This is the thread for LucasArts alumni/DoubleFine/Telltale games: Psychonauts, Costume Quest, Brutal Legend, Deathspank, Sam and Max, etc.

fun qte combat

This is both an oxymoron and a game killer for me. QTEs are the worst "innovation" in gaming ever.

Oh man, forks, you had me sold even before you put my name in all caps like that. Maybe if I'm lucky Santa will bring me a PS3. I didn't even get a PS2 until 2007.

it's minor, it's minor.
basically you boost your attack if you hit x when it asks you to, that sort of thing. really, it just holds your attention through what would otherwise be YOU HIT SLIME FOR 2 POINTS DAMAGE

xp

Okay. As long as it isn't a requirement to advance past something I'm cool.

you collect creepy candy cards! bobbing for apple minigames!
when i fought one of the monsters, before he attacked he cried out "You remind me of my parents... from whom I am horribly ESTRANGED!"

storyline is simple: monsters are stealing all the candy on halloween and they've also kidnapped your sister/brother (whichever one you choose not to play). now you've got to get him/her back and save the candy and the holiday.

the basic play mechanic to clear a board is that you have to trick or treat at all the individual level's houses/stores (sample store names: "Why Not Flip Flops?" "Rocks: For Her", a video game joint run by a pirate called "The Arrrrrr-cade"). Each time you trickortreat it's 50/50 that you get an adult who gives you candy (gp + xp) or a monster who you have to fight. In the meantime there's minigames and collect-em-all's and hunt for secrets and text storyline fun to be had.

You find costume design sheets and then have to find the three pieces that make up the costume on the board. then you can equip the costume on you and party members and each costume has unique attack and exploration properties: knight costume has an exploratory shield quality and a combat defense, the statue of liberty heals in combat, the ninja suit cloaks both in exploring and in combat. it's quite clever.

I wish I had more game-playing time atm, because this sounds amazing and I can't wait to play it. But it'll have to wait until after New Vegas.

btw, i love this story from Tim Schafer about how he got his first job at LucasArts:

I called David Fox right away and scribbled all the notes you see while I was talking to him. I told him how much I wanted to work at Lucasfilm, not because of Star Wars, but because I loved, “Ball Blaster.”
“Ball Blaster, eh?” he said.
“Yeah! I love Ball Blaster!” I said. It was true. I had broken a joystick playing that game on my Atari 800.
“Well, the name of the game is Ball Blazer.” Mr. Fox said, curtly. “It was only called Ball Blaster in the pirated version.”
Gulp.
Totally busted. It was true—I had played the pirated version. There, I said it. Now, if you’ve ever pirated one of my games you don’t need to feel bad, because I did it to Lucasfilm Games when I was in high school. Of course, if you’ve pirated two or more of my games, that’s a different story.

also: http://www.lucasforums.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=195492

Okay, I just beat Costume Quest and knocked out 100% of the trophies; it's actually three worlds, not four. It's a very likely one-sitting game, so be aware that you're plunking down 15 bucks for a short, sweet adventure that's wonderfully done but is NOT going to keep you busy even through halloween.

Along with Limbo though, this is another case of quality making up for quantity. It's totally worth fifteen bucks.

at best, you're looking at about five to six hours, max.

http://www.girlgamer.com/zine/article/1015/

don't mind me i'm gonna keep talking to myself until someone else plays this game, BUT:
in retrospect, it seems pretty obvious that there was a fourth level that got cut on this game. at the end of the 2nd level, you've amassed about half of the badges, costumes and bonuses. Then, near the end of the third level, you get a pile of superfluous badges, three costumes RIGHT at the end of the game and one additional costume following a lengthy maze board that you use ONCE and then never again. the final boss is well positioned to escape after a fight and instead she sorta huddles over and waits for a follow up fight. I think they cut the final level for whatever reason. It's a shame and it throws off the balance for the last half hour or so, but it's not a game breaker. Just wish I could've played that final level.

I played the demo. Very cute. Don't know if I want to drop 15 bones on it right now tho.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2010-10-21-costume-quest-review
^pretty much dead on

Loving this!

me too. its a *LITTLE bit repetitive, but so amiable and fun i don't care. although i do sometimes wish that the speech bubbles were larger/stayed onscreen longer. and given how great the voice actors were on psychonauts, i kind of wish there were voice actors on this too. but otherwise, its a blast...

via joystiq

Double Fine's earnest candy collection adventure, Costume Quest, is set to receive a new downloadable add-on in December for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. "Grubbins on Ice" sees the rascals entering Repugia, the snow-dusted realm of the Grubbins. Though the turn-based combat remains the same, Grubbins on Ice will introduce new costumes and patterns, along with several enhancements for the original game.

An accompanying patch will address Costume Quest's save system (you'll now be able to save at phone posts within the neighborhood) and allow you to pause during cutscenes. Grubbins on Ice will also adjust the speed of the dialogue textsoyoucanfinishreadi-

I liked the text speed, I spend most games wishing it was quicker!

Stacking coming out Feb 8 and FREE for Playstation Plus users, which is me!

damn, this looks awesome
http://blog.us.playstation.com/2011/02/03/coming-to-playstation-plus-free-day-one-download-of-stacking-and-exclusive-demos-for-killzone-3-and-yakuza-4/

Double Fine has a podcast now, which is Tim hanging out with a couple staffers in a conference room. Only two eps so far, but pretty good.

Stacking looks great; only barely got to play last night. Love the silent movie Dickensian conceit

Wait, what? Stacking is already out?

Last night!

I know what I'm doing during my winter break now!

whoa wait is stacking a ps3 exclusive?

*shakes fists at skies, rends garments*

wait, what? i thought it was on 360 too???

dont panic, i was actually just asking

the internet says its on both, i just didnt see it on xbox arcade or whatever when i checked

*lowers hands, hems tshirt*

although to be honest this is kinda my last straw with them, i am sure it will look good and be funny, but i am wondering if they have rediscovered the ability to make games actually also fun and playable - brutal legend left a lot to answer for

This game is very ugly-looking.

costume quest was pretty fun + playable!

I thought it was gorgeous personally. But it hits a sweet spot.
xp Jjjusten: you didn't like costume quest?

I thought it was gorgeous personally. But it hits a sweet spot.

Stacking?

I think my main problem is how they do lighting, honestly. Everything is lit so poorly.

Costume Quest being the notable exception.

i never played costume quest because i heard it was about 20 minutes long

yeah, i thought stacking was gorgeous. i only played for like ten minutes last night but i love the bizarre dynamic and the silent movie feel. You start out in a dingy train station so of course it's gonna be dim; presuming it'll open up.

i never played costume quest because i heard it was about 20 minutes long

It's plenty long for an arcade title.

more like six, seven hours

Found the Stacking demo pretty boring, though delightfully weird.

ha yeah i played the demo, and thought it was cute but might get really old - but hey, burps and farts for the kids!

also it was like endless cutscene central, and as charming as the cutscenes were, i was def doing more watching than playing.

DoubleFine is the most overrated developer working today imo, but I always end up with their stuff anyway since my share group <3s them

in b4 sb

Decided to go back and finally finish Costume Quest before playing Stacking, discovered that the update introduced a bug meaning that anyone who had a save file before the third world at the time can no longer finish the game. YAY. Particularly annoying as even though it's short the barebones combat would make playing it over again really tiresome.

They talked about that in the podcast. Apparently, it's a question of money, and the rigamarole of testing/publishing/promoting of a patch which only took 5 mins to re-code.

how have game developers still not learnt that long unskippable cut scenes in the beginning of their games are poison?

and the control is TERRIBLE