“Developers aimed for a premium animated series vibe in Dispatch to avoid the pitfalls of Telltale’s The Walking Dead.”

AdHoc Studios has shared insights into why Dispatch moved away from the traditional game elements commonly seen in earlier Telltale titles.

In a conversation, co-founder Dennis Lenart noted that with Dispatch, it was crucial to eliminate the adventure game-style environments. He mentioned, “We’d often say, ‘You might enjoy this Walking Dead game or this Wolf Among Us game we’re working on,’ and the response would be, ‘Ah, it kind of looks like a video game.'”

Lenart elaborated, “With Dispatch, we always had this theory: Could we make these interactive stories accessible to a broader audience by removing some of the barriers?” He explained that this mindset influenced the game’s design, aiming to align it with the feel of a premium animated series that players would recognize.

This approach led to Dispatch “removing all those elements that hindered the pacing,” according to Lenart, who added, “In a TV show, a character doesn’t pause to say, ‘I need to make a cup of coffee. Let me walk over and find the cup. I should chat with everyone.'”

Director Nick Herman chimed in, stating, “Dennis and I have created a lot of adventure games filled with exploration and puzzles. We felt it was becoming stale.”

Interestingly, many adventure game enthusiasts believed that Telltale’s direction with The Walking Dead and subsequent titles was already too streamlined, highlighting a contrasting viewpoint from those who developed it.

Dispatch broke me out of my gaming slump when nothing else could

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