Your gaming interests
 

What games do you people at Telltale play in your spare time? What games inspire and influence you?

Spare time? You're kidding, right? ;)

I think I'd have to say Day of the Tentacle is my all-time favorite. And the Monkey Island series, of course.

Right now I'm addicted to NHL 2k6, and Guitar Hero...

Curse of Monkey Island was one of my all-time favorites - I was actually a tester on that. My experience working with the developers on that is partly what inspired me to go into writing and design...

I was in the middle of God of War and Shadow of the Collossus when Kingdom Hearts 2 came out. Now I am playing Kingdom Hearts 2 almost exclusively and also this fantastic downloadable game called Plantasia. Oh and Nintendogs.

I find bits of inspiration in most games I play. But I think games that had a real formative effect on me design-wise were the Quest for Glory series, Wing Commander, and Sid Meier's Pirates!

Damn, the two games most responsible for my interest in games. No wonder I loved The Great Cow Race (and liked Out from Boneville).

How's your puppy doing today? Have you bathed him lately? :D

Shh...don't tell anyone of my puppy neglect! They might come and take her away! It's not my fault!

(Reaches for her DS to see how big the fleas are)

Animal Crossing! Animal Crossing! Animal Crossing!

And all the other wierd DS games...

Even Phoenix Wright?

One of the things that struck me the first time I visited Telltale's office was the big shelf of boxed adventure games. It's a sight to behold. Newish games, LucasArts games like Grim Fandango and Full Throttle and Monkey Island, all the way back to Police Quest and A Mind Forever Voyaging.

We should take a picture of the game boxes and put it up on Telltale's site. I can think of a few people who would get lightheaded and faint just looking at it.

Ooh, are the games in those boxes available for playing, or are they just decorations?

Yes, photos of the office would be great.

Oh my goodness. Photos of the office might be dangerous.

Only if you leave sufficient evidence for us to track you ;).

Yeah. That would be a neat "real life" puzzle game :D

I should grab one and see what happens.

I feel like there might be a hidden alarm or something. :crazy:

Or maybe if you pick them off the shelf in the right order, it opens up a secret passageway!

Maybe that is where the kitchen is.

Or the sacred never-emptying coffee pot.

I'm going to go scope it out.

If you don't hear from me again, it's because I fell in. :crazy:

Funny that shelf should get mentioned. I just brought home Escape from Monkey Island, which people are often surprised to find out I've never played. Soon I won't be able to claim ignorance any longer.

Apart from that I've been playing a bit of Puzzle Pirates, where I mostly just hang out at the poker tables. And I somehow find time to play a lot of board games - Puerto Rico, TransAmerica, Carcassone, Vino... that sort of thing.

As for influential games, I must cite Legend of Zelda for the SNES. I long to design a game as tightly and ingeniously as that.

The games on that shelf are just the tip of a Titanic-worthy iceberg, my friends. I daren't bring in my entire game collection, for fear that adventure lovers who gazed upon it would feel faint, swoon, or possibly even explode.

I love many of the games already mentioned, especially Day of the Tentacle, Monkey Island, Quest for Glory, Wing Commander, and Zelda. But in no particularly meaningful order, I'd also like to mention Sam & Max, Indiana Jones, Grim Fandango, Gabriel Knight, King's/Space/Police Quest, The Last Express, The Space Bar, Trinity, Zork, Enchanter, Nord & Bert, Gateway, Timequest, Eric the Unready, Spellcasting 101, Death Gate, Mission Critical, Callahan's Crosstime Saloon, Star Control, Photopia, Spider & Web, Broken Sword, Beneath a Steel Sky, Spycraft, Bladerunner, Chronomaster, Ultima, Fallout, Planescape Torment, System Shock, Half Life, Might & Magic and Heroes thereof, The Summoning, Veil of Darkness, Resident Evil, Castlevania, Metroid, Super Mario, Banjo-Kazooie, Ratchet & Clank, Psychonauts, Ico, Metal Gear Solid, Incredible Machine, Virtua Tennis, Guitar Hero, my hands are cramping.

I don't remember ever having played that one. Any good? ;)

I prefer the sequel my brains are atrophying.

And a Tennis based adventure game?
Sounds interesting :P