It's a premise, Sam. Run with it.

January 28, 2018 3:01 PM

samandmax.co.uk has the Sam and Max Hit the Road design document (PDF)
posted by juv3nal (28 comments total)

O, memories, you come rushing back.
posted by Going To Maine at 3:24 PM on January 28, 2018 [6 favorites]

I had to spend FOREVER explaining why I started laughing when my family expanded their pets. First, they had a dog named Samuel (after Coleridge - my family is a bit odd), then they got a second dog.

Yup.

His name was Max.

I got to dust off my beloved stare of blank incredulity, followed by a round of cackling.
posted by Samizdata at 3:54 PM on January 28, 2018 [1 favorite]

O, memories, you come rushing back.

I'll say. I served time in the great 90s Canadian TV animation mill.
posted by bonobothegreat at 3:55 PM on January 28, 2018 [2 favorites]

Sam & Max Hit the Road was one of the first CD-ROM games I ever owned. As such their voices became etched in my mind. So etched that I couldn't handle more than a minute or two of the Sam & Max cartoon or their Telltale game. It's just not the same without the original voice actors.
posted by thecjm at 4:52 PM on January 28, 2018 [3 favorites]

I'm really impressed by how they had the game 95% planned out in this design doc. Modern game design seems to be so iterative - it's really interesting to see that, conceptually, Sam & Max Hit the Road was very much a complete concept and story before the programming began.
posted by thecjm at 5:01 PM on January 28, 2018 [7 favorites]

I'd be peeing my pants if I wore any!
posted by Celsius1414 at 5:15 PM on January 28, 2018 [4 favorites]

I was reading this, thinking that it would be neat if the private and confidential warnings continued to change through the document. After a few pages of repeats, I decided it would be better if they lulled you through repetition, then began to go off piste a fair way into the document. Lo and behold, on p19…
posted by zamboni at 5:21 PM on January 28, 2018 [4 favorites]

An acquaintance, who professes to be ignorant of the comics/games, has sons named Samuel and Maxwell. I refer to her children as “the freelance police” whenever possible.
posted by brand-gnu at 5:32 PM on January 28, 2018 [19 favorites]

I served time in the great 90s Canadian TV animation mill.

Well, that explains RRSP on the cheese, anyway.
posted by sysinfo at 5:44 PM on January 28, 2018 [1 favorite]

Sam: Well, it's worth a shot. Hey Max, want to come here and ground me?
Max: You're pushing 40 in dog years, you're not a very good detective and it looks like you have put on weight.
Sam: Thanks, that'll do it.
posted by Nanukthedog at 7:42 PM on January 28, 2018 [8 favorites]

He still can't pick that up.
posted by Two unicycles and some duct tape at 9:32 PM on January 28, 2018 [1 favorite]

The comics were among my al- time favorite comics. The game was among my all-time favorite games. the new series were good fun though the change in voice actors and a bit of change of tone sort of made them occasionally annoying.

Conclusion:

Sam: Max, where should I put this so it doesn't hurt anyone we know or care about?
Max: Out the window, Sam. There's nothing but strangers out there.
posted by Joey Michaels at 11:53 PM on January 28, 2018 [7 favorites]

The headings in this are to die for. Thank you!

> Some Pleasantly Brief Assertions About SCUMM

If someone sent me this as a meeting invite, I would accept it instantly.

> A Less-Painful But Equally Specific List Of Puzzles

I hit the top of the previous section, my eyes glazed over, I hit page down a few times, and then they fell on this lovely simple indented list of single-line items. After a moment, my eyes read upwards for a heading and found it.
posted by crysflame at 12:58 AM on January 29, 2018

This is great. I miss LucasArts so much.
posted by octothorpe at 3:55 AM on January 29, 2018 [2 favorites]

Ready for my close up, Mr. Corman...
posted by Faint of Butt at 4:12 AM on January 29, 2018

What's the good word, little buddy?
posted by Aznable at 4:34 AM on January 29, 2018 [1 favorite]

Jackalopes: the bastard pets of Piltdown Man.
posted by CheesesOfBrazil at 5:13 AM on January 29, 2018

i think about this game everytime I take a road trip.
posted by dreamling at 9:25 AM on January 29, 2018 [3 favorites]

Oh, there once was a man named John Muir
A naturalist noble, and pure!
His love for all beasties
The most and the leasties
Has never been equalled

Uh... fer sure.
posted by SansPoint at 11:53 AM on January 29, 2018 [2 favorites]

I love the old Sam & Max games, but even the newer episodic titles are still pretty damn great. BANANG!
posted by xedrik at 11:58 AM on January 29, 2018 [1 favorite]

To: Aznable
From: Max

"Creosote!"
posted by JHarris at 12:55 PM on January 29, 2018 [1 favorite]

I'd ask where this document has been hiding for all these years, but of course the answer would be "none of your damn business."
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 2:00 PM on January 29, 2018

What's the best/easiest way to play the old Sam & Max? I loved that game as a kid, alongside Day of the Tentacle.
posted by gucci mane at 5:48 PM on January 29, 2018

gucci mane: GOG has you covered for $5.99
posted by SansPoint at 5:51 PM on January 29, 2018 [2 favorites]

Whoa, awesome. Reading the list of puzzles was like memory after memory.
posted by lucidium at 4:28 AM on January 31, 2018

15-year Lucas Arts veteran Aric Wilmunder hosts his own games industry archive, which includes design docs for:

• various Monkey Island games
• Maniac Mansion
•Day of the Tentacle
• The Dig
• Rebel Assault
• Shadows of the Empire
• The Telecommuter and
• a SCUMM manual and a tutorial.

The design doc for Sam and Max Hit the Road is just the tip of this iceberg.
posted by Doktor Zed at 8:42 AM on February 1, 2018 [6 favorites]

I spent a bit of time reading the SCUMM manual and am thinking, I would have loved that job.
posted by JHarris at 11:46 PM on February 1, 2018

Doktor Zed, I can't thank you enough for those links. So many memories!
posted by brism at 1:10 PM on February 4, 2018