Comments on: A Season with Sam & Max http://tleaves.com/2007/05/17/a-season-with-sam-and-max/ Creativity x Technology Sat, 17 Mar 2012 05:09:58 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Jonathan Perret http://tleaves.com/2007/05/17/a-season-with-sam-and-max/comment-page-1/#comment-4021 Jonathan Perret Fri, 08 Jun 2007 14:12:35 +0000 http://tleaves.com/?p=845#comment-4021 Guys, I just today realized I'd been missing your witticisms for the last few weeks. Turns out this post broke your feed : http://feedvalidator.org/check?url=http%3a%2f%2ftleaves.com%2fweblog%2findex.rdf Cheers, --Jonathan Guys,
I just today realized I’d been missing your witticisms for the last few weeks. Turns out this post broke your feed : http://feedvalidator.org/check?url=http%3a%2f%2ftleaves.com%2fweblog%2findex.rdf

Cheers,
–Jonathan

]]> By: Dhaka-dice http://tleaves.com/2007/05/17/a-season-with-sam-and-max/comment-page-1/#comment-4020 Dhaka-dice Wed, 30 May 2007 18:28:09 +0000 http://tleaves.com/?p=845#comment-4020 What kind of belgian beer did you say you were betting? Mmmm...Sam & Max and abbey ale (now that's a good name for a character). I hope they do a new season soon. I'll eat it up with hair and everything. I'm really curious about the story in the new season. Will Max still be president, what would the new theme be instead of hypnosis? Gah, I can't wait! What kind of belgian beer did you say you were betting?

Mmmm…Sam & Max and abbey ale (now that’s a good name for a character).
I hope they do a new season soon. I’ll eat it up with hair and everything.
I’m really curious about the story in the new season. Will Max still be president, what would the new theme be instead of hypnosis? Gah, I can’t wait!

]]> By: peterb http://tleaves.com/2007/05/17/a-season-with-sam-and-max/comment-page-1/#comment-4019 peterb Wed, 30 May 2007 16:59:08 +0000 http://tleaves.com/?p=845#comment-4019 Enno, I don't work for Telltale, but my impression is that the technical roadblock to making a game widely compatible (and performing well) with older cards is greater than you suggest. When you look at all the 3D cards that have been sold for the past 10 years, you end up with a matrix of staggering complexity. Just the QA process to verify that a game works well on older machines is overly burdensome, let alone the technical challenges of actually making it work. What I'm trying to say, in other words, is that it's not just an issue of "complexity" or how big the textures are. Rather, every 3D card has a unique set of bugs. If you try to "optimize" to run well on all of them, you simply won't ever deliver your product. If I were helming a game project and I was targeting a PC platform, I'd certainly try to limit the target market rather than spending development time "optimizing" the game to work on the systems of people who haven't upgraded in 5 years. Sorry, but that's the truth. Enno,

I don’t work for Telltale, but my impression is that the technical roadblock to making a game widely compatible (and performing well) with older cards is greater than you suggest. When you look at all the 3D cards that have been sold for the past 10 years, you end up with a matrix of staggering complexity. Just the QA process to verify that a game works well on older machines is overly burdensome, let alone the technical challenges of actually making it work.

What I’m trying to say, in other words, is that it’s not just an issue of “complexity” or how big the textures are. Rather, every 3D card has a unique set of bugs. If you try to “optimize” to run well on all of them, you simply won’t ever deliver your product.

If I were helming a game project and I was targeting a PC platform, I’d certainly try to limit the target market rather than spending development time “optimizing” the game to work on the systems of people who haven’t upgraded in 5 years. Sorry, but that’s the truth.

]]> By: Enno http://tleaves.com/2007/05/17/a-season-with-sam-and-max/comment-page-1/#comment-4018 Enno Wed, 30 May 2007 12:30:44 +0000 http://tleaves.com/?p=845#comment-4018 I couldn't agree more. I loved the series from start to finish, and sign me up for the next season. The only thing I have an issue with is the technical side. The game doesn't perform very well on older PCs. It is incredibly memory-hungry and the textures in the first episodes looked chunky on a GeForce3. I don't see why that would be necessary, and for a casual game it's needlessly reduciing the potential market. Also, if you're re-using an engine as much as these games do, then it should be worth optimizing it. I couldn’t agree more. I loved the series from start to finish, and sign me up for the next season.

The only thing I have an issue with is the technical side. The game doesn’t perform very well on older PCs. It is incredibly memory-hungry and the textures in the first episodes looked chunky on a GeForce3. I don’t see why that would be necessary, and for a casual game it’s needlessly reduciing the potential market. Also, if you’re re-using an engine as much as these games do, then it should be worth optimizing it.

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