Sam & Max is an American media franchise about Sam and Max, a pair of anthropomorphic vigilante private investigators. The characters, who occupy a universe that parodies American popular culture, were created by Steve Purcell in his youth, and later debuted in a 1987 comic book series. The characters have since been the subject of a graphic adventure video game developed by LucasArts, a television series produced for Fox in cooperation with Nelvana Limited, and a series of episodic adventure games developed by Telltale Games. In addition, a variety of machinima and a webcomic have been produced for the series.
From the late 1980s to the early 2000s, LucasArts was well known for their point-and-click graphic adventure games, nearly all of which received high scoring reviews at the time of their release. Their style tended towards the humorous, often irreverent or slapstick humor, with the exceptions of Loom and The Dig. Their game design philosophy was that the player should never die or reach a complete dead-end, although there were exceptions.
Steven Ross Purcell is an American cartoonist, animator, game designer and voice actor. He is the creator of the media franchise Sam & Max, for which Purcell received an Eisner Award in 2007. The series has grown to incorporate an animated television series and several video games.
Telltale Incorporated was an American video game developer based in San Rafael, California. The company was founded in July 2004 by former LucasArts developers Kevin Bruner, Dan Connors and Troy Molander, following LucasArts' decision to leave the adventure game genre. Telltale established itself to focus on adventure games using a novel episodic release schedule over digital distribution, creating its own game engine, the Telltale Tool, to support this. It closed in October 2018 after filing for bankruptcy protection.
Michael J. Stemmle is a computer game writer, designer, and director who cocreated some of LucasArts' adventure games in the 1990s and early 2000s.
Sam & Max: Freelance Police was a graphic adventure video game developed by LucasArts from 2002 until its cancellation in 2004, and the final game in the company's adventure game era. Freelance Police was originally intended for release for Windows in early 2004 as a sequel to the 1993 title Sam & Max Hit the Road. The game was based on the characters Sam & Max: an anthropomorphic dog and "hyperkinetic rabbity thing" who debuted in a 1987 comic book series created by Steve Purcell. Freelance Police was announced in August 2002, and showcased at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in 2003. Like its predecessor, Freelance Police was designed as a point-and-click adventure game, but used a 3D game engine in place of the SCUMM and GrimE engines used in older LucasArts adventure games. The project's development was led by Michael Stemmle, one of the original designers for Sam & Max Hit the Road, while Steve Purcell assisted in developing the game's plot and providing artistic direction.
Sam & Max Save the World is a graphic adventure video game developed by Telltale Games. The game was originally released as Sam & Max: Season One before being renamed in early 2009. Save the World was developed in episodic fashion, comprising six episodes that were released for Microsoft Windows over the course of late 2006 and early 2007. The episodes were initially distributed online by GameTap and Telltale Games themselves, although the later retail releases of the game were published by The Adventure Company and JoWooD Productions in North America and Europe respectively. A Wii port of the game was published in late 2008, and an Xbox Live Arcade version was released in mid-2009. A remaster of the game by Skunkape Games was released in December 2020 for Nintendo Switch and Microsoft Windows, in August 2021 for Xbox One, and in September 2022 for PlayStation 4.
Andrew Chaikin, better known by his stage name Kid Beyond, is an American singer, beatboxer, live looper and voice actor, based in the San Francisco area.
Tales of Monkey Island is a 2009 graphic adventure video game developed by Telltale Games under license from LucasArts. It is the fifth game in the Monkey Island series, released nearly a decade after the previous installment, Escape from Monkey Island. Developed for Windows and the Wii console, the game was released in five episodic segments, between July and December 2009. In contrast to Telltale's previous episodic adventure games, whose chapters told discrete stories, each chapter of Tales of Monkey Island is part of an ongoing narrative. The game was digitally distributed through WiiWare and Telltale's own website, and later through Steam and Amazon.com. Ports for OS X, the PlayStation Network, and iOS were released several months after the series ended.
Poker Night at the Inventory is a poker video game developed by Telltale Games. It features four characters from different franchises: Tycho Brahe from the Penny Arcade webcomic, Max from the Sam & Max franchise, the RED Heavy from Team Fortress 2, and Strong Bad from the Homestar Runner web series. The game was released on November 22, 2010. A sequel, Poker Night 2, was released in 2013. The game was delisted from Steam in May 2019.
Jake Rodkin is an American video game designer, writer, graphic designer, and podcaster. He was the co-project leader of Tales of Monkey Island and the co-project leader and co-writer of The Walking Dead, Poker Night at the Inventory, and Puzzle Agent 2. He was also the director of the fifth episode of Sam & Max: The Devil's Playhouse, and designer and writer of Firewatch.
Mark Darin is an American video game designer and writer. He was the co-designer of CSI: Hard Evidence, Sam & Max Beyond Time and Space, Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People, Tales of Monkey Island, and Nelson Tethers: Puzzle Agent. He wrote the second episode of The Walking Dead, Starved for Help.
Charles "Chuck" Jordan is an American game designer, writer, and programmer. He co-wrote The Curse of Monkey Island, wrote three episodes of Sam & Max Save the World, was the lead writer and co-designer of Sam & Max Beyond Time and Space, designed and co-wrote two episodes of Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People, and was the designer of Sam & Max: The Devil's Playhouse: The Penal Zone, as well as season lead designer for the Sam & Max: The Devil's Playhouse season on the whole.
Sean Vanaman is an American video game designer, writer, and podcaster. He was the co-project leader and lead writer of The Walking Dead, and Puzzle Agent 2. He also wrote the third episode of Tales of Monkey Island, and was the designer of Wallace & Gromit's Grand Adventures, and the writer of the third episode, Muzzled. He was one of the regular hosts of the Idle Thumbs podcast and is one of the co-founders of Campo Santo, the company that produced Firewatch.
Brendan Q. Ferguson is an American computer game designer, writer, programmer, and voice actor. He was the co-designer and co-writer of Sam & Max Save the World and Sam & Max Beyond Time and Space. He was also the co-designer of Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People.
Poker Night 2 is a poker video game developed by Telltale Games. It is the sequel to Poker Night at the Inventory and, like its predecessor, features characters from different franchises. The game was released for Steam, PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade in April 2013, with an iOS version released the following month. Due to expiring licenses, the game was pulled from sale in September 2018.
Nicki Rapp, often credited as Nikki Rapp, is an American voice actress known for providing the voices for Lili Zanotto in Psychonauts, Morgan LeFlay in Tales of Monkey Island, Lilly in The Walking Dead video game, and the children in several games in The Sims franchise.
Jory Prum, also known as Jory K. Prum, was an American audio engineer, best known for his work in film and video games. He was the owner of a recording studio located in the San Francisco Bay Area.
The Walking Dead: Michonne is an episodic adventure video game by Telltale Games, based on The Walking Dead comic book series. Taking place between issues 126 and 139 of the comic series, the game shows events of what Michonne was up to during her temporary departure from the group of survivors led by Rick Grimes in the midst of a zombie apocalypse. Samira Wiley voiced Michonne in the game. The three-episode series was released between February and April 2016 for Microsoft Windows personal computers, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One consoles, and mobile devices.
The Wolf Among Us 2 is an upcoming episodic graphic adventure game being developed and published by Telltale Games with the assistance of AdHoc Studio, a studio that consists of former Telltale staff. It is a sequel to the 2013 game The Wolf Among Us, with the title taking place six months following the events of the previous title.
