I apologise in advance for this as there has already been numerous threads on this before but I couldn't find one. But I was thinking on having an episodic run for Tex as a means of continuing the series. That way they can develop the story in small increments, keep the players happy, make a healthy profit through the saving distribution and manufactuing costs. Nothing would please me more to play Tex on a monthly basis with a cliffhanger to hold us over until the next installment, kind of like Radio Theatre but gaming installments instead of audio serials.
Then, once a certain amount of episodes have accumulated, you could release them as a box set in the tradition of the current Sam and Max adventures. It would also combat the issue of players not having enough time to dedicate to a full blown adventure game. Instead, they'd only need to spare 3 to 5 hours per issue.
I suppose this strategy would have already been considered by Chris and Aaron though...
Then, once a certain amount of episodes have accumulated, you could release them as a box set in the tradition of the current Sam and Max adventures. It would also combat the issue of players not having enough time to dedicate to a full blown adventure game. Instead, they'd only need to spare 3 to 5 hours per issue.
I suppose this strategy would have already been considered by Chris and Aaron though...
You've downloaded Surviving High School for your Mobile phone haven't you???
This would be kewl to do, but I don't think the resources are there yet to even consider this...
You're still talking about huge amounts of money for the equipment and staff and that's not including the actors yet... Then you have to consider the amount of time it would take to turn out an episode of say 4 hours of gameplay... You said 3 to 5, so I just went in the middle...
As time goes on the time it takes to film an episode would slowly reduce as everyone gets into the groove, but there are still the screw ups, slip ups, and whatnot, so you have to re-shoot this scene or that scene, etc... Then you have the Editing time to clean this up and clean that up and make sure this flows smoothly, etc...
Then there is the Programming time for all of the gameplay stuff and making sure there are no bugs... Because with something like this that you are going to release every month, you can't have bugs in it... That would be the worse thing for production... You release something on the first of the month and start work on the next one, then on the 9th of the month you realize everyone is so mad because there is this bug, so now you have to take key people off the new project if not stop it completely to crank out a patch for this bug that popped up... Putting everything for the next episode behind schedule...
It would be different if you got to something like an all Cartoon Tex, where you aren't using actors, just voice overs... Because then all you need to worry about are the programming ends, it takes the film production completely out of it... But would a Cartoon Tex be good enough for some???
Now Tex Murphy the new Prime Time TV Show... Now that I could sink my teeth into... 13 or so Episodes a season... Tex running around doing small cases while through out the season he is slowly working on the one big case that will be the season finale... And always chasing Chelsea while she remains just out of fingertip reach... Then of course you would have Rook and Louie, one always busting Tex's chops while the other always tries to lift his spirits... Tex could work as a TV Show...
The technology and special effects are there to pull it off...
This would be kewl to do, but I don't think the resources are there yet to even consider this...
You're still talking about huge amounts of money for the equipment and staff and that's not including the actors yet... Then you have to consider the amount of time it would take to turn out an episode of say 4 hours of gameplay... You said 3 to 5, so I just went in the middle...
As time goes on the time it takes to film an episode would slowly reduce as everyone gets into the groove, but there are still the screw ups, slip ups, and whatnot, so you have to re-shoot this scene or that scene, etc... Then you have the Editing time to clean this up and clean that up and make sure this flows smoothly, etc...
Then there is the Programming time for all of the gameplay stuff and making sure there are no bugs... Because with something like this that you are going to release every month, you can't have bugs in it... That would be the worse thing for production... You release something on the first of the month and start work on the next one, then on the 9th of the month you realize everyone is so mad because there is this bug, so now you have to take key people off the new project if not stop it completely to crank out a patch for this bug that popped up... Putting everything for the next episode behind schedule...
It would be different if you got to something like an all Cartoon Tex, where you aren't using actors, just voice overs... Because then all you need to worry about are the programming ends, it takes the film production completely out of it... But would a Cartoon Tex be good enough for some???
Now Tex Murphy the new Prime Time TV Show... Now that I could sink my teeth into... 13 or so Episodes a season... Tex running around doing small cases while through out the season he is slowly working on the one big case that will be the season finale... And always chasing Chelsea while she remains just out of fingertip reach... Then of course you would have Rook and Louie, one always busting Tex's chops while the other always tries to lift his spirits... Tex could work as a TV Show...
The technology and special effects are there to pull it off...
The Paved Straight Road, Won't Always Get You Farther Than The Winding Dirt Road...
Can You Run Your Game??? Click Here And Find Out...
*Note, Not All Games Have Been Tested & Therefore May Not Be Listed...
Can You Run Your Game??? Click Here And Find Out...
*Note, Not All Games Have Been Tested & Therefore May Not Be Listed...
I don't think it will be feasible any way other than through episodic installments.
The cost of making a movie these days isn't what it used to be even 10 years ago. Digital has changed things considerably. It might be harder to make CGI Tex than to dress up Chris and put him in front of a blue screen.
Not convinced?
Take a look at this:
http://areo.areograph.com/
I haven't played the games yet, but somehow they're doing it (at least enough for a few episodes). Tex obviously has a built in audience, so why not?
The cost of making a movie these days isn't what it used to be even 10 years ago. Digital has changed things considerably. It might be harder to make CGI Tex than to dress up Chris and put him in front of a blue screen.
Not convinced?
Take a look at this:
http://areo.areograph.com/
I haven't played the games yet, but somehow they're doing it (at least enough for a few episodes). Tex obviously has a built in audience, so why not?
Never heard of Surviving High School to be honest. My idea was more inspired by TellTale's treatment of Sam & Max + Monkey Island. 2 classic titles which have been reinvented but have also retained the core of what made them great in a fresh format. I'm actually open to TM crossing over to Broken Sword 3/Syberia style CGI. My first preference will always be FMV, but i'm certainly not against computer generated characters.
I'm sure if the team could handle 3 cards, an episodic series of TM to continue the saga would work fine. Half the work is done, Aaron has stated many times that three whole games worth of stories have been written. That's about 60 hours of gamplay! There's the first twenty episodes already, two or three seasons depending on how you break it up. The good thing is with episodic, once they have developed an engine, they can stick to it. They don't need to reinvent with every title, it's mainly just adding some new locations, puzzles and dialogue. I can see this being done, especially with Big Finish being a digital distributer at present.
I'm sure if the team could handle 3 cards, an episodic series of TM to continue the saga would work fine. Half the work is done, Aaron has stated many times that three whole games worth of stories have been written. That's about 60 hours of gamplay! There's the first twenty episodes already, two or three seasons depending on how you break it up. The good thing is with episodic, once they have developed an engine, they can stick to it. They don't need to reinvent with every title, it's mainly just adding some new locations, puzzles and dialogue. I can see this being done, especially with Big Finish being a digital distributer at present.
He has it written down on Paper... It's a completely different story when you go to film it and do the computer programming for it... Naturally you wouldn't start working on it until you had something to work from, which they do... But I still say filming, editing, and the computer programming would all take too long to try and turn out an episode every month...
On top of equipment, supplies, and everything, you have to find actors and have the money to pay them as well... Sure you could drop your class of actor instead of using people like Barry Corbin and others, you use people who have been in acting, but aren't quite good enough to get the better jobs, but you still have to pay them something...
I suppose it could be possible if you have the right staff and everyone is in groove with one another... And don't have too many foul ups in filming... But the programming would have to be practically flawless, as I mentioned before you can't go pulling your key people off of the current project to go work up a patch for last month's episode, then you just fall behind and since you are doing this every month you'll have a hard time recovering...
On top of equipment, supplies, and everything, you have to find actors and have the money to pay them as well... Sure you could drop your class of actor instead of using people like Barry Corbin and others, you use people who have been in acting, but aren't quite good enough to get the better jobs, but you still have to pay them something...
I suppose it could be possible if you have the right staff and everyone is in groove with one another... And don't have too many foul ups in filming... But the programming would have to be practically flawless, as I mentioned before you can't go pulling your key people off of the current project to go work up a patch for last month's episode, then you just fall behind and since you are doing this every month you'll have a hard time recovering...
The Paved Straight Road, Won't Always Get You Farther Than The Winding Dirt Road...
Can You Run Your Game??? Click Here And Find Out...
*Note, Not All Games Have Been Tested & Therefore May Not Be Listed...
Can You Run Your Game??? Click Here And Find Out...
*Note, Not All Games Have Been Tested & Therefore May Not Be Listed...