Interview: Game Designer Mike Stemmle of Telltale Games - GamePro Arcade

GamePro Arcade was given the opportunity to interview game designer Mike Stemmle of Telltale Games via email. Stemmle is best known for his work on Sam & Max Hit the Road (1993) , Escape from Monkey Island (2001) and Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People (2008).

While working with LucasArts, Stemmle was lead designer of Sam & Max Freelance Police. Although the game was cancelled, it led to the the founding of Telltale Games by ex-LucasArts employees. The team now specializes in episodic adventure games.

GamePro Arcade: What is it about episodic gaming that makes it appealing to developers? Why aren't more doing it?

Mike Stemmle: A big appeal of episodic gaming is the quick turnaround time. Nothing can be more soul-crushing than an 18+ month slog on a project that you’re never entirely sure is going to work. With episodic gaming, by the time you’re even starting to consider the possibility of being burned out on an individual episode, it’s out the door and you’ve moved on. That’s nice.

But it calls for discipline and hard work, which probably explains why more houses aren’t doing it… yet.

GPA: What's different about the development process? How do you decide what goes into each episode?

MS: If most games are like movies, episodic games are more like television shows. Each of our games has a small cadre of designers who are in charge of the overall story and design for an entire season. Once the core design for the season is ironed out, individual episodes are assigned to specific designers, who are responsible for the specific design details of their episode, and usually the script. Of course, that’s a gross simplification.

GPA: On a similar note, what is a typical development cycle like?

MS: We usually try to spend a few months working out the overall story arc before letting anyone build any models or animate anything (outside of a few proof-of-concept experiments). Once that’s in place, designing the first episode begins in earnest. This usually takes a month. Then, while the script is being written, sets and character models are starting to get built, and rudimentary code wiring begins. By the time the script is recorded (which takes another week), the animators have begun their work, and are starting to hand things off to our “choreographers.” Now the fun begins, as everyone piles on to cram everything into the game, all at once. This usually takes another 4-6 weeks, including time for a pick-up recording session and an external playtest. All in all, it takes about 3-4 months to bring an individual episode from a vague idea to a finished product.

GPA: Adventure games might bring to mind player characters filling their pockets with random items and try using them in combination and with their environment while they try and read the designer's mind. How do you keep it feeling fresh?

MS: Any number of ways. Sometimes we cheat a bit, and give the player all-new interfaces and mini-games, but each of those can become major undertakings, so we try to limit those to places where they’re really dramatically necessary and/or fun. Other times we subvert the player’s expectations, messing with what they THINK a typical adventure game solution would be. And still other times, we take advantage of our incremental interface advancements… direct control is slowly opening up a nice new field of puzzle types for us.

Of course, when all else fails, we’re not above making a joke.

GPA: Five years into the company’s life, how has Telltale contributed to the evolution of adventure games?

MS: I’d like to think we’ve helped drag them back into financial viability.

GPA: When bringing back a highly regarded classic like Monkey Island, a developer has to introduce the game to a newer, younger audience, and satisfy the gamers who played the series decades ago. What goes into that sort of planning?

MS: There’s a lot of stripping the concept down to the core, so that we can properly re-introduce the franchise to everyone. That’s why the first episode opens with what we think is the essence of Monkey Island – A goofy pirate, the eternally patient love of his life, and his really gross undead nemesis.

GPA: How have digital distribution and self-publishing helped Telltale establish itself in the industry?

MS: Well, they’re kinda the key, aren’t they? Episodic gaming doesn’t really go anywhere without them.

GPA: Frame rate issues were brought up in reviews of Tales of Monkey Island for WiiWare. What this taught Telltale about possible limitations and advantages of WiiWare development?

MS: It taught us to work harder on eliminating frame rate issues. We’re working on ‘em for the new games that are prepping for release.

GPA: What's coming next from Telltale? Any word about the next Sam & Max Season?

MS: Chuck just leaned over into my cubicle to ask me for a punchline. I think that means that the next Sam & Max season has gotten to the dialog-writing stage. That’s probably a good sign.