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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.
Max Payne is a 2001 third-person shooter game developed by Remedy Entertainment and published by Gathering of Developers. The game centers on former NYPD detective Max Payne, who attempts to solve the murder of his family while investigating a mysterious new designer drug called "Valkyr". While doing so, Max becomes entangled in a large and complex conspiracy, involving a major pharmaceutical company, organized crime, a secret society, and the U.S. military. It features a gritty neo-noir style and uses graphic novel panels as the primary means of telling the game's story, drawing inspiration from hard-boiled detective novels by authors like Mickey Spillane. It contains many allusions to Norse mythology, particularly the myth of Ragnarök and several names. The gameplay is heavily influenced by the Hong Kong action cinema genre, particularly the work of director John Woo, and it was one of the first games to feature the bullet-time effect popularized by The Matrix.
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.
Dave Grossman is an American game programmer and game designer, most known for his work at Telltale Games and early work at LucasArts. He has also written several children's books, and a book of "guy poetry" called Ode to the Stuff in the Sink.
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.
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.
Pajama Sam: No Need to Hide When It's Dark Outside is a 1996 children's adventure game originally released for PC and Mac. The first game of the Pajama Sam franchise, it sold nearly 3 million units and won 50 awards.
Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People is an episodic graphic adventure developed by Telltale Games and based on the Homestar Runner web cartoon, with Strong Bad as the lead character. A total of five episodes were released for Microsoft Windows and WiiWare between August 11, 2008, and December 15, 2008. It was released on the PlayStation 3 in North America on December 21, 2010, and in other regions at a later time. There is also an OS X version.
Jeremiah D Slaczka, also known by his nickname Miah, is an American video game designer/creative director and co-founder of 5th Cell, a video game developer in Bellevue, Washington. He is best known for being the concept creator and Director of Scribblenauts as well as the million-seller hit video game Drawn to Life and 5th Cell's critically acclaimed Lock's Quest, all for the Nintendo DS. Slaczka is credited as the Director, Lead Designer, Story Writer, Original Concept Creator and Art Director for both Drawn to Life and Lock's Quest.
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. His work has been predominantly featured in games developed by Telltale.
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.
Amanita Design is a Czech independent video game developing company founded in 2003 by Jakub Dvorský and headquartered in Brno, Czech Republic. The company has created award-winning games including Machinarium, the Samorost series and Botanicula, as well as educational and advertising minigames and animations, all using Adobe Flash. Clients include BBC, Nike and The Polyphonic Spree.
The Walking Dead is an episodic adventure video game developed and published by Telltale Games. The game is the first of The Walking Dead video game series published by Telltale. Based on the comic book series of the same name, the game consists of five episodes, released between April and November 2012. It is available for Android, iOS, Kindle Fire HDX, Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Ouya, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series S|X and Nintendo Switch.
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.
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.
References
- 1 2 3 "Brendan Q. Ferguson's tales all told?". The International House of Mojo. April 28, 2010. Retrieved October 30, 2012.
- ↑ "First Strong Bad Info and Media Released". The International House of Mojo. April 11, 2008. Retrieved October 30, 2012.
- ↑ "2008 Aggie Awards". Adventure Gamers. February 18, 2009. Retrieved October 30, 2012.
- ↑ "Best of PC E3 2009 Awards". IGN. June 11, 2009. Retrieved December 5, 2011.
- ↑ "PC Gamer Game of the Year Awards". PC Gamer . January 2010.
- ↑ "Wii Best Adventure Game 2009". IGN. 2009. Archived from the original on December 18, 2009. Retrieved December 2, 2011.
- ↑ "PC Best Adventure Game 2009". IGN. 2009. Archived from the original on November 20, 2011. Retrieved December 3, 2011.
- ↑ "Best Adventure of 2009". Adventure Gamers. 2009. Retrieved December 2, 2011.
- ↑ Mai, Peter (December 22, 2009). "Best and Worst Video Games of 2009". OC Weekly. Village Voice Media. Archived from the original on January 12, 2010. Retrieved January 11, 2010.