Mike Stemmle Joins Telltale

Here's some interesting news. Telltale, they behind the recent Sam & Max episodes, have hired Mike Stemmle, one half of the LucasArts double-act who created the original Sam & Max: Hit The Road.

(I should stress, I took this photo eight years ago, and he looks nothing like this now. But his office is worth remembering. Click the pic to see the full-size. Oh, and this hung from the middle of the room.)

Stemmle is one of three recent acquisitions of veteren LucasArts talent by Telltale, along with Justin Chin, and Brett Tosti. Now, speaking as a reasonably vocal dissenter of the Sam & Max episodes, simply because their humour and puzzles just aren't good enough, this is deeply intriguing and positive news. Stemmle's new position on the S&M team is described as "designer", which I can only hope is a low-key way of saying he's in charge of a lot of stuff. He's a very, very funny man. He seems quite pleased about the job too, saying,

"Mere words are proving woefully inadequate to describe my delight at hooking up with this fiendishly dedicated crew. The excitement and talent swirling around Telltale remind me of the geysers of imagination that erupted across the gaming industry in the early 90's. Only this time, with rational production schedules."

Along with appointing Chin and Tosti as executive producers for the company, overseeing new unrevealed projects, this bodes very well for strategic thinking at Telltale. They may hate me with a passion burning with the fire of a thousand suns, but I want nothing more than for them to make me adventure games that make my heart sing. They can do it, and with Stemmle on board, I feel it coming closer. I am wearing my happy face.