Telltale Games founder Dan Connors tells us why episodic games are the future

If games are to become heavily concerned with narrative, then no genre has already proved its salt as abundantly as the point-and-click adventure. Stories laden with rich characters, comedy, romance and some swashbuckling to boot once helped to create a thriving genre, with big names ranging from Maniac Mansion and Monkey Island, to King's Quest and Leisure Suit Larry. Somewhere along the line, though, people lost interest and even Broken Sword creator Charles Cecil was saying the point-and-click genre was dead.

The classic point-and-clicks are making a comeback thanks to DLC.

But in May 2004 in San Rafael, California, two guys had a dream of a new type of game. Disheartened by the near-collapse of their favourite genre, Kevin Bruner and Dan Connors decided to pummel at its heart and get it going again. They wanted titles that focused on stories and characters instead of shooting and fighting, but they also wanted to get away from the neatly packaged games of old that went on for hours and hours in a bid to have solid, involving beginnings, middles and ends. Their vision was to take a cue from soap operas and serial dramas. They craved an opportunity to work on episodic games and be more fast-paced.

“The vast majority of people who start a game don't see it to the end,” says Connors. “In fact, most play the first couple of levels and then give up and go off and do something else. But that just doesn't add up. If people don't finish a game, then the appetite for a sequel is lessened and so there isn't any economic sense in trying to satisfy core gamers. There aren't that many people who will want, never mind be able, to spend 40 hours or so on a single title.”

Despite his feeling about more involved games, he is at pains to ensure he's not dismissing core gamers: “They're influential and important, certainly, but why spend ages producing levels many just won't see? That's why we decided to produce games broken down into smaller chunks or episodes. Since each episode is short and can be finished in a few hours, there is a greater chance the gamer wants to carry on and play more.”

A third season of Sam & Max is on the way.

Connors and Bruner worked at LucasArts and had been working on a sequel to the popular Sam & Max franchise. The game, Sam & Max Freelance Police was cancelled, however, and so a group of six employees ended up leaving, heading for Connors and Bruner's newly formed Telltale Games. At around the same time, the rights for the Sam & Max games had reverted back to Steve Purcell since his agreement with LucasArts was that they had to produce the games within a certain timeframe.

It was then that Connors decided to change the way they approached the game and, instead of releasing a full standalone title, Telltale produced Sam & Max: Season One as a series of six smaller, downloadable episodes that could be bought direct from Telltale, or via Steam or GameTap. The new game used a fresh 3D engine to Freelance Police (“we like 3D because it lends games a cinematic feel,” says Connors) and the titles were released in quick succession from October 2006 to April 2007. Telltale included 15 machinima shorts in batches of three following each release bridging the story gaps. Later, a CD compilation of all six games was released.

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Telltale Texas Hold'em (2005)
Bone: Out From Boneville (2005)
CSI: 3 Dimensions Of Murder (2006)
Bone: The Great Cow Race (2006)
Sam & Max: Season One (2006–2007)
CSI: Hard Evidence (2007)
Sam & Max: Season Two (2007–2008)
Strong Bad's Cool Game For Attractive People (2008)
Wallace & Gromit's Grand Adventures (2009)