The Telltale Games pilot program is a program started by Telltale in 2010 to explore new game ideas that are different from those usually employed by the company, in order to guage whether they are successful enough to warrant sequels. Poker Night at the Inventory was the second game announced to be developed as part of the pilot program, following Nelson Tethers: Puzzle Agent, both of which were released in 2010.
The two pilot programs released so far have both had sequels. Puzzle Agent 2 was released in 2011, and Poker Night 2 was released in 2013. In addition, the pilot program is also used as a testing ground for new ideas that can sometimes be used in Telltale's mainstream seasons. The Walking Dead started out as a pilot program title known internally at Telltale as the "zombie prototype".
References to pilot program titles in The Inventory[]
- In Make a Scene with Telltale at PAX 2010, a short cartoon that was created at the 2010 Penny Arcade Expo that features expo visitors as the voices of the characters, Nelson Tethers from the Puzzle Agent series can be seen sitting in a booth in The Inventory with Max.
- In Poker Night 2, Doug, who appeared in The Walking Dead and was based on Telltale's former information technology specialist, Doug Tabacco, can be seen carrying a box as The Player enters The Inventory.