Here at 4cr, it goes almost without saying that we love Telltale. Their Sam & Max series was a beautiful shot in the arm for the adventure genre and has pretty much revolutionized and legitimized the episodic game as a medium.

They seem to like us too. Emily Morganti, Telltale’s awesome Marketing Coordinator, sat down and answered a ton of our questions. Read on for the low-down on the future of the Sam & Max franchise, their upcoming Strong Bad series, and Wii development.

Official Website
Our previous interview with Telltale

We’ve wrapped up another fantastic season. Will we see Sam & Max back at the same time again this winter?

Emily Morganti: Nope, more like early 2009. After eleven cases in a mere year and a half, the Freelance Police are taking a long needed vacation! (Considering that up until then it had been 13 years since their last case, give or take, I think they’ve earned it…)

Did you guys hit any development hurdles this season, or do you have the whole process down now?

By this point, we know exactly what we’re doing, and we do it all without a hiccup. In fact, we don’t even need people to come into the office anymore! We have elves overseeing the entire operation.

Err… yeah, what I meant was, sure, sometimes we run into problems, but nothing we haven’t been able to handle. The developers were telling a pretty ambitious story this time around, and as the season went on, the scope of the episodes grew. There were a few “all hands on deck” moments near the end, but I don’t think we ever felt like we were in danger of not getting the job done. Our design director Dave Grossman has often said that one of the major benefits of the episodic production cycle is that there simply isn’t enough time to fall too far behind. The team is has gotten really good at being flexible and rolling with the punches.

Do you have any crazy stories about the latest season?

For me, one of the best parts of last season was when the fans sent us gifts. Every day for like two weeks, we had presents showing up in the mail. A lot of it was food, and we all got fat and happy, but they also sent us a bunch of trinkets that were representative of the episodes—a piñata, a security camera like the one at Bosco’s, a Moai head lamp. Our office is much more festive because of it!

The comics and tv show have been re-released. What’s next for the world of Sam & Max merchandise? Can I get my stuffed toys yet?

Well, we’re not the ones behind it, but we’re pretty excited about the limited edition Sam & Max statue that Symbiote Studios is working on. You can check out its progress on Symbiote’s blog (http://www.symbiotestudios.com/blog/?p=230). There’s also some game-related merchandise coming to Telltale’s store in the near future… a new case file (which will be even cooler than the one from last season!), and soundtrack CD, and of course the Season Two bonus DVD. We’ll probably have some other new stuff coming out this summer.

We’ve heard the call for stuffed toys loud and clear and we’ve actually spoken to Steve Purcell about it. He’s into the idea and even has some ideas about how to approach it. It’s not something we’re working on right this minute, but I’d be very surprised if you didn’t see a plush Max someday. (In the meantime, make your own and email a picture of it to us at Telltale, and maybe we’ll give you a free game or something!)

Any chance of us getting a new Sam & Max cartoon? It seems like a natural fit for Adult Swim.

It’s a good question. I know the original animated series had some trouble finding its audience, since it was positioned as a show for kids but the Sam & Max humor is better suited for adults. By the end of the season they really started hitting their stride, but then the cartoon wasn’t renewed for a second season, so who knows what it could have become? It would be interesting to see what could come out of a Sam & Max cartoon aimed more at adults.

That said, we also think of our games as a sort of adult cartoon. We’re always looking for new ways to convince people who may not consider themselves gamers that the experience of playing a Sam & Max game is a lot like watching a show like The Family Guy or The Simpsons on TV. Sam & Max will be coming to Wii this fall, and we’re looking at this as a good opportunity to get that message out to people. Playing a Sam & Max game while lying around on the couch with a beer and a group of friends… it just feels right.

How did you guys get your hands on the license? Did they seek you out?

We approached them. We were looking for licenses that would fit well in the episodic model, and since the Chapmans had already been releasing regular episodic content over the internet, it made a lot of sense. The Chapmans are fans of graphic adventures and they’d been playing Sam & Max, so they knew who we were and they were excited by the idea of working together. There was a lot of good karma going around.

Can you share any story details yet?

In the first episode, Homestar Ruiner, Strong Bad does something to seriously mess up Homestar’s life, which then comes back to bite him. Public nudity is involved.

When will it be released and how much will each episode cost?

We’re looking at a July release for the first episode, with the rest following on a roughly once-a-month schedule. Also, the WiiWare and PC versions of the game will come out simultaneously. We hope to be able to announce more specifics about the release date in the near future, along with pricing. I can say that the price will be comparable to our Sam & Max games.

Will the WiiWare store allow for subscriptions or special whole season pricing?

Nope, the WiiWare versions will only be available as single episodes. The PC versions that we sell from Telltalegames.com will come in a season bundle, like our Sam & Max games have, as well as individually.

How are you using the motion controls in Strong Bad?

It’s a pretty straightforward point and click interface. Accessibility has always been very important to us; we don’t want to turn anyone away by making the controls too complicated. There are points in the Wii version that you’ll use the remote in a special way, like during arcade mini games or when you’re snapping photos, but nothing too crazy.

What differences will we see between the PC and Wii versions?

The two versions are pretty similar. One main difference is that in the Wii version, you’ll be able to email your Wii friends using Strong Bad’s Lappy.

Both Sam & Max Season 2 and Strong Bad have five episodes. Have you settled on five episodes as that magic number?

Right now, and for these franchises, it does feel like the right number, but I can’t say for sure that we’ll do it this way for every game.

How is WiiWare development different from episodic PC development? Full Wii game development?

It’s not really that different. Our tools are fully Wii compatible, so most people in the studio don’t need to do anything different than they were doing before. We’re using the same development environment we always used, and when it comes time to push the magic button and finish the game, we can either push a Wii button or a PC button, and it pops out the other side as the correct version. (Gross over-simplification there, but you get the point.)

Of course, for WiiWare, we need to be conscious of file size, but we’ve always paid attention to that since we want to keep our PC games small for easy downloading over the internet. Another difference is that Wii games have to go through a submission process with Nintendo. That doesn’t change the development process too much, but it’s something that has to be accounted for in our schedules.

Have the storage constraints of the Wii hardware been an issue?

I don’t think so. We’ve just had to be conscious of them. If you know you’re dealing with a certain constraint from the outset, that can be taken into account during the design phase and the development, so we can make sure the final product meets the requirements.

Will we see ports of Sam & Max or Strong Bad to the Xbox 360 or PS3?

Maybe one of these days. Frankly we’d like to get Sam & Max out in as many places as we possibly can, because we’re very proud of it and we think it could find an audience on all of these platforms. Atari 2600 port, anyone?

You’ve been hinting at a mysterious third series. Can you give any clues about that yet?

It’s based on a license you’ve probably heard of.

At least which platform it will be on?

Now, now. I don’t want to ruin the surprise! You’ll just have to wait and see.