Nothing much new...
...in Grumpyland.
I have been very busy and I have a pile of email that I have not responded to, plus at least one interview that I am (probably) really late in getting done.
If you've emailed me in the last couple of weeks with a official request for the Secret of Monkey Island and promised not to tell anyone and I have not gotten back to you: I will.
Clayton and I were supposed to jet off to Paris this week to meet with a publisher, but had to cancel because I got sick. The trip has been postponed until next month. I was looking forward to some wine and stinky cheese. I love stinky cheese.
I was also going to write a big long "thing" on the Casual Game Conference that I went to...oh...months ago, but never got around to it. I think I was just too depressed. I was hoping that the publishers of causal games would be more willing to take risks, given that the amount of money they are paying is less than the catering budget of a main-stream game. If main-stream games had catering budgets. But all these "new" publishers are looking for is the next Bejeweled. Forget talking about any new business models. They aren't interested. "$19 with a 60 minute try-to-buy and don't talk to me about anything else". Dammit. Then the pushing and shoving would start and someone would call the cops and by this point I'd figure the deal was blown.
I was also amazed that for a business who's primary market is 35 year-old women, there were mostly men on the panels. But I guess that's par-for-the-industry. I was hoping casual games would be different, but it's just a smaller version of it's screwed up drunk older cousin.
I went to a gathering of Bay Area game developers last week (or was it the week before) and got to meet some great people. As always, the talk turned to episodic content. Game people seem to love episodic content. I agree. Maybe someday it will be done right. Lots of hurdles from distribution to gamer mindset (oooooh...especially gamer mindset). I do believe it is the future of strong story based games, but it solves as many problems as it creates.
Been too busy programming and reading to play much.
A couple of loose ends:
1) I'm really annoyed by sites that have RSS feeds that only show the headline with not even a couple of paragraphs from the story. Like this is going to entice me to visit the site like some local news wanna-be scream for attention. Nope. I just move on, not bothering to read the rest of what was sure to be a brilliant life altering story.
2) Why is it that when you buy a bottle of coyote urine, it has to say "Not for Human Consumption"? Seriously. It says this. I'm looking right at it.

Other people's comments:
Posted by Björn on Aug 24, 2005 five to one am
But since this is not an adventure game: What the hey does one do with a bottle of coyote urine and why is something like this sold in the first place?
Posted by Pavel Dort on Aug 24, 2005 ten past one am
(not that I'd know that)
On the other hand - isn't it cool to be able to buy any kind of urine you desire? :-)
That's supply and demand at work there, I guess :-)
And I absolutely understand why they put "not for human consumption" on the label. Remember the lady who tried to dry her cat in a microwave? She claimed the manual didn't say "warning for the braindead: don't dry your cat in this or it's going to explode (unless you want it to)".
Posted by RodeoClown on Aug 24, 2005 twenty past two am
Or add a second feed that is?
I ask on behalf of the (surely) dozen of us who grab RSS feeds and read them offline (commuting to work)... it bites when you get halfway through something really interesting and then.... BAM
...more...
Posted by Ron Gilbert on Aug 24, 2005 ten past eight am
Clearly you're not talking about this site.
I just bumped the feed up a few weeks ago and once I see what the bandwidth is like, I'll move it to a full feed. There are a lot of people out there that pull the feed several times a minute (it's probably proxy servers).
Posted by MrTutu on Aug 24, 2005 five to three am
Posted by Greg on Aug 24, 2005 three am
Posted by JohnP on Aug 24, 2005 three am
There is so much potential beyond match 3 games. Given the creative freedom that the space offers I'm surprised at the sheer number of "me too" games. It does seem to be a smaller version of it's screwed up drunk older cousin.
Regarding episodic content, what are your thoughts on Tell Tale Games Bone game? http://www.telltalegames.com/
In the meantime, check out Ferry Halim's stuff. Simple games and beautiful to boot. Guaranteed to make you smile.
http://www.orisinal.com/
Posted by Francis on Aug 24, 2005 ten past three am
What are you programming ?
Posted by Jaded on Aug 24, 2005 quarter past three am
Posted by Francis on Aug 26, 2005 twenty five past two am
Posted by Carsten Pohl on Aug 24, 2005 quarter past four am
But think about it, there are 2 bigger publishers in Paris AFAIK. UbiSoft and Infogrames(Atari).
Just thinking about it I would bet my money on UbiSoft because they tend to be more courageous. They develop from time to time "newer" titles like PoP or Beyond Good and Evil or the anticipated King Kong. Additionaly UbiSoft seems to watch closely the community.
for example:
They hired the Penny Arcade guys to promote some of their games.
Mr. Gilbert, get well soon!
Posted by Redwall on Aug 24, 2005 half past four am
Posted by Ron Gilbert on Aug 24, 2005 ten past eight am
Who said they were paying for the tickets?
Well, apparently you do.
Posted by Robert Merritt on Aug 24, 2005 twenty past eight am
Posted by Carsten Pohl on Aug 24, 2005 ten to ten am
In my mind all fitted perfectly together. Lucasarts (like they did with Kotor and SWG) searched an outsourced development studio to develop a new MI game. They went to UbiSoft and UbiSoft itself as a result tried to hire the creator itself.
But that was perhaps only in my perfect "to good to be true" dream world.
Okay, dreaming on....
Posted by Francis on Aug 24, 2005 quarter past three pm
There shouldn't have been anything after Monkey Island 2 !!! The bilogy ended in a very elegant way that should have prevented any sequels.
Forget about sequels ! We need new stuff !!!
G.
Posted by Whup on Aug 25, 2005 ten past five pm
I'll second that! Whilst I'd love to play Ron's Monkey Island 3, I really, really can't wait to see what else he's got in mind.
I would have enjoyed a sequel to Full Throttle back in the day, but I'm sure glad Tim Schafer did Grim instead...
Posted by Hussard on Aug 26, 2005 five to three am
So in France there is an huge community which adore the Lucas Arts' legendary games (Day of the Tentacle, Monkey Island, Grim Fandango...) as you can see: www.freeoldies.com and www.abandonware-france.org.
Moreover Ubisoft was historically the distributor of Lucas Arts, it could be interested on editing and/or publishing such game.
But why not a game editor like Focus Home Interactive? ( www.focus-home.com ) which is growing very quickly and had a big success with Runaway, an adventure game. However Focus is "small".
So many questions...
- Hussard, a desperate houseplayer.
Posted by ClémentXVII on Sep 1, 2005 quarter to seven am
Posted by BitRabbit on Aug 24, 2005 five am
Posted by Pie-Rat on Aug 24, 2005 ten past five am
Posted by Dan Marshall on Aug 24, 2005 half past six am
d
Posted by Robert Merritt on Aug 24, 2005 twenty past eight am
Posted by TheSmashingPenguin on Aug 24, 2005 nine am
Posted by Francis on Aug 24, 2005 twenty past three pm
Posted by MickBim on Aug 25, 2005 quarter past four am
But Infogrames still sux...
Posted by mondaen on Aug 25, 2005 twenty five to three pm
Posted by Loredena on Aug 24, 2005 twenty to noon
Now, if you meant that all they will look at is match-3 games, I agree there is an issue :p
Posted by gabriel on Sep 11, 2005 ten past eight pm
i recall enjoying it for months. then one of them bought the real game. it didn't had a time limit option. we never played that.
gouranga!
Posted by failrate on Aug 24, 2005 twenty past two pm
Better aggregation. I will not go through most of these, because they're poorly organized, and they insist on rebranding the same group of games. This is confusing for me, because I generally follow a house's releases, not the publisher's.
Price-point. I will not pay 20 bucks for a casual game. It simply will not happen. Ever.
Posted by Whup on Aug 24, 2005 twenty to five pm
Now thats just cruel! ;)
Posted by Martin on Aug 24, 2005 half past five pm
I don't understand why you guys don't make them anymore & sell them yourselves, as a small venue, almost amateur-like, and begin to build a fanbase (or grab back all the fans you had) and afterwards, become more exposed, and then who knows, maybe the next sleeper-hit could be yours! if not then keep it simple, as a small profitable outfit, offering quality to fans.
Posted by Don Alsafi on Aug 24, 2005 ten to six pm
Is this serious? Is this an open offer? Pleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleaseplease.
Posted by Orta64 on Aug 24, 2005 five to eight pm
Posted by JP on Aug 25, 2005 one am
Posted by Jurie Horneman on Aug 25, 2005 five past midnight
Also, mainstream games have catering budgets. Mainstream games even have on-staff cooks - at least, I've cooked for the team during crunch periods. It motivated everyone to get their work done before dinner. Is it a good sign or a bad sign if a company has a crunch food delivery system, with a dedicated budget? Discuss.
Posted by bacon on Aug 25, 2005 nine am
It ensures the communication of a certain kind of desperate amicability in your product. Just like the best songs are only written at three in the morning. It's all related. And the cosmic dance goes on...
Posted by Ron Gilbert on Aug 25, 2005 nine am
There is some truth to this.
Posted by Whup on Aug 25, 2005 five pm
I've always figured part of it comes from the fact you don't really have to be there. In my case at least, late night sessions meant you were doing the company a favour - and as a result music tended to get turned up louder, the secretary's rubber-band stocks got raided, and if you felt like doing the occasional lap in an office-chair you got away with it.
People can do some awesome stuff under the pressure of crunch, but it can only last so long. I guess everyone has a different limit, but a good manager doesn't let crunch last for too long (I suppose a good manager doesn't have to). Theres a very fine line between the guys feeling like they've banded together and accomplished something amazing (a very good feeling), and the guys feeling like they're banging their collective heads against the wall.
Posted by Nadj on Aug 25, 2005 twenty to three am
Posted by Carsten Pohl on Aug 25, 2005 twenty five to four am
Okay, nothing noteworthy, but the engine is basically open, and there are a lot of Mods available. One of them is the
Day of the Tentacle Final Fight style game called Return of purple Tentacle
all graphics seem to be ripped :(
Posted by Steven van de Graaf on Aug 25, 2005 ten past seven am
Posted by Vark on Aug 25, 2005 ten to five pm
You can buy it on Amazon of all places. Or other various Traditional garden centers.
Posted by Francis on Aug 26, 2005 quarter past two am
brrrrr !
Posted by Steven van de Graaf on Aug 25, 2005 ten past seven am
Posted by DonKid on Aug 25, 2005 ten to eight am
I really hope that Monkey Island 5 can be released.
Best Regards,
DonKid.
Posted by Andy on Aug 26, 2005 half past three am
Next year, the conference is being divided into different tracks. This will help a great deal with people seeking those with the info that they crave.
I didn't get the "Ook ook ook. Three match good." vibe from the developers. Rather, I confirmed that we're all racking our brains (and MAME, and Apple and Atari and Amiga emulators) to find something fresh for our audience. We're exploring new art styles and music, and looking for stuff that hasn't been seen in a while, or unusual combinations, or even outright original stuff.
The most depressing thing I learned was that the casual audience doesn't care about originality. A clone is indistinguishable from a sequel, for the most part. BUT! The most exciting thing that I learned about the casual audience is that they'll play anything that is accessible and purchase it if it's fun.
I'll admit to some knockoffs. Anyone who has been gaming for a couple of decades will recognize Sandlot's hits for what they are: updated classics. But these games have allowed us the breathing room to experiment, and put out some original titles next year.
In fact, I regularly ask my coworkers, "What if we get Ron Gilbert to write for us?"
P.S. Regarding the observation on the lack of 30something women at the CGC, it was organized by 30-something women!
Posted by Ron Gilbert on Aug 26, 2005 nine am
Different tracks will be nice.
Then why did they invite a bunch of pasty-white guys to do all the panels?
Posted by Sqorgar on Aug 26, 2005 quarter past eight am
It may seem that way, but it's not true. Just look at the success of Katamari Damacy. The casual audience doesn't appear to care about originality because they are so rarely faced with it. Without true originality by which to judge things by, people will take even the most minute differences to mean originality - and frankly, when the difference between an original game and a tried and true game is that small, it doesn't matter to anyone.
As Citizen Kane said, "People will think what I tell them to think". People who make original games tend to forget that they need to sell this idea to people through propaganda. We think marketing is this dirty word, and when it is used to control the design of games, it really is. However, if you want people to play original games, you must first make original games and then sell them to the people. If the casual gamer doesn't think originality is important, it's because nobody has told them it is. That much, we can fix. The lack of true originality in the game industry... well...
Posted by Andy on Aug 26, 2005 five past ten pm
Familiarity and accessibility goes much farther with a Casual Audience than novelty or innovation, which are what are valued the most by people, like us, who spend a great deal of time playing games, and thus demand more from the experience.
Posted by Sqorgar on Aug 27, 2005 half past eleven am
I don't think the casual audience gives two craps about familiarity or originality - if they did, they wouldn't be the casual audience. Every game starts from zero and works from there due to some marketing. They buy what somebody takes the time out to tell them to buy, either through word of mouth, advertising (viral even), sequels to favorite games, or licensed games. All you have to do is take the time to tell them.
(Of course, I'm of the belief that no matter how easy it is to sell something to people, you should have something worthwhile to sell in the first place. Please don't think I'm suggesting that just because you can sell a tax cut to poor people, you should).
Posted by Ron Gilbert on Aug 26, 2005 five to nine am
I don't consider KD to be a "Casual Game", not in the context of this conference. Casual Games are all the stuff that is sold on Yahoo Games, etc. KD was sold in stores and appeared on a console machine. KD also had a marketing budget that far exceeded the development budget of all Causal Games.
So true, but the people with the money are unwilling to take these risks and just making an original game and not properly promoting it will result in it's failure, further reinforcing that original games don't sell in the minds of the people with the money.
Posted by Eric Lulie on Aug 26, 2005 ten to ten am
Posted by Ron Gilbert on Aug 26, 2005 ten am
Posted by Sqorgar on Aug 26, 2005 quarter past nine pm
I may also be the only person here that doesn't think selling is that difficult to do. I mean, even though I managed to monumentally screw up my public image due to some unfortunate run ins with powerful parties and sharing my extremist and unpopular political views, I still managed to create a website that drew a decent 17,000 readers each and every day with minimal advertising. If I did it again, knowing what I know now (and not carrying the public baggage), I could easily triple that number without breaking a sweat. If you have a good product, you almost can't not sell it (and believe me, I tried).
You want publishers to take notice, just do that. Create a webcomic or flash animation series that draws a huge crowd - then create a game based on that series. You've got a built in audience, and though it is a franchise license, you created and support the franchise to begin with so you still have creative control. Show a publisher that you've already got 50,000 potential buyers, and if you also sell merchandise like t-shirts, you could use the sales numbers from that to pad the resume or use it to aid funding the development. Think of the comic as a loss leader, indoctrining fans and creating loyal consumers before there's even a product to buy. Hell, worked for GI Joe...
Posted by ClémentXVII on Sep 1, 2005 ten to seven am
That's exactly what happened with Beyond Good and Evil (and a lot of other games). BGE is a masterpiece, but Ubisoft used all the marketing € (or $) to promote Prince of Persia. Thanks to this unusual promotion, the BGE sales were incredibly low, and although the story in BGE is meant to be a trilogy, and we have already follow-ups for Prince of Persia, the end of BGE is most likely never to leave Mr Ancel's mind...
Posted by Eric Lulie on Aug 26, 2005 quarter to eleven am
It seems, if the latter is the case, you're more-or-less stuck with Bejeweled clones...:-(
Posted by The_Raven on Aug 26, 2005 ten to eight pm
As for steam, I like the idea of its potential for distribution but I really have problems with the system itself as well as the way its currently being used. Since this isn't a topic about valve and crammin' their inconvenient/fustrating system down the customer's throat. Let's just say that the pirated version of Half-Life 2 is overall easier to use than the legitimate version.
Posted by Andy on Aug 26, 2005 twenty past ten pm
Steam is not the solution for the casual audience, because the Gateway Drug is Half-Life 2, and that's Just Not Casual. The Casual Gamer does their playing and shopping online, not in retail, and not in Steam.
Posted by jp-30 on Aug 28, 2005 twenty past nine pm
See...
Posted by The_Raven on Aug 27, 2005 twenty five past nine am
Posted by AndyB on Aug 31, 2005 four pm
Posted by The_Raven on Aug 31, 2005 twenty five past seven pm
Posted by Pakkun on Sep 1, 2005 twenty five past two am
Posted by Pakkun on Sep 1, 2005 twenty five to three am
Posted by Sqorgar on Sep 1, 2005 half past one pm
I didn't figure it out until I started making products that other people enjoyed and got the exact same responses from others. I had something to prove. It's like calling a gunfighter out. You respect the famous gunfighter, so defeating him actually means something to you. It's a way to elevate yourself to his level (possibly rise above it, even if just for a little while). Even though I understand it now, I still find what I said considerably rude and it haunts me still. There are people out there who deserve all the rudeness they get, but these guys didn't do anything to me. They were just striking up conversation.
I'm not saying that this applies to you. It just sort of reminded me of the perils of being a public figure and why I gave it up. I now live in a cave throwing forks at people. Sharp forks.
Posted by The_Raven on Sep 1, 2005 ten to eight pm
Questions I've wanted to ask Ron
Ron is Tim Schafer really as funny in person?
Are you semi-retired now or working odds jobs? (Yes, I do know humongous/cavedog and that your looking for funding for you next game)
I know you've mentioned being a mostly C CS student being mostly one myself I was wondering if you have any retrospective advice?
Do you ever get tired of people asking about the secret of monkey island or questions in general?
*You can go about you're business. These are not the droids you're looking for.*
Posted by The_Raven on Sep 1, 2005 five past eight pm
Posted by Hadubald on Sep 2, 2005 twenty to noon
Posted by Andrew Wade on Sep 2, 2005 twenty five to nine pm
Posted by Hadubald on Sep 4, 2005 twenty to eleven am
Posted by 3headedMonkey on Sep 4, 2005 twenty to eleven am
Posted by Sebastys on Sep 5, 2005 five to six am
Now...why, instead of beeing a grumpy gamers, try to teach us something?(not what you are teaching right now).Like programming,coding,etics on game DEV,etc,etc...Show us you acknowledge.
That will be much interesant that reading you sad.
Maybe we can help you to make MI5 comes to life.
Sorry for my english, im spanish.
Thanks for all those years Rob. Bye.
Posted by Mo on Sep 5, 2005 five to five pm
Posted by Mark on Sep 6, 2005 five to eleven am
(I'm eccentric).
Posted by Gabriel on Sep 11, 2005 five to eight pm
Posted by A French student on Aug 16, 2006 five to seven pm
Fist I appologize for my poor english...
Well I think we're all waiting for Monkey Island 5 and I wish to have it in my hands one day.
I think that piracy stories became fashionable thanks the movie "Pirates of the Carribean", and so I guess that selling Monkey Island 5 now, or even making a movie based on the game could be a really great success.
I really hope that you'll think about it (Owh sorry for my bad english again, I hope I used the good words to explain myself)
Good continuation !!!! :)