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When I made another Monkey Island

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Re: When I made another Monkey Island

#201

Post by VladimirGolovin »

adamrezich wrote: post #80

> Roger Ebert had a great quote that I am constantly reminding myself of: > "The muse visits during the act of creation, not before." I'd never heard this before but this is an amazing quote.

“This is the other secret that real artists know and wannabe writers don’t. When we sit down each day and do our work, power concentrates around us. The Muse takes note of our dedication. She approves. We have earned favor in her sight. When we sit down and work, we become like a magnetized rod that attracts iron filings. Ideas come. Insights accrete.” ― Steven Pressfield, The War of Art.

BTW, easily one of the best books I've ever read.

Re: When I made another Monkey Island

#202

Post by darkwater »

mdpye wrote: post #169
pcthrowaway wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That music on tinny computer speakers (if you didn't have Soundblasters at the time) was something else: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IOL4q5tDDQ I think it was here on HN that I previously read a comment breaking down how the PC speaker could only play one tone at a time, but the team managed to simulate two overlapping melodies

While that sounds like an amazing technical accomplishment, I can tell you that discovering it on an amiga with a hifi separates amp and speakers[1] was definitely better. I was very lucky, but I'm not sorry! ;) The soundtrack is sensational. 1. To be fair, the speakers were intended for the back shelf of a car. It was cobbled together from castoffs found in the loft...

But you lost the amazing moment when you install a Soundblaster (compatible) card in the PC, start Monkey Island and you are blown away by the new musical experience, after months of PC speaker.

Re: When I made another Monkey Island

#203

Post by melcor »

technovader wrote: post #196
agency wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank goodness Ron Gilbert has you to tell him what a proper Monkey Island game needs to be.

You're being sarcastic but it seriously sounds like he needs a refresher course. We didn't wait 20 years for this.

> We didn't wait 20 years for this.

Yes we did. MI1 and 2 was great because they were pushing the technological limitations, trying to be the best puzzle games they could, and were made by a great, talented, and enthusiastic team. Not because it was catering to entitled fans with rose tinted glasses.

Re: When I made another Monkey Island

#204

Post by autoexec »

hitpointdrew wrote: post #42

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…

> Most players don't have the fist clue as to what makes a good game

that seems unfair. I think players (especially the kind who follow developers and make spend time posting online about games) do know what makes a good game. They know because they play title after title and see what works for them and what doesn't. The issue is that asking "What makes a good game" is much like asking what makes a good movie, or book, or romantic partner, or vacation. People are going to have very different ideas of what a good game is, but gamers are pretty damn savvy about what they love and about games in general.

That said, I agree with you that creators often go too far with player feedback. I think it's best for creators to make the games they would love, and if that doesn't lead to mainstream success that's fine, if real passion and love are put into a project there'll pretty much always be an audience out there who will appreciate it.

Re: When I made another Monkey Island

#205

Post by wenc »

hhlevnjak3 wrote: post #118
rob74 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What was special about the first two Monkey Island games (at least for me) was the atmosphere . I mean, just look at this screenshot: https://www.adventurecorner.de//uploads/images/games/monkey1... Parts 1 and 2 had this effect on me, with part 3 the magic was mostly gone unfortunately. If Return to Monkey Island manages to recapture some of that, I don't care if it's pixel art or whatever else...

I could never say part 3 doesn't have atmosphere. The music, the art, the overall feel was different, but great on it's own. On the other hand, the story, and the subtle humor from 1 and 2 was lacking or different.

In MI1, there was a sense of questing as Guybrush Threepwood goes through training to become a swordfighter (the classic training trope like in Rocky and in martial arts movies), plus there was also the will-they-won't-they romantic tension with Elaine. MI1 was an origin story so it had the advantage of being able to use these well-loved tropes. Stan was a great character.

MI2 took it a little further with the unresolved tension with LeChuck.

MI3 didn't really have that same sense of tension or urgency because Guybrush is already in a relationship with Elaine and he's just trying to break the curse. MI3 (or CMI) was a great game, but it just didn't leave you wanting more.

Re: When I made another Monkey Island

#206

Post by wlll »

PeterHolzwarth wrote: post #73

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). The art style for his new game is rather ironically nostalgi…

Yeah, I just played DotT remastered (iPad) last night. I wasn't a fan of the art style /in general/. Something to note though, I played it entirely in the "old" pixel format not the new style (you can change between the two with a gesture at any point). I really did try to like the new art, but just couldn't, I genuinely preferred the pixel style.

For Monkey Islane I'm pretty sad that he's gone with the art style he has, looking at the photos they just seem claustrophobic, lacking in charm or character to me.

Re: When I made another Monkey Island

#207

Post by wlll »

egypturnash wrote: post #113
PeterHolzwarth wrote: post #73

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). The art style for his new game is rather ironically nostalgi…

I replayed Secret of Monkey Island this weekend and was really struck by what a ramshackle, distorted place Melee Island is. It is an accurate cartoon caricature of slapdash architecture on sinking ground. Here's the very first place Guybrush is controllable in: https://www.mobygames.com/game/amiga/secret-of-monkey-island... https://www.mobygames.com/game/amiga/secret-of-monkey-island... Look at those walls. Not a ve…

> I suspect the "Chuck Jones" art style of DOTT he's referring to is the character design.

I played Day of the Tentacle last night (remastered version on iPad, but the pixel art not the new art). My impression is it's kinda like monkey island except more extreme. Like someone took monkey island and added loads more vortex art tool.

Re: When I made another Monkey Island

#208

Post by wlll »

ricardo81 wrote: post #27
nu11ptr wrote: post #22

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…

Cool indeed. I think MI caught the spirit of gameplay for me, alongside iconic titles like Elite and Civ. Pirates of the Caribbean had a similar spirit. I'll likely be handing over cash for this version. If the new game has the same banter and half decent puzzles, it'll be a winner, for me. Something to get my daughter to play with me if she has the patience of walking about the place!

> Pirates of the Caribbean had a similar spirit.

The film? Did you see the (at least one) Monkey Island reference in it?

Re: When I made another Monkey Island

#209

Post by seba_dos1 »

WorldMaker wrote: post #168
seba_dos1 wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"All the bad sequels"? From all Monkey Island games, I'd say only Escape could be considered somewhat bad. It felt rather uninspired compared to others, control scheme was awful and it aged the worst way of all MI games. All the rest are really great. Monkey Island series has been drastically changing the art style in its every single installment. When it comes to this new style, I find it hard to judge from still un…

If you ignore the awful controls and equally awful minigames, I think Escape is still a fun pirate tale with a lot of things to love about it. I think the plot's overall is pretty inspired about the gentrification of the pirate islands, and it's the natural progression from Curse's exploration of the same themes (which in turn those themes going all the back to things like Secret's used boat sales lot). A lot of Esca…

To me, Escape felt a lot like a fan fiction story. A pretty good one, sure, but it still hatched onto the themes that you mention (which used to be more or less background gags in previous installments without much relevance to the actual story) the way fans usually do when writing their own stories. So you got bombarded with callbacks to previous games, characters you already knew, jokes you already heard, and stories that didn't really feel like natural progression of the lore but more like "what if?" scenarios. Ozzie, Herman, your old crew, LeChuck's role in the whole conspiracy, Giant Monkey Head, Planet Threepwood... compare that to Curse, which genuinely moved the series forward into a new and fresh adventure. It also called back to previous games - it even started with Wally right in the first scene who didn't really need to be there - but it always felt like an addition to the game's story, or a glue that makes a Monkey Island game a Monkey Island game, rather than something it relies on to be funny or interesting (after all, we meet Murray right after meeting Wally in Curse, and I don't think any character introduced in Escape is even close to how strong Murray is as a character).

Escape would be a great spin-off - it's still a genuinely fun and engaging adventure game if you can look past its shortcomings. However, as an entry in the main series, it feels a bit wrong, and definitely the weakest. It's not "a pirate tale with good share of silliness" anymore, but rather "a silly tale with good share of pirates". I bet that most of the stuff in the new game that will end up contradicting older games' canon will be stuff that goes at odds with Escape in particular, mostly thanks to its plot twists for the sake of plot twists and taking previous games' gags way too seriously :P

Re: When I made another Monkey Island

#210

Post by ricardo81 »

wlll wrote: post #208
ricardo81 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cool indeed. I think MI caught the spirit of gameplay for me, alongside iconic titles like Elite and Civ. Pirates of the Caribbean had a similar spirit. I'll likely be handing over cash for this version. If the new game has the same banter and half decent puzzles, it'll be a winner, for me. Something to get my daughter to play with me if she has the patience of walking about the place!

> Pirates of the Caribbean had a similar spirit. The film? Did you see the (at least one) Monkey Island reference in it?

Yep. I see the Disney ride was used as inspiration for the game.

Makes sense that they are suspiciously similar!

>reference "Captain Jack Sparrow at one point used a coffin as a rowboat, just like Guybrush did. The movie and the game both featured a Caribbean voodoo lady who lived in a swamp. " https://www.ocweekly.com/10-things-you-did-not-know-about-mo...

Definitely recall the coffin reference. Pleasing to see.

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