If I Made Another Monkey Island
Yeah, I know, that sounds like the title of the O.J. Simpson book. I realized that after I typed it, but I'm not going to change it.
So, before I get into this fanciful post, I want to make one thing perfectly clear... actually, I'm just going to make it my first point. It's probably the most important one. Actually, I'll make it the first two points.
One - I am not making another Monkey Island. I have no plans to make another Monkey Island. I am not formulating plans to make another Monkey Island.
Two - Let me say that again. There is no new Monkey Island in works and I have no plans to make one. I'm just thinking and dreaming and inviting you come along with me. Please your keep your hands inside the boat at all times. No standing or you might get wet.
But, If I made another Monkey Island...
Three - It would be a retro game that harkened back to Monkey Island 1 and 2. I'd do it as "enhanced low-res". Nice crisp retro art, but augmented by the hardware we have today: parallaxing, depth of field, warm glows, etc. All the stuff we wanted to do back in 1990 but couldn't. Monkey Island deserves that. It's authentic. It doesn't need 3D. Yes, I've seen the video, it's very cool, but Monkey Island wants to be what it is. I would want the game to be how we all remember Monkey Island.
Four - It would be a hardcore adventure game driven by what made that era so great. No tutorials or hint systems or pansy-assed puzzles or catering to the mass-market or modernizing. It would be an adventure game for the hardcore. You're going to get stuck. You're going to be frustrated. Some puzzles will be hard, but all the puzzles will be fair. It's one aspect of Monkey Island I am very proud of. Read this.
Five - I would lose the verbs. I love the verbs, I really do, and they would be hard to lose, but they are cruft. It's not as scary as it sounds. I haven't fully worked it out (not that I am working it out, but if I was working it out, which I'm not, I wouldn't have it fully worked out). I might change my mind, but probably not. Mmmmm... verbs.
Six - Full-on inventory. Nice big juicy icons full of pixels. The first version of Monkey Island 1 had text for inventory, a later release and Monkey Island 2 had huge inventory icons and it was nirvana. They will be so nice you'll want to lick them. That's a bullet-point for the box.
Seven - There would be a box. I imagine most copies would be sold digitally, but sometimes you just want to roll around in all your adventure game boxes. I know I do. Besides, where would you store the code wheel?
Eight - There would be dialog puzzles. They weren't really puzzles, but that's what we called them. Being able to tell four jokes at once and meander and getting lost in the humor of a conversation is the staple of Monkey Island. No one has done it better since. Just my opinion.
Nine - I would rebuild SCUMM. Not SCUMM as in the exact same language, but what SCUMM brought to those games. It was a language built around making adventure games and rapid iteration. It did things Lua could never dream of. When Lua was in High School, SCUMM beat it up for lunch money. True story. SCUMM lived and breathed adventure games. I'd build an engine and a language where funny ideas can be laughed about at lunch and be in the game that afternoon. SCUMM did that. It's something that is getting lost today.
Ten - It would be made with a very small team. Not 30 or 20, but 10 or less. It means the game would take longer, but it would be more personal and crafted with love. Monkey love. Wait... that's not what I meant...
Eleven - The only way I would or could make another Monkey Island is if I owned the IP. I've spent too much of my life creating and making things other people own. Not only would I allow you to make Monkey Island fan games, but I would encourage it. Label them as such, respect the world and the characters and don't claim they are canon. Of course, once the lawyers get ahold of that last sentence it will be seven pages long.
Twelve - It would be called Monkey Island 3a. All the games after Monkey Island 2 don't exist in my Monkey Island universe. My apologies to the all talented people who worked on them and the people who loved them, but I'd want to pick up where I left off. Free of baggage. In a carnival. That doesn't mean I won't steal some good ideas or characters from other games. I'm not above that.
Thirteen - It won't be the Monkey Island 3 I was going to make in 1992. I'm not the same person I was back then. I could never make that game now. It is lost to time. Hopefully this one would be better.
Fourteen - The press won't get advanced copies. I know all the reasons they want to get a game in advance, and they are all valid, but I feel they should play it at the same time you do. I hope they won't be mad at me. My Metacritic score hopes they won't be mad it me.
Fifteen - It would have full voice. It's something we dreamed of back then and we can do it now.
Sixteen - If I used Kickstarter, there would be no fancy videos of me trying to look charming (as if I could). No concept art or lofty promises or crazy stretch goals or ridiculous reward tiers. It would be raw and honest. It would be free of hype and distractions that keep me from making the best game I could. True, I wouldn't raise huge sums of money or break any records, but that's not what I want to do. I want to make a game.
Seventeen - The game would be the game I wanted to make. I don't want the pressure of trying to make the game you want me to make. I would vanish for long periods of time. I would not constantly keep you up-to-date or be feeding the hype-machine. I'd show stuff that excited me or amused me. If you let me do those things, you will love the game. That, I promise.
I hope you've had as much fun reading this as I had writing it.
Did anyone else ever notice that the giant monkey head was attached... to a giant monkey body? Creepy stuff.
Yes I would love a new MI, but I also hope for a new game created by Ron. A grummpy game made by the grummpy gamer.
Sorry, my englisch is crap...
I looked at the box art for MI2 today and compared it with MI3, The same theme is there, but I really don't like the "Cartoon" look. I know that with the higher res stuff, creating those nicely rendered semi-realistic (close ups of certain conversations in MI1 were excellent) images is hideously time consuming, but the time taken to make the whole thing a bit less "goofy" would be awesome.
I thought that sword fighting was really great in MI1, but wasn't too keen on it being recycled in the later games. That puzzle was done, that joke was had, and it was time to move on.
MI1 and 2 were great because they were mostly In Setting, and then took the anachronisms and used them as gags, they're everywhere in the later games. I love everything about the first two games.
I don't have much money, but I swear I'd find a way to sink a couple of hundred dollars in if Gilbert did MI3a. Those games were my childhood and I still go back to play them. (admittedly on steam as I no longer have a floppy drive)
I know you're not going to do it. But Do It.
There is a lot of people waiting for this, of course i`m one of theese, i rise up whith this games i whis one day you will start this project i will be there.
Sorry my english :'(
Come on Ron¡¡
You know a Monkey Island kickstarter would go through the roof. The Neverhood guys are doing a kickstarter game!
For the benefit of future generations - give us your masterpiece.
its funny to read that you did not count any monkey island after 2 into the "canon.
Neither did i, somehow when playing the "third part" there was this feeling "something is not right"
and still i am riddled on how the second part continues and ....what IS the SECRET of Monkey Island ? ;)
MI 1 and 2 are part of a transcendent classic. There's as much to love and learn from this series as there is in a classic movie like Casablanca or a Monet painting.
Maybe we don't see it this way as a culture yet, but someday we will. MI is beautiful and you would be letting everyone including your own legacy down if you give up on this!
Great minds shall overcome their obstacles!
I love the idea of "intimate development" Something else we've lost in the mess of multi-million dollar budgets and greenlight fodder.
Independent my tooth, what ever happened to well funded passion?
2. Kickstarter
3. Shut up and take my 2000 USD
I'm sure there's more like me, I love the fact that you'd like to keep the same resolution! :)
Ps. <3
One such comparison:
A particular pet peeve of mine with modern games is the use of very generic/bland typefaces (even the old favorite MTG just changed their cards typeface to look as if they were shipping labels instead of illustrated fantasy - I'm not the only one who noticed this mismatch), where as old games with bitmap typefaces had custom ones that felt appropriate for the context.
Some old games with many "alien races" like Star Control 2 made their aliens feel unique not just by looks and personal score, but by having unique typeface. That added so much character that when I first heard the voice acted version it felt disappointing in comparison - I've since learned to like some of the voices a lot but I feel that voice acting is often done on budget in these indie adventure games and they might be better off by using variety of typefaces without voice acting.
" I long wanted a proper Star Control sequel " meant to continue that I think even if the original team was doing it, since they've not done one in a long time, logic tells me that things would go similarly as in a recent kickstarter of old IP - the kickstarter game turned out to get mediocre reviews but the sequel to that got reviewed very well.
So I think it would be less risky to do a practise round with starting up small with new IP (small and effective like Samorost 1) before doing the bigger thing like sequel to old IP with more expectations, or just a bigger game in general (Machinarium). I know there's been a ton of adventure games in past few years but I looked at all of them in YouTube and so far only Amanita Design seem to have the kind of thing going on that opens up my wallet - you can see from just one screenshot that there's true perfectionists working on there. I didn't fund LSL1 remake in Kickstarter since it was plain obvious from a single screenshot that they didn't have what it takes and the reviews were mediocre. And we already had good enough VGA remake of LSL1 so that was not needed either.
You may say: "What if I could not earn enough money from the Kickstarter?".
Well you could use them for a new game, different from MI, but with same ideas you listed above.
Let's be honest here: 90% of videogames nowadays sucks, and I think it's because during last 15 years game developers completely forgot the main goal of a game. Something that, on the other hand, we can find in almost all of the productions from 80's and 90's. I know that you know what I'm talking about. I can't just understand how much you have been "corrupted" by "the ideas of the third millennium", and if you still care for people like me.
By the way, i'm 24 and I grew up not just with Lucas and Sierra games, but with those coming from Nintendo and Sony too; however I can honestly tell you that what I got from you, and from people who have worked with, has been unique.
Making a jump into the past would may change our future. Thanks for reading, and sorry for my not perfect english.
Any news about that 23 years awaited idea...?
Then "someone" would release an asset pack substituting the names to the ones we would really like to see.
No one would of course know where said package came from if asked. ;-)
I don't see how any lawyers could object to that.
You'd still make money of of the game and you would probably make Disneys interest in the franchise null.
Take care
hehhehe
So, who wants to join the dream team?
cheers!
It's a plan!
It's got verbs. It's got sharp pixel retro charm. And takes advantage of some technical feats we have today.
It is a dream come true.
Thank you. Stay grumpy ;).
And maybe, when you are done with Thimbleweed Park, just maybe, you feel like working with David Fox to create a spiritual successor to Zak. And maybe, just maybe, after that ...
... after that ... uh ... after that stupidity epidemic ...
Well after this, there could knock a spiritual successor to Monkey Island on the door.
Ofcourse you are able to buy the rights. "they dont sell" isnt true.
You should own the rights, an entire generation (or two) thinks this is fair and true. And this generation have money now.
Dont forget that!
Make the game, and call it monkey island 3. Not "3a"
Kickstart what?
Kickstart this: "Buy the rights back - Monkey island"
200'000 usd?
500'000 usd?
1'000'000 usd?
Whats their price?
5'000'000 usd?
50'000'000 usd?
If Chris Roberts managed to crownfund 65 MILLION USD by selling spaceships in a game that isnt made yet, need i rant more?
Dont underestimate yourself or the true power of Monkey Island.
When you visit the other side, the rights should be with you!
// Legal council of LeChuck
missed out on playing no. 4 and played MI 5 full series.
the whole MI 5 series is seriously lacking in my opinion, there's just not that much attention to detail put back in it as MI 1 - 3 had. it just prompted me to reminisce on how good previous gags were and the level of intuitive jokes. this wasnt my point but whatever.
the majority of those points aren't useless mr MI Maker. make a new game, rebuild scumm feed it to kickstarter, allow it to be sold via steam (ideally) be honest, have a small team make a game you'll love crowd funding shouldnt b too hard, youve got a fan base somethere. at least maybe they can have the game earlier than the rest or something. so the hardcores and the press can fund you (why not have the press pay you for early access? ) MI is dead, pheonix a new game in its ashes. have the game style just like you wanted for MI. LoVe it
Disney need to let the IP go for a token figure.
The Secret of Monkey Island was the very first game I played as a kid on my 386 all those years ago and I have never loved a game as much since.
I played all of the Monkey Island series, even the awful MI4, and none of them can touch the original two.
I would give my right arm to see MI3a!
Ow, my head. The pain from 1992 is starting again.
Two. If the fact that I plan on buying the game makes it a game, I think I might do just that. Except I'm not buying it, but I might.
Three. Is Monkey Island 3a one of those annoying houses that has been converted into maisonettes? The island will probably be rented out to council tenants, in which case I wouldn't not buy it.
Four. Even though you're not making it, you should make it. That is how you get a head in business after all.
Five. Employ me. But don't.
I just want to say that I am a BIG fan of Monkey Island. I have played "The Secret Of Monkey Island" a few dozens of times and never got bored. I have to admit "The Curse Of Monkey Island" was pretty good as well. I know that Ron wans't involved but the game had the main ingredients... However, I can not say the same about the "Escape"... and please don't mention the Tales because that is not Monkey Island.
I am surprised that Disney does not want to sell their rights... and more surprised I am to know that they don't have plans to continue working with them... It is a shame...
I hope I can play another Monkey Island (with the same soul of the first two) in a few years...
I am sure we could gather some signatures to bring back Monkey Island...
in our best dreams.
Shouldn't it be "you WOULD love the game", if there are absolutely no plans on making one?
The list sounds pretty good, except for the 'full voice'. I HATE voice acting in games. Games are not movies. Games should be 'full of options, directions and choices for the PLAYER (not watcher/listener) to do and choose from', whereas a movie is just 'a linear story'.
Some of even the 'classic games' are structured like 'wannabe movies' instead of 'games'. There was a diagram in some old computer game magazine (from 1983, possibly), where this point was made visually - a game was lots of different lines going from different points to each other, and the player was free to move via any line to any point, but a story was just one line going through the points with no variation.
This whole 'voice acting' brings problems and it detracts from the immersion. When things are silent, you are more 'present', you can dive more deeply into the game. A voice constantly interrupts you, making you HAVE to listen to possibly a voice you can't stand, saying always the same thing in the same exact tone. So every time you make a mistake, you have to hear the same, annoying: "I can't do that."
With a text, there's no tone, so there is no annoyance. It's just text. You can just calmly accept that something didn't work.
There's also the fact that voice distances you from imagination - you now no longer have the option of imagining the voice differently each time you play, or the option to just not even imagine any voice, or the option to just deal discussions as 'discussions' instead of 'voice actors punching your eardrums with soundwaves constantly'.
Besides, there's the problem that DOTT talkie version made clear (and I think even the non-talkie-version's talkative intro); the voice actors would have to be 100% attuned to the game, the situation, and everything, to be able to express things correctly. Hoagie emphasizes the WRONG WORDS sometimes, and so do the other voice actors, and it becomes an annoying chore to have to correct them in your head, and also pulls you out of the immersion of gameplaying, because now you are no longer thinking about the game and feeling its atmosphere, but you are thinking about some moronic, big-egoed, greedy wage-slave with gimmicky clothes, sitting in a badly air-conditioned studio, reading some script to a microphone, and some director saying: "Ok, thats's good, everyone, lunchbreak!" after they have rushed that line in, and no one bothers to check whether it was actually the right intonation for the situation.
There are so many problems with 'voice acting in games' that I wish I could just obliterate the whole phenomenon, so I wouldn't have to try to explain all of them.
But I hope this post at least clarifies the surface of some of them.
If there's going to be such a game (why not Maniac Mansion 2a instead? It's more exciting to explore a mansion than some generic jungle islands, and I felt this way even when the recently-bought The Secret of Monkey Island box was opened by my greedy hands for the first time), perhaps the voice acting can be at least OPTIONAL?
And my humble request; if such a game is made, please include at least a small mansion in it (TSOMI has a one (1!)-room mansion, so it wouldn't really have to have that many rooms to be already much better).
Maniac Mansion made me love mansions, and then I never got to explore them in adventure games again.. sort of a shock and trauma.
I'd love to hear more about the classic SCUMM, how it really worked and what made it so great to work with, as well as how would you improve it today.
(Yes, I know SCUMMVM is there but it's more aimed to emulation rather than getting the feeling of how programming with SCUMM was back in that time)
This!
Everything has a price and I think Disney isn't making money with MI . But more than that I think that the only way for them to make money with MI is exactly selling the IP to you. :)
PS: Apologies for my english! :
I, as probably all of those who get to this post... I wish you got back MI's IP. Even if you don't want to develop MI3a.
"No tutorials or hint systems or pansy-assed puzzles or catering to the mass-market or modernizing."
That made my day! Hahahahaha!
Peace...
"Seventeen - [...] I would not constantly keep you up-to-date"
Glad that you overruled this point!
Keeping us informed is a precious gift for all of us!
Thank you, Ron!
At some point, Disney will just plain lose interest in the Monkey Island IP, and be happy to make the necessary transactions required for you to procure the appropriate rights. At that time, you can make some historic announcement that will be broadcast on all major news networks, that the time for raising kickstarter funds has arrived. And then...the work will begin, and the true Monkey Island 3 will be concocted in all it's 2d glory and the world will rejoice.
That's my premonition and I'm sticking to it.
Sincerely, ChuckLe, resident clown of the Big Whoop amusement park.
Big, juicy, creamy, fresh from the cow's udder icons in the inventory. I loved seeing those icons in Monkey Island 2 and the more colour the better.
I agree with that guy that was saying no voice acting. Please...please don't use true voice and if you must, please find another Guybrush voice actor. Guybrush is kind of a whimp sometimes but not a total whimp like Dominic portrays him as.
Text leaves so much more to the imagination.
And finally...more MIDI music done by Michael Land. That's a big ask and maybe Land isn't even in the game anymore but if he could join you....he would make a powerful ally.
Regards, ChuckLe.
- When Pirates of the Caribbean came out, many people saw it as MI rip-off. Now that Disney owns MI IP, their PotC is secured from future attacks. So, they will never sell the MI IP to Ron.
- They couldn't license it either to Ron because by doing that, they would diminish the value of the MI IP for 2 reasons:
Everything from MI3+ would be considered non-canon and lose value
They would admit that MI is nothing without Ron as a pilot
Please, prove me I'm wrong!!!
I am rubber you are glue.
LONG LIVE GUYBRUSH THREEPWOOD!