Grumpy Gamer

Did you play MI2 again to prepare for this?

Hahahahahah, that's hilarious. I really enjoyed the TWP podcast/stand-up meeting. It would have been great to have been able to get that fly on the wall experience with Return to Monkey Island too. But I understand it would have ruined the surprise. For a second there I thought the Dev Dairy was going to be a taste of that. 🤣

That's the second longest meeting with Disney I've ever seen.

Awesome! Loving the diary Ron :)
The first thing that came into my head was: 'You write like a diary farmer!'

USE "Unfinished Dev Diary" WITH "Ron Gilbert's Memories"

"That doesn't seem to work."

Bummer...

The concept of having a playable section as Elaine is intriguing. I would be interested to see that in the game, if you ultimately decided to run with that idea that is.  It would certainly shake things up a bit for the series, but I'd also be happy to just play as Guybrush.  Heck, I'll even accept a rock as the player character if need be.  I just want to play the game, dammit!

@St_Eddie

The Rock as a player character? Hells yeah! ;)

Yeah thats about how I do with diaries and Journals as well lol, unless of course the rest are all redacted due to story info etc which would be understandable. Either way thanks you for Sharing 😀

Having Replayed Thimbleweed a few times recently I definitely appreciated fast walk, turnable pixels and even smaller details like the cursor modifying with arrow points to indicate the room is scrollable etc.

My first few times playing I went hard into the retro features like the fonts and classic sentence line but on these recent playthroughs I made a point of not and I have to say I really appreciate the on-cusor placement and the modern fonts.
I may be a little over attached to the classic fonts, I have gotten "POINT" and "CLICK" tattooed on my fingers In them (mock my poor life choices 😉 I love them nonetheless), I however can't deny the sleekness of those new verbs... so pretty 😀

After Double click to run or click and hold to keep walking or  *gasp* repeatedly combining the two, going back to a static speed in the older titles is certainly noticeable.

I cant wait to see how much has changed since then 😀

I really think that MI3 was a great game.
No offense Ron :)
Maybe you felt the same while you homework ?
And it was localised and voiced in French with great actors ! I hope some ingredients can survive the return of MI. I just can't wait to open our present anyway.

MI3 is a good game. The only thing I didn't like about it was Guybrush and Elaine never should have gotten married. But what is done is done.

There's no need to have Elaine as a playable character.

Just do what you did in Monkey Island 2 and get Guybrush to wear a dress.

Problem solved.

Ron, do you have any rough ideas of what the system requirements for Return to Monkey Island will be?  I'm really scared that my ancient computer won't be able to run it.  I was easily able to run Thimbleweed Park, if that helps, as I'm aware that Return to Monkey Island uses the same engine. I'm not expecting you to provide official specs, but a general ballpark would hopefully put my mind at ease.

Actually, I may as well provide my specs...

OS: Windows 10 64-bit
CPU: Intel Pentium G3258 @ 3.20GHz
RAM: 8 GB
GRAPHICS CARD: 2047MB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750 Ti

One thing that has always stuck out to me about loom was the sheer number of verbs that that interface allowed, hell they had to come in a seperate pack-in book lol. I can see what you are saying in regards to the modern adventure UI status quo which has boiled down to the 2 options of look/interact. I really enjoyed how Delores handled verbs and wonder if it could allow for more specific interactions considering its not locked into a pre-existing verb bar.

this is all speculative nonsense however born purely out of excitement and wonder in regards to what you and team have done in RtMI 😀

@St_Eddie: That's the thing, the spells specifically *were* the verbs beyond the basic click to interact. You "Untwist" the stairs, "reflect" rusty, "terrorize" the dragon and "open" the sky. using musical notes as a code allowed them to not only not have all the verbs on the screen which would have required a scrolling verb panel but it also allowed you to unlock new verbs as the game progressed. Quite ingenious if you think of it that way

@St_Eddie: Oh I will definitely agree that the lack of an inventory simplified the puzzles and helps make the game much easier. Recent email correspondence with Brian Moriarty and many of his statements in regards to the game reaffirms that is was intended to be an easy and approachable game. My point was more directly that the interface allowed for more verbs than the typical 9-12 or so of the time

I always though Elaine and Guybrush's relationship should have been like Jon and Liz in the Garfield comics... so close to attainable, but never happens.  Of course the Garfield comics messed this up and married those two off as well. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

So far no MI had an interface I would consider good enough by todays standards.

Thanks for all the hard work Ron  and team. I thought life had peaked at the new Ghostbusters and Batman...then this announced. Cannot wait to book a week off work and drop completely off the radar like when TWP came out. :)

Ron are you trying to torture us on purpose? We are so thirsty for any info. First couple months of entries then nothing.

@Asterothe: This is the fully dev diary. I got so busy that I stopped updating it.

Ahahahahahah thank you Ron, truly. It  was  like reading the captain's log :)

Ok, so no Elaine as a playable character. How about Murray as a playable character. 😂

I've seen interviews in the past where you've been positive to Curse Of MI, so that didn't surprise me, but I always wish to hear you comments on Escape Of Monkey Island. Did you play it? How did you find it? What did you like and dislike about it?

Ah! It'd have been cool playing from Elaine's perspective. I love that in MI1 she actually didn't need Guybrush at all, as she already had a working plan - subverting the hero-princess trope. It'd be cool to know what Elaine was actually doing during MI1.

This was a fun read - reminds me a lot of the TWP updates, although it looks like it was harder to keep going without the readership.

So excited!! Any chance we can see one of those Puzzle Dependency Charts (with all spoilers blurred out of course!)?

MI3 is a good game, but as long as i played back then in the 90 I realized that something was missing. Only after I discover that I missed  those strange and "uncanny" vibes present in Monkey 1 and 2 , tipical of your style, and maybe of your soul of grumpy gamer.
I found again those vibes in The Cave and Timbelweed park, and I'm sure that there will be also in Return.

Can't wait to play it!

Hey, Ron, where did you find MI1, MI2, MI3 data files? Did you actually use pirated copies? Or do you own license for them?

Hello, I am relieved that Helaine is not controllable. I think we need to identify with one character at a time for more immersion. (I'm not against playing with Hélène in another game but not multiple characters. as someone here Hélène suggests in the first episode) in any case I am impatient to play and I will buy it with my eyes closed. Thank you for all the memories I have thanks to monkey island.

Good Morning.
I think the two ghosts seen in the teaser are Guybrush and Elaine (the latter, perhaps, could be Captain Morgan, resurrected as a ghost hunter - as foretold by the final scene of MI5x05). There are some clues to suggest this.
I also think that the smith will be employed as the hint system: who better than he to have fantasy in making something, except for a drawing artist?

Thanks to the Game Team for allowing us old-fashioned pirates to return once more to MI. :)

Still super excited!

The whole "That doesn't seem to work" affair is tricky. On one hand it's annoying and dull, but on the other I often understand if I'm on the right track when I don't read that standard response. So, it has a purpose, after all. I'm curious to see how you and Dave tackled the issue.

Had no problem with the Monkey Wrench puzzle in MI2.
Got stuck for more than a year on the dog with the maps.
I advanced by try everything in everything frustration.
It was like watching magic happening. I never thought what or where would work at that point.

All I can say is thank you to the entire team, and I find it comforting to know that this game has been developed even at the expense of the dev diary.

As to Elaine marrying Guybrush, I didn't understand it, either, neither from the perspective of the characters nor based on the story thus far. I might be able to understand it from the perspective of the developers, though, as follows:
(a) 𝘊𝘔𝘐 is fairly cinematic in a Disneyesque way, and in the absence of a promise of another sequel, a fairy-tale ending would be a logical choice (i.e., the guy gets the girl), even if it may seem rushed and out of the blue in retrospect;
(b) marriage was implied to be central to the Guybrush–Elaine–LeChuck relationship already by the first game, so that how else would Guybrush beat LeChuck, who's already dead and has been resurrected more than once, if not by being validated as a better man (i.e., the good guy crushes the bad guy and his dreams).

Everyone has a different interpretation. I can blame the first game for introducing marriage as a possible ending, and all sequels since 𝘊𝘔𝘐 as well as Gore Verbinski's films certainly support the idea that marriage as a prize can make a story more relatable.

However, I love the first two games especially because of how Guybrush was becoming insufferable, winking at the audience, like a child play-acting. Why would Elaine want any of that?

Ron, I'm really glad that "Return to Monkey Island" is not a "retro" game ... "RtMI" is exactly what I expected, an adventure game, a real adventure game.

Sad to hear about Playable Elaine and just as quickly to hear it got cut. That sounded rad as hell. Oh well, I guess that's one for the modders lol.

Ron, you said that making games in 2022 is a lot harder than in 1990.

Is it because of how structured the whole process is? Less freedom?
What do you think would simplify the process?

Thank you

Thanks for share this :)

One of the things I love MI over MM or TWP is that you only control one character. It helps me focus on the story and puzzles, and I feel I'm Guybrush and we travel the journey together to the end.

When I have to control more than one character I start thinking on what I have to do which every character, trying the same thing which every character to see if maybe I can't do it with one but I can with another one... So instead of thinking on the puzzle I start clicking around and trying again and again.

This didn't happend to me with DOTT as they where on different places separately one character from the other and just needed to send objects a few times.

Ok, maybe I'm getting old...

Anyway, I will love Return to Monkey Island if I only have to control Guybrush or more characters. (Hope just Guybrush!)

Ron's blogging again, that must mean that the release date of the game is on the horizon. 😀

As for Elaine marrying Guybrush: Come on, most of us were either teenagers or in our early twenties when we played the original games, so of course we all wanted Guybrush to get the girl in the end!

I didn't like Elaine and Guybrush getting married, although I could accept it I suppose as it's just what usually happens. A bigger problem for me was how they made the characters look. Guybrush and Elaine look so good in the first two, and increasingly daft and cartoonish in later games. That typical look (and then behaviour) of Elaine as a harridan was a betrayal of the character.

Yeah! @Stan's_Previously_Owned_Pixel_Art.

That brings me back. Did Elaine know LeChuck was down there with Guybrush? Was she, in fact, in cahoots with LeChuck? Collecting and substituting the dolly ingredients so it wouldn't kill him. Was she using LeChuck to get to win Big Whoop herself.

Hmm, I think there's more to this Elaine character than what the Governess WANTS you to think. She's is a pirate after all!

@DieSkaarj
Elaine using Lechuck to get Big Whoop would be amazing!!

@Rum Rogers
Yes! Played it on the Amiga first and then the PC later. Can't believe it misses that last line!


I know a lot of people didn't like the ending of MI2 but to me it is genius.

It's what separates Ron Gilbert from everyone else.

Instead of just ending on a happy note where the main protagonist wins and all the loose ends are tied up, it ends with more questions than answers.

Most importantly ... it makes you want more.

I think it's incredible that over 30 years later we finally get to see some of these questions answered ... or will we!!!

Thimbleweed Park is my second favourite adventure game of all time behind MI2. I want a Return To Thimbleweed Park after this one. I will give you two April Fools' to start working on it.   ;)

"Making good progress on design. I know we'll slow down when we have to do all the details. Looking forward to getting a concept artist. Things come alive for me when concepts start to come in."

Ah, so that's why you've ended up with an artists who doesn't really add any details, giving us a bland look like those old cheap Adobe Flash games?

Dearest Ron, i've just learned about your blog (this one) and I am amazed that I can read your thoughts and even a quote that I (as a writter) repeat to myself over and over again "The muse visits during the act of creation, not before". That is indeed a lighthouse.
Ron, you are an amazing person, an honest, creative spirit. I cant believe Return to MI is a reality. KUDOS to say the least.
I came to leave a big THANK YOU to your art, to your kind words, to what you made of adventure gaming. Im very, very grateful.
BTW, yes, "It would be fun to do a MI with Elaine is the playable character and Guybrush is the sidekick". Marley as the reckless one, Guybrush as a funny Sancho Panza. BIG HUG!

@Bertram - There won't be crowd funding for this game because the development is almost complete and it's being funded and published by Lucasfilm Games and Devolver Digital.

You forgot three entries
May 30th: Setup preorder page to get filthy Uncle Scrooge-like mountains of money
May 31st: Laugh hysterically as gamers from all around the world preorder your limited deluxe diamond mega edition containing mostly local rock samples.
May 32nd: Release the game!

Apart from that: screw the controversy, the real fans (TM) trust you! I had shivers listening to the music of the trailer.

@Ger - Blasphemy! Thimbleweed Park is an incredible game. I got serious withdrawal symptoms after completing it :(

Well I'm here because I love MI1 and Indy3. TWP was ok but was a bit forced. Like many ideas forced into one game. Maybe product of the brainstorm. It is also a serious game about mistreatment of people. Sandy mistreats Dave. Ray mistreats Reyes. Chuck mistreats his brother. Ransom mistreats everybody even the name of the Lord while swearing. Well, Im christian you know. Its more a plot for theater than for a game. MI was more fresh. I hope this MI gets that.

Purcell art would be awesome. Problem is, that apart from drawing all those frames, you also would need to animate on this level in order not to look uncanny. But there is hope, AIs will come in handy.

btw I'm really happy to hear that there are gonna be more obect interaction reactions. Adds more gameplay, replayability and just pure fun in just trying out random objects to it.

Oh, or is it gonna be more like in Thimbleweed Park where there is almost no standard "That does't seem to work" and every object just has ONE default fail reaction? Are there gonna be unique "use specific item with specific object" reactons at all? On a scale from none to Edna: The Breakout (where EVERY specific combination will give you a unique, funny interaction) where lies Return to Monkey Island?

@ChrisB
I would love to see a Curse Of Monkey Island remake with Ron's cooperation. There could be a different ending to choose the Gilbert Way.

Hi Ron,
After spending a year and a half convinced you were making a new Monkey, looking for every little sign, rereading your 2013 post countless times like it was the 17 commandments, waiting for April 1th 2021 and then April 1th 2022 updating your site countless times...you can understand that I was one of the "Shocked" fans. I went from the best day ever to a feeling of excruciating strangeness. But your words, Dave's and lately Rex's own words have definitely got me back on track...and now I am again in pure anticipation. But this time let's build a clearer and more direct relationship...let's start by telling me the date of Devolver Digital's June event, so I can plan my work/family day so I don't miss it and especially so I don't live on Hype every day as I have for the past year and a half 😂😂
I really appreciate your courage, whatever the quality of the final product! I am also convinced that it will not be your last Monkey Island....

STOP PRESS... STOP PRESS... STOP PRESS...

Hey Ron... Ken Williams has just written a blog post about you! I repeat... Ken Williams... has just quoted you!!!

Over at his Colossal Cave Adventure blog, Ken has responded to your observation that "making games in 2022 is a lot harder than making games in 1990".

There's a catch... Ken at first didn't recognize the source behind the quote, but he quickly corrected himself with a follow-up comment. You can tell the poor guy is embarrassed he didn't twig to your name at first, Ron... but the respect he has for you clearly shines through!

Wouldn't it be great if you and Ken & Roberta caught up for a chat about what it's like to be making adventure games again in 2022... you are all titans of the computer gaming industry and to see you all together discussing old times would be the event of the year!!!

Many thanks for sharing, even if it's a short diary. The UI design is really important. For some reason, even in the remakes of MI1 and MI2, even simple improvements such as quick switching between screens with a double click, a comfortable icon and inventory control were not implemented. On the other hand, MI3 still has a comfortable and modern gameplay in design of UI. Also, I just hope that the UI isn't as simplified for example as Broken Age.

𝘔𝘐2 together with 𝘔𝘐1 demo was my gateway; so, my criticism against 𝘊𝘔𝘐 is that, while it excels technically, and I often forget just how brilliant some of the scenes are, the recurring characters make it the biggest throwback in the series. I'd even argue that it would've made a better original game. Let's start with Guybrush: he wanted to become a pirate at 18, and he was already becoming a has-been a year later, which is why he's determined to up his game by growing a beard, er, finding the most legendary treasure of them all. Progress, right? Well, apparently immediately after that, he's back to being a pirate wannabe (e.g., it's like if Luke had been a farmboy again in 𝘑𝘦𝘥𝘪), and his mission is to marry Elaine, even though their last two encounters consisted of him manipulating her to get a map piece and her letting him fall into the darkness after a deliberate wait. Why does it feel like a different story altogether?

On an island full of pirates, Elaine liked Guybrush because he was sweet and was put off by him acting like a pirate. Now, suddenly, she's so in love with him that she blurts it out. 𝘊𝘔𝘐 was a game where I would've wanted to see Guybrush become Captain Jack Sparrow. Instead, it set a precedent by which he's forever destined to be Will Turner due to a latent love story. Reverting the characters to how they were introduced initially also supplied them with impenetrable plot armor from then on. When Guybrush was dueling with the pirates in 𝘔𝘐1, they didn't kill him because he was in training. Why do the pirates in 𝘊𝘔𝘐 do the same? Because it's now a colorful cartoon, with none of the danger and lived-in grit of the colonies in the 17th century.

Speaking of the UI, as fond as everyone is of the verbs, covering up as little of the screen with diegetic stuff is all for the best. I love how 𝘍𝘶𝘭𝘭 𝘛𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 in particular did it, so that there's a window through which you should see the object in question. By the way, the best UI for point-and-click games was already in 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘳 𝘛𝘳𝘦𝘬: 25𝘵𝘩 𝘈𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘢𝘳𝘺 and 𝘑𝘶𝘥𝘨𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘙𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘴, which also have wonderful writing, charming graphics, and are further removed from the toxic behind-the-scenes history of their source material.

"Guybrush and Elaine never should have gotten married. But what is done is done." - That's basicly a metaphor to any marriage.

I must say that I've really come around to the art style for Return to Monkey Island now.  When I first saw those screenshots, I wasn't keen at all, but the more I've looked at them, the more I've come to admire the art direction.  I can't wait to play the game and delve back into the world of Monkey Island.

I think that the secret of Monkey Island is that they all know they are in a PC game controlled by someone else and it's a story about breaking out of the Matrix. Guybrush and LeChuck are one and the same.

The thing with stylization is that, like many things, it works best in moderation, and it may require an even higher level of skill to recognize what elements deserve more/less abstraction, emphasis, simplification, etc. Ideally, stylized art is done as some next-level stuff by someone who has already mastered realism, or at least this is how animation changed in the '50s with some of the best people in the business. That said, I have a really good feeling about Rex's work, and Ron builds the best team under any circumstances, especially for what I hope is also a passion project.

Looking through the concept art for 𝘔𝘐2 by Peter Chan and Sean Turner, I'm amazed at how natural their stylization is. Again, no personal offense to anyone who worked on the special editions, but the original art can be matched only by another remake, with clean scans, more frames in animation, resolution instead of interpolation, and I think it's a matter of direction as much as anything.

A better director on the remake projects would've definitely instructed the artist to refrain from clichés; e.g., the gigantic moon of varying sizes that appears in half of the screens on Mêlée Island, which would typically have been seen only at the most sublime moment in an anime. It's like what Roger Ebert said about Dutch angles: "The director, Roger Christian, has learned from better films that directors sometimes tilt their cameras, but he has not learned why." I only know what I like, though; so, that's not a lot.

I don't think that I want to play with Elaine, I mean: she's too "perfect". Characters like Guybrush or Leisure Suit Larry are flawed and that makes them interesting. Elaine (in my humble opinion) only exist to show how pityful, inexperienced and useless is Guybrush in comparison.
Maybe it would be interesting to show a more flawed Elaine under the perfect girl façade to make her more relatable if she is finally a controllable character.

*obviously I meant in MI1, about LeChuck's punch. Damn puffy fingers.

The best example of an AAA-budget, 𝘔𝘐2-era Guybrush is in 𝘜𝘯𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘥 4, albeit only as a painting and a statue. The most poorly aged example would be a cheat in 𝘐𝘯𝘥𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘐𝘯𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘔𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘦, which is why I'm elated that Ron is making 2D games.

@Brian Goldberg - Ron has said that he views Elaine and Guybrush's relationship as more brother and sister.  Possibly literally but who knows (other than Ron himself)?

I didn't want to talk about it because the subject is sensitive but here it is. you all think that because the graphics shocked the players it's because it's not pixel art... I say it's wrong. (Remember the close-up guibrush image in 1, of the pirates at the scumm bar, it was fine and detailed, in the context of the 90s of course.) I think the intro to return of monkey island is good, although a bit FLASH style, but I respect . The only screen that disturbs me is the court judge with triangular graphics as well as the people. I don't find them very harmonious. But as I said before. Ron, I'm an unconditional fan of the secret of monkey island (even the 4 in 3d which is terribly hard to play, especially now). I would be a fan of the sequel to 2 so yours without a doubt, and if I have to play with graphics that I like moderately I will do it because the story is very important to me, more than the graphics. So once again I thank you and I trust your judgment to make the game of your dreams and not the dreams of the players who end to end are not achievable because very individual, including me :). Cheer

Do you know what I want apart from a new MI, a Monkey Island Lego game like the Pirates of the Caribbean one, but based on the MI games. Just a tip for Disney. They can release them together like with Indiana Jones in 2008 when we've got game, lego game and movie.

I didnt want to bother with my anxiousness but.... release date? releasy datey?
O:)

I wanted to say how much I like more the EGA closeups than the VGA ones. Just look Elaine's hair in EGA and her eyes, they are alive. My respect to Iain McCaig though. His portraits of Natalie Portman and Star Wars I concepts are great.

Eat your heart out 2 Player Productions!

@HungryPirate, I feel the same way. Modern graphics cards can render a billion triangles at over 100 fps, and now the holy grail of real-time ray tracing for consumer hardware has been a reality for a few years now. But the only type of genre able to fully exploit the latest graphics advances always seem to be the first-person or third-person open world roaming and killing games.

It's depressing that we are close to the 30th anniversary since Doom, and we are still playing the same game. There used to be a time when each new point & click adventure game released by LucasArts and Sierra were also showcases for the next generation of PC graphics, forcing users to upgrade from 386 to 486, then to a Pentium for example... but alas, those days are three decades past as well.

P&C adventure games didn't need 3D, but when gamers saw Doom and Tomb Raider, one era abruptly ended and another began. Adventure games tried to survive by turning to full motion video interactive stories, but that most likely quickened the genre's demise.

As a hobby game programmer myself, it's a topic I think about a lot.

@Johnny Walker - I'm not able to find the quote through a Google search but trust me, Ron said it (on more than one occassion in fact).  As I already said, that's not to say that his intention was for Guybrush and Elaine to be literal siblings, but at the very least, Ron was making a point about how Elaine views Guybrush more as a little Brother and that they would never have gotten married had he made a Monkey Island 3 back in the 90s.

Within the parameters of paraphrasing, that's literally what Ron said.

The way I always thought of the Guybrush, Elaine, LeChuck triangle was that they were kids from the neighborhood playing together.  Guybrush was 8 and Elaine and LeChuck were 11. Guybrush was the younger kid following the older kids around trying to be like them. They were not related. None of this is real or ties into the ending of MI2, it's just the way I thought about the characters. It's why Guybrush and Elaine would never get married.

The demise of adventure games was due to a number of factors but in general it comes down to money. Game publishers were making much more money from first person shooters which could take full advantage of the latest graphic cards.

We have also become a less patient society. People want instant gratification without the need to think!

However ...

You just need to look on eBay and see how much money some of the old adventure game boxes are selling for to realise just how loved these games are.

This comes down to the fact adventure games had incredible stories. The graphics were great for the time but it was the story and the characters that made you want to play them again and again.

A lot of adventure games have made comebacks over the years but a lot of that can be down to nostalgia. The more I think about it the more I appreciate what Ron Gilbert is doing here. It can be easy to make one game like it was in the 1990's and make the older fans happy. By trying to modernize the game, it means there is a greater chance we get more Monkey Island games and potentially reignite the adventure game genre. So let's all get onboard and help Ron achieve this.

@RonGilbert Nice point about the characters, that is so true and makes a lot of sense from what we've seen in the first series :))

@Hungry Pirate

"why I keep remembering these gems and not games launched 2, 5 or 10 years ago?"

To be fair, when looking back you probably mostly remember the good things, and maybe a few comically bad ones. I've come across lots of adventure games that I can hardly even find any reviews for.

@Ron
You said you always thought of Guybrush/LeChuck/Elaine as kids. But the MI2 ending (where Guybrush turns out to be a kid) was conceived very late... (or so they say)

Did you have the MI2 twist in mind from the start, after all?

Ron, that explains a lot about why the player felt so attached to Guybrush - I first saw the games watching my older brother play them when I was 8 and then played through myself - there was always the familiar feeling of being slightly out of your element. In love with someone too mature who doesn't really notice you, fighting the older bully who finds you annoying - the sense that your personal story is so important but actually the world is so much bigger than you.

Rare opportunity to tell you directly that I'm so happy you managed to make another MI game and as strange as it might be the first two games meant so much to so many people because you were able to make the game you wanted - can't wait to see what you and Dave+ have created this time round

Whew – and I thought it was going to get so meta that you'd need a Pepe Silvia-like chart to understand where it's heading with different dimensions and merging characters with multiple childhoods! It was the Voodoo Lady who said that Guybrush needs to escape to another world, and LeChuck's doll promised to send him to another dimension.

Then 𝘊𝘔𝘐 is even closer to 𝘔𝘐2, since Elaine guessed that the theme park might be a spell. It's also an apt title because everyone was cursed at some point.

I still think that there was an end to aging and character development after  𝘔𝘐2, overtaken mostly by running gags. If Guybrush is relatively younger or a relative novice in comparison to Elaine and LeChuck, then is he ever meant to catch up with them or surpass them in terms of maturity and power?

I haven't seen this mentioned anywhere else, though I may have missed it if it has been. Are there any plans for a physical release? Big box? Collector's edition?

@Ron Take my credit card. Take it!

Hello @Soulcake

<looking at SUSPICIOUS BOX> I can't sell this baby...
On the other hand, a deal is a deal!
Here. Take one of my RETURN OF MONKEY ISLANDtm REAL PHYSICAL BOX that I've had made up.
Now's not the time to worry about the technicalities, son.
Now's the time to ask yourself: "Do you have the PHYSICAL BOX of the game?"

Please Send all needed documentation to Stan@scam.you.

Recently I've enjoyed replaying MI3 and tortured myself with MI4. I played the first episode of Tales of MI as well, but I couldn't get into the story at all or the characters even though the puzzles weren't bad. I'll postpone the other episodes for closer to launch, same with the original MI1 & MI2 which are the most important here anyway.

I think MI4 wouldn't be so bad if not for the atrocious controls. Eventually I got the hang out of it, but standing in the right spot to select a specific thing was still torture until the end. Oh, of course there is also Monkey Combat, which from my youth didn't remember as that big of a deal, but playing it now I was just thinking why the devs wanted me to waste my time so badly. It was not really that different from insult sword fighting, but with gibberish onomatopoeias instead of sentences so you had to write everything down in order to remember it and a rock, paper, scissors component that had you grinding for a while in order to get all combinations. Other than that it was not really a bad game.

Looking forward for the new real MI3, where Elaine and Guybrush are not married hopefully and maybe we'll get to know what is really up with LeChuck and Big Whoop?

There is definitely a similarity between Monkey Island and Star Wars as has been mentioned in the comments.

Monkey Island 1 = A New Hope
A young Luke Skywalker learns to become a jedi.
A young Guybrush Threepwood learns to become a pirate.

Darth Vader is the primary antagonist feared across the galaxy.
The ghost pirate LeChuck is the primary antagonist feared across the Caribbean.

Monkey Island 2 = The Empire Strikes Back
Empire Strikes Back ends with Darth Vader revealing a terrible secret to Luke Skywalker.
MI2 ends with LeChuck revealing a terrible secret to Guybrush

Return to monkey island = Return of the Jedi
Both use the word "Return" as the first word in their title. Coincidence, I think not.

The emperor is the puppet master pulling the strings and controlling people. Who could this controlling character be in Monkey Island? Who has been controlling Guybrush's fate and actions throughout. I am looking at you Voodoo Lady ... or should I call you ... The Phantom Menace.

I think you can interpret a lot into the motivations and inspirations afterwards.

The Star Wars story at the end of Monkey Island 2 is one of many cross references and gags to other Lucas Arts Productions in each game. I think the approach back then was far more banal than many assume. You just wanted to make a good game.

I didn't register the marriage at the end of part 3 as a problem. But yes. It's obvious that even though Guybrush saves Elaine, he's not enough for her, she doesn't take him seriously and he's panting after her like a puppy.

The player would have to think, in this part Guybrush gets them now. So the tension between the two characters would remain.

Sigh ... if only LucasArts made a Star Wars point and click adventure game back in the 90's. Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis was great but for some reason they never got the green light to make a Star Wars adventure game. What could have been.

There were three perfect trilogies:
1. The original Star Wars trilogy
2. Indiana Jones
3. Back to the Future

Yes, Star Wars suffered the prequels and then the sequels... and Indy went alien hunting in the Amazon 20 years later.
Mercifully, Back to the Future hasn't been tampered with... YET.

And I'll add the Dollars trilogy, the mother of spaghetti westerns-

1. A fistful of dollars
2. For a few dollars more
3. The good, the bad and the ugly

I guess I haven't seen a perfect film trilogy yet.

Trinities don't work. That's why Douglas Adams made his trilogy have four parts.

Trois Couleurs isn't a continuous trilogy. It's three separate stories. Great films, but they're more like a character study of the ideas behind the French republic than say an extended reinterpretation of Stephensons' Snowcrash (The Matrix.)

I think the problem with trilogys is that they offer closure and more often than not when you escape into a new world you never want it to end; Open ended stories keep you questioning. Reminds me that I need to check out The Matrix epilogue!

I'll go on a limb and say Guybrush is in court facing charges on all crimes committed in MI 1+2. That's a long list...

@DieSkaarj
The right length is important. Some stories are best told and enjoyed in one film, others need some more time. Generally I prefer something new instead of stuff I'm already familiar with. In a certain way every successor is a wasted chance for making something new.

Mi1, mi2, mi3... ok ok ok, but where's the bloody rum?

Wouldn't be controlling Eleine sort of „Out of Guybrush Experience"? I mean, it would, but would it be for good? Maybe. But maybe you could do something like Guybrush controlling Eleine, and maybe she could have trust him at last? :) Or maybe she trust him, but she has no other choice really... Or does she?

All best!

@Stan's Previously Owned Pixel Art

Indeed! :)))

OMG, what if he starts out like this but it ends up being a theme park recreation of his entrance at Melee? continuing further to recreate a basic version of the 3 trials but as an obvious theme park experience. I wonder if it would have "go away green" everywhere lol

The Elaine idea reminded me of Innocent Until Caught 2. Althought it wasn't exactly the same mechanics, it was interesting to be able to play the game not as the main character from the first installment.

I used to think that The Secret of Monkey Island was about our relationship to technology and how we can blunder our way to achieve wonderful things. It's been said that if you give a monkey an eternity then he, or she, will inevitably produce works comparable to if not direct facsimiles of Shakespeare. Much like how a boat manned by rats managed to sail to the elusive Monkey Island in the game. I understood it to be a meditation on how our primitive minds could break free of the higher powers that constantly grade our achievements and overcome our intellectual allowances, imposed on us by esoteric entities. I believe The Secret of Monkey Island...

...was a better title than Mutiny on Monkey Island.

Haha, I don't care what the secret is. I've played it, I know what it is, and I enjoy[ed] it very much.

While we're talking about secrets: I've been reading Game Programming Gems 2 and there's a bunch of guys who are ex-Cavedog sharing their xp and I was wondering if Ron or Dave had any programming gems they could share, especially after completing RTMI.

Why is Elaine not considered the main antagonist in Monkey Island?

LeChuck tried to prove his love for her so he sailed off to find the secret of Monkey Island. She told him to drop dead.

She conveniently turned up AFTER Shinetop tried to drown Guybrush. However, Guybrush had already managed to escape when they spoke directly afterwards so she never rescued him or helped him. In fact she said "Fester wasn't acting on MY orders when he threw you in there" so she knew about it or saw him do it. Why not jump in and save him?

She then decides to use Guybrush as she knows he is in love with her. She gets him to finish his pirate trials BEFORE they can continue their new found love and then Elaine gets "kidnapped".

At the end of MI1 she said she didn't need to be rescued and then left the church. This leaves Guybrush at the mercy of LeChuck and she lets them both fight to the death. She only catches up with Guybrush once he has destroyed LeChuck.

It was Elaine that ended their relationship after MI1.

When they meet up again in MI2, she becomes angry with him and throws the map piece out the window. What she really wants is for him to go out and find ALL the map pieces for her.

Elaine meets up with Guybrush later but only after he had done all the hard work to find the site of Big Whoop ... which she wants.

All I can say is a word of advice for Guybrush. Do NOT ... and I repeat do NOT marry her.

@Stan's Previously Owned Pixel Art

True that.

PS: While I agree that MI1 really feels slowly paced and different in comparison (to e.g. Curse) because none of those "fast" options exist. My point is just: Is this a bad thing in general? Slow pacing or slow movement is not bad per se. It makes the world feel more real. I feel 100% relaxed playing MI1.

However I'm a weirdo who also never skips intro or credits ("Next Episode starting in 4, 3, 2,... NOOOOOOOOO!")

I'd like to ask Ron, why did you revert to the original logo, and didn't keep it the way that 𝘛𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘴 had changed it?

@Ron
Hi. Will you make another Maniac Mansion, like, a true successor?

@Wayfarer @Ron Gilbert how times change. We wanted to use the original logo for Tales, and in fact did use it for the initial design of the game's logo, but LucasArts told us we had to get with the times and use the modern logo from the SEs.

@Jake
Hi! Hopefully, inconsistent executive meddling adds to the artistic variety of each installation in a way that every dev still feels that they were able to do what they wanted.

We actually have a lot of information on the game already:

Release Date:
This year

Where will the player start in the game:
At an amusement park

Number of lines of dialog recorded:
Over 13 000

Voices:
Guybrush - Dominic Armato
Elaine - Alexandra Boyd

Bonus Appearances:
The three pirates on the cover of "Secret of Monkey Island" box will be in this game.

In Summary:
As Samuel L Jackson's would say 'Hold onto your butts'. This is going to be the greatest game the world has ever seen.

I would like to see Guybrush take a piss on crypto and AI this time. Please!

The Legend of Monkey Island website has a known facts page with sources for 𝘙𝘵𝘔𝘐 with extensive credits. It's great to see Jared Emerson-Johnson aboard as the music produces, as Telltale's OSTs were solid gold.

The LucasArts adventures were years ahead of the competition in terms of most things, including voice acting, and the right voice director is definitely the linchpin of a flawless performance. The original Chester, Khris Brown, is the perfect choice in this case as well.

I've gained infinite awareness of and respect for voice actors after listening to Mark Hamill relate his work experience. Not that you can't make a great game without it, and none at all is certainly preferable to mediocre acting by a dev. It wouldn't be a modern game, though, the way that 2D graphics still are, but text adventures aren't.

Just came by to thank you for everything Ron. Regardless of the outcome, thanks for keeping the dream alive after all this time. In a strange way I'll miss the mistery after all's done, but engaging with these games has been a life changing experience. As silly as it sounds. I believe in you and your pals with all my spirit. Cheers.

Maybe there'll be "Part V: Elaine kicks butt after all", like 𝘋𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘴 ...

This is 2022. Games don't come in boxes anymore. If there is a physical release it will be months after the game is release digitally.

Welcome to 2022.

Code wheel? Plus! Two-factor authenticator app that's only available on an Apple watch after you sign up to a mailing list where you'll receive patch notes and balancing notes every Wednesday. You'll have to login every fifteen minutes to ensure sure you're not playing it with on-line friends; not risking your health for the sake of a screen and exposing yourself to harmful pixels. Your bio-metric data will be sold to ensure the prosperity of Corporate America.

And, as part of the EULA you will agree to destroy all Google when Apple calls you to duty, as there can be only one. This is non-negotiable.

I can't believe this is happening. Congratulations! I was so excited that I had to tell my wife, which required explaining the history of the games first, ha ha

Ron, really looking forward to play the new monkey island. I love the new design!

*four days later*

Wife:
I played Monkey Island.

You:
Yeah? What did you think?

Wife:
I quit. I didn't want Guybrush to become a pirate.

You:
Oh... will you still play Return to Monkey Island with me?

Wife:
Do you make Guybrush do things after he's become a pirate?

You:
No... as it turns out, he's just a kid in an amusement park who's being manipulated by his brother's dark magic powers!

Wife:
So, he's the real bad guy?

You:
Yeah!

Wife:
Now you're talking!

I was saying "Boo-urns".

A very long planned april´s fool over a almost a decade of you fooling us all one day.
The point is ... since then I did not visit grumpygamer.
and as I have had a gamers-block for almost 2 or 3 years now I just started to re-play old games.
Edna The Breakout, because of updated graphics and just one room/screen which is a therapy class for game developers.
Next I played MI 3, just finished chapter 1 and that made come here. My mind is bended and twisted but not in a bad way.
You fooled us *not* fooled us and you are not joking!

- To make it perfectly clear -

I was the last time on your page on April the 1st 2022 - so I was actually fooled for exactly 3 months - I still need 3 days to recover from Vertigo* effects.

I should drink a grog now and listen to some sea shanties to recover from april´s fool hangover.

*(A great movie I saw yesterday for the 1st time)

On the contrary, I'd now like remakes of the first two installments in this art-game style and Cobb in Scumm Bar to reveal that Brian Moriarty and Mark Ferrari are working on 𝘍𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘦.

"Ordered Linux machine." This gives me a lot hope, sure would be great to have native Linux game, especially with Steam Deck being out. As we on free (as in freedom) and open operating system say: "No Tux, no bucks" :)

hurrr durrrr it is "le artistic choice" won't matter shit
you have done it for the controversy