Official Thimbleweed Park Forums

Netflix (and other VOD) recommendations

#601

That does look good – very intriguing. I’m slightly worried that it might involve making quick decisions on the spot but we’ll see!

A good cast, too.

#602

I don´t think it has to be quick.

I think I read somewhere that it consists of five hours of footage in total. My theory on how this works at the moment is this.

You know the moment at the end of episodes of a season when Netflix goes to a screen that lets you go to the next one?

I think that will be the part where you can decide how it will continue. You´ll just get multiple “next episodes” to jump to instead of one.

So the whole thing will look like a season of many episodes but you start at the first one and only will see those that you choose as “next” at the ending screen of each part.

That is the only way how I can imagine this to work. There may be a countdown, but I don´t see why because that would mean they´d have to throw you into “default” part then when you´re not fast enough and I don´t see why they should do that.

So I think you don´t have to worry, it should leave you enough time to make up your mind! :slight_smile:

Tell me when you watch it, I´d love to compare the outcome with you!

#603

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. I wondered if they’d make you skip ahead depending on your choices, but that would be fiddly – splitting it up into episodes is better.

So I can probably just pause and have a long think about it, then. Do you want to compare in the next two years? :wink:

I wonder when it will go live? I know it’s tomorrow but doesn’t say when. We’ll probably watch it in the evening. If there are different options I’d like to watch those afterwards, too. It’s like one of those interactive adventure books.

#604

Oh yeah, that sounds like in an actual book. But yeah, I really think they utilitise the option that is typical for netfllix.

Come to think of it with chapters of DVDs and such I wonder why this has never been done before, because the possibilities have been there for many years now.

That´s the thing with netflix. Amazon Prime always releases the announced new movies, seasons etc exactly on midnight, Netflix doesn´t do that so I´m not sure what kind of time they usually have. But it seems to be during the day usually.

I´m not sure when I will find the time because I also want to finish Black Adder Goes Forth on that day (yeah I know, weird priority) so I might be watching later at night (also no idea how long that film is in the end, I guess that can vary too!) but I think we´ll have plenty to discuss on saturday in any cases! :smiley:

#605

Well it is the best one, in my humble opinion. I don’t know if it’s because it’s more ‘recent’ and therefore a bit more relatable, but the bitter humour is just so brilliant.

#606

I think I agree, and the fact that it has Stephen Fry AND Hugh Laurie as regulars also means it has the best cast, I think.

#607

Yeah, definitely. I also think Tim McInnery is great. I think he said it took him something like three days to develop Darling’s twitch, and three years to get rid of it.

#608

Is it supposed to be like a choose your own adventure show? My kid just started watching Minecraft: Story Mode on netflix, and every couple of minutes it prompts for a decision, you have to click Yes/No, or story A/B, etc.

I didn’t know they could do that until just now.

The weird thing is Patton Oswalt is one of the voices which just seems really out of context when I’m walking by.

#609

Oh yeah, it has almost all of them. Even Miranda Richardson and Rik Mayall make an appearances.

Nothing against Brian Blessed but he just so utterly outdoes everyone else on screen that he´s not the best for an ensemble I guess.

#610

I think that settles it then. Seems they already tested it out!

That does sound irritating. It would make me stop and wonder if he says something inapproriate for kids ears when I hear him.

#611

8am GMT as it turns out, it is up now!

In the list it looks just like any old movie and they give a runtime of 90 minutes.

#612

It was interesting but not convincing (yet).

First, it was a big plus having real material instead of TTG’s uncanny valley.

There are two ways how to get this right:

a) Non interactive: You just want to experience a good story in a passive way. There is nothing in the interactive part which really made a difference and added something substantial to the experience. You could have told everything in a linear story without any interaction. In the end, it could have been more satisfying too.

b) Interactive: If you want a truly interactive story with an active player, then you want a simulation. Involve some serious AI or go heavy into content creation, offer smarter decision trees and better input options, go silent, like, when there is love scene, you just say to your computer what you want your main character to say or do, when you want him/her to, without this outdated timed text selections …

The third option won’t be ideal anymore (but still could be entertaining). It comes down to specific limited experiences, where you’ll try to convince by approximation due to a lot less content as in b), like cutting a story (where it makes sense) into smaller pieces, expanding the options/choices and giving better access to re-entry points, and if you have enough meat: doing this silently too. This way the player could just let a story go, wouldn’t be interrupted in a weird way, could pick up where he wants to and actually have a chance to feel responsible, care, be ‘creative’ and steer things into a direction he wants to.

#613

I just realised if I don´t start too late I can still watch BA4 afterwards. So I´d be definitely up for some bandersnatchin’ tonight! :grin:

#614

Watched it in 1.5 hours, I think, on a computer, so I got to select my paths. Need to watch it again, but this time I’ll select Sugar Puffs. Surely I’ll get a whole different story :smiley:

I remember talking about an interactive film like this some 30 years ago with a friend of mine. Telltale did something like this in computer game industry, but really a streaming service can truly create an interactive film.

#615

Does it have to be watched on a computer for that then?

#616

I hope not, I want to watch it over my ps4 app as I do all my streaming, so I can be on the couch instead of the office chair.

Shortly after the announcement tweet people were reporting issues. I hope this has been resolved in the last few hours.

#617

Same.

Hm. Unless that’s part of the experiment :wink: I’ve been watching too much Inside Number 9.

#618

There was no issues on a computer. I have Chromecast, and there would have been no controls on that, so everything would have been predetermined. Can’t really tell if path selection work on any other systems.

#619

I don´t see why they shouldn´t. I´ll try in a few hours (as in 2-3 from now I guess).

#620

This actually reminds me of TWP in a way :smile: