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Sam & Max: Freelance Police

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Ashnard (talk | contribs) at 18:30, 6 February 2009 (Removing redundancy; this is a dubious sentence--if something is announced, how can then later be unveiled?). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Not to be confused with The Adventures of Sam & Max: Freelance Police.
Sam & Max: Freelance Police
The title screen for Freelance Police
The logo for Sam & Max: Freelance Police
Developer(s)LucasArts
Designer(s)Michael Stemmle
SeriesSam & Max
EngineProprietary
Platform(s)Windows
ReleaseCanceled
Genre(s)Graphic adventure
Mode(s)Single-player

Sam & Max: Freelance Police was a graphic adventure computer game developed by LucasArts until its cancellation in 2004. The final game in the company's adventure game era, LucasArts originally intended to release Freelance Police 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 and 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 was also unveiled at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in 2003. Like its predecessor, Freelance Police was designed as a point-and-click adventure game, but used a new 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.

Although the game's development appeared to be proceeding towards completion without difficulty, LucasArts abruptly canceled production of Freelance Police in March 2004, citing economic and market conditions. The game's cancellation was received poorly by fans of the series, Steve Purcell, and the video game industry media. Many journalists saw this move as a culmination in the decline of the adventure game genre. LucasArts later terminated its adventure game development, and many of the Freelance Police design team left to create Telltale Games and continue development of such adventure games. Steve Purcell moved the Sam & Max franchise to Telltale Games in 2005, allowing for a revival of Sam & Max video games.

Overview

Freelance Police moved the franchise into 3D graphics, but retained the point-and-click gameplay of its predecessor.

Sam & Max: Freelance Police was designed by LucasArts as a graphic adventure game and as a sequel to the 1993 title Sam & Max Hit the Road. The game was to be powered by 3D computer graphics and rendered in real-time. Lead designer Michael Stemmle described the graphics as "achieved via a precarious balance of shaders, bump maps [and] lightmaps".[1] The game engine consisted of parts from other LucasArts games, including elements from Gladius, RTX Red Rock, Full Throttle: Hell on Wheels and Star Wars: Obi-Wan.[2][3] Little was revealed of the gameplay, other than that Freelance Police would not follow the same control scheme used by 3D LucasArts adventures Grim Fandango and Escape from Monkey Island, but that it would rather return to point-and-click mechanics used in the 2D LucasArts games.[1] Freelance Police was to contain 19 minigames. Like the minigames featured in Sam & Max Hit the Road, some advanced the game's plot while others were entirely optional.[4] As with other LucasArts adventure games, the game was designed so that the player character could not die or reach a dead end.[4]

Few details were revealed about the game's plot. An interview with Stemmle in January 2004 provided a rough outline, in which Stemmle stated that the game's story was "really six stories, loosely held together by a thrilling über-plot".[5] Each individual story contained a separate case for the Freelance Police, taking place in a variety of environments, including a space station and a neopagan bacchanal, and featuring "freakish bad guys".[5] Stemmle stated that the intention was to keep the "über-plot" concealed for a while, but noted that it contained "all the barely plausible grandeur that fans have come to expect from Sam and Max".[5] Steve Purcell, the creator of Sam & Max, assisted in the development of both the plot and the art, producing concept art of various characters and locales.[6] Beyond the return of the titular characters of Sam and Max, only one other character, Flint Paper, was confirmed for the game. Described by Stemmle as "the Freelance Police's rough 'n' tumble private detective neighbour",[5] Paper is briefly featured in Sam & Max comics and he makes an offstage appearance in Sam & Max Hit the Road. Stemmle had Paper planned for a "critical role" in the game's "über-plot".[5]

Due to the nature of the plot, LucasArts considered releasing the game in episodic fashion and using digital distribution, an option favored by the development team but opposed by the management division, who preferred the more traditional methods of retail distribution.[1] Post-release bonus content was also considered; Stemmle remarked that such content would include new power-ups, minigames and "maybe even entirely new interactive Sam & Max cases [the player] can download".[1]

Development

The development of a sequel to Sam & Max Hit the Road was first announced by LucasArts on August 27, 2002. In their press release, LucasArts president Simon Jeffery stated that "the Sam & Max sequel, much like the recently announced Full Throttle II, perfectly complements LucasArts' renowned adventure game legacy and lends further support to the company's commitment to investing in and developing more of our original properties".[7] Although the game was projected for release in the first quarter of 2004, no additional details were revealed by LucasArts.[8] The game was officially announced for Windows at the Electronic Entertainment Expo convention on May 12, 2003, where the full title "Sam & Max: Freelance Police" was unveiled.[9] LucasArts reaffirmed the projected early 2004 release date at the convention.[10] The game's trailer was also revealed at E3,[11] reintroducing the characters and showing that the original voice actors for Sam and Max, Bill Farmer and Nick Jameson respectively, were set to reprise their roles.[4] Over the following months, several minor media releases were made, showing various screenshots and discussing the game's development direction. The game's release was highly anticipated by journalists in the video games industry, who published various previews and interviews with the development team, particularly with lead designer Michael Stemmle, one of the original designers of Sam & Max Hit the Road.[4][2]

In August 2003, LucasArts halted production on the Full Throttle adventure game sequel Hell on Wheels,[12] leading the media to speculate that Freelance Police might suffer a similar fate.[13] LucasArts reassured the media that Freelance Police was still in production and was nearing completion, reiterating that the game would be released in 2004.[13] Media coverage continued; PC Gamer US ran an interview with Stemmle as a cover story in February 2004.[4] However, on March 3, 2004, LucasArts abruptly announced the cancellation of Freelance Police. In a short press release, LucasArts' Acting General Manager, Mike Nelson, stated that "after careful evaluation of current market place realities and underlying economic considerations, we've decided that this was not the appropriate time to launch a graphic adventure on the PC".[14]

The reaction to the game's cancellation was overwhelmingly negative. Commentators in the industry's media felt that the cancellation was another example in a decline in the adventure genre,[15] many noting that LucasArts appeared to be moving to consolidate its position with low business risk Star Wars themed titles instead of the adventure games that had brought them success in earlier years.[15] Freelance Police's cancellation is often cited as the culmination of the downward decline in the adventure genre.[16][17][18] The cancellation came so suddenly that some magazines accidentally published favorable previews of the game after LucasArts' announcement.[1] A petition of 32,000 signatures stating the disappointment of fans was later presented to LucasArts.[6] Steve Purcell, the creator of the Sam & Max franchise, was described as "stunned" by LucasArts' decision.[1]

LucasArts' sudden decision to stop production on Sam & Max is mystifying. Sam & Max was on schedule and coming together beautifully. I couldn't have been more pleased with the quality of the writing, gameplay, hilarious animation and the gorgeous 3D world that Mike Stemmle's team has created. The rug has been pulled out from under this brilliant team who've so expertly retooled Sam & Max for the 21st century. I'm extremely frustrated and disappointed especially for the team who have devoted so much effort and creativity to Sam & Max. It's a shame to think that their accomplishments, as well as the goodwill that has been growing in the gaming press toward this project, will all go to waste due to this shortsighted decision.

— Steve Purcell[19]

A newly established German company, Bad Brain Entertainment, claimed to have entered negotiations with LucasArts to acquire the game, but nothing resulted from this.[6] LucasArts subsequently dismissed many of the designers involved with developing their adventure games,[20][21] and in 2006 stated that they did not intend to return to the adventure genre until the "next decade".[22] Some of the former Freelance Police development team formed Telltale Games in June 2004, to continue developing the sorts of adventure games that LucasArts no longer wished to produce.[23] Telltale Games later unsuccessfully attempted to buy the rights to Freelance Police from LucasArts, which would have enabled the team to finish the game.[24] When LucasArts' license with Purcell to produce Sam & Max games expired in mid-2005, Purcell took the franchise to Telltale Games, where it was developed into an episodic series of games.[6] Entitled Sam & Max: Season One, the new series debuted in October 2006.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f "Sam & Max Freelance Police". The International House of Mojo. Retrieved 2008-11-17.
  2. ^ a b "Sam & Max: Freelance Police". GamePro. United States: IDG Entertainment: p. 74. 2004. {{cite journal}}: |pages= has extra text (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  3. ^ Bronstring, Marek (2003-03-17). "Sam & Max: Freelance Police". Adventure Gamers. Retrieved 2008-11-17.
  4. ^ a b c d e "Cover Feature: Sam & Max: Freelance Police". PC Gamer. United States: Future plc: p. 47. 2004. {{cite journal}}: |pages= has extra text (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  5. ^ a b c d e "Interview: Sam & Max: Freelance Police". Computer and Video Games. 2004-01-06. Retrieved 2008-11-17.
  6. ^ a b c d "After Darkness Comes the Light (Part 2)". The History of Sam & Max. Telltale Games. 2007-07-24. Retrieved 2008-08-07.
  7. ^ McNewserson, Newsey (2002-08-27). "Sam & Max Are Back!". IGN. Retrieved 2008-11-17.
  8. ^ "Sam & Max sequel announced". GameSpot. 2002-08-28. Retrieved 2008-11-17.
  9. ^ Blevins, Tal (2003-05-12). "E3 2003: Sam & Max: Freelance Police". IGN. Retrieved 2008-11-17.
  10. ^ Thorsen, Tor (2003-05-13). "Sam & Max: Freelance Police announced". GameSpot. Retrieved 2008-11-17.
  11. ^ "Sam & Max Freelance Police Trailer 1". GameSpot. 2003-05-13. Retrieved 2008-11-17.
  12. ^ Parker, Sam (2003-08-07). "LucasArts cancels Full Throttle". GameSpot. Retrieved 2008-11-17.
  13. ^ a b "Sam & Max lives: Still in development...". Hyper. Australia: Next Publishing Pty Ltd. 2004. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  14. ^ Butts, Steve (2004-03-03). "Sam and Max Cancelled". IGN. Retrieved 2008-11-17.
  15. ^ a b Adams, David (2004-03-24). "Missing in Action: The Lost Games of the PC". IGN. Retrieved 2008-11-17.
  16. ^ Dickens, Evan (2004-03-03). "Sam & Max R.I.P.: My Reaction". Adventure Gamers. Retrieved 2009-02-02.
  17. ^ "Roundtable #113: Choose Your Own PC Adventure". IGN. 2004-03-24. Retrieved 2008-12-22.
  18. ^ Parish, Jeremy. "The Essential 50 Part 33: Myst". 1UP.com. Retrieved 2008-11-17.
  19. ^ Rodkin, Jake (2004-03-05). "Steve Purcell comments on Sam & Max 2's cancellation". Adventure Gamers. Retrieved 2008-12-22.
  20. ^ "A Short History of LucasArts". Edge. Future plc. 2006-08-26. Retrieved 2009-02-02.
  21. ^ Feldman, Curt (2004-08-13). "LucasArts undergoing "major restructuring"". GameSpot. Retrieved 2009-02-02.
  22. ^ "LucasArts at E3". G4tv. 2006. Retrieved 2008-03-03.
  23. ^ Jenkins, David (2004-10-04). "Sam & Max 2 Developers Form New Studio". Gamasutra. Retrieved 2008-03-21.
  24. ^ Fahs, Travis (2008-05-07). "Beta Blues, Vol. 2". IGN. Retrieved 2008-12-22.
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