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The tragic end of Telltale Games

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Re: The tragic end of Telltale Games

#121

Post by lmm »

izacus wrote: post #110
lmm wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The gaming press is more press than gaming; they're often people with writing degrees who are disproportionately fond of "literary" games compared to the buying public.

> The gaming press is more press than gaming; they're often people with writing degrees who are disproportionately fond of "literary" games compared to the buying public. How does that differ from movie and music press? It's pretty much the same situation - you have big blockbusters which are polished and ground down to be as widely appealing and as mildly offensive as possible. These blockbusters then get ridicoulou…

> How does that differ from movie and music press? It's pretty much the same situation - you have big blockbusters which are polished and ground down to be as widely appealing and as mildly offensive as possible. These blockbusters then get ridicoulous marketing spending which shoves them down the throat of as many average people as possible.

Limited personal experience, but: the music journalists I've known really loved music. Many were in their own bands. There was a certain amount of indie one-upmanship, there was also a deep appreciation and respect for the medium in general, even when faced with genres they didn't get on with. They also spent a hell of a lot of time on music, even when not on the clock. I don't get that sense from video game journalism at all; if anything several of them seem to wish they were movie critics. The depth of detailed technical knowledge just isn't there - music and film journalists throw light both on the techniques used to make music and film, and the process of production itself, in a way that video game reporting doesn't.

Re: The tragic end of Telltale Games

#123

Post by mcjiggerlog »

dudul wrote: post #119
mcjiggerlog wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Social security generally pays unemployment benefits too. How that works is obviously very dependent on the country. Also, at least in the UK there are national funds available to cover redundancy. And yes, I was being facetious - I'm aware unemployment benefit is often pretty low and that actual income protection insurance does exist.

" How that works is obviously very dependent on the country" True, so why make a broad statement about a continent that includes 30-ish countries, each with their own system, only based on "the UK-way"?

Nope, I've lived in 3 different EU countries.

Re: The tragic end of Telltale Games

#124

Post by ByThyGrace »

jamesrcole wrote: post #14
noirbot wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They did do a Guardians of the Galaxy one, but in general, not a lot of movies. They did do a ton of work (exclusively?) with other people's IPs, which may have been what they were trying to say.

But that wasn't an adaptation of the movies. It's an original story, and based on the comics not the movies.

GP did say 'adoption', not 'adaptation'. I think the meaning is conveyed: they consistently tried to build a business of creating games out of existing franchises. But it was every time the same kind of game.

Re: The tragic end of Telltale Games

#125

Post by bliblah »

na412 wrote: post #113
bliblah wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All the games followed the same basic gameplay roadmap. Event happens -> Talk to other characters -> Another event happens Usually the events were cutscenes or QTEs (timed button presses) that you either pass or get a gameover if you fail too many. Now this wouldn't be an issue if the games were marketed as such but instead they tried to present them with the taglines "Your choices have consequences" while it was cle…

I haven't played any of these games either, and the kinds of "press a button in time to make stuff happen" events you describe are something I really hate in games, so I don't think I will. That said, your description of the illusion of choice in the story... sounds like every story-based videogame ever. I've been playing games since the 90s, and I can't really think of any such games off the top of my head where you…

I agree somewhat; it's pretty difficult to create a COMPLETELY different game. However the second act in Witcher 2 was quite different depending on your choice in the first act to the point that replaying it adds a lof of depth to the overall story and presentation. I heard the 3rd game is just as impressive but I haven't been able to experience it myself

Meanwhile, Deus Ex was revolutionary because it gave you a lot of choice in terms of gameplay variety. Your mission could be to enter a building and just some of the ways could be:

A)Sneak Inside through vents B)Bribe a guard C)Impersonate an employee finding a loose ID card D)Use your high jump to go through the roof E)Shoot your way in F)Use a keypad by overhearing the password from a guard E)Use an explosive to break down a wall

Telltale games did neither of these things and got left behind pretty quickly when it failed to innovate off the success of the Walking Dead

Re: The tragic end of Telltale Games

#126

Post by jamesrcole »

ByThyGrace wrote: post #124
jamesrcole wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But that wasn't an adaptation of the movies. It's an original story, and based on the comics not the movies.

GP did say 'adoption', not 'adaptation'. I think the meaning is conveyed: they consistently tried to build a business of creating games out of existing franchises. But it was every time the same kind of game.

They said "game adoptions of blockbuster movies", and I made no other point than that they are not "adoptions" (whatever that means - I'm pretty sure they meant to say adaptations) of movies.

Re: The tragic end of Telltale Games

#127

Post by usrusr »

SmellyGeekBoy wrote: post #102
taneq wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds like those Sierra games. Those hacks.

Yup. LucasArts too obviously. It doesn't really matter if the gameplay is identical and the puzzles similar and formulaic if the story is interesting and the game is fun. Perhaps there's just no appetite for the adventure genre anymore?

Or there is appetite, just not at the speed at which Telltale was pushing out sequels. They have clearly been successful for a while (otherwise hardly anybody would be noticing their demise), but while sequels are comfortably predictable compared to the lottery ticket of a fresh launch, they also come with an inherent limitation: the market for a sequel can be no bigger than the number of people who have already consumed the iteration before and still want more. There will always be losses. Repeat that a few times and numbers will be predictably low. Do the same at a high release cadence and you also lose those who might eventually want a sequel, but not at the prescribed sped, they may not even have finished the previous iteration. Consumers who built up a consumption backlog will lose interest in the whole franchise because they are immune to new release hype.

Re: The tragic end of Telltale Games

#128

Post by Ace17 »

ocschwar wrote: post #97
tablethnuser wrote: post #71

Don't work in the games industry. This is the par story for game companies. Every little detail of this story I saw repeating on loop in a decade of working in games. The artists grabbing assets to stuff into their portfolios before two years of professional work disappears into a black hole, the ppl moving families across country to be laid off months later, the crunch, the over promising, it is all text book. The g…

I can't even play anymore. I've seen firsthand how the industry treats developers, and I cannot bring myself to send money into the pockets of the fratboy shitheels that run it.

Then, support indie developers and play their games!

Re: The tragic end of Telltale Games

#129

Post by skrebbel »

krinchan wrote: post #100
gambiting wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just as a counterpoint - I've worked for 4 years now as a programmer at one of the biggest publishers in the industry, and honestly, the work life balance is great, the pay is ok for the region(plus I get decent amount of shares every year), the work is varied, interesting and I like both what I do and people I work with. I think the last time I did overtime was 2 years ago, and even then it was only for a week aroun…

> Plus the usual for EU 25 paid days off Sometimes I really hate living in the US. -_-

Obviously we pay for it with lower salaries. Or, well, actually I don't know what US gamedev salaries are like but for other programming jobs, the difference is significant, also outside the SFBA.

Re: The tragic end of Telltale Games

#130

Post by dudul »

mcjiggerlog wrote: post #123
dudul wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

" How that works is obviously very dependent on the country" True, so why make a broad statement about a continent that includes 30-ish countries, each with their own system, only based on "the UK-way"?

Nope, I've lived in 3 different EU countries.

So 10% is enough of sample size to infer a general rule? Also, your first comment was about "Europe" not "EU".
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