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San Diego Comic Con 2013 – South Park: The Stick Of Truth Panel
- By Douglas Shepard (Editor in Chief, RarityGuide.com)
- Published 07/20/2013
- Comic-Con 2013
- Unrated
San Diego Comic Con 2013 – South Park: The Stick Of Truth Panel
Edited by Julie Barman
If there is one thing South Park has to live down it is the N64 and Playstation One South Park games. As Trey Parker and Matt Stone took the stage after a preview of the new “South Park: The Stick Of Truth” trailer, They had waited until this generation because they felt it was the one they could do what they wanted: create a game that could do the show justice. Matt admitted to being an RPG fan and that this was a natural step from some of the games the kid's played across the years. These games had always worked out and they felt it was a good way to move forward. It was only a few minutes before they were making jokes about what they were talking about. It was said that they did not want to talk about the game or when it was coming out. Throughout the panel they made numerous jokes that the game would be pushed back because of all the things that they wanted to add in. The panel itself was largely done in a “Q&A” format with very little actually directly said on the game. This is largely conjecture based on what was
They told us how they had kept themselves involved in the whole process. More than anything they were the writers behind the script that shaped the world within “The Stick Of Truth”. After the disaster that ensued with the games being farmed out they wanted to be sure that this one would be different. They wanted to break as far away from those games as they could. What they did not realize was just how much work it would be just to write the script. The original script was around 850 pages, a giant. Trey said that if they had included everything that the game looked to “come out in the holiday season of 2032”. This swiftly took on a life of its own. It was over time it got thinned down. Apparently, in this massive script, it made numerous references to people and events across most to all of the “South Park” chronology. While this is great in concept, it is very hard to execute well across the whole of a game. Still, South Park, especially with Matt and Trey at the writer's helm, would have a good chance of doing it.
One of the things that had to be considered for the game was just the nature of how a game was played. Would the player remember a reference from something that they were doing earlier that week or earlier that month wen they were involved with it? This is one of the things that help trim the script and made the game slightly more manageable. While Obsidian talked of DLC, the guys were not keen on the idea. They wanted the game to stand alone. Maybe later, but much of the DLC talk was a joke. Still, it seemed as though DLC was a dirty word to them. Just like the show, it had to have plenty of its own elements.
Instead of DLC they talked about there being a tie between the game and the show itself. Thanks to the unique nature of “South Park”, it is made truly on a weekly basis. This makes it so after the game is released, there can be mentions of the events within the game within the show. It makes a lot of sense for a tie-in like that to exist within the world of South Park. They also said that the game took the place of “The Book Of Mormon” as the project that they worked on between the seasons of “South Park”. They still felt that it has been a long process over the 3 years the game has been in development.
There was at least 1 admission that the game going into the night would have been a relief because of all the crunch time around it. However, they had heard about the selling of the property like many of us, through the newspaper from THQ to Obsidian. They immediately got in touch with the developer and did everything they could get the momentum moving again. This is where we had the most information about the game. The animators for the game were working very closely with Matt, Trey and the whole of the South Park studio. They were doing their best to make sure that the game moved, looked and felt the same as the show did. This occasionally meant they would wait for a scene to be animated at the studio and it would then be sent over to the game studio so they could see just what they needed to do to get the right look for an area.
One of the more interesting questions revealed something about the world of “South Park” itself. Until it came up in the game, Trey and Matt had never really thought about the locations within South Park itself. That is to say they never thought about where Cartman's House was to Butter's or to Kyle's. It was only after the question make up in the development of the game that a true map of South Park was made.
Another question was how many of the songs would make it into the game. An avid South Park Fan knows that across the 16 years of the show's run there have been numerous songs aired directly in the show. There has also been at least 1 full album released: “Chef Aid”. They talked about how they made use of this massive library, making it so that you could turn on the jukebox or stereos throughout South Park and it would have one of the numerous songs from the massive library playing on it. Another asked if Kenny would die in the game and they apparently had not fully decided that.
Throughout the panel there were not real spoilers given, save on. Matt admitted that Chef would be in the game. Just what role this iconic character would have is unknown but it was at least confirmed to some degree through this panel.
If there is any game to make Farting magical, it is this one. The panel toward the end was just about the show and the upcoming season. This panel did give plenty of hope about “The Stick of Truth”. The game was close to completion and they did seem very happy about it and to see the fan interest. For all the jokes, the game can be looking at something of a timely release, if still ambiguous. Whenever it does come out, it will be met with open arms and great reverence.
Edited by Julie Barman
If there is one thing South Park has to live down it is the N64 and Playstation One South Park games. As Trey Parker and Matt Stone took the stage after a preview of the new “South Park: The Stick Of Truth” trailer, They had waited until this generation because they felt it was the one they could do what they wanted: create a game that could do the show justice. Matt admitted to being an RPG fan and that this was a natural step from some of the games the kid's played across the years. These games had always worked out and they felt it was a good way to move forward. It was only a few minutes before they were making jokes about what they were talking about. It was said that they did not want to talk about the game or when it was coming out. Throughout the panel they made numerous jokes that the game would be pushed back because of all the things that they wanted to add in. The panel itself was largely done in a “Q&A” format with very little actually directly said on the game. This is largely conjecture based on what was
They told us how they had kept themselves involved in the whole process. More than anything they were the writers behind the script that shaped the world within “The Stick Of Truth”. After the disaster that ensued with the games being farmed out they wanted to be sure that this one would be different. They wanted to break as far away from those games as they could. What they did not realize was just how much work it would be just to write the script. The original script was around 850 pages, a giant. Trey said that if they had included everything that the game looked to “come out in the holiday season of 2032”. This swiftly took on a life of its own. It was over time it got thinned down. Apparently, in this massive script, it made numerous references to people and events across most to all of the “South Park” chronology. While this is great in concept, it is very hard to execute well across the whole of a game. Still, South Park, especially with Matt and Trey at the writer's helm, would have a good chance of doing it.
One of the things that had to be considered for the game was just the nature of how a game was played. Would the player remember a reference from something that they were doing earlier that week or earlier that month wen they were involved with it? This is one of the things that help trim the script and made the game slightly more manageable. While Obsidian talked of DLC, the guys were not keen on the idea. They wanted the game to stand alone. Maybe later, but much of the DLC talk was a joke. Still, it seemed as though DLC was a dirty word to them. Just like the show, it had to have plenty of its own elements.
Instead of DLC they talked about there being a tie between the game and the show itself. Thanks to the unique nature of “South Park”, it is made truly on a weekly basis. This makes it so after the game is released, there can be mentions of the events within the game within the show. It makes a lot of sense for a tie-in like that to exist within the world of South Park. They also said that the game took the place of “The Book Of Mormon” as the project that they worked on between the seasons of “South Park”. They still felt that it has been a long process over the 3 years the game has been in development.
There was at least 1 admission that the game going into the night would have been a relief because of all the crunch time around it. However, they had heard about the selling of the property like many of us, through the newspaper from THQ to Obsidian. They immediately got in touch with the developer and did everything they could get the momentum moving again. This is where we had the most information about the game. The animators for the game were working very closely with Matt, Trey and the whole of the South Park studio. They were doing their best to make sure that the game moved, looked and felt the same as the show did. This occasionally meant they would wait for a scene to be animated at the studio and it would then be sent over to the game studio so they could see just what they needed to do to get the right look for an area.
One of the more interesting questions revealed something about the world of “South Park” itself. Until it came up in the game, Trey and Matt had never really thought about the locations within South Park itself. That is to say they never thought about where Cartman's House was to Butter's or to Kyle's. It was only after the question make up in the development of the game that a true map of South Park was made.
Another question was how many of the songs would make it into the game. An avid South Park Fan knows that across the 16 years of the show's run there have been numerous songs aired directly in the show. There has also been at least 1 full album released: “Chef Aid”. They talked about how they made use of this massive library, making it so that you could turn on the jukebox or stereos throughout South Park and it would have one of the numerous songs from the massive library playing on it. Another asked if Kenny would die in the game and they apparently had not fully decided that.
Throughout the panel there were not real spoilers given, save on. Matt admitted that Chef would be in the game. Just what role this iconic character would have is unknown but it was at least confirmed to some degree through this panel.
If there is any game to make Farting magical, it is this one. The panel toward the end was just about the show and the upcoming season. This panel did give plenty of hope about “The Stick of Truth”. The game was close to completion and they did seem very happy about it and to see the fan interest. For all the jokes, the game can be looking at something of a timely release, if still ambiguous. Whenever it does come out, it will be met with open arms and great reverence.
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Article Series
This article is part 1 of a 5 part series. Other articles in this series are shown below:
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San Diego Comic Con 2013 – South Park: The Stick Of Truth Panel
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