Penny Arcade Adventures Dev Gets Over-Enthusiastic, Makes Promises it Can't Keep

Logan Westbrook

Transform, Roll Out, Etc
Feb 21, 2008
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Penny Arcade Adventures Dev Gets Over-Enthusiastic, Makes Promises it Can't Keep

A third episode of the Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness is unlikely as ever, despite the series' newfound success on the Mac.

The first two episodes of Penny Arcade Adventures are proving to be a big hit on the Mac App Store. So big, in fact, that someone at Hothead Games - the studio that made the first two episodes - got a little over-excited and started saying things that he or she shouldn't have and making promises the studio had no chance of keeping.

The PA Adventure series was set in the 1920s in the fictional city of New Arcadia, and featured giant, fruit-loving robots, ancient mime gods and villainous clowns. The original plan was to produce four episodes, but sadly the series came to an abrupt end [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/99549-Penny-Arcade-Adventures-Ends-Abruptly] after the second, following weak sales and concerns that Hothead wouldn't be able to keep the quality up and work on Deathspank at the same time.

For a short while, however, it seemed like a third episode might be possible after all. Episode One and Two both appeared in the top 100 best selling apps, at 21st and 56th respectively. Hothead tweeted [http://twitter.com/#!/HotheadGames/status/24533193210200064] how thrilled it was that the games were doing so well, and then followed that tweet up with another - which has since been removed - that said that if 100,000 people bought both episodes, then it would make a third episode happen, no matter what it took.

This came as news to a lot of people, not least the folks at Penny Arcade. Artist Mike Krahulik refuted [http://twitter.com/#!/cwgabriel/status/24549007372066816] the Hothead tweet with a tweet of his own, and head of business development Robert Khoo said in a statement that there was nothing new to say about the games. Hothead president Vince Ceraldi confirmed that the tweet had been a mistake and dismissed the idea that high sales would prompt a third episode, saying that the future of the games was uncertain and that it wasn't as simple as hitting the right number.

It seems pretty unlikely that the final two episodes will ever appear, as Krahulik found the process [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/94549-Future-Unclear-For-New-Penny-Arcade-Games] of making the games rather unsatisfying. Krahulik, along his writing partner Jerry Holkins, instead decided to continue the story on the Penny Arcade website [http://www.penny-arcade.com/rainslick/], which is where it seems destined to stay.

Source: Joystiq [http://www.joystiq.com/2011/01/10/penny-arcade-adventures-tearing-up-mac-app-store-charts-ep-3-s/]


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Feb 13, 2008
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I really looked forward to these...and then played them.

The word Grind has never been so obvious. It was like Final Fantasy 7's third disc followed by cut-scenes.

And worse...you not only had meaningless upgrades, but every fracking turn had it's own Daley Thompson's Decatholon run for more damage.

A real shame, as the background work was stunning. Just the game...oh god, it was awful.
 

SaintWaldo

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Jun 10, 2008
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Yeah, they draw well and write funny things about games, but they pretty much demonstrated they aren't very competent practitioners of the things they critique. Not that you need to be. But the "biting off more than they could chew" angle will make it hard for them to tease anyone else about not completing series; they can't even make Half-Life 3 jokes anymore.
 

Onyx Oblivion

Borderlands Addict. Again.
Sep 9, 2008
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I'd play a third game.

The writing was top-notch, and the gameplay was functional.
 

Mistermixmaster

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Aug 4, 2009
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I don't care what they say, I'm still gonna wait for Episode Three to come out on PSN. Love the games a lot... First I had a rake, then a hoe (with A License to Till), what could the next weapon be?
 

manythings

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Nov 7, 2009
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SaintWaldo said:
Yeah, they draw well and write funny things about games, but they pretty much demonstrated they aren't very competent practitioners of the things they critique. Not that you need to be. But the "biting off more than they could chew" angle will make it hard for them to tease anyone else about not completing series; they can't even make Half-Life 3 jokes anymore.
Mike and Jerry did the art and writing (respectively) they weren't at HotHead coding with the programmers.

OT: I'm thinking someone in marketing put their retard cap on and assumed they could push more sales in the short term by damaging their companies image in the long term.
 

Dora

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Jul 13, 2009
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I was really disappointed that this wasn't finished. I thought the two games were a lot of fun, the sort of thing I'd play to relax and have a laugh on an afternoon, and I feel I easily got my money's worth out of them. But if anything this has made me more than a little gunshy in regards to serialised content; far too much of it gets dropped for far too many reasons.

I was kind of surprised nobody on the forums over at Penny Arcade turned up and went, "Fuck it, we'll make it". There's a ton of talent over there because of how massive the population is, and I'm sure they'd have done a great job.
 

Ohlookit'sMatty

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Sep 11, 2008
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Well the fun thing is there are enough nerds out there who are fans of both PA& the games with enough free time on their hands that we might see ep 3&4 been made independently and for free

-M
 

SaintWaldo

Interzone Vagabond
Jun 10, 2008
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manythings said:
SaintWaldo said:
Yeah, they draw well and write funny things about games, but they pretty much demonstrated they aren't very competent practitioners of the things they critique. Not that you need to be. But the "biting off more than they could chew" angle will make it hard for them to tease anyone else about not completing series; they can't even make Half-Life 3 jokes anymore.
Mike and Jerry did the art and writing (respectively) they weren't at HotHead coding with the programmers.
So? It's still unfinished. I'm pretty sure that art and writing have something to do with that fact. I hope you're not trying to divorce their input from the game's eventual form.
 

XT inc

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Jul 29, 2009
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I mean the first game wasn't really deep or anything, it worked. Which I can almost applaud them for, not shooting to high and failing rather, getting it to work and ship. Aside from the tearing Issues I keep having with the game, the writing was great and I had a great number of laughs.

The best part for me though was on steam I could get it for 5 bucks whereas xbl wanted like 15? ridiculous price gap is ridiculous.
 

erbkaiser

Romanorum Imperator
Jun 20, 2009
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I'd really like to see "episodes" three and four appear after all. The first two games were fun in a way.

A little OT: these games DO serve (along with Valve's weak attempt) as bad examples of what episodic is supposed to mean. Outside of Telltale, the only real episodic series I know of (as in, regular releases) is Winter Voices.
 

manythings

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Nov 7, 2009
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SaintWaldo said:
manythings said:
SaintWaldo said:
Yeah, they draw well and write funny things about games, but they pretty much demonstrated they aren't very competent practitioners of the things they critique. Not that you need to be. But the "biting off more than they could chew" angle will make it hard for them to tease anyone else about not completing series; they can't even make Half-Life 3 jokes anymore.
Mike and Jerry did the art and writing (respectively) they weren't at HotHead coding with the programmers.
So? It's still unfinished. I'm pretty sure that art and writing have something to do with that fact. I hope you're not trying to divorce their input from the game's eventual form.
It's their fault, specifically, that the game isn't continuing? The fact that they are finishing the project on the PA website kinda points out their lack of confidence in HotHeads ability to finish it to their satisfaction.
 

CitySquirrel

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Jun 1, 2010
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Farmer_Casper said:
The_root_of_all_evil said:
I really looked forward to these...and then played them.

The word Grind has never been so obvious. It was like Final Fantasy 7's third disc followed by cut-scenes.

And worse...you not only had meaningless upgrades, but every fracking turn had it's own Daley Thompson's Decatholon run for more damage.

A real shame, as the background work was stunning. Just the game...oh god, it was awful.
I may give it a try sometime, but dude your avatar is sweet. That is what i have to go through ever damn morning!
This makes me laugh because I was JUST doing something similar as I was reading this. Cats are terrible(ly wonderful).
 

Silent observer

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Jun 18, 2009
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Aww.

I really enjoyed the first two episodes (although my opinion could be heavily swayed by my love for both PA and all things 20s-60s) and I still harbored a faint hope that they might finish the series.

Still, I'm loving the posts on their site, and maybe we'll see it's return in comic form one day? *fingers crossed*
 

SaintWaldo

Interzone Vagabond
Jun 10, 2008
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manythings said:
It's their fault, specifically, that the game isn't continuing? The fact that they are finishing the project on the PA website kinda points out their lack of confidence in HotHeads ability to finish it to their satisfaction.
Apologia knows no bounds with some.