Tonight's the Night: My Dream Project for Telltale

It is no secret that I fancy myself a huge fan of Dexter, the hit Showtime series about a Miami Blood Spatter analyst who moonlights as a vigilante serial killer. The show is currently airing it's penultimate seventh season with the story drawing to a close next year with season 8. I won't bore anyone with the details or waste any time trying to convert the naysayers but I will say that much like many of television's most iconic series (LOST, Buffy, The Walking Dead, Firefly -- Just to name a few), there is ample room for plot and universe development outside of the main program.

The Novels (written by author, Jeff Lindsay) inspired the character and ended up giving birth to the television show back in 2006. As the show approached its final seasons, Showtime began looking for ways to keep the character alive once the series concluded. This effort has resulted in a series of animated webisodes, a facebook game, and a new deal with Marvel that will launch a new comic book series sometime in 2013. It was not until I played through Telltale's 'The Walking Dead' that I began to dream of what a team like that could do with a series as story driven as Dexter.

Telltale is already a studio that is known for adapting their unique style of point-and-click adventure game to various existing properties. The studio has already adapted franchises such as Back to the Future, Jurassic Park, and of course, The Walking Dead but to varied levels of success. With the phenomenal success of 'The Walking Dead' and many considering it a major contender for Game of the Year, it is only natural for fans to contemplate where the team might leave their mark next.

For me, Dexter seems like a prime candidate for a team like Telltale. The story is character driven and is fueled by one of the most interesting and thought provoking characters on television (in my opinion atleast). It seems to me like the success of a Telltale game is directly proportional to the decisions one must make to progress the plot. As a player, would I feel compelled to go down a path to redemption or cave to my darkness by choosing to eliminate a target whose guilt may be quesionable? What kinds of decisions would I be forced to make to keep family and co-workers out of harms way and more importantly, away from discovering my secret? Does this person whom I am about to kill deserve to die? These are the kinds of decisions I often wish I had some kind of control over while watching the show. These feelings are very similar to the experiences I have while watching 'The Walking Dead' on AMC as well. 

Other aspects of Telltale's formula would lend itself well to a Dexter game. I applaude Telltale for developing a brilliant episodic format that lends itself perfectly to this genre of game. By pacing the releases of each episode, they are able to build hype and prevent the game from overstaying it's welcome. This also ensures that the game will stay on the forefront of people's minds for a lot longer than many bigger titles are able to. Design choices aside, it also does wonders for pricepoint by allowing fans to purchase each episode individually. Who wouldn't drop $5 to play a well produced, interactive chapter in their favorite TV show or film franchise? It is absolutely brilliant. 

As a big fan of any television series, I am sure we have all hoped that character's might live on in the form of a film, comic book, or video game. Unfortunately, these are often tragically disappointing when they do actually come to fruition, especially when it comes to video games. Play 10 minutes of LOST and you may never want to play an adventure game ever again! (In retrospect, it is sad that Telltale wasn't given that project as well since that show might also be easily adapted to this style of game) I quickly dismissed dreams of a Dexter video game long ago since there did not seem to be a genre that would suit it. Luckily, I think Telltale has come along just in time and shown us that an existing license can be utilized and expanded upon in a video game to great effect. 

So here is my question to you. What franchise would you like to see Telltale tackle next? How would you like them to approach it?