When you read posts like this, and also the previous, linked one [1], you can clearly see that Ron is a smart and humble guy. I really dislike the fan mob that it's starting the hate because RTMI is not going to be a throwback and retro-game.<p>> Monkey Island 1 and 2 weren't pixel art games. They were games using state-of-
the-art tech and art.<p>This is SO true, and as much as I loved those games, as much as I stopped playing modern videogames and as much as I love the style of Thimbleweed Park, going forward for an artist like Ron is what _defines_ an artist. If you like MI1 and Mi2, just play MI1 and MI2 again as I do from time to time. Just like you would watch again a movie from the '70s or listen to the Beatles. But you cannot ask an artist to stay always the same because you loved their first works.
I love this post. I know a decent amount of indie devs, I also have done some hobby game development myself. I see this alarming trend of devs and small studios that are, what I would call, hyper engaging with their players. I get it, the players are important, you want to sell the game, you want people to play it. But, the entitlement and feedback I have seen from some players is just ridiculous. Most players don't have the fist clue as to what makes a good game, or just how hard it actually is to make games. I feel like this post was very elegant way of basically saying "Shut the hell up, it's my game, I don't care what you want, I am making this game primarily for me. This is my art, and my way of expressing myself and sharing it with the world, this is not a collaboration. If you like it great, if you don't, oh well.", but in a much more palatable and acceptable manner.
It's a bit ironic that he says he was not really a fan of Day of the Tentacle's "Chuck Jones" art style, when the screenshots for his upcoming Return to Monkey Island are all very specifically that 90's-infused Chuck Jones style - multiple skewed perspective lines in a scene, extreme avoidance of curves (rendered instead as polygonal outlines, so to speak).<p>The art style for his new game is rather ironically nostalgia-laden in probably an unintentional way: it's deep nineties pop art, ala "Xtreme", etc.<p><edit>
This interview article has a number of screenshots that demo this:
<a href="https://www.theverge.com/2022/4/14/23021974/return-to-monkey-island-ron-gilbert-dave-grossman-interview-screenshots" rel="nofollow">https://www.theverge.com/2022/4/14/23021974/return-to-monkey...</a>
This is one of the few cases where I'll just buy it, I don't even care what good decisions he is making.<p>I've played Thimbleweed Park and loved it, brought back a lot of memories.
I have incredible memories of playing MI1, and to a lesser extent, MI2 (never finished - no Internet back then and these games were tricky). I think it is very cool he is getting to make the game he wants, and I do the same with my development work (it is always for me, if someone else likes it...bonus). I'll reserve judgement until release, but I personally don't like the art style...but who cares, I'm probably not his audience anyway (I stopped gaming years ago, but would probably pick up a copy if it was retro style - and then never play it anyway).
This reminded me of the amusing way the leas character (Guybrush) was named. Obligatory wiki linkage [1] but basically due to a Deluxe Paint filename convention.<p>[1] <a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guybrush_Threepwood" rel="nofollow">https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guybrush_Threepwood</a>
I love his Day of the Tentacle critique, it's basically what my grandma would say if she reviewed games.... "I'm sure what you've created might be good, but it's not my cup of tea at all... In fact..."
About the art, I think another perfect example is Grim Fandango. It was the first Lucasarts 3D adventure, at a time when the 3D (late '90) was a graphically inferior solution to 2D. However, they exploited the low polygon number, to give a special character to the models, like paper dolls. So the heresy of moving from 2D was instead a conscious artistic choice, strictly linked to the then-modern technologies.
Wait there is a new Monkey Island game (<googles furiously>)...<p>Growing up in Soviet Union and getting 100% games pirated through floppies, I played Monkey Island (funny), DoTT (funny ^2), Gobli[i|ii]ns, Space Quest (!star trek?), Gabriel Knight (scary!) and many other adventure games with fervor only lightly diluted by doing other things like programming.<p>My command of English wasn't so good. And being behind a (slowly falling apart) iron curtain, the cultural references were often completely over my head. I didn't understand half of the jokes in Monkey Island, I didn't get all the Star Trek references in Space Quest although I do now, and I was completely unsure what was the deal with the Cherry tree and Franklin (oh wait was it Washington) joke in the Day of the Tentacle, but I rolled with it. Doing it all made my english so much better, and so profit!<p>But those games were still amazingly awesome and I'll be getting the return of Monkey Island sight unseen!
Ron you really should not be bashing your oldest most hard core fans.<p>Monkey Island 2 is a masterpiece. The 2D hand drawn style and animation are a huge part of it.<p>I'll take any Monkey Island sequel, but if you take a closer look at say the Tales of Monkey Island sequels, you'll see what people are worried about.<p>Monkey Island 4 was TERRIBLE. Fully 3D and tank controls. Tales of Monkey Island was great but completely ruined by terrible tank controls.<p>A proper Monkey Island games needs to be
1. Point and Click
2. Have excellent puzzle design and structure
3. Ideally 2D hand drawn art and animation
4. Least important, Pixelated style like MI2 or Loom<p>People who are critizing the trailer are worried we're getting another Tales of Monkey Island or Monkey Island 4.<p>As long as you nail #1 (proper point and click controls) I think you will still make a better Monkey Island sequel since Curse of Monkey Island
The Curse of Monkey Island is my favorite game, I am honored to read this post and blog. Thanks HN!<p>I still remember the part of the game where Guybrush was stuck in a quicksand, I remember it took me days to figure the solution out.
The game looks stunning, and I'm happy about the direction they have chosen graphically.<p>What I am most excited about is what new game design and mechanics we might get to see. I'm hoping it will be more than raw point and click, and hopefully will involve more mechanics for puzzle solving.
> Roger Ebert had a great quote that I am constantly reminding myself of:<p>> "The muse visits during the act of creation, not before."<p>I'd never heard this before but this is an amazing quote.
for those demanding chunky pixels, you should try this version:<p><a href="http://deater.net/weave/vmwprod/monkey/" rel="nofollow">http://deater.net/weave/vmwprod/monkey/</a>
Fun games but did anyone read the footer on Ron's page? death by dismemberment!<p>"Unless otherwise noted, all content is Copyright 2004-2022 Ron Gilbert. Unauthorized use under penalty of death by dismemberment and/or fine not less than one million dollars. (v4.1)"
I just played thimbleweed park, and yikes what a horrible ending.<p>I'm very worried about Monkey Island now. Some authors NEED editors. I think Ron Gilbert needs the original team to help him on what works and what doesn't.<p>Even the original Chrono Trigger was going to be super depressing, if the original writer had his way on everything. I would have hated his version of it.
old 2d scumm is my favorite engine.
with all its weird stuff going on, the amount of imagination it has unleashed is next to magical. its like the amiga500 or c64. there is something about being limited as a creative person which sparks imagination. certain "things" do it better or worse. scumm should be seen as an instrument, not a tool.
Ron says "I never liked the art in DotT...never liked the wacky Chuck Jones style" but the first screens of RTMI looks exactly like that!<p>Not that I don't like that style, but I don't think it's a surprise for Lucas Art fans. Day of the Tentacle, Sam & Max, Fullthrottle weren't that far away (except with a lower resolution)
lucasarts had a string of hits that are timeless, dig, day of the tentacle, sam and max[had own tv show], and full throttle. great single player games that didn't require fast user clicks. you can go at your own pace.<p>it was like the studio Ghibli of the 90s
When he talks about pushing the art forward, I wonder if he is also talking about the art of game design. Is he going to show us a futuristic vision of the classic point & click gameplay, or is this part still stuck in the past?
> It's ironic that the people who don't want me to make the game I want to make are some of the hard core Monkey Island fans. And that is what makes me sad about all the comments.<p>I don't know. I can probably still finish monkey 1 and 2 without a walkthrough because I've played them many times. That makes me a fan right?<p>And I find the fake modern pixel art... boring.
I find it interesting that sequels in gaming are way easier than in movie business: game designers don't have to deal that much with stars ageing or dying, and voice actors are far easier to replace than on-screen ones. Though with deepfake technology this might be changing.
I feel like monkey island one and two was basically a very advanced "book" with basic animated illustrations. But you could still fill in a lot with your own imagination with the graphics of that time. Skip forward to any of todays games and they are way way closer to a movie then a book. Just like when any book is made into a movie there is a lot of hardcore fans that have a different mental model of their book and don't want it overshadowed by a movie. It is easy to avoid and not watch the "movie". I will be very happy to see a new game by Ron based on what he feels is his vision and not what the public wants.
We live in weird times.<p>Something amazing can happen (such as a new Monkey Island game) and there will always be an angry mob with pitchforks that will be very vocal about it on social media.<p>This probably was always the case, but the internet now serves as an amplifier of some sort of hype-based social feedback mechanism for ideas and opinions. This mechanism probably made sense 200,000+ years ago when groups were very small and it helped survival by promoting social cohesion. But today the internet connects billions of humans and it's a pretty toxic behavior.
I'd love the new design and i love the old games. I dont really see the point of doing a new game with the old tech. Its better to make a new game with new tech that brings it into 2022.