puzzle-agent

Latest

  • Telltale's 'Scoggins' project related to artist Graham Annable

    by 
    Justin McElroy
    Justin McElroy
    04.27.2010

    No one's completely cracked the mystery of Scoggins, as teased on Telltale's official site, but Gamasutra has placed a big part of the puzzle. The outlet has connected the work of artist Graham Annable, responsible for the "Grickle" short films and books, to the teaser. Not only does the Scoggins art closely match that of Annable's, he has a history with Telltale, formerly serving as creative director at the company. Moreover, we noticed the same gnomes from the teaser image (which he calls "The Hidden People") in these Flickr samples of Annable's work. It tells us little of what kind of games we can expect from the collaboration, but we'd expect questions about that to be answered on May 4, as you can see in the teaser above.

  • Scoggins Erasers mystery deepens as Telltale delivers erasers, iPods

    by 
    Randy Nelson
    Randy Nelson
    04.23.2010

    Click to view the entire, mysterious gallery Telltale Games continued its teasing of what would appear to be its upcoming original IP -- called or related to "Scoggins Erasers" -- today by sending us a box filled with erasers ... and an iPod Touch. Labeled "Made in Scoggins, MN," "Contains Scoggins Erasers" and "Top Secret," the package we received was opened to reveal another, smaller box marked "Top Secret." Inside this, 10 large, pink erasers, which we removed, exposing the iPod. This was surprising enough -- then we turned it on. The first thing we noticed was the lock screen image: An FBI seal with the text "Department of Puzzle Research" below it. Unlocking the device, we were greeted by a note that "Something is wrong in Scoggins, MN ... " and instructing us to check the calendar. Sure enough, on April 29 there's an entry for "Scoggins Briefing," with the note "Come to workroom 2 for debriefing." The "debriefing" is set for 4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. PDT, but there's no other info. We checked the Google Maps app and found no directions. The video app, however, held a single animated clip, Hidden People (watch it after the break), which depicts a man and his dog visiting a cabin where they encounter a creepy little red gnome. The photos app also contained what appears to be concept art, again with the gnomes. The very fact that all this arrived on an iPod seems to imply that Telltale's mystery title will be for iPhone / iPod Touch. The back of the iPod is clearly labeled "If found, DO NOT SELL TO GIZMODO," a testament to how secret Telltale feels the information it contains is -- or, more likely, a cheeky nod to a recent iPhone-related incident. For the record, we will not be selling the iPod to anyone. In fact, we're going to be giving it away to one lucky Joystiq reader. Be on the lookout for contest details soon! %Gallery-91622%

  • Telltale teases mystery of Scoggins Erasers

    by 
    Richard Mitchell
    Richard Mitchell
    04.16.2010

    A new, mysterious page has appeared on the Telltale site with the equally enigmatic name of "Scoggins Erasers." Upon opening the page, visitors are greeted with an animated image. The image, seen above, is pretty simple: An unidentified pedestrian walking around a snowy landscape. A few areas of the page are interactive, notably the snowmobile, two of the factory windows and one of the tree stumps. The latter objects trigger red-capped gnomes to pop up in various parts of the screen. Beyond these areas, the only other interactive object is the sign, which does in fact link to the sign-up page for the Telltale newsletter. More information is promised on May 4, but what's the fun in waiting? Let's guess. The factory appears to be shut down -- what with the chains on the door. But why? Are the gnomes to blame? Also, who is this Scoggins? A quick look on Wikipedia unveils two possible candidates: One, it could be Myles W. Scoggins, current president of the Colorado School of Mines. Colorado is very snowy, now isn't it? Or two, perhaps it's Krysta Scoggins, Canadian country singer. Canada, as everyone knows, is encased in a thick crust of hard-packed snow 365 days a year, so this possibility would make sense. Also, school presidents and country singers need a lot of erasers -- for grading papers and writing lyrics, obviously. The third possibility, though unlikely, is that this Scoggins person is an entirely fictional person (or place) created by Telltale. Yeah, right. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]