Wow, that was depressing, but sums up the game industry better than a hundred GDCs. The power of animation :)

Wanna hug?

Oh the desparation among the fans of point 'n click seems to be at the very bottom as "we" speek. We'll see if Ankh relieves that desparation. I was wondering how many times Ron the Man has already proposed next Monkey for Lucasarts? Or any other adventure games for any publisher. laughing

Telltale games is trying, but the Bone they released a while go is NOT the answer. Thumbs up that they will go with the orginal plans about the Sam & Max sequel, cause those screenshots looked like more than promising, the prerendering is done well (and 3d from the surroundings is left at the handshake, way to go!) and characters looks as cartoonish as they should.

Cool! I thought you stopped doing these.

There are still a few options for anyone wanting to make adventure games these days. Make a sample game, get it downloaded by a million people, and then go shopping for a publisher. Or maybe try mimicing the business models of other companies that make adventure games.

The business models of most companies that make adventure games are similar to compaines that make other games, except with less creativity. Witness: anything by The Adventure Company.

Teh irony!

And then people wondered what happened to the genre. Yeah, keep blaming Myst...

Grumpy doesn't actually say he wants to make an adventure game. I think this is about what happens when you pitch anything with an ounce of humor these days.

it just goes to a list of the comic thumbnails, and clicking on any of the thumbnails just results in re-loading that page. Is it broken?

These are always a delight. Thanks Ron for making getting up today worthwhile.

Santa Claus/Father Christmas is a jerk.

...But the comic was great!

The animation kind of reminds of that film Bad Santa....

Except that he's sobered up and just happens to fund computer games....

(and now people pee on him!!)

.......................................................
These guys are doing a few interesting things these days........

http://www.himalayastudios.com/

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Way, way too much truth to be funny.
Geez, Ron, hit all our pain points in one go.
Brutal, dude.  Just brutal.

Why do y'all think that Ron Gilbert is making a graphic adventure game?

He's not. Please tell us, Grumps, that you're not, so that you can infuriate the mass fanboyism! Or maybe you are... :o

Haha, that was just ace, Ron. That'll keep me going today! Great stuff :)

So true... sooo... true...

Ron is a god, he's time spending is superial to us mortals, if he wishes not make any adventure games anymore, then we shall respect that

Pie Iesu Ronus, Dona Eis Requiem

Ron is obviously pitching a space opera about pre-pubescent birds trying to make their way in this cerazy universe.

The other problem besides companies not supporting creativity, of course, is games like Psychonauts, which recieved the full support of Majesco - to the point where the company practically went broke marketing the thing - and fail spectacularly anyway.

Hey Clayton K!  Hoped I could track you down here.  New email address.  Merry Christmas!  Take heart, the kids still think the world of Vince....

Hey Ron why don't you put a Donations/Paypal thingie on your website, to start raising funds for beer, hot-dogs, movies, or even.... game ideas! or even online comics!
(not sounding whimsical at all)

I'd give some money for a game instead of for a car...

money for a game? you could make a great adventure game or a whatever game realy that will reach a vast community for no charge at all just a good amount of devotion.look here

I'd donate too... Give it a try! ;)

Sharp and quick ;) Reminds me the old times dialogues in adventures...

A lost art.

I felt that, too!

Thanks Ron for this latest installment. Look forward to GG10 which hopefully includes the purchase of a new Ron gilbert adventure game!

omg that was awsome! I am one of those idiots who wants to pull a development team out of a hat to do my bidding.

Adventure is not dead, is just keeping a low profile, with some exceptions.

Best adventure I played not long ago came from Pendulo Studios, Runaway, and it didnt go really straight, no publishers outside Spain but with a slow pace they go releasing it in serveral countries with a lot of success in Germany and French, afaik.

They are about to launch  Runaway 2, wich Im looking forward to.. google a bit and youll find the christmas teaser video.

sorry to get grumpy, but i was shocked how bad an adventure runaway was. i dropped it only after a few screens of "everything cool but the actual adventure part". it's all patched up and the adventure is thrown in, instead of basing it around the adventure!

I guess, the concept of this comic works in many genres, not just games-industry. Have a look at music-billboard-charts. The RIAA and IFPI keep selling the same 5 tracks over and over again. The same goes for the games-industry: Fear, Doom, Halflife - everything seems to be the same for me (okay, I just play PaC-Adventures, usually)

There are a lot of cool ideas but as the companies are led by managers and not by creatives, those ideas will vanish like root-beer in a ghost...

It was time! Great news Grumpy Gamer is back!!

Tragically hilarious :D :D :D

I hope that Santa, and all the ignorant 'suits' he symbolises, have a really REALLY great Christmas and a wonderful blessed time with their family and friends, and not, for example, get too drunk and dive headfirst into their aunt Agatha's glass coffee-table...

Merry Christmas everybody.
The one time in every year when we should definitely not be grumpy.

A new Grumpy comic!

Weeeeee!!!

Merry kissmas to you and your loved one(s)!

If you could be bothered, you could make a low-key game with a home-built engine, ask some people to do artwork etc. and release it for free. You'd get millions of downloads without question and it's better than chatting to your thumbs while you wait for knock-backs. Plus, nobody would care if the graphics were shoddy. In fact a lot of 'em would probably prefer it that way. So, in conclusion, do something.

LMAO! I love that last part!

I loved it!

So much smarter than the stale, kiddie stuff that is so popular today (such as Penny Arcade)...