Dispatch Is An Episodic Workplace Comedy First, Iterating Where Telltale Refused To - Interview With AdHoc Studios

Last year at The Game Awards, we got to see the reveal of Dispatch, a new title from AdHoc Studio, a development company created by alumni of Telltale Games. This comedic adventure game has players take on the role of Robert Robertson, a former superhero, working at a Superhero Dispatch company with a team of villains to rehabilitate.

TechRaptor got to sit down last week to not only see a bit more of Dispatch, getting walked through an extended segment of the game, but we also had a chance to sit down with the team at AdHoc and learn more about Dispatch's story, episodic release, and what they learned when fans got their hands on the demo.

Dispatch Is a Workplace Comedy First

The gameplay I got to see encompassed a lot of what you'd know from your time playing the demo. Robert Robertson, as the superhero Mechaman, had his armor damaged beyond repair, forcing him to retire from superheroing. Just when he thought he was out of options, the Superhero Dispatch Network reached out with an offer: Mentor a group of villains on their road to rehabilitation by dispatching them to emergencies, and the agency will help rebuild the Mechaman armor so Robertson can return to being a hero.

Gameplay is a mix of the classic 'Telltale Games-style' choose your own dialogue adventure with logic puzzles in the form of assigning the right rehabilitated villains to rescue jobs that are best for them and hacking mini-games for when Robertson needs to provide additional support.

Dispatch Was Created From the Ashes of a Live-Action Project

Learning more about the story of Dispatch and getting to see additional gameplay, it was clear that while set in the world of superheroes that the focus of the story is in the relationships that Robertson makes with those he works with, inside the dispatch office and out.

Talking on the origins of the story for Dispatch, it was explained that initially parts of the team that eventually became AdHoc took work with a company that was trying to make interactive live action.

"We were like 'Hey, we're writers and directors who have done this in the digital space, let's do it.' The goal was to make something universally appealing, so we grabbed superheroes and went with it. We worked on that for about a year and a half, and we were getting ready to shoot with actors and sets and all the real stuff you do in Hollywood, and that was March of 2020," said Nick Herman, Co-Founder at AdHoc Studios..

"All our dreams of being Hollywood directors and writers were dashed…" - Herman

These ideas continued to be worked on and were developed internally, becoming what we've seen now as Dispatch.

Another inspiration for Dispatch that was brought up was a series of ESPN commercials set in a regular office space where the Florida Dolphins mascot might be pouring itself a coffee or filing paperwork.

"The visual of that you immediately get, it's boring but then this bright-colored thing is weird and evocative and is a platform for a lot of jokes," said Herman

For the team developing the story, the theme of superheroes was treated in the same way as they used to handle IP. It was their job to take that concept and find the gold in it.

"There's a lot of people out here who have been doing superhero stories for a long time, a lot have great ideas, and we're not interested in competing in that realm of multiverses and universe-ending storylines," added Dennis Lenart, another Co-Founder.

Once the idea of Dispatch had been created, it was time to find the voices behind the characters. With a mix of movie stars, voice actors, and internet personalities, there's a unique blend of talent backing up these characters. AdHoc explained that it started with Aaron Paul.

"We knew we wanted a mixture of talent from different spheres. We started with the hardest role first: Robert, our lead. We had Aaron Paul at the top of our list. With the help and talent of our casting director Linda Lamontagne we were able to get him excited about the project," said Natalie Herman, Lead Producer.

"Fortunately, he connected with the material, and from there it was a lot easier to get other folks excited about the project. We looked for people who were going to bring themselves to the characters and really expand on that more than we could ever think of,"

I got walked through how some of the characters evolved as they went from their early production state with table reads from the crew, to how an actor giving their take on a role allowed the character to grow and change. Robertson had originally been older, but after hearing Paul read for him they went back and not only changed the delivery of the lines but altered his look to match a younger approach.

Dispatch Is Learning From What Held Telltale Back

An interesting aspect of my discussion with the AdHoc team was how honest they were about the approach to development highs and lows during their time with Telltale Games. There were strengths in the engine but that also came with a rigidity in where they didn't want to step outside a safe zone.

In asking how fans of Telltale Games might be surprised approaching Dispatch, Lenart said,, "definitely the animation, it was one of the core things from the very beginning. Working on some of the games we've worked in the past, there's sometimes you know a friend will enjoy a game and then they play it and they can't get past the graphics."

For Dispatch they wanted to create a game where they could remove that barrier to entry.

"The other shocking piece is that we tried to be deliberate with the gameplay. We wanted it to be tailored to the experience," said Nick Herman. "There are a lot of people who love Telltale Games when you can explore the world and the characters say jokes, but we wanted to switch up the formula and not have the same shackles that Telltale had. Mostly technical, but also some creative."

"If you're a fan of Telltale Games you should like this if you're not averse to other kinds of gameplay"

Fan Feedback Taught AdHoc the Internet Will Have a Crush on Everyone

When asked about the fan reaction, it seemed like the whole team breathed a sigh of relief. Nick Herman confirmed, "We're definitely excited that other folks are excited because this has been a thing that we've had in our life for years and thought was funny but never knew."

Herman added in, "That's the problem with a comedy. You hear the line read and you're excited and then two weeks later you're like, 'If I ever hear that f**king line again I'm going to kill somebody, who thought that was funny?' and you need those fresh eyes to remember the vision is still good from so long ago."

"Being able to watch people play and enjoy it was really the fuel the team needed at that point in development" - Nick Herman

The team was also surprised by how into the mechanics of the game people were getting. Watching players optimize the demo taught them things about the game that they didn't know themselves, where Robertson could fail early, to then be able to maximize potential later.

It wasn't just gameplay that was shocking the development team as Derek Stratton offered up that he was shocked by the characters that fans were developing crushes on. Sonarr was one that seemed to be high on the list.

"People can fall in love with anything" - Stratton

Dispatch Will Be Released Episodically

AdHoc Studios also announced that Dispatch will be releasing on October 22, 2025, for PC and PS5, or at least that's when the first two episodes will be released.

Starting from October 22, every week there will be two episodes released, with the Dispatch finale coming out with Episode 7 and 8 on November 12. Each episode is expected to take players an hour to complete, but the team at AdHoc was also surprised when the demo was released to see people exploring every possibility and taking four hours to complete it.

The standard edition of the game will be available for $29.99, with a Deluxe Edition also releasing for $39.99. The Deluxe Edition will come with a Digital Artbook with 100+ pages of content, and to fit with the superhero theme, this release will also come with four digital comics and six additional stories for players who want to learn more about the characters and the world of Dispatch.