Something called a ‘Super Show’ is coming to invade both our games library and TiVo schedules, according to Telltale Games and studio Lionsgate. They’ve partnered up to deliver something bridging the two mediums.
Apparently it’s not some ‘game with a TV show’, or a ‘TV show with a tie-in game’, but something altogether different. This Super Show is a ”very natural evolution” for Telltale and its interactive story-telling.
Okay, but what the heck is it? ”A “Super Show” episode combines one part of interactive playable content with one part of scripted television style content. Both pieces, when combined together, are what make an actual Super Show “episode,”” CEO Kevin Bruner from Telltale told EW.
”As we’ve been developing the series, we’re using both mediums in concert to deliver our story. Developing both aspects simultaneously is key to utilizing this new medium. Both parts are first class citizens during the writing and design process.”
”It’s not an interactive series with a show, or a TV show with a game, but a story integrated in a way that only Telltale can do. For us it’s a very natural evolution of the interactive story telling expertise we’ve pioneered,” he continued.
They admit it’s a ”huge challenge” combining the tight schedules of TV production with the ”iteration and flexibility” games enjoy throughout development, ”but we’ve been producing games episodically for over 10 years and have brought a lot of television production techniques to our game studio.”
Super Show episodes will feature a lot more than just an hour’s worth of content, said Bruner, and will follow a similar pattern of episodic releases from Telltale, although hopefully nothing like A Wolf Among Us which suffered painful delays.
It’s an original IP that the two studios are working on, so they won’t be springing a Hunger Games, Sam & Max or SAW ‘Super Show’ series on us.
”Producing this kind of content is also a much deeper investment for us so it’s been important that we own or co-own the IP we develop as Super Shows. As we move forward I certainly can imagine building future Super Show series based on existing IP when it makes sense.”
They’d like these new types of game-TV hybrids standing a serious chance of snaring Golden Globes and Game of the Year awards. Exactly how does a Super Show work for us, the gamer/viewer?
”Each Super Show episode will be released as a package designed so that you can consume the interactive portion or watch the scripted show portion in any order you’d like. For instance, if you play the interactive episode first, certain elements of the scripted episode portion will be tailored to reflect some choices made in your interactive play through. If you watch the show before playing, some elements in the interactive portions may be presented differently than if you played first. The interactive episodes will never release without a scripted episode, they will always come out together.”
They will release non-interactive episodes eventually as more traditional scripted TV content through streaming services and broadcast TV. So, basically Telltale Games and Lionsgate are teaming up to make an ‘interactively tailored’ TV series.
Check out the full interview between CEO Kevin Bruner and Entertainment Weekly to learn more.
