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.
Sam & Max Hit the Road is a graphic adventure video game released by LucasArts during the company's adventure games era. The game was originally released for MS-DOS in 1993 and for Mac OS in 1995. A 2002 re-release included compatibility with Windows. The game is based on the comic characters of Sam and Max, the "Freelance Police", an anthropomorphic dog and "hyperkinetic rabbity thing". The characters, created by Steve Purcell, originally debuted in a 1987 comic book series. Based on the 1989 Sam & Max comic On the Road, the duo take the case of a missing bigfoot from a nearby carnival, traveling to many American culture tourist sites to solve the mystery.
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.
Bone: Out from Boneville is an episodic adventure game by Telltale Games. It was Telltale's first adventure game, and their second game overall, following Telltale Texas Hold'em. A Mac port of the game was released on October 13, 2006, ported by Vanbrio.
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.
Sam & Max Beyond Time and Space, originally released as Sam & Max: Season Two, is an episodic graphic adventure video game by Telltale Games based on the Sam & Max comic book series created by Steve Purcell. It is a sequel to Telltale's previous Sam & Max game, Sam & Max Save the World, and was originally released as five episodes for Microsoft Windows over the course of late 2007 and early 2008, before being ported to other platforms in the following years. A remaster of the game by Skunkape Games was released in December 2021 for Windows, Nintendo Switch and Xbox One, and in September 2022 for PlayStation 4.
Wallace & Gromit's Grand Adventures is an episodic graphic adventure game based around the characters of Wallace and Gromit created by Nick Park and Aardman Animations. The game was developed and published by Telltale Games. It consists of four episodes, which were released to Microsoft Windows from March 23 to July 30, 2009, and to Xbox 360 from May 27 to November 4, 2009.
Jared Nathaniel Emerson-Johnson is an American video game music composer, sound designer, voice director and voice actor. Emerson-Johnson is the Music Supervisor and lead composer at Bay Area Sound, an audio production company specializing in sound design, music and voiceover for video games.
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.
Sam & Max: The Devil's Playhouse is a graphic adventure video game developed by Telltale Games. It is the third and final season of the Sam & Max episodic series created by Telltale, following Sam & Max Save the World and Sam & Max Beyond Time and Space. The first episode was released as one of the first apps for the iPad on April 2, 2010, and was released for Microsoft Windows, OS X, and the PlayStation 3 on April 15. A remaster by Skunkape Games is planned for release in 2023.
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.
The Walking Dead: Season Two is an episodic adventure video game developed by Telltale Games and based on The Walking Dead comic book series. It is the sequel to The Walking Dead, with the episodes released between December 2013 and August 2014. There was a retail collector's disc edition released after the conclusion of the season. The game employs the same narrative structure as the first season, where player choice in one episode will have a permanent impact on future story elements. The player choices recorded in save files from the first season and the additional episode 400 Days carry over into the second season. Clementine, who was the player's main companion during the first season, is the playable character in Season Two.
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.
Tales from the Borderlands is an episodic interactive comedy graphic adventure sci-fi video game based on the Borderlands series. It was developed by Telltale Games under license from Gearbox Software, the developer of the Borderlands series, and 2K, its publisher. The game was released in November 2014 for Android, iOS, Microsoft Windows, OS X, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and in 2021 for Nintendo Switch.
