Sam And Max Poker Night At The Inventory
| Poker Night at the Inventory | |
|---|---|
Poker Night at the Inventory cover. Characters (l–r): Tycho Brahe, Max, the Heavy Weapons Guy, Strong Bad | |
| Developer(s) | Telltale Games |
| Publisher(s) | Telltale Games |
| Composer(s) | Jared Emerson-Johnson |
| Engine | Telltale Tool |
| Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows Mac OS X (10.5x to 10.7.x )[1] |
| Release | November 22, 2010 |
| Genre(s) | Adult's Card game |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
Poker Night at the Inventory is a poker video game developed by Telltale Games. It features four characters: 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.[1] A sequel, Poker Night 2, was released in 2013. The game was delisted from Steam in May 2019.[2]
Plot[edit]
The Inventory is a secret club built underneath a video game storage warehouse. It was established in 1919, after a first draft of the 18th Amendment was acquired by a group of connected gamblers. It was discovered that it could not only outlaw libations, but games and amusements that could decrease the productivity of the national workforce. Despite this never coming to pass, the club has existed since in secret, just in case Congress tried to set prohibition into law. As a newcomer, the player competes in a friendly game of Texas Hold'emPoker with Max of Sam & Max, Strong Bad from Homestar Runner, Tycho from Penny Arcade, and the Heavy from Team Fortress 2. The player is first greeted by Reginald Van Winslow, former captain of the Screaming Narwhal, and sidekick to Guybrush Threepwood in Tales of Monkey Island. He explains the back story of the Inventory, and raises the blinds in game. Other characters from Telltale's games make cameo appearances in the introduction sequence.
Gameplay[edit]
Poker Night is a computer-based Texas Hold 'Em poker simulation between the player as an unseen participant and the four characters, Max, Tycho, The Heavy, and Strong Bad. Each player starts with a $10,000 buy-in and stays in the game until they are broke, with the goal of the player being the last player standing. The game uses no-limit betting and a gradually-increasing blind bets over the course of several rounds. Randomly, one of the four non-playable characters will not be able to front the money but will offer one of their possessions as buy-in for the game. The player can win these items as Team Fortress 2 unlockable equipment only if they are the one to bust that non-player character out of the game. The game keeps track of the player's statistics over the course of several games, and by completing certain objects (such as number of hands or games won) can unlock different playing card or table artwork to customize the look of the game.[3]
Development[edit]
In poker night at the inventory, tycho (Guy with the blue shirt) asks max when their next game is going to be. And max replies 'Sam and I are trying to LAY LOW FOR A WHILE'. A while by definition means 'a short time'. So Sam and max season 4 is most likely to come out soon. A smooth remix of the office theme from Sam and Max: Freelance Police.
Poker Night at the Inventory Trailer — Max, Strong Bad, Tycho, and The Heavy are seen interacting for the first time. Email secret identity — The disk in the Floppy Disk Container reads 'sam and max' referring to the Lucasarts game Sam and Max Hit the Road.
On May 15, 2009, Telltale Games started a survey which was meant to gauge fan reaction to a sequel to Telltale Texas Hold'em.[4] While the team liked the deep conversations that the characters in the original game had, they decided to not go down the same path for the new game, using recognizable licensed characters rather than original 'generic' ones.[5]
Poker Night grew out of an idea from Telltale employees, wondering 'what video characters do when they're not 'on the clock' in the games we play', according to Telltale CEO Dan Conners.[6] From there, they pitched the idea to other companies in the industry and were able to work out which characters they would be able to include.[6] Telltale considered how the four characters would interact with each other, developing dialog, banter, and reactions to certain plays.[7] The characters, they decided, would be fully voiced, and would have distinctive tells and dynamic responses that would manifest themselves as the game progressed.[6] Conners stated that the goal was to create the experience of 'hanging out with their virtual buddies, shooting the breeze and playing a good game of poker'.[7] Telltale is considering a potential series based on this game using different characters in the future, but would need to see sales exceeding 100,000 to 200,000 units to make it feasible.[7]
Telltale Games have had previous experience working with several of the characters. Two of Telltale's episodic adventure series include three seasons of Sam & Max and Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People based on the Homestar Runner web series; both were developed in conjunction with the original creators, Steve Purcell[8] and The Brothers Chaps,[9] respectively. The appearance of Max and Strong Bad in Poker Night are based on the three-dimensional models from these games. The company's team were also fans of Valve's Team Fortress 2, including creating an informal team to participate in a competition between several game development studios; Telltale offered to create unique items based on Sam & Max to be given as a bonus gift for those who purchased the third season of Sam & Max through Steam, and formed a friendly working relationship with Valve as a result.[10]
Telltale aimed to make the game dialog-centric between the four featured characters. To that end, they created a large amount of dialog for each character and possible interactions between the characters; according to Jake Rodkin, Telltale's graphic designer, they wrote more lines of dialog for the game than a typical Sam & Max adventure episode.[3] Telltale always wanted to respect the original characters and worked with the individual creators and studios to improve the lines; they previously had gotten similar input from Matt Chapman for Strong Bad, while Jerry Holkins was extremely helpful to refine Tycho's character based on Telltale's draft dialog.[3][11] The developers also wanted to avoid any forced interactions, and instead developed what they felt were natural relationships: Tycho dislikes Strong Bad while getting along well with Max, while the Heavy looks upon Strong Bad as a tiny Heavy.[3] The characters are also written to be somewhat cognizant of their nature; according to Rodkin, Tycho and Strong Bad are aware of their video game nature, while Max is ambiguous and the Heavy remains blissfully unaware of his death-and-respawning cycle, simply attributing his memories of dying over and over again as dreams.[12]
Poker Night is the first game to include a voice artist for Tycho; provided by voice actor Andrew 'Kid Beyond' Chaikin. The other three characters are voiced by their current voice actors: Max by William Kasten, Heavy by Gary Schwartz, and Strong Bad by Matt Chapman. The game uses existing 3D models for Max, Heavy, and Strong Bad, while Tycho's is built from scratch; at the time of the game's announcement near the Penny Arcade Expo, Telltale was still working on refining Tycho's model, though it was briefly seen during their Make a Scene panel at PAX.[13][14]
The game was teased by Telltale Games a week prior to its official announcement through a short video on GameTrailers TV, showing the silhouettes of the four characters' official art.[15] The game was officially announced by Telltale Games on September 2, 2010, the eve of the 2010 Penny Arcade Expo.[7] Players who have also purchased Team Fortress 2 will be able to unlock unique items based on the four respective franchises within that game through progress in Poker Night; a special poker visor for Team Fortress 2 was also available for those that pre-ordered the game.[16]
Reception[edit]
The game received favorable reviews. Review aggregator website Metacritic gave the game a 71/100.[17] It has garnered praise for the memorable interactions between characters and their unique strategies, but received criticism for its relatively lacking animation quality and for numerous bugs, while having favorable praise for the game's sense of humor.
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Sequel[edit]
On April 1, 2013, Telltale officially announced a sequel, titled Poker Night 2, featuring Brock Samson from The Venture Bros., Claptrap from the Borderlands series, Ash Williams from The Evil Dead franchise, and Sam from Sam & Max as opponents. GLaDOS from the Portal series serves as the dealer. Other characters such as Max from Sam & Max, the Aperture Science turrets from Portal, and Mad Moxxi and Steve the Bandit from Borderlands make non-playable appearances.[19] The game was released on Steam, Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network in late April 2013.[20]
References[edit]
- ^'A Release Date. Poker Night Has One'. Telltale Games. November 18, 2010. Retrieved November 18, 2010.
- ^https://steamdb.info/app/31280/history/
- ^ abcdHerring, Will (September 6, 2010). 'PAX 2010: Poker Night at the Inventory'. GamePro. Archived from the original on September 12, 2010. Retrieved September 6, 2010.
- ^'Telltale Texas Hold'em 2 no'. The International House of Mojo. May 15, 2009. Retrieved May 29, 2013.
- ^'How Evil Dead, Venture Bros. and Borderlands ended up at the poker table'. Polygon. May 7, 2013. Retrieved May 29, 2013.
- ^ abc'Telltale Announces the Citizen Kane of Poker Games' (Press release). Telltale Games. September 2, 2010. Retrieved September 3, 2010.
- ^ abcdMastrapa, Gus (September 3, 2010). 'Gamer Icons Talk Trash in Poker Night at the Inventory'. Wired. Retrieved September 3, 2010.
- ^Harold, Charles (October 19, 2006). 'Dog and Rabbit Redux, and a Killer to Search Out'. New York Times. Retrieved September 6, 2010.
- ^'Interview With the Brothers Chaps'. IGN. April 14, 2008. Archived from the original on April 21, 2008. Retrieved September 6, 2010.
- ^'SnM + Steam = BFF'. Telltale Games. April 15, 2010. Archived from the original on April 20, 2010. Retrieved April 15, 2010.
- ^'Poker Night at the Inventory'. Penny Arcade. November 24, 2010. Archived from the original on November 25, 2010. Retrieved September 24, 2016.
- ^Rodkin, Jack (September 3, 2010). 'Poker Night at the Inventory (some sort of crossover game?..)'. Telltale Games. Archived from the original on October 9, 2012. Retrieved September 6, 2010.
- ^Rodkin, Jack (September 3, 2010). 'Poker Night at the Inventory (some sort of crossover game?..)'. Telltale Games. Archived from the original on October 9, 2012. Retrieved September 6, 2010.
- ^CyricZ (September 7, 2010). 'Make a Scene With Telltale at PAX 2010' – via YouTube.
- ^Thompson, Mike (August 28, 2010). 'Telltale Trailer Hints At Greatest Adventure Crossover Ever'. The Escapist. Retrieved September 3, 2010.
- ^'Telltale Games : Home Page'. Telltale Games. November 3, 2010. Archived from the original on November 5, 2010. Retrieved November 3, 2010.
- ^'Poker Night at the Inventory'. Metacritic. Retrieved March 15, 2020.
- ^'Poker Night at the Inventory'. GameRankings. Retrieved November 24, 2010.
- ^Neltz, András (March 28, 2013). 'Rumor: Leaked Poker Night At The Inventory 2 Screenshots Reveal The Game's Cast'. Kotaku. Retrieved March 28, 2013.
- ^'Ash, Claptrap, Sam and Brock Samson Ante Up for Poker Night 2'. Kotaku.com. Retrieved October 4, 2013.
External links[edit]
- Poker Night at the Inventory on IMDb
Poker Night at The Inventory
What the developers have to rely on currently is that players will be willing to pay straight up for just additional content or additional items to use the game. But Telltale Games has come up with a better way to sell the content that gives you more than just the content. Poker Night at the Inventory is essentially DLC for Team Fortress 2, but in the form of a poker game played against Strong Bad, Max of Sam & Max from the Telltale lineup along with TF2’s The Heavy and Tycho of Penny Arcade fame.
So what’s the point of putting these four competitors at the felt; to get you weapons and other upgrades in Team Fortress 2. Whether it’s The Iron Curtain, The Heavy’s massive gun, The Enthusiast’s Time Piece from Tycho, Max’s Badge and Gun, or Strong Bad’s Dangeresque shades you have a chance to give yourself an advantange on the TF2 advantage battlefield.
Just how do you get these enhancements? Each one is a bounty for being the player to knock out the character that has the weapon. But it’s not as easy as just playing a single game of poker and knocking out each of the other players. Rather, each player buys in with $10,000 in cash, and randomly the game has the characters not have the cash for the buy-in but rather putting up their TF2 enhancement as their buy-in. In playing the game, it seems that about once in every 5 or so games did one of the characters offer up their upgrade as the entry fee.
The hard part is of course the poker itself. But even that isn’t that hard. The game offers 3 different difficulty settings and the game play at the easiest setting is pretty easy. Most of the time, the characters don’t have any cards to worth playing, even if they’ve raised you and gone all in. On the harder settings, you will see a lot better poker, and I got beat holding a full house not once, but twice during games on the hardest setting. I’m not going to go into poker strategy or anything like that, but on easy being aggressive won’t cost you, and can often win you hands you have no business being in. And much like in real life poker, against better players, you generally want to be more conservative and only play solid cards.
Aside from the TF2 enhancements, the real reason to buy this game is the interaction between the characters. Banter around the poker table is one of the best parts of poker and it’s the true strength of this little game. Hearing characters who have no business being in the same room with each other cracking wise while they wait for you to make a decision about whether to bet or raise. The characters banter seems very much in character for everyone at the table, and it’s especially funny to hear Max ask The Heavy to help him get a bigger gun.
The game also gets the graphics dead on as well. The appearance of the each character in their unique styles of animation is a lot like one of the scenes out of Roger Rabbit, where every character is different but seems to fit just right. The Inventory itself is drawn to be an old speakeasy kept going “just in case”, and feels just right for an old basement that’s been upgraded over time.
That’s not to say the game is perfect. On a fairly high end PC, the controls feel slow. The screen controls are a bit finicky and the mouse movement is slow to respond. Occasionally, the conversation between the characters stops suddenly if you click on a button during the dialogue.
In the end, for $5.00, you can’t really go wrong, and this game delivers way more than the typical ultra-budget title. On top of all of the TF2 enhancements, you get the added fun of seeing some great characters in a funny setting.
* The product in this article was sent to us by the developer/company.
About Author
Sam And Max Poker Night At The Inventory Turnover
On my 12th birthday, I got a floppy drive, I stayed up all night playing Stock Market for Commodore 64. I owned everyone I knew at the various NHL titles for Genesis. I first learned how to code in LPC in the middle of the night from a heroine addict on the campus of Michigan State University back in 1992 when MUDding was the only ORPG there was. I was a journalism major my first time through college, and have been writing off and on since, and programmed up until 5 years ago, when I put down the tools of ignorance to become a business analyst. I'm a member of several gaming 12 step programs for MMO's, and I don't game nearly as much as I used to. I'm mostly on the lookout for items you haven't already seen reviewed 50 times, whether they are games, or just things a gamer might use. I'm now work out of GN's east coast office in Boston, and looking forward to spending the weekends my fiancee is away with Boston University Women's Hockey playing games while the snow falls. View Profile