prior to getting the rights to The Walking Dead, Telltale's Carl Muckenhoupt had been working on a text-based prototype adventure game with a key gameplay focus of having an "active world", in which objects and characters in the environment would continue to go about their actions even if the player did not respond to them. Dave Grossman called this one of the long-standing problems that adventure games had had, as games in the past would have otherwise had to wait for player input. Telltale had approached Valve about using this concept for a Left 4 Dead spinoff game, another series that involved zombies, but these discussions failed to result in anything. In February 2011, Telltale announced simultaneous deals with Robert Kirkman and Warner Bros. to develop episodic series based on both The Walking Dead and Fables, respectively. For The Walking Dead, the agreement included provisions for "multi-year, multi-platform, multi-title" arrangements, with an initial episodic series release to commence in the fourth quarter of 2011.<ref name="ign announce"> Writing During development of the game, Robert Kirkman and the comic publisher Skybound Entertainment worked with Telltale. According to Kirkman, he had previously played Telltale's Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People, and felt that they "were more focused on telling a good story, and I thought they were good at engaging the player in the narrative." Telltale approached him with a proposal which, according to Kirkman, "involved decision-making and consequences rather than ammunition gathering or jumping over things." The proposal's emphasis on the survival aspect of the comics, and the need for the player to make choices between two bad options sold him on the project. Since then, Kirkman became involved with Telltale, mostly providing oversight on what aspects of the story were appropriate components of The Walking Dead universe, in much the same manner as he does for the television show, staying out of the direct development process. Dan Connors, CEO of Telltale, stated that working with Kirkman made it easier for Telltale to craft its story and introduce new characters, instead of having to work with those already established in the comic. One of the few demands Kirkman asked of Telltale was to avoid telling anything involved with the comic's main character, Rick Grimes, as Kirkman has stated long-term plans with the character in other media. Kirkman had not been impressed with an early build of the first episode, but by