appeared, the cost of development also increased. The money spent had to be beaten off, namely, the quests were incapable of this: not least because of the genre inherent in the genre of snobbery and fixation on the existing fan base. The developers seemed to forget that, besides the past and the present, there is also the future. And in this future, those money that already “church” lovers spend, there will not be enough for everyone.

Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People

Telltale, apparently, on any material is able to make an interesting game. Order them a quest based on the shortest joke in the world (“Jewish-man”, if someone is not in the know), they will manage to turn the topic so that it remains only to shake their heads. The guarantee of that is “ Cool game of an evil strong man for attractive people ".

The Flash series Homestar Runner has been taken as a basis, which has been already since 2000. We somehow did not notice him, but in America he had crowds of fans. By the way, the protagonist of the game, a reckless bully hiding his face under the mask of a Mexican wrestler, was in the original cartoon that he answered the post office. But the popularity of vector misanthrope grew so fast that he soon overshadowed even the nominal protagonist. And then finally pulled the blanket over himself – in the game.

Mark: “How many episodes we will release depends on a specific franchise. Working on the first season SAM & Max, we realized that 6 episodes are somewhat too much, the production schedule is too hard. Therefore, it was decided to reduce the number of episodes in the second season to five.

"Wallace and Gromyt" has its own story. There were many approvals, and the topic is new for us. And we, of course, wanted to make the series as interesting and designed as possible. This required extra time, so in the end the first season consists of only four episodes. ".

Telltale with amazing accuracy determined the main problems of the genre and did everything possible to save the quests from Nakipi and Nagar, without damaging the core. They turned the production of games into accurate science, and even managed not to lose all the good in the process that was in adventure games over the years. Interesting stories, humor, dialogs, characters – the best features of the genre are inherent in their development, and they are practically spared from negative.

In a sense, what is done in TELLTALE-the future genre. Games aimed at the widest audience, exciting, bright, prefer the once-ubiquitous principle “think like the author” ordinary human logic-albeit with a slight correction to the wind, to play it is interesting. The company is still moving in a similar direction Frogwarees with his Holmes series (and how wretched it began!), but the French still lack talent a little. And Telltale employees at least row his shovel.

Wallace & Gromit’s Grand Adventures

After absolutely reckless, balancing on the verge of provocation sam & Max and Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People Telltale unexpectedly undertook to make a game based on Nick Park short film. Unobtrusive English humor, cute characters – this could be played by the whole family, without fear that the quest would teach the child a bad.

As usual, the developers brought a lot of new things to the already established universe: they introduced their characters into the plot of their characters, wrote long dialogs, but left the main thing untouched – the spirit of the original. The inventor Wallace still does not have souls in cheese and constantly gets into troubles. His dog smashes all the same helps out his nonsense master from different troubles. Only now we are managing them we.

Mark: “Tales of Monkey Island for me is our main series. I grew up in the original game, I have a bunch of pleasant memories with it, and I'm terribly glad that now I am working on a continuation.

In my opinion, one of the important components of Monkey Island is your relationship with the characters. Our past games are built on a rather rough humor, and the player did not have the opportunity to build a real emotional connection with the heroes. In Tales of Monkey Island, we tried to raise bets: you are not only laughing at the characters – you are also getting closer to them ".

Tales of Monkey Island

If someone else had doubts about Telltale, then after the June announcement of the “monkey island stories” they should have dispelled like fog. Lucasarts released from the hands not “one of”, not “equal among equals”, but its main game! A fifth part (but in fact it is) Monkey Island is developed outside the walls of the company. The very people who once left her, realizing that they will not let them do what they love. So he is drawn to say something highly passionate about the restoration of historical justice.

According to Mark, the new president of Lucasarts played a decisive role in all this. Our interlocutor speaks of him as a person "very open and interested in the revival of old series". And this is another bell announcing that the quests did not die – the maximum went out to smoke. And very soon they will return.

The very existence of a studio of such a caliber (not in a financial, but in a creative sense), also true to the quests, should instill confidence in the future of adventure games – such that the most ideological of the Komsomol member could not boast at one time. The future outlined by TELLTALALE is excellent and amazing. There is a place for everyone – both for hardcore questers, and for those who just want to pass the evening. Key words: flexibility, talent, insight. Try to remember – after all, with their help, before our eyes, a small but proud studio changes the world.

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