I can't help but wonder if the folks at Telltale Games felt a bit slighted by the fanfare and jubilation surrounding last week's announcement of the Double Fine Adventure Kickstarter, which, as of this moment, has more than quadrupled its goal -- and with more than three weeks to go. As champagne bottles pop worldwide in celebration of Tim Schafer's return to the genre that made him famous, gamers seem to be ignoring the fact that Telltale successfully brought back the PC adventure game seven years ago; though you wouldn't know it by looking at their most recent release.

In recent years, Telltale has moved away from the classic adventure format by making more approachable games branded with licenses like Back to the Future and Jurassic Park. As they transition to properties demanding far more spectacle than the Sam and Max and Monkey Island episodes of the past, Telltale has struggled with giving these productions the high-budget polish expected by fans of the source material. But do they need to be so ambitious when adventure enthusiasts obviously have a strong desire for the tried and true?

This isn't a call for Telltale to stick strictly to the '90s LucasArts formula, which never remained static; though Maniac Mansion and Grim Fandango belong to the same genre, these games differ greatly in both player control and intuitiveness. Telltale, too, has greatly improved their craft over the years, shoving over basic dialogue and inventory puzzles in favor of elements with much more to them, like Max's many abilities in the superb Sam and Max: The Devil's Playhouse. They could have easily rested on their laurels by continuing to iterate unimaginatively on old LucasArts licenses, but each successive Telltale series took a step forward, both technically and in terms of game design.

And then came Jurassic Park -- I didn't care for the game, and neither did most critics. Instead of sticking to what they do best, Telltale set out to make a Heavy Rain-like QTE-fest their limited technology couldn't support, resulting in a game undermined by an underpowered engine and inconsistent Dragon's Lair mechanics. Telltale's productions always had a sort of sloppy charm to them, but Jurassic Park set out to invoke the same feelings of awe its audience felt when watching the original 1993 movie. Granted, Telltale's take on this Spielberg classic stands as a major feat for the developer, but one that falls way short of the standard set by the movie -- something that even a triple-A developer would have problems pulling off.

At this point, it's unclear what format Telltale's The Walking Dead will take -- the developer hasn't been very forthcoming with details. But, as with Jurassic Park, the cards seem stacked against them; with an extremely popular TV show setting the standard for what a multimedia version of The Walking Dead should be, Telltale once again has some hefty expectations to meet. To be fair, I'm sure no choice comes easy when dealing with such a hot property; and for as much as I would hate to see their form of The Walking Dead cast from the mold of Jurassic Park -- who knows? -- maybe dumbing down adventure games into an exercise in button mashing brings in the bucks (unfortunately, their sales data isn't available to the public). Still, I think Double Fine is onto something with their new Adventure project -- and not just with the way they've earned their investment. Will adventure games thrive best in a low-stakes environment, rather than being shackled to the demands of a popular IP?