At this past PAX, I was lucky enough to score an interview with Telltale's David Grossman and Dominic Armato. Otherwise known as one of the original writers behind the Monkey Island franchise, and the voice behind lovable GuyBrush Threepwood. Both were kind enough to speak with me and answer a few questions about the state of adventure titles, digital distribution, and the future of Telltale games.
Baroness: So how does it feel to have brought back to life adventure games that has been mostly dead for the past decade or so?
Grossman: Well it hasn't been completely dead, there's been sort of a slow trickle over the years. I've always liked it as a game form, and as a means of story telling.
Baroness: I agree, I've always loved them and it was sad for me to see interest in them wane for so long because people felt they were boring or slow. I was really happy when I saw Telltale bring back Sam & Max.
Grossman: I think there has always been an audience for these games, it's just been a bit harder to reach them. They are a very small subset of all people who love games and there is always competition for shelf space against the big retail titles. Smaller budget games couldn't really compared to the big blockbuster titles. Now with digital distribution we level that playing field entirely. No longer do you have to be one of the top 10 ten games to sell any copies.
Baroness: So DD is really good for smaller companies. You can still make a profit without being one of the huge next-gen titles and you get to reach people that you couldn't before.
Grossman: Definitely, it's great not only for us and adventure games, but the whole indie scene and break out developers.
Baroness: That was actually my next question, how do you feel about the indie scene and upcoming adventure titles? Like in the PAX 10, you have Machinarium.
Grossman: It's got a really interesting art style.
Dominic: I saw that one walking by, it's a real eye catcher.
Baroness: Yeah, it's kind of Victorian, sort of Steampunkish. I really like to see that kind of creativity thrive.
Grossman: Exactly, whenever I come to a show like PAX, that's the first place I'll go. As soon as I have 5 minutes, I'm over at the indie booths checking out new games. I want to see what students are up to, or what someone has put together in their garage. I love that stuff.
Baroness: That's really awesome. So Dominic, how does it feel playing a character like GuyBrush who has changed so much over the years?
Grossman: I don't think he's changed all that much...
Dominic: (hahaha) He's never learned anything!
Baroness: Well people's viewpoints of him I mean! Sometimes he's deadpan, sometimes he's really goofy, and it seems like that would be hard to capture.
Dominic: Well I mean, the important thing about GuyBrush, is at his core he's a sweet guy. He's always going to be a bit naive, not as much as he was, but he's always got that zeal. He's excited about being a pirate. That's never going to change, he's never going to become jaded.
Baroness: So we're never going to see Monkey Island: The Gritty Revenge of GuyBrush?
Dominic: Well I'm not the writer so we'll see... But the thing that's always been easy for me as a voice actor, is I have a script in front of me. I'm not trying to write the character, I'm just bringing to life what's there on the page in front of me. Even with going back and doing the Secret of Monkey Island. I'm thinking, "Ok he's a bit younger...he's even more naive." Then I look at the script and go "Oh it's all there, it's on the page, I don't have to do any of that. I know GuyBrush."
Grossman: Although it's tricky to have that connection between actor and writer. Both have to understand each other, as well as the character to get a performance like that.
Dominic: Especially with interactive media. You have dialogue trees, and scenes are broken up. It's much different from running straight through a scene in a movie or show. It's not as easy to see the progression so you really have to know the characters and be able to piece it together in your head. It helped that I was a huge fan of the series before I got the role. So if I'm reading a line, and someone tries to explain, "Ok, here you're a pirate and you're trying to--" and I'll say, "Yeah, yeah, it's ok, I got this."
Baroness: Now about the platforms your games are released. Is audience a factor in which platform you'll release a game on?
Grossman: A little bit. One of the reasons we wanted to put Monkey on the Wii, is because it's more of a fun family friendly experience, and that's what Nintendo is all about. It felt like the story and sense of humor would fit well with the Wii audience.
Baroness: My last question for today. Telltale has been bring back alot of older franchises, but are there any new IPs in the works?
Grossman: Yeah, we have a new series we're working on called Cheesecake Warriors 10... (haha) Ok no no. We're working on a new season of Sam & Max, it's in the design process, and beyond that I can't say.
Baroness: Aww, it would be nice to know that.
Grossman: Wouldn't it? Well you've got to save something for next week. (haha)
Baroness: (haha) Definitely. Well thank you both so much for talking to me today, it was a pleasure.
