The games industry seems like a complete nightmare. Crunch like a 1900s factory worker, widespread under-compensation, and the constant looming threat of layoffs and closures.
There's nothing unique about games, really. This is late capitalism working as intended. Finding an industry where all those things *aren't* the norm is difficult if not impossible
I think the fact that people like what they do ironically helps keeping the crunch, you'd probably go like fuck it I'll find a job somewhere else if you were tightening bolts or counting screws but when you genuinely love what you're doing and really want to see it happen then you suddenly feel like you can sacrifice your time simply to make what you have loved making a reality
The weird thing I just discover is that guy is currently working for Dramatic Labs, the devs of that upcoming Star Trek game. And while looking into it, the company was co-founded by Kevin Bruner. I have no idea how to feel about this, but if they managed to rangle in dozens of ex-Telltale devs, including some that spoke out about Bruner, I'm just crossing my fingers lessons were learned and Bruner just stays out of the creative process and not crunch the staff.
Thank you for this doc Noclip. These people and all the people who worked at Telltale are the real game dev hero's. I have massive respect for them. It was so sad to see what happened to them. I still love their games even though i play them with a heavy heart. Keelah se'lai : )
dead_channel Hah, for the record, Jeremy did offer to help him. The guy was actually bringing them to a lady who had broken down around the corner. San Rafael people are alright!
@@NoclipDocs What a guy. I feel bad for laughing but I think maybe I was just desperate for some comic relief to get through the rest of this not-so-happy story.
Noclip Death is how you must think death is … Ha! Only fools deny that death is a reality... Get real and ready for your eyes to be opened.. But you can shut them if you'd like to...
I respect you guys for making the documentary and I respect the interviewees a lot more for actually talking about this, since I can imagine not wanting to talk about the problems the faced from their employers/management, for fear of being alienated from future jobs. Thanks so much for your time, and know that you've made some of my (and countless others') favourite stuff. I wish you well.
Thank you for making this documentary. In 5 years people aren't going to remember the rushed posts made 30 minutes after the news broke, they will remember content like this. That carries with it a certain responsibly and I think your team at NoClip were the perfect people to properly document and contextualize what happened at TellTale Games.
The unfortunate reality with the stories of all these closures and layoffs is the fact that these upper management folks aren't at all suffering for their failures. They won't have problems paying their bills or finding work going forward - and hopefully not tearing down any more people's livelihoods and careers. The lack of corporate accountability, not just in the gaming industry but everywhere else, is disturbing.
I don't know, try to run a company for a while and you will see you have to make some hard decisions sometimes. Managers are also just people and nobody wants to fuck up his business.
Psych0technic are you kidding? Look at the track record of many big corporate execs. They can fuck up as much as they want and remain rich and employed because they have that exec experience no one else has. Being a garbage leader does not hurt you in American capitalism.
I really liked Jurassic Park & I think it's a shame that it was such a pain in the ass to work on. Always wanted them to go back to the JP franchise later down the road, especially after they nailed most the things after it... Also sucks to hear they were gonna mix up that TT formula; wish they could have closed up shop on their own terms.
@@jeremyalexander9761 what an asshole... I was an environment artist. I had no choice in the game design directions. And if you actually watched the documentary you would realize that we were all aware of the companies shortcomings and that much of the decisions were made by a single person. We were all people that cared about our work and did the best with what we were allowed to do. Jesus Christ.
@@neurosin Don't let it bother you mate. Jeremy here obviously has no concept of perspective. It was such a sad thing what happened to you guys and I wish you all the best for your future. Noclip did such an awesome job with this documentary. I like how what happened was presented from the perspective of those who worked there and how it felt. I watched the whole thing from start to finish.
I hope you and your friends can move on from this terrible episode and find joy in what you do again. I'm in the gaming industry as well, I know our industry provides one of a kind work experiences everywhere we go, and it hurts when it's over. I truly hope you guys don't let this bring you down. Haters are going to hate, but they don't know what we go through. Accept my digital hugs. You will be fine.
@@strider0303 Thank you. I tried my best to not let it get to me, but it was one of the meanest comments I have ever received (mostly due to how personal it was).
I still think Netflix should get this team back together and start their own gaming studio. They have the platform, the funding, and a ton of their own IP.
@@maiskorn123 Yep, they've even put out some of their own interactive shows like "Bandersnatch", and a few others. It'd be a perfect pairing, and they could segue into the gaming industry with the Telltale team.
Pretty sure Netflix is hemorrhaging money at the moment and with the other streaming services coming in the next year or two, they may need a little time to restructure before they attempt to do full game development.
Thank you telltale, I will never forget your amazing games. I'm so sad Telltale is gone, but the memories will never leave. EDIT: and also Thank you Noclip for this Great video to remembering telltale.
What happens with Paul Mastroianni is terrible ... doing something apart from your main job to show that you can and after that the opportunity disappears and above all that you know it before everyone ... it was something that broke my heart. .. I hope he is fine ... I hope everyone is ok in some way or another
This was so much realness. I had followed the stories avidly but I was still caught off guard by the emotion. Thank you for doing this. And to all the patreons, thank you for funding it.
To the Telltale devs that worked on Tales From The Borderlands, thank you. All of the music choices were as close to perfect as you can get whilst the character interactions and story choices in space were absolutely heart-wrenching. I hope I never forget the way I felt playing that game for the first time.
What a PHENOMENAL documentary. This was the right way to explore the Telltale story, and I'm just so happy I knew about this channel because Telltale was so close to my heart for so many reasons and to see it all go so wrong broke my heart. This gives answers to a lot of the questions I still had. Seriously, excellent job NoClip and thanks to the 4 staff members for choosing to share their stories
As the other two said, Patreon money helps a lot. However, it's also clever use of the available equipment. You can make this with a couple of lights, a camera, a decent mic, and a patient editor to wrap it all up. A competent writer to tell the story correctly is a big plus.
"That would take us to Stranger Things, that would take us to Wolf [Among Us]" Goddamit, I didn't know they were so close to make TWAS 2. Would have bought even Stranger Things even.
Yup and Stranger Things seemed really cool and well into development. It had an open world hub area and you'd switch between each of the kids for a coming of age tale set between s2 and 3. Darn it, that would have been so rad!
Danny knocks it out of the park once again, as a filmmaker myself I can tell a LOT of work goes into these and it can have ups and downs. Sometimes you feel like you want to move onto something else and if can take a lot of belief in your subject to finish them, it's clear you are very emotional invested in these. Keep it up!
Watching this made me realize how selfish I was. When the announcement about telltale's closure happened on twitter. All I was thinking about how I was not gonna get to see Wolf 2. Not once did I think about all the people that got affected, and their lives ruined because of this whole thing. It's so easy to forget that behind these games are real people, and watching this made me remember that. I had chills watching this video.
Batman Season 2 was probably their best work since Walking Dead Season 1. Real shame they couldn't recover from their years of mismanagement. Sounds like their management was fine for the small, leaner telltale (and I LOVED the sam and max games from that era), but once the scope of the company got larger after Walking Dead, the management was not up to snuff. When you have a small company, making safe and similar products without diversification is fine. When you get big, it's a recipe for disaster.
get woke , go broke. They hired people they didn't need to develop the games. The fact that they only needed 45 people out of 400 to finish the walking deads final season says a lot. Both of those devs are virtue signaling black lives matter activists(marxist movement) on twitter and probably never contributed much to the development of the games.
It's tragic what happened with Telltale, TWD will remain one of my favorite games series ever (S1 through 4). I'm so greatful Skybound stepped in to finish the game. This was such a fascinating look behind the scenes where we usually never get insights to decisions or the repercussions of choices made by decision makers. Seeing and hearing from those who were directly affected helps us identify with the humans behind the corporations. Thanks for this doc!
The edit is brilliant, you can feel all of the sadness, emptiness and what the company was for those employees through the talks of few and the shots spread along the documentary. What you're doing at Noclip for the game industry is vital, you must keep going!
TWD alone was already great. But I've never more connected to characters like Clem and AJ. The Final season had me sobbing to the point I ran out of tears. Didnt know you could cry from sheer happiness. And the final shot of the series saying "Thank you for playing" made me say "thank you for making" to my monitor. Thank you NoClip for bringing all of this to light. Thank you for everything Telltale and thank you Skybound for assisting in the finishing of that series. *The fans won't forget you.*
This is one of the best documentaries noclip has ever produced and I'm so glad that these stories about Telltale have been told with such care and sensitivity considering the awful way it all ended for the studio. Danny and the noclip crew, keep up the brilliant work and thank you to all the Telltale employees who took time to contribute to this.
Thank you to all the developers at Telltale, a lot of great memories playing their games. And thank you Danny and the other guys at Noclip for this, another incredible documentary.
listening to how close that you guys are it really makes me hope i will have that close friendship in my next workplace because it genuinely sounds like something i miss wish you all the best i know how harsh the industry can be
Man, this video gave me a reality check...between the reality of this industry, the personal stories behind the games and the importance of proper company management. Thank you for telling this story!
I don't work in games development, but I work in another industry known for crunch culture, extreme time pressures and a toxic environment. It exhausts your soul, it drains your body and it leaves you tired and broken. It's easy to say but until you work 70-90 hour weeks, sleeping 4-5 hours a night while balancing your other responsibilities, the toll it takes on you can't be understated. I started my own business in 2018 after working in my industry for over a decade. I still work in the same field, but I chose a lower (but still perfectly acceptable) profit margin and more staff to spread the load so they don't have to work more than 42 hours a week. I feel it was the right call for me. When society is filled with crappy employers that are willing to grind you into the dirt for an extra 1% profit margin, you realise that the only way it changes, is to change it yourself. As a fan of Telltales work, thank you for this video. I hope the ex staff are doing well and are finding their flow again. Take care all.
At the last game company I worked in, some of the staff were made redundant. Not to the same scale but I can fully sympathize with the employees. You do lose a sense of trust, thinking will I ever be secure in a job again? I do hope that everyone at Telltale has or will find new opportunities. Thanks for this insightful documentary!
I totally understand the dynamics of getting close to coworkers, and I feel for each person that the company was closed. Thanks for another wonderful coverage of a topic I really wanted to see more of. They should get together and do a project, something new and never done, and put all their depression into that project. Tell a powerful story that fans I know would help fund out of the gate.
Yeah, that was one of their finest! It's such a shame they abandoned classic puzzle adventure formula in favour of boring interactive novel approach after that!
Telltale made some of the best narrative story games that I have ever played in my life. I wish current games had half the heart and emotion that some of these games did.
Incredible work once again. Thank you so much for telling these people’s stories. I’m finally in a position to help support these docs so have just signed up to Patreon - continue the great work!
You should really say thank you to all of the people on Patreon that pay for this. It's no doubt because of them why we get to watch it for free with no ads at a later date than them
Our sincere thanks to Emily, Kent, Caroline & Paul for talking to us. If you enjoy our work please consider becoming a member on Patreon patreon.com/noclip or here on UA-cam (hit the join button above.)
The Walking Dead Season 1 will forever be one of the best gaming experiences I've ever had. Clementine and her story are near and dear to my heart. Thanks for making this documentary, it's nice to connect with the people who helped create such a beloved developer.
I totally feel you guys. I've been through the mass layoffs at Aeria Games in Berlin. Me and my colleagues were also this close as you describe it. This really felt like they were ripping a family apart. I wish you all the best!
It's always management and communication. Too bad they have to worry about issues with retaliation or worry about how a new employer might view them, because there's clearly so much that wasn't said here.
This is why what you're doing is so important. Thanks, Danny and crew. I think I said this in a comment on the trailer for this, but I had less than no interest in Telltale's games because they didn't make the kind of stuff I personally come to games for, but I still really wanted to hear more about the people who worked there, how the closure happened, and how it affected all those poor souls who suddenly had their lives upended. So also thanks to the 4 folks here who spoke out about it. This stuff is all important, both to the people who buy and play games and to those who make them, and it is undeniably a good thing that we have this preserved for posterity. I for one am very glad that Noclip is helping tell these stories.
This is probably the most important doc you've done and I hope you continue to push to create these ones that take a critical look at the industry and companies within. Congrats on this one!
Noclip the best video game documentary Channel on UA-cam hands down the level of quality unparalleled among the rest keep it up noclip you are forever changing the video game documentary history for the better shedding light on the dark and mysterious creation video games and the amazing people behind them
This was a great documentary, handled thoughtfully and tastefully. I felt quite moved by it, and feel really sad for all of the people who had the rug pulled out from under them. Only played my first few telltale games recently, and realised how great their games were. A bloody shame how things went.
Having worked in the games industry for over 20 years now and experiencing similar situations multiple times, this brought back so many memories and emotions. There has to be a better way of making the industry more stable for the talented and dedicated troops on the ground.
This is great and big thanks to you guys for putting this together! Brings back a lot of memories for me. My only feedback is that there should have been more people interviewed, but you addressed it in the video.
noclip's documentaries are always a joy. Production is unmatched and they always catch the tone of the subject matter, which I appreciate. Everything down to aesthetic and cohesiveness is never a missed beat for you guys at noclip. I am looking forward to watching this one. TellTale has a good story to be told. I'm still waiting on my physical release of The Final Season of TWD to even start playing it. Gotta own the physical! Keep it up, Danny and noclip!!
Thanks for making this. I played The Walking Dead Season 1 on my cell phone in 2012. I've had some of the most visceral video game experiences playing Telltale Games that I've ever had. I loved Batman. I loved Game Of Thrones. I'm so glad they were able to finish TWD and I'm so sorry it's the last title we'll ever see.
I guess this story sadly is one perfect example of what happens when you put money in focus over everything else. What I am trying to say is...if they had no toxic management, no need for money in a...lets say resource based economy where they have time how much they need to develop and infinite health insurance and so on, it could have been one amazing workplace. To be honest I was never really a fan of their...well, totally new genre which they created, but I am always trying to focus on whats behind something. I can't just stop asking and figure it out myself. And here is the classic case for me to ask. The video luckily answered most of them and it's great to see that story is told. It's always sad when people lose their work, but even it is extremely emotional and hard, never take your work too serious. It have to be fun, always. Whenever you wake up in the morning it will never be more toxic than "urgh, not working again 😣" that's the most obvious sign that your life turned into somewhat a drama I guess. And I am not sure about the toxic environment but I know it's always easy to say/speak when it is all over. And yet I wonder why it wasn't really in focus what happened there? I mean why has no one done anything against the toxic part of the workspace...? Let me guess, money was the reason...right? Some may had fears to lose their job I guess others may just thought "alright, at least I get my pay cheque" and it didn't anymore bother them. Not to speak of egoistic people, no no no don't think that. It's just that money makes people kind of self centered or focused. It's almost an automated thing that you can't escape. Even that your not egoistic you will put yourselves in focus because of the money. Especially if the rest of the environment (USA) is as toxic as that with almost no socially system like we got one in germany. If you get sick you will have your insurance for a lot less then in the USA and have free visits on doctors and hospitals. Which makes work a lot better and more "careless" for health parts. I mean if you don't need to bother for yourself anymore in case you get sick or something and if there is no more toxic environment because there is no more money in focus although creating a game in a money based economy always needs to bring in the money. It's a very complicated topic really and not easy to solve. but it's possible. And I just wish, even that I never really like that kind of games you created there guys, I feel totally with you. I bet my ass you wanted to have more creative freedom and more nice environment to work in. But all you got was probably not enough from everything like money, insurance, respect and fun within work. And the leaders topped it all because they made it so toxic. Damn this story really is the perfect example from what I am speaking in my book that I am working on. I would be proud to take it MAYBE as an example story. But since I am against money and it's the whole point my book is all about I won't just "use" it or "misuse" the terrible times of their lives. There is a chance to leave money behind in our global social and civilization evolution. As humans , and not as nations. And stories like this one are the perfect "speaking of's" when it comes to explaining the toxic and horrible effects of money on human beings, on human civilizations and human developments. Not to forget when it comes to nature topics. I am so sorry what you have gone through for you work and probably a lot of you started it as a hobby to dev games, what makes it even more terrible and sad how it all went. I hope you will all find your "dream workspace" and all what's needed to be happy and fulfilled (is the word I guess). Stay strong and keep up the good work wherever you might work now or in future. Have great times and thank you for sharing that story with us. It's extremely rich in lessons for life and future. I hope I will play games from all that studios that you as a team splitted up into and yeah, I am kinda happy to hear from you guys from telltale wherever it might push you. Best regards and best wishes from Germany, Zeitgeist
Thank you for telling their story, it deserves to be heard. People forget that the games we love are made by people with their own lives. I can't imagine going through something like that and I wish all of the Telltale games employees the best, and I thank them for giving me some of the best memories I've had in gaming.
What a ride. I was only ever invested in TWD but it was still heartbreaking to hear what happened to the studio. I grew up with Monkey Island and Zac McKracken etc and it was good to know that the p&c adventure torch never really went out. I remember playing Until Dawn by Supermassive Games and thinking, THIS, this is what Telltale games need to play like. This feels good. Seeing how they were planning on making those changes in form of follow cam, open levels... very sad. Here's to the good things that somehow come of this for them, and for gaming. Thanks Danny et al!
Thank god Skybound bought TellTale back and re-opened their doors! Hopefully all these employees are/can come back and work on future TTG products! We will never forget TellTale!
Great to see the Digital Artcast name in the credits it was an honour to back a doc about some of my telltale pals we should have some of the devs on the podcast soon!
Huge thanks to the teams at Tell Tale for all of their amazing work over the years. And thanks Noclip for this special doc. It really shines a light on the humanity aspect of working in games. I'm still so sad that Wolf 2 will never be, but I have hopes that another team will take up the mantle and produce something just as amazing.
Heart-breaking. I work at a large corporation, and just being part of that machine really makes you realize how much that top of the pyramid can really make or break the company. The high levels of stress and crunch always make people band together more. Great vid, it really highlights a lot of business issues that higher level management HAVE to understand. They really don't understand how much the "lower-level" employees deal with.
This is probably one of the best documentaries that you all have done. If something could be done like this again, I would love to see a doc on some the employees that were affected by the Activison-Bilzzard layoffs, it would put a much needed spotlight on the deteriorating health (physical and mental) on game developers.
Wow what a story. Great job delivering this to your subscribers and the world. I was wondering why I haven’t seen or heard anything about Wolf among us 2.... didn’t know it was all shut down..
Telltale actually was “revived” in late 2019 by LCG Entertainment (Telltale is now a new brand with the old name) and announced TWAU 2 at the 2019 Game Awards. They’re partnering with Adhoc Studios, formed by ex-Telltale employees, and got the old voice actors back as well. Telltale 2.0 (not their official name, just a fan nickname) is trying to honor the legacy of the old Telltale by following in their footsteps, if Wolf 2 ends up being good we could have them back for good!
No way I decided to watch this on the day 3 years after posting, great video i love telltale games and this helps explain why some games where lackluster cough cough twd anf cough cough
Great documentary. Sometimes is easy to forget about the people who is behind our loved games and how they feel in these situations. I hope the best for all of them.
I love hearing how dedicated Emily was to the Walking Dead. How she went back and watched all of the source material and all that. I'm sure that's common in the industry but it's really cool to see how hard she and others worked on these projects.
It's crazy to me that people who manage companies and teams so often undervalue their employees' honesty. I've had to talk to my own supervisors about this too: if you cultivate an atmosphere where your team doesn't think they can be honest with you, your company is pretty definitely going to fail.
Breaks my heart watching this. Knowing that it could’ve been different if executives cared as much about the games as those who were making them did. I appreciate everything the story tellers did in building great games and I’ll always look back on them fondly. Thank you for all you did!
A huge thank you to the people who had the courage to come and tell those tales in front of a camera. Making games is not a game and these stories had to be told.
Definitely is my favorite documentary in this channel. Thank you for providing a platform for game developers like them to share their experience and thoughts in the industry !
I really enjoy and understand why this documentary took the approach it did, but as a big fan of the very early Bone, Sam&Max, Strongbad, and monkey island episodes I selfishly am bummed so little is talked about that early era around the internet.
Hey Dany and all the team that makes this kind of work possible must know how talented and professional they are when doing such projects, with such a handily drawn script! From the bottom of my heart I can never thank enough for the courage of you to start something like Noclip, which for me who carries the dream of entering the video game industry with the desire to make it right for the project but at the same time for the people who are on the team. Thank you 3000!, trust in your hearts because I know this will have its mark on many people but more in the industry itself where in the end we all here for the passion of games.
Just left a toxic work environment. Glad to hear I’m not the only one who was experiencing the things the people at Telltale were. Thank you for making this documentary.
Love the fact you've been able to showcase these stories. Accessibility feedback on the audio: From 18:00 onwards there are a few high pitched sounds that were incredibly uncomfortable through both my headphones and speakers - I had to pause and try to work out where to skip past that background audio. I'm never normally impacted by sound but this made me feel a bit nauseous I don't expect this to impact many people, but wanted to share just in case its something that could be alleviated in future - I feel like a total idiot for writing this but thanks again for the great coverage.
As another Ex-TellTale dev, thanks for this. This provided so many of us with some serious emotional closure, thank you. :)
love your games
well u guys r back now so take your time give us quality like walking dead season 1 wolf among us TFBL and not the another way around
@@fireballs7346 i’m late but the new telltale isn’t actually telltale . Just another rebranding.
@@Nct104 do you mean new Telltale?
AnalogPill how did it feel working in telltale games? What was your job in there?
The games industry seems like a complete nightmare. Crunch like a 1900s factory worker, widespread under-compensation, and the constant looming threat of layoffs and closures.
this is what happens when u don't unionize !
It really varies from company to company.
There's nothing unique about games, really. This is late capitalism working as intended. Finding an industry where all those things *aren't* the norm is difficult if not impossible
its disappointing the games industry is in this position
I think the fact that people like what they do ironically helps keeping the crunch, you'd probably go like fuck it I'll find a job somewhere else if you were tightening bolts or counting screws but when you genuinely love what you're doing and really want to see it happen then you suddenly feel like you can sacrifice your time simply to make what you have loved making a reality
The part at 15:00 where he says "he" instead of "they" really epitomizes the idea that a whole lot of this was specifically Bruner's fault
The weird thing I just discover is that guy is currently working for Dramatic Labs, the devs of that upcoming Star Trek game. And while looking into it, the company was co-founded by Kevin Bruner.
I have no idea how to feel about this, but if they managed to rangle in dozens of ex-Telltale devs, including some that spoke out about Bruner, I'm just crossing my fingers lessons were learned and Bruner just stays out of the creative process and not crunch the staff.
Thank you for this doc Noclip. These people and all the people who worked at Telltale are the real game dev hero's. I have massive respect for them. It was so sad to see what happened to them. I still love their games even though i play them with a heavy heart. Keelah se'lai : )
Hi Tali!! :D
I don't know why but that old man rolling those two tires really cracked me up.
dead_channel Hah, for the record, Jeremy did offer to help him. The guy was actually bringing them to a lady who had broken down around the corner. San Rafael people are alright!
@@NoclipDocs What a guy. I feel bad for laughing but I think maybe I was just desperate for some comic relief to get through the rest of this not-so-happy story.
I felt bad for him :(
Easier than carrying them
Noclip
Death is how you must think death is …
Ha!
Only fools deny that death is a reality...
Get real and ready for your eyes to be opened..
But you can shut them if you'd like to...
I respect you guys for making the documentary and I respect the interviewees a lot more for actually talking about this, since I can imagine not wanting to talk about the problems the faced from their employers/management, for fear of being alienated from future jobs. Thanks so much for your time, and know that you've made some of my (and countless others') favourite stuff. I wish you well.
If a potential employer fears that people might talk against them if they suck, that's not an emplyer I would like to work for anyway.
Hey its the guy who is making Buddymon!
Thank you for making this documentary. In 5 years people aren't going to remember the rushed posts made 30 minutes after the news broke, they will remember content like this. That carries with it a certain responsibly and I think your team at NoClip were the perfect people to properly document and contextualize what happened at TellTale Games.
Easily some of the best content on this website. Keep it up
I totally agree with you Mr. Lmax
@@NotSanakan In this day and age such content is gold for UA-cam
The unfortunate reality with the stories of all these closures and layoffs is the fact that these upper management folks aren't at all suffering for their failures. They won't have problems paying their bills or finding work going forward - and hopefully not tearing down any more people's livelihoods and careers. The lack of corporate accountability, not just in the gaming industry but everywhere else, is disturbing.
Highs stays high or go higher, lows stays lows or deep dive. Welcome to corporate life.
@@gabsauvage not just corporate life, life in general
That's not necessarily true. Who would want to hire exec who is responsible for organisation gone bankrupt?
I don't know, try to run a company for a while and you will see you have to make some hard decisions sometimes. Managers are also just people and nobody wants to fuck up his business.
Psych0technic are you kidding? Look at the track record of many big corporate execs. They can fuck up as much as they want and remain rich and employed because they have that exec experience no one else has. Being a garbage leader does not hurt you in American capitalism.
a huge thank you to telltale for "tales from the borderlands" easily your best work and probably even one of my favourite stories told in video games.
Same here brother
Absolutely, they captured the spirit of that universe so well.
so when can we expect tales from the waifulands?
My favorite one also!
I really liked Jurassic Park & I think it's a shame that it was such a pain in the ass to work on. Always wanted them to go back to the JP franchise later down the road, especially after they nailed most the things after it... Also sucks to hear they were gonna mix up that TT formula; wish they could have closed up shop on their own terms.
The unspoken hero of this story: Tire wheeling guy
I hope he got those wheels to their destination.
when it fell, it was symbolic of the strife of corporate greed and the inequality of capitalism throwing it off balance.
Left Tire Wheel will remember that...
@@HKWHH 07:51
Thank you for this. Means a lot to all of us from TTG.
Thanks for the amazing work you and your team as done, the games you made literally changed lives.
@@jeremyalexander9761 what an asshole... I was an environment artist. I had no choice in the game design directions. And if you actually watched the documentary you would realize that we were all aware of the companies shortcomings and that much of the decisions were made by a single person. We were all people that cared about our work and did the best with what we were allowed to do. Jesus Christ.
@@neurosin Don't let it bother you mate. Jeremy here obviously has no concept of perspective. It was such a sad thing what happened to you guys and I wish you all the best for your future.
Noclip did such an awesome job with this documentary. I like how what happened was presented from the perspective of those who worked there and how it felt. I watched the whole thing from start to finish.
I hope you and your friends can move on from this terrible episode and find joy in what you do again. I'm in the gaming industry as well, I know our industry provides one of a kind work experiences everywhere we go, and it hurts when it's over. I truly hope you guys don't let this bring you down. Haters are going to hate, but they don't know what we go through. Accept my digital hugs. You will be fine.
@@strider0303 Thank you. I tried my best to not let it get to me, but it was one of the meanest comments I have ever received (mostly due to how personal it was).
I still think Netflix should get this team back together and start their own gaming studio. They have the platform, the funding, and a ton of their own IP.
Man, that's one of the best ideas ever.
That would be so incredible.
@@maiskorn123 Yep, they've even put out some of their own interactive shows like "Bandersnatch", and a few others. It'd be a perfect pairing, and they could segue into the gaming industry with the Telltale team.
Pretty sure Netflix is hemorrhaging money at the moment and with the other streaming services coming in the next year or two, they may need a little time to restructure before they attempt to do full game development.
Unlikely, especially since many of them already have gotten new jobs elsewhere.
God the stranger things games looked like a hit
Thank you telltale, I will never forget your amazing games.
I'm so sad Telltale is gone, but the memories will never leave.
EDIT: and also Thank you Noclip for this Great video to remembering telltale.
Rud Craven I think he’s referring to the people made the games not the ones who ran the business
Rud Craven *the executives are
I just want to say thank you to the people who came in and let NoClip interview you, thank you for the insight and great games
What happens with Paul Mastroianni is terrible ... doing something apart from your main job to show that you can and after that the opportunity disappears and above all that you know it before everyone ... it was something that broke my heart. .. I hope he is fine ... I hope everyone is ok in some way or another
Plus a mortgage and car lease coming at the absolute worst time possible. I really hope he's able to get through this.
He's doing fine, he's the narrative designer at Bungie now.
This was so much realness. I had followed the stories avidly but I was still caught off guard by the emotion. Thank you for doing this. And to all the patreons, thank you for funding it.
Seeing them being proud of Batman was awesome. They did such a good job on that!
And especially with the characters they were so compelling!
To the Telltale devs that worked on Tales From The Borderlands, thank you. All of the music choices were as close to perfect as you can get whilst the character interactions and story choices in space were absolutely heart-wrenching. I hope I never forget the way I felt playing that game for the first time.
It is an amazing game
2Corithians 5:15
What a PHENOMENAL documentary. This was the right way to explore the Telltale story, and I'm just so happy I knew about this channel because Telltale was so close to my heart for so many reasons and to see it all go so wrong broke my heart. This gives answers to a lot of the questions I still had.
Seriously, excellent job NoClip and thanks to the 4 staff members for choosing to share their stories
Playing the whole TWD in 2020, I would say your games aged very well.
Now want a doc about telltale opening again
Unfortunately, this happens a lot. In 22 years in the game industry, I've been through 2 studio closures and 3 layoffs.
Thank you to all the employees of Telltale and NoClip for this documentary :)
How you achieve this level of production quality baffles me, great stuff, very entertaining and informative!
Patreon!
all the sweet patreon money
As the other two said, Patreon money helps a lot. However, it's also clever use of the available equipment. You can make this with a couple of lights, a camera, a decent mic, and a patient editor to wrap it all up. A competent writer to tell the story correctly is a big plus.
"That would take us to Stranger Things, that would take us to Wolf [Among Us]"
Goddamit, I didn't know they were so close to make TWAS 2. Would have bought even Stranger Things even.
Yup and Stranger Things seemed really cool and well into development. It had an open world hub area and you'd switch between each of the kids for a coming of age tale set between s2 and 3. Darn it, that would have been so rad!
Guess what :3 (The trailer for TWAS 2 came out not too long ago, there's still hope!)
Danny knocks it out of the park once again, as a filmmaker myself I can tell a LOT of work goes into these and it can have ups and downs. Sometimes you feel like you want to move onto something else and if can take a lot of belief in your subject to finish them, it's clear you are very emotional invested in these. Keep it up!
Watching this made me realize how selfish I was. When the announcement about telltale's closure happened on twitter. All I was thinking about how I was not gonna get to see Wolf 2.
Not once did I think about all the people that got affected, and their lives ruined because of this whole thing. It's so easy to forget that behind these games are real people, and watching this made me remember that. I had chills watching this video.
Shout out to the employees who agreed to do these interviews, I imagine it wasn't an easy thing to do.
Batman Season 2 was probably their best work since Walking Dead Season 1. Real shame they couldn't recover from their years of mismanagement. Sounds like their management was fine for the small, leaner telltale (and I LOVED the sam and max games from that era), but once the scope of the company got larger after Walking Dead, the management was not up to snuff. When you have a small company, making safe and similar products without diversification is fine. When you get big, it's a recipe for disaster.
The main problem was probably taking too many projects at once.
@@CanalWh4tever exactly... bad management...
Getting too big too fast was the problem
get woke , go broke. They hired people they didn't need to develop the games. The fact that they only needed 45 people out of 400 to finish the walking deads final season says a lot. Both of those devs are virtue signaling black lives matter activists(marxist movement) on twitter and probably never contributed much to the development of the games.
Lol no after walking dead seaosn 1 eolf among us was theirs best project batman was ok at best
It's tragic what happened with Telltale, TWD will remain one of my favorite games series ever (S1 through 4). I'm so greatful Skybound stepped in to finish the game. This was such a fascinating look behind the scenes where we usually never get insights to decisions or the repercussions of choices made by decision makers. Seeing and hearing from those who were directly affected helps us identify with the humans behind the corporations. Thanks for this doc!
The edit is brilliant, you can feel all of the sadness, emptiness and what the company was for those employees through the talks of few and the shots spread along the documentary. What you're doing at Noclip for the game industry is vital, you must keep going!
One of the very few games that made me actually say "what the fuck" with a scene out of nowhere.
The salt lick freezer scene.
Sad to see Telltale go.
Did you lick it? lol
I don’t know
Fantastic doc, I still think Walking Dead Season 1 is absolutely top tier stuff, that final episode is such a damn gutpunch to the feels, I loved it.
@@JokerDenFMR You should definitely play it!
TWD alone was already great. But I've never more connected to characters like Clem and AJ. The Final season had me sobbing to the point I ran out of tears. Didnt know you could cry from sheer happiness. And the final shot of the series saying "Thank you for playing" made me say "thank you for making" to my monitor. Thank you NoClip for bringing all of this to light. Thank you for everything Telltale and thank you Skybound for assisting in the finishing of that series.
*The fans won't forget you.*
This is one of the best documentaries noclip has ever produced and I'm so glad that these stories about Telltale have been told with such care and sensitivity considering the awful way it all ended for the studio. Danny and the noclip crew, keep up the brilliant work and thank you to all the Telltale employees who took time to contribute to this.
Thank you to all the developers at Telltale, a lot of great memories playing their games. And thank you Danny and the other guys at Noclip for this, another incredible documentary.
listening to how close that you guys are it really makes me hope i will have that close friendship in my next workplace because it genuinely sounds like something i miss wish you all the best i know how harsh the industry can be
Wow Netflix level docs on UA-cam
Man, this video gave me a reality check...between the reality of this industry, the personal stories behind the games and the importance of proper company management. Thank you for telling this story!
I don't work in games development, but I work in another industry known for crunch culture, extreme time pressures and a toxic environment. It exhausts your soul, it drains your body and it leaves you tired and broken.
It's easy to say but until you work 70-90 hour weeks, sleeping 4-5 hours a night while balancing your other responsibilities, the toll it takes on you can't be understated.
I started my own business in 2018 after working in my industry for over a decade. I still work in the same field, but I chose a lower (but still perfectly acceptable) profit margin and more staff to spread the load so they don't have to work more than 42 hours a week. I feel it was the right call for me. When society is filled with crappy employers that are willing to grind you into the dirt for an extra 1% profit margin, you realise that the only way it changes, is to change it yourself.
As a fan of Telltales work, thank you for this video. I hope the ex staff are doing well and are finding their flow again. Take care all.
At the last game company I worked in, some of the staff were made redundant. Not to the same scale but I can fully sympathize with the employees. You do lose a sense of trust, thinking will I ever be secure in a job again? I do hope that everyone at Telltale has or will find new opportunities. Thanks for this insightful documentary!
I totally understand the dynamics of getting close to coworkers, and I feel for each person that the company was closed. Thanks for another wonderful coverage of a topic I really wanted to see more of. They should get together and do a project, something new and never done, and put all their depression into that project. Tell a powerful story that fans I know would help fund out of the gate.
Telltales Sam & Max adaptations are still some of my favorite games of all time.
foist You crack me up little buddy.
Yeah, that was one of their finest! It's such a shame they abandoned classic puzzle adventure formula in favour of boring interactive novel approach after that!
Telltale made some of the best narrative story games that I have ever played in my life. I wish current games had half the heart and emotion that some of these games did.
Incredible work once again. Thank you so much for telling these people’s stories. I’m finally in a position to help support these docs so have just signed up to Patreon - continue the great work!
An hour with no ads. So rare on youtube. THANK YOU
You should really say thank you to all of the people on Patreon that pay for this.
It's no doubt because of them why we get to watch it for free with no ads at a later date than them
Really going to miss them.
Everyone play Batman and Wolf Among Us.
Our sincere thanks to Emily, Kent, Caroline & Paul for talking to us.
If you enjoy our work please consider becoming a member on Patreon patreon.com/noclip or here on UA-cam (hit the join button above.)
The link to your patreon is broken in this comment because you left a bracket as a part of the hyperlink btw. It just 404s when you click on it.
@@TroublingStatue Thanks for the heads up - it's like the 10th time I've done that too, you'd think I'd learn...
I was so hyped for Wolf Among Us season 2. Those characters and that world were just so captivating
Plenty of comics bro 😁
This is an incredibly well done documentary. Great job at portraying how difficult this was for all involved.
The Walking Dead Season 1 will forever be one of the best gaming experiences I've ever had. Clementine and her story are near and dear to my heart. Thanks for making this documentary, it's nice to connect with the people who helped create such a beloved developer.
0:43 that highway remained me, Lee, from the walking dead season 1.
Amazing work. This is not only my new favorite "No Clip" documentary, but very well may be my new favorite documentary in general.
I totally feel you guys. I've been through the mass layoffs at Aeria Games in Berlin. Me and my colleagues were also this close as you describe it. This really felt like they were ripping a family apart. I wish you all the best!
It's always management and communication. Too bad they have to worry about issues with retaliation or worry about how a new employer might view them, because there's clearly so much that wasn't said here.
This is why what you're doing is so important. Thanks, Danny and crew. I think I said this in a comment on the trailer for this, but I had less than no interest in Telltale's games because they didn't make the kind of stuff I personally come to games for, but I still really wanted to hear more about the people who worked there, how the closure happened, and how it affected all those poor souls who suddenly had their lives upended. So also thanks to the 4 folks here who spoke out about it. This stuff is all important, both to the people who buy and play games and to those who make them, and it is undeniably a good thing that we have this preserved for posterity. I for one am very glad that Noclip is helping tell these stories.
Damn yall did such good job on this. Just amazing. Thank you for telling their stories so respectfully.
This is probably the most important doc you've done and I hope you continue to push to create these ones that take a critical look at the industry and companies within. Congrats on this one!
I will always be thankful to Telltale for giving us Clementine. One of the best characters in all of entertainment!
Noclip the best video game documentary Channel on UA-cam hands down the level of quality unparalleled among the rest keep it up noclip you are forever changing the video game documentary history for the better shedding light on the dark and mysterious creation video games and the amazing people behind them
I almost cried at the end :( Thank you so much for this incredible documentary.
This was a great documentary, handled thoughtfully and tastefully. I felt quite moved by it, and feel really sad for all of the people who had the rug pulled out from under them. Only played my first few telltale games recently, and realised how great their games were. A bloody shame how things went.
Having worked in the games industry for over 20 years now and experiencing similar situations multiple times, this brought back so many memories and emotions. There has to be a better way of making the industry more stable for the talented and dedicated troops on the ground.
Thank you Telltale for the amazing memories. Noclip, quality content again.
Kent Mudle is a hero for saving The Final Season
it's finally up..thanks noclip
This is great and big thanks to you guys for putting this together! Brings back a lot of memories for me. My only feedback is that there should have been more people interviewed, but you addressed it in the video.
noclip's documentaries are always a joy. Production is unmatched and they always catch the tone of the subject matter, which I appreciate. Everything down to aesthetic and cohesiveness is never a missed beat for you guys at noclip. I am looking forward to watching this one. TellTale has a good story to be told. I'm still waiting on my physical release of The Final Season of TWD to even start playing it. Gotta own the physical!
Keep it up, Danny and noclip!!
Thanks for making this. I played The Walking Dead Season 1 on my cell phone in 2012. I've had some of the most visceral video game experiences playing Telltale Games that I've ever had. I loved Batman. I loved Game Of Thrones. I'm so glad they were able to finish TWD and I'm so sorry it's the last title we'll ever see.
batman was awesome
I guess this story sadly is one perfect example of what happens when you put money in focus over everything else. What I am trying to say is...if they had no toxic management, no need for money in a...lets say resource based economy where they have time how much they need to develop and infinite health insurance and so on, it could have been one amazing workplace. To be honest I was never really a fan of their...well, totally new genre which they created, but I am always trying to focus on whats behind something. I can't just stop asking and figure it out myself. And here is the classic case for me to ask. The video luckily answered most of them and it's great to see that story is told. It's always sad when people lose their work, but even it is extremely emotional and hard, never take your work too serious. It have to be fun, always. Whenever you wake up in the morning it will never be more toxic than "urgh, not working again 😣" that's the most obvious sign that your life turned into somewhat a drama I guess.
And I am not sure about the toxic environment but I know it's always easy to say/speak when it is all over. And yet I wonder why it wasn't really in focus what happened there? I mean why has no one done anything against the toxic part of the workspace...?
Let me guess, money was the reason...right? Some may had fears to lose their job I guess others may just thought "alright, at least I get my pay cheque" and it didn't anymore bother them. Not to speak of egoistic people, no no no don't think that. It's just that money makes people kind of self centered or focused. It's almost an automated thing that you can't escape. Even that your not egoistic you will put yourselves in focus because of the money. Especially if the rest of the environment (USA) is as toxic as that with almost no socially system like we got one in germany. If you get sick you will have your insurance for a lot less then in the USA and have free visits on doctors and hospitals. Which makes work a lot better and more "careless" for health parts. I mean if you don't need to bother for yourself anymore in case you get sick or something and if there is no more toxic environment because there is no more money in focus although creating a game in a money based economy always needs to bring in the money. It's a very complicated topic really and not easy to solve. but it's possible.
And I just wish, even that I never really like that kind of games you created there guys, I feel totally with you. I bet my ass you wanted to have more creative freedom and more nice environment to work in. But all you got was probably not enough from everything like money, insurance, respect and fun within work. And the leaders topped it all because they made it so toxic.
Damn this story really is the perfect example from what I am speaking in my book that I am working on. I would be proud to take it MAYBE as an example story. But since I am against money and it's the whole point my book is all about I won't just "use" it or "misuse" the terrible times of their lives.
There is a chance to leave money behind in our global social and civilization evolution. As humans , and not as nations. And stories like this one are the perfect "speaking of's" when it comes to explaining the toxic and horrible effects of money on human beings, on human civilizations and human developments. Not to forget when it comes to nature topics.
I am so sorry what you have gone through for you work and probably a lot of you started it as a hobby to dev games, what makes it even more terrible and sad how it all went. I hope you will all find your "dream workspace" and all what's needed to be happy and fulfilled (is the word I guess). Stay strong and keep up the good work wherever you might work now or in future.
Have great times and thank you for sharing that story with us. It's extremely rich in lessons for life and future.
I hope I will play games from all that studios that you as a team splitted up into and yeah, I am kinda happy to hear from you guys from telltale wherever it might push you.
Best regards and best wishes from Germany,
Zeitgeist
Thank you for telling their story, it deserves to be heard. People forget that the games we love are made by people with their own lives. I can't imagine going through something like that and I wish all of the Telltale games employees the best, and I thank them for giving me some of the best memories I've had in gaming.
This was *awesome* *:)*
Noclip documentaries are easily my Top 5 favourite Video game-related UA-cam content ever.
What a ride. I was only ever invested in TWD but it was still heartbreaking to hear what happened to the studio. I grew up with Monkey Island and Zac McKracken etc and it was good to know that the p&c adventure torch never really went out.
I remember playing Until Dawn by Supermassive Games and thinking, THIS, this is what Telltale games need to play like. This feels good.
Seeing how they were planning on making those changes in form of follow cam, open levels... very sad. Here's to the good things that somehow come of this for them, and for gaming.
Thanks Danny et al!
Thank god Skybound bought TellTale back and re-opened their doors! Hopefully all these employees are/can come back and work on future TTG products! We will never forget TellTale!
Great to see the Digital Artcast name in the credits it was an honour to back a doc about some of my telltale pals we should have some of the devs on the podcast soon!
Noclip keeps producing amazing work and over the time it's been a thing, Danny has created a solid library of docs.
Thank you.
Huge thanks to the teams at Tell Tale for all of their amazing work over the years. And thanks Noclip for this special doc. It really shines a light on the humanity aspect of working in games. I'm still so sad that Wolf 2 will never be, but I have hopes that another team will take up the mantle and produce something just as amazing.
Heart-breaking. I work at a large corporation, and just being part of that machine really makes you realize how much that top of the pyramid can really make or break the company. The high levels of stress and crunch always make people band together more. Great vid, it really highlights a lot of business issues that higher level management HAVE to understand. They really don't understand how much the "lower-level" employees deal with.
This is probably one of the best documentaries that you all have done. If something could be done like this again, I would love to see a doc on some the employees that were affected by the Activison-Bilzzard layoffs, it would put a much needed spotlight on the deteriorating health (physical and mental) on game developers.
Wow what a story. Great job delivering this to your subscribers and the world. I was wondering why I haven’t seen or heard anything about Wolf among us 2.... didn’t know it was all shut down..
Telltale actually was “revived” in late 2019 by LCG Entertainment (Telltale is now a new brand with the old name) and announced TWAU 2 at the 2019 Game Awards.
They’re partnering with Adhoc Studios, formed by ex-Telltale employees, and got the old voice actors back as well. Telltale 2.0 (not their official name, just a fan nickname) is trying to honor the legacy of the old Telltale by following in their footsteps, if Wolf 2 ends up being good we could have them back for good!
Very well done; it’s always nice to see and hear from the people behind the games you love
Thank you so much noclip and the telltale team
You guys had a really really big part in my life
No way I decided to watch this on the day 3 years after posting, great video i love telltale games and this helps explain why some games where lackluster cough cough twd anf cough cough
Great documentary. Sometimes is easy to forget about the people who is behind our loved games and how they feel in these situations. I hope the best for all of them.
I love hearing how dedicated Emily was to the Walking Dead. How she went back and watched all of the source material and all that. I'm sure that's common in the industry but it's really cool to see how hard she and others worked on these projects.
It's crazy to me that people who manage companies and teams so often undervalue their employees' honesty. I've had to talk to my own supervisors about this too: if you cultivate an atmosphere where your team doesn't think they can be honest with you, your company is pretty definitely going to fail.
Breaks my heart watching this. Knowing that it could’ve been different if executives cared as much about the games as those who were making them did. I appreciate everything the story tellers did in building great games and I’ll always look back on them fondly. Thank you for all you did!
A huge thank you to the people who had the courage to come and tell those tales in front of a camera. Making games is not a game and these stories had to be told.
Definitely is my favorite documentary in this channel. Thank you for providing a platform for game developers like them to share their experience and thoughts in the industry !
I really enjoy and understand why this documentary took the approach it did, but as a big fan of the very early Bone, Sam&Max, Strongbad, and monkey island episodes I selfishly am bummed so little is talked about that early era around the internet.
Hey Dany and all the team that makes this kind of work possible must know how talented and professional they are when doing such projects, with such a handily drawn script! From the bottom of my heart I can never thank enough for the courage of you to start something like Noclip, which for me who carries the dream of entering the video game industry with the desire to make it right for the project but at the same time for the people who are on the team. Thank you 3000!, trust in your hearts because I know this will have its mark on many people but more in the industry itself where in the end we all here for the passion of games.
Just left a toxic work environment. Glad to hear I’m not the only one who was experiencing the things the people at Telltale were.
Thank you for making this documentary.
This is why I am a fan of Noclip. They tell stories we want to hear.
As an aspiring game dev who lives in the Bay Area this hit especially close to home. Amazing doc Danny!
Very good interviews. It's a shame the studio is gone. I was their customer since the beginning and own almost all of their games.
Love the fact you've been able to showcase these stories.
Accessibility feedback on the audio: From 18:00 onwards there are a few high pitched sounds that were incredibly uncomfortable through both my headphones and speakers - I had to pause and try to work out where to skip past that background audio. I'm never normally impacted by sound but this made me feel a bit nauseous
I don't expect this to impact many people, but wanted to share just in case its something that could be alleviated in future - I feel like a total idiot for writing this but thanks again for the great coverage.
Welcome to Raleigh! Wish it was under better circumstances. I can say from experience, this town has good therapists.
Thanks! Happy to be here (minus the crazy pollen season)
Thank you for making this! Our project wouldn't exist if not for Telltale and "The Wolf Among Us". Hopefully we can honor what they started...
This is a haunting, powerful tribute to the people who made the games. Bravo again, Noclip. Some of your finest work.
Thank you for making this. My heart breaks for these individuals and their colleagues.