As of now it's all Michael Land. Jared's keeping busy full time doing the music for Wallace & Gromit episodes 3 and 4, and I think he'll be busy scoring something that rhymes with schmam and schmax schmeasson schmee, but who knows if he'll come in on the assist as we get further down the road.
Telltale, once again, I love you so much. If you guys ever need to move, I'll help you, no pizza or beer necessary.
Of course, the other way it could be done, to give the player some indication of what the hell you were trying to do so that you could work out how to do it, is a hint system, which we know Telltale are now using. I think that having one of those as an option is a good way of opening the genre up to people who have been wary of it for years (and I know many people like that).
A fair point.
Still, TTG, could we pretty please with sugar on top have harder puzzles and then leave hints open for those who want it?
I don't know if this has been asked before but are there any plans for localised versions, german in particular? And if so, will this be done before the DVD release also for the episodes, updating already released episodes as well? I don't need it personally, but it would be great if i could share the game this way with my daughter.
In a maybe behind the scenes i would be curious to see how the production of Monkey Island worked, the worflow with the different stages and also finally showing off the TTG tool.
How many people are working on Monkey Island at TTG?
If i remember an interview with Grossman correctly, he stated that you could do a serie every three months, correct me if i mixed this up but keeping this in mind and knowing that it still feels kind of annoying having to wait a whole month for a new episode, do you have any plans to shorten up the update cycles, maybe to every two or three weeks or is it more about producing more series with the already familiar update cycles or putting more work into a normal serie?
Will there be a XBLA version of Monkey Island as well or is it tied to the Wii due to some exlusive deal or is the franchise not allowed to show up on the Xbox360?
Now after you worked out the hint system will we also see an increase in the puzzle complexity to also please more of the veterans and will inventory combinations making their way also into other series? Btw i read that there will be four hint grades, are these like none, low, medium, high?
What has changed, that after so many years of trying it finally happened that LucasArts allowed it? I suspect if Monkey Island goes well, which i would say is safe to assume, there is more to come from this direction, right?
What has changed so that after so many years of trying it finally happened that LucasArts allowed it? I suspect if Monkey Island goes well, which i would say is safe to assume, there is more to come from this direction, right?
I gather that there's been a change at the top. The "new guy" at Lucasarts seems to be more "classic franchise" friendly than the Star Wars obsessed bean-counters who came before him. I hope that the risk pays off for him - and for Telltale - and that both Tales of Monkey Island and the special edition of The Secret of Monkey Island will be financially successful.
Actually, I have no doubt at all that Tales of Monkey Island will be a hit for Telltale, but the remake? Who knows how successful that will be for Lucasarts. I know that I'll buy it, but will people - new gamers - who don't feel the same nostalgic fondness for the game do the same? Time will tell. Fingers crossed!
I hope, hope, hope, hope that Tales of Monkey Island will be successful enough to become a regular yearly series like Sam 'n' Max.
I hope, hope, hope, hope that Tales of Monkey Island will be successful enough to become a regular yearly series like Sam 'n' Max.
Monkey Island always had more fans than Sam&Max so i think this shouldn't be a problem as long as the games will be good and nothing gets broken on the legal side. Actually i hope they'll be very good and not just good, *fingers crossing* Can't, press, any, harder.
Here's a question for the Wii version: Will it contain something more than the PC version? I mean, will you be able to make Guybrush use his sword on stuff, or duel, or climb on things etc?
What's the difference between the PC and Wii versions?
(okay, that's three questions, sorry:p)
I hope, hope, hope, hope that Tales of Monkey Island will be successful enough to become a regular yearly series like Sam 'n' Max.
i want quality not quantity :P and i rly want to control the game with my mouse and not with the arrow keys i think thats what most people want. arrow key just wont work in adventure games its annoying
It wasn't until Telltale showed up with Sam & Max that Adventure games really became what they should be (although I loved the original S&M as well). You were far more likely to have a point B - or more often, C - to aim for, or a point A to start from, and it was possible to work it out with your OWN logic, not by reading the developer's mind. (Again, MI2 tended to make it worse because you had access to so many different places that you had no idea where you could currently make progress or if you were wasting time, or if you needed an item from a completely different place to progress in this one.) That's what makes a puzzle really fun.
I fully agree, you really got the point there. I'm currently replaying LeChuck's Revenge, and I keep wondering how on earth could somebody guess some of those. Many puzzles are cleverly designed (the whole first chapter works well,
rat in the vichyssoise included
), but for a lot of others the player would just feel clueless (just think of
all the books you have to look for in the library
; searching through it is fun, but only if you know what to look for, and the very existence of those titles isn't even hinted at by any character).
Anyway, despite all my love for Telltale, I have to say that smart puzzle design has a much older tradition. SoMI is a perfect example of an engaging adventure in which the solution to puzzles, though not obvious, never feels absurd or frustrating. I think that the difficulty of the first episode of the saga is exactly the balance Telltale should aim at.
First of all, I'd like to thank you for giving us the chance to enjoy MI games again. It's been a while since I've started to pray to have this done. I'm from Brazil and I can tell you we're pretty much excited with the new games. I have 2 questions:
1) Will you put in the game only one type of control or will we be able to chose between, I don't know, "WASD" and "mouse"? If there will be only one kind, which one? (thinking about, there's more than one question here...)
2) About the subtitles, which languages? Any chance for Brazilian Portuguese? I guess no But please, at least US subtitles =P
I think that the difficulty of the first episode of the saga is exactly the balance Telltale should aim at.
We should tkae into consideration the fact that the titles (ToMI and SMI:SE) are introduced to new players as well, new players who might not be used to the level of difficulty from the previous MI games.
Probably, the best way to go might be:
Extreemly easy puzzle - Easy puzzle - Easy puzzle - Medium - Easy - Extreemly Hard puzzle - Easy - Medium - Easy- HARD and so on.
I think it can be compared to action sequences in good movies. You've got story telling, character development then action! Pause, story, char, Action! Pause... In this way, you don't discourage thenew players, and you please the hardcore adventure gamers too.
Probably, the best way to go might be:
Extreemly easy puzzle - Easy puzzle - Easy puzzle - Medium - Easy - Extreemly Hard puzzle - Easy - Medium - Easy- HARD and so on.
I think it can be compared to action sequences in good movies. You've got story telling, character development then action! Pause, story, char, Action! Pause...
True! I really like the comparison, but I think that SoMI already does all that quite well. Gameplay pace changes continuously: vast sections with many quests and subquests (The Three Trials), and limited areas with just one single task (The Journey); inventory puzzles (
drugging the poodles
), dialogue puzzles (Stan), chasing sequences, insult swordfighting... And difficulty varies accordingly: there are simpler and immediately rewarding puzzles (
the helmet/pot one
, for istance), and the tough, satisfying ones (
the shopkeeper's safe
). Just add a good hint system and you get the perfect balance!
Hey i got a question about LeChucks Voice Actor:
in MI3 & 4 Earl Boen did the Voice of LeChuck, but it seems, or should i say it SOUNDS like he did not return for ToMI, so why didnt he return to reprise his iconic role ?
It's more of a technical question, but will there be separate volume controls for the voices and music? Trying the W&G demo I felt the music got in the way of dialogue comprehension on occasions.
Here's a question for the Wii version: Will it contain something more than the PC version? I mean, will you be able to make Guybrush use his sword on stuff, or duel, or climb on things etc?
What's the difference between the PC and Wii versions?
(okay, that's three questions, sorry:p)
I highly doubt the Wii will be able to do stuff the PC can't, plus that would just be unfair. Just like it would be unfair to do 10 episodes for the Wii and 5 on the PC due to 40MB upload limit sizes to the Wii via Wiiware.
however if you were able to do that sort of stuff I would demand to get the Wii version rather then the PC one. However as far as I seen nothing like that will be happening at all.
It's more of a technical question, but will there be separate volume controls for the voices and music? Trying the W&G demo I felt the music got in the way of dialogue comprehension on occasions.
I loved MI 1-3, CMI being my all-time favorite game.
I could never get myself to play MI4 for more than half an hour though. I simply hated the 3D graphics & controls too much, so I never finished that game. Same goes for a couple of other adventure games that moved to 3D. They simply lacked the atmosphere of their 2D counterparts.
Looking at the publicly available footage so far I am concerned TOMI will feel much the same as MI4. But I still went ahead and pre-ordered because I really appreciate the fact that you're bringing the series back and I want to support the effort in any way I can.
On the public forums, I've seen the 2D versus 3D debate pop up its ugly head again and again. Most people understand that it is simply a cost-issue. Hand-drawing every animation-frame and background would simply be too expensive.
I was wondering if you have experimented with getting the 3D to look more 'cartoony' using techniques like cel-shading?
I've seen this question asked before, but I haven't seen an answer to it yet.
I was wondering if you have experimented with getting the 3D to look more 'cartoony' using techniques like cel-shading?
I've seen this question asked before, but I haven't seen an answer to it yet.
They did. See: Strong Bad's Cool Game 4 Attractive People. I personally prefer the full 3D like Sam & Max than how Strong Bad's game came out, not to say it was bad, but the little excess polygons around everyone's body parts did get a little distracting to me, personally.
It's more of a technical question, but will there be separate volume controls for the voices and music? Trying the W&G demo I felt the music got in the way of dialogue comprehension on occasions.
Yeah, there are 3 volume controls in TMI. I would eventually like to get us back to one volume control, but the mix in Wallace & Gromit was, all said and done, still too unpredictable, and I didn't want to take that risk with Monkey, so we're back to three!
Thank you so much for this! I never thought I'd see another Monkey Island! I almost teared up when I saw the announcement, I definitely got excited like I had just found a long lost friend!
I have a couple of questions for Ryan:
1) Do you have an online gallery where we can look at your work? Both Either MI related or not.
2) Was 2D ever considered? I've been playing the first 3 MIs on ScummVM on my G1 phone and LOVE the graphics!
3) Can we get some Wallpapers? I want Guybrush on my desktop!
Yeah, there are 3 volume controls in TMI. I would eventually like to get us back to one volume control, but the mix in Wallace & Gromit was, all said and done, still too unpredictable, and I didn't want to take that risk with Monkey, so we're back to three!
See, I like it with 3. Having one volume slider, you might as well have no volume slider at all, since I could just change my speaker volume. The multiple-slider method allows for user customization, so I don't see why you'd want to shy away from it, ever.
Given the, shall we say, less than positive response to the 3D visuals by some of the more hardcore fans, have you considered tossing in a bogus "2D Acceleration" option in the menu? After all, Curse of Monkey Island had a bogus "3D Acceleration" option.
Come to think of it, Escape from Monkey Island even had a non-working multiplayer option, and of course, Sam & Max Season One had "Warp Speed." Although, some people still claim that it had some effect on the game, but after poking deeply into the Sam & Max forum, I see that "Warp Speed" was programmed merely as a means to quickly add in another real option down the line.
I can see how including such a meaningless option (as funny as it may be) could cause a technical support situation, though.
EDIT: I suppose that I may have answered my own question.
I'm a newcomer but a longtime fan. The first Monkey Island game I ever played was Escape From Monkey Island and since that game I was hooked (I know that many people were not fans of the 3D animation or the controls but there were moments in the game that had me laughing so hard that it brought tears to my eyes so I still throughout enjoy that game). I've played all the games and pretty much jumped out of my seat and started screaming when I saw "New Monkey Island Game Coming" on Gamespot. I hugged myself, wet myself, and even tried to (unsuccessfully) give my self a big we floppy kiss... But enough about my celebratory gestures, I have a couple of questions pertaining to the upcoming game.
One of the things that I've always loved about the Monkey Island games has been their spot on voice acting hilarious writing. Out of the original voice actors and writing crew who exactly is returning? Are you bringing anyone new into the Monkey Island writing team? If so, how has that been? Have the ideas flowed well and have the new people brought any new spins on the fantastic universe of Monkey Island.
Cannot WAIT for July and the coming months to see yet another Monkey Island adventure!
Thank you so much for this! I never thought I'd see another Monkey Island! I almost teared up when I saw the announcement, I definitely got excited like I had just found a long lost friend!
I have a couple of questions for Ryan:
1) Do you have an online gallery where we can look at your work? Both Either MI related or not.
2) Was 2D ever considered? I've been playing the first 3 MIs on ScummVM on my G1 phone and LOVE the graphics!
Possibly in the early stages of brainstorming (one of those "wouldn't it be awesome if we could..."), but our engine handles 3d acting really well and alas, we don't have the resources to do a fully 2d game. Although, our art director Derek Sakai drew a lot of the animations in CoMI, both Guybrush, LeChuck, and some other dudes probably. So, we have the experience to do a 2d game! I do agree.. the artwork and animation is soo GD amazing! The environments from 3 were definately a big influence on us when designing ToMI.
3) Can we get some Wallpapers? I want Guybrush on my desktop!
Ah yes, i should make some of that. Talk to my producer and get me some time to make one for you guys! Haha, I kid. My love of MI will motivate me to put some together in my spare time. Jake has made some neat ones with the in game characters. I probably should make some hand drawn stuff too.
Looks like Dan forgot to mention how we all got tracking chips that would shock us every time we said the words "Guybrush", "Threepwood" or "Le Chuck". The chip would often misfire with the last one, so Chuck Jordan got the silent treatment from the Monkey team until we had all been properly trained. We also avoided French restaurants.
Yes I got a little tired myself of being slapped across the face by co-workers at lunch time in local noon time hangouts every time I said the word "Monkey" by accident.
Whoa! Awesome stuff there... Some of those drawings are genuinely scary , others inspire sympathy, a few are even cute. Really impressive! Oh, and lotta zombies too... (You mean... ZOMBIES?!)
I personally prefer the full 3D like Sam & Max than how Strong Bad's game came out.
The advantage of techniques like cel-shading is that it is relatively easy to turn on and off application-wide, so the user could pick the preferred method of rendering. That way you could at least meet the 2D fans halfway.
Silly ideea: While waiting for ToMI, we could team up and make a MI fan game :-p
I apologise for the lack of mental health...I just find it difficult to wait. Then again, I've waited years for this...I think I can wait for one more month... NOT!
How do you typically make those drawings? Do you sketch on paper first or directly on the computer? using a pen tablet? Wat software do you prefer?
Were those TMI sketches done in Illustrator? They look so clean and crisp, they could very well be vector-graphics for box-art. Actually, the background-graphics do as well.
Are you employed by TellTale or are you a freelance artist that's available for other projects once TMI is finished?
Yes I got a little tired myself of being slapped across the face by co-workers at lunch time in local noon time hangouts every time I said the word "Monkey" by accident.
Comments
I know it's too early to tell, but if the episodes sell well could there be an MI Season 2 in the future?
"Tales Of" was just amazingly short and looked really odd to my eye when centered. That was the first thing I tried
Telltale, once again, I love you so much. If you guys ever need to move, I'll help you, no pizza or beer necessary.
A fair point.
Still, TTG, could we pretty please with sugar on top have harder puzzles and then leave hints open for those who want it?
In a maybe behind the scenes i would be curious to see how the production of Monkey Island worked, the worflow with the different stages and also finally showing off the TTG tool.
How many people are working on Monkey Island at TTG?
If i remember an interview with Grossman correctly, he stated that you could do a serie every three months, correct me if i mixed this up but keeping this in mind and knowing that it still feels kind of annoying having to wait a whole month for a new episode, do you have any plans to shorten up the update cycles, maybe to every two or three weeks or is it more about producing more series with the already familiar update cycles or putting more work into a normal serie?
Will there be a XBLA version of Monkey Island as well or is it tied to the Wii due to some exlusive deal or is the franchise not allowed to show up on the Xbox360?
Now after you worked out the hint system will we also see an increase in the puzzle complexity to also please more of the veterans and will inventory combinations making their way also into other series? Btw i read that there will be four hint grades, are these like none, low, medium, high?
What has changed, that after so many years of trying it finally happened that LucasArts allowed it? I suspect if Monkey Island goes well, which i would say is safe to assume, there is more to come from this direction, right?
I gather that there's been a change at the top. The "new guy" at Lucasarts seems to be more "classic franchise" friendly than the Star Wars obsessed bean-counters who came before him. I hope that the risk pays off for him - and for Telltale - and that both Tales of Monkey Island and the special edition of The Secret of Monkey Island will be financially successful.
Actually, I have no doubt at all that Tales of Monkey Island will be a hit for Telltale, but the remake? Who knows how successful that will be for Lucasarts. I know that I'll buy it, but will people - new gamers - who don't feel the same nostalgic fondness for the game do the same? Time will tell. Fingers crossed!
I hope, hope, hope, hope that Tales of Monkey Island will be successful enough to become a regular yearly series like Sam 'n' Max.
What's the difference between the PC and Wii versions?
(okay, that's three questions, sorry:p)
i want quality not quantity :P and i rly want to control the game with my mouse and not with the arrow keys
I fully agree, you really got the point there. I'm currently replaying LeChuck's Revenge, and I keep wondering how on earth could somebody guess some of those. Many puzzles are cleverly designed (the whole first chapter works well,
Anyway, despite all my love for Telltale, I have to say that smart puzzle design has a much older tradition. SoMI is a perfect example of an engaging adventure in which the solution to puzzles, though not obvious, never feels absurd or frustrating. I think that the difficulty of the first episode of the saga is exactly the balance Telltale should aim at.
1) Will you put in the game only one type of control or will we be able to chose between, I don't know, "WASD" and "mouse"? If there will be only one kind, which one? (thinking about, there's more than one question here...)
2) About the subtitles, which languages? Any chance for Brazilian Portuguese? I guess no
And again, THANK YOU, and I mean it!
We should tkae into consideration the fact that the titles (ToMI and SMI:SE) are introduced to new players as well, new players who might not be used to the level of difficulty from the previous MI games.
Probably, the best way to go might be:
Extreemly easy puzzle - Easy puzzle - Easy puzzle - Medium - Easy - Extreemly Hard puzzle - Easy - Medium - Easy- HARD and so on.
I think it can be compared to action sequences in good movies. You've got story telling, character development then action! Pause, story, char, Action! Pause... In this way, you don't discourage thenew players, and you please the hardcore adventure gamers too.
It usually does at Telltale.
Yeah, you're right. Just made a mock-up to see how it would have looked like and I have to agree with you
True! I really like the comparison, but I think that SoMI already does all that quite well. Gameplay pace changes continuously: vast sections with many quests and subquests (The Three Trials), and limited areas with just one single task (The Journey); inventory puzzles (
Of course it does! I was reffering on how they might implement the same "technique" in ToMI.
in MI3 & 4 Earl Boen did the Voice of LeChuck, but it seems, or should i say it SOUNDS like he did not return for ToMI, so why didnt he return to reprise his iconic role ?
It's more of a technical question, but will there be separate volume controls for the voices and music? Trying the W&G demo I felt the music got in the way of dialogue comprehension on occasions.
I highly doubt the Wii will be able to do stuff the PC can't, plus that would just be unfair. Just like it would be unfair to do 10 episodes for the Wii and 5 on the PC due to 40MB upload limit sizes to the Wii via Wiiware.
however if you were able to do that sort of stuff I would demand to get the Wii version rather then the PC one. However as far as I seen nothing like that will be happening at all.
That was fixed in the full game.
It was only kind of fixed. They lowered the music volume, but still didn't allow for individual adjustment. Which was kind of a bummer
I loved MI 1-3, CMI being my all-time favorite game.
I could never get myself to play MI4 for more than half an hour though. I simply hated the 3D graphics & controls too much, so I never finished that game. Same goes for a couple of other adventure games that moved to 3D. They simply lacked the atmosphere of their 2D counterparts.
Looking at the publicly available footage so far I am concerned TOMI will feel much the same as MI4. But I still went ahead and pre-ordered because I really appreciate the fact that you're bringing the series back and I want to support the effort in any way I can.
On the public forums, I've seen the 2D versus 3D debate pop up its ugly head again and again. Most people understand that it is simply a cost-issue. Hand-drawing every animation-frame and background would simply be too expensive.
I was wondering if you have experimented with getting the 3D to look more 'cartoony' using techniques like cel-shading?
I've seen this question asked before, but I haven't seen an answer to it yet.
They did. See: Strong Bad's Cool Game 4 Attractive People. I personally prefer the full 3D like Sam & Max than how Strong Bad's game came out, not to say it was bad, but the little excess polygons around everyone's body parts did get a little distracting to me, personally.
Yeah, there are 3 volume controls in TMI. I would eventually like to get us back to one volume control, but the mix in Wallace & Gromit was, all said and done, still too unpredictable, and I didn't want to take that risk with Monkey, so we're back to three!
I have a couple of questions for Ryan:
1) Do you have an online gallery where we can look at your work? Both Either MI related or not.
2) Was 2D ever considered? I've been playing the first 3 MIs on ScummVM on my G1 phone and LOVE the graphics!
3) Can we get some Wallpapers? I want Guybrush on my desktop!
See, I like it with 3. Having one volume slider, you might as well have no volume slider at all, since I could just change my speaker volume. The multiple-slider method allows for user customization, so I don't see why you'd want to shy away from it, ever.
Come to think of it, Escape from Monkey Island even had a non-working multiplayer option, and of course, Sam & Max Season One had "Warp Speed." Although, some people still claim that it had some effect on the game, but after poking deeply into the Sam & Max forum, I see that "Warp Speed" was programmed merely as a means to quickly add in another real option down the line.
I can see how including such a meaningless option (as funny as it may be) could cause a technical support situation, though.
EDIT: I suppose that I may have answered my own question.
I'm a newcomer but a longtime fan. The first Monkey Island game I ever played was Escape From Monkey Island and since that game I was hooked (I know that many people were not fans of the 3D animation or the controls but there were moments in the game that had me laughing so hard that it brought tears to my eyes so I still throughout enjoy that game). I've played all the games and pretty much jumped out of my seat and started screaming when I saw "New Monkey Island Game Coming" on Gamespot. I hugged myself, wet myself, and even tried to (unsuccessfully) give my self a big we floppy kiss... But enough about my celebratory gestures, I have a couple of questions pertaining to the upcoming game.
One of the things that I've always loved about the Monkey Island games has been their spot on voice acting hilarious writing. Out of the original voice actors and writing crew who exactly is returning? Are you bringing anyone new into the Monkey Island writing team? If so, how has that been? Have the ideas flowed well and have the new people brought any new spins on the fantastic universe of Monkey Island.
Cannot WAIT for July and the coming months to see yet another Monkey Island adventure!
1) Do you have an online gallery where we can look at your work? Both Either MI related or not.
YEA! Well, a blog with images, some neat and mostly dookie works. http://ryandavidjones.blogspot.com
2) Was 2D ever considered? I've been playing the first 3 MIs on ScummVM on my G1 phone and LOVE the graphics!
Possibly in the early stages of brainstorming (one of those "wouldn't it be awesome if we could..."), but our engine handles 3d acting really well and alas, we don't have the resources to do a fully 2d game. Although, our art director Derek Sakai drew a lot of the animations in CoMI, both Guybrush, LeChuck, and some other dudes probably. So, we have the experience to do a 2d game! I do agree.. the artwork and animation is soo GD amazing! The environments from 3 were definately a big influence on us when designing ToMI.
3) Can we get some Wallpapers? I want Guybrush on my desktop!
Ah yes, i should make some of that. Talk to my producer and get me some time to make one for you guys! Haha, I kid. My love of MI will motivate me to put some together in my spare time. Jake has made some neat ones with the in game characters. I probably should make some hand drawn stuff too.
Yes I got a little tired myself of being slapped across the face by co-workers at lunch time in local noon time hangouts every time I said the word "Monkey" by accident.
Whoa! Awesome stuff there... Some of those drawings are genuinely scary , others inspire sympathy, a few are even cute. Really impressive! Oh, and lotta zombies too... (You mean... ZOMBIES?!)
Who approached who?
Was SoMI:SE already in production (LA have said is been in development for 9 months, Tales 6?)
How much say do LA have in terms of the design of the game?
The advantage of techniques like cel-shading is that it is relatively easy to turn on and off application-wide, so the user could pick the preferred method of rendering. That way you could at least meet the 2D fans halfway.
I apologise for the lack of mental health...I just find it difficult to wait. Then again, I've waited years for this...I think I can wait for one more month... NOT!
Wow Ryan. That looks absolutely amazing!
How do you typically make those drawings? Do you sketch on paper first or directly on the computer? using a pen tablet? Wat software do you prefer?
Were those TMI sketches done in Illustrator? They look so clean and crisp, they could very well be vector-graphics for box-art. Actually, the background-graphics do as well.
Are you employed by TellTale or are you a freelance artist that's available for other projects once TMI is finished?
Must have been a very Discworld-ish experience