Posts Tagged ‘Ron Gilbert’

Thimbleweed Park gets in-game hint hotline

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I’m constantly getting stuck in Thimbleweed Park [official site], the old-school adventure game from the creators of Maniac Mansion, Ron Gilbert and Gary Winnick. I always seem to have an inventory full of loose popcorn, soot, a t-shirt and some dynamite with no clue as to how to combine them in order to get ice cream cake to a hungry ghost.

I thought I was just being dense, but it turns out that I’m not the only one who’s had issues. Fans and critics have remarked that the game needed a hint system and the team has, somewhat reluctantly, obliged. And not just any old hint system: a proper hint hotline you can call from the in-game phones, reminiscent of the real gaming hint lines of the ’80s.

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Click me up: Thimbleweed Park coming March 30th

Thimbleweed Park [official site], the new adventure game from Maniac Mansion creators Ron Gilbert and Gary Winnick, finally has a release date. On March 30th, two-and-a-quarter years after the game’s crowdfunding campaign ended, we’ll be welcomed into the small town of Thimbleweed Park to investigate murder and other strange goings-on. It’ll bring puzzles, chat, jokes, japes – y’know, stuff you’d broadly expect from the reunion of a pair of LucasArts adventure veterans. Read the rest of this entry »

RPS Feature Casual modes should be more casual

What point and click adventures could learn from hidden object games

Thimbleweed Park

This week I’ve been tinkering with a preview build of Thimbleweed Park which is the point and click murder mystery from Ron Gilbert and Gary Winnick (them off Maniac Mansion). I used to love playing point and click games when I was little – my siblings and I would play them together over weeks and weeks – but for me they feel so rooted in that time’s technology and gamescape that I don’t think I’ve found any of the modern revamps/revisits/reworks/riffs of interest. Thimbleweed Park’s recent trailers did trigger a little frisson of curiosity though, and I’ve also been tasked with booting up The Dig by John for a new Game Swap. The result of all of this was an unexpected 2am conclusion about what point and clicks can learn from hidden object adventures. Read the rest of this entry »

Meet Thimbleweed Park’s creepy clown Ransome

Ransome the clown

Thimbleweed Park [official site] – that’s the point and click adventure game being spearheaded by Ron Gilbert and Gary Winnick of Maniac Mansion fame – has a new trailer. I’ve been curious about the game for a while and we’ve had some really interesting bits on the site about it, like Adam’s interview with Gilbert at GDC. But this is the first time a trailer for it has stoked something other than that slightly distant professional interest: Read the rest of this entry »

RPS Feature From the creator of Monkey Island

Have you played… The Cave?

Have You Played? is an endless stream of game retrospectives. One a day, every day of the year, perhaps for all time.

There have been a lot of attempts to find a more modern form for the point-and-click adventure. The Cave has the benefit of being designed by Ron Gilbert, the creator of some of the best, with art and animation from the always-good-at-those-particular-things Double Fine.

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Thimbleweed Park: A Warning From Delores Edmund

Thimbleweed Park [official site] – a sinister and quirky point and click from Maniac Mansion’s Ron Gilbert and Gary Winnick – has a trailer out to coincide with Gamescom. Adam went to see a demo of the game back in March and that focused around the playable character of celebrity clown, Ransome. This trailer takes a look at aspiring game developer and heiress Delores Edmund – another playable character – and gives a bit of background on the game’s namesake:

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RPS Feature More than a throwback

Why Adventure Games Don’t Have To Suck: Ron Gilbert Talks Thimbleweed Park

Yesterday, I spent forty five minutes with influential adventure game designer of yore Ron Gilbert. We played a portion of his point and click revival Thimbleweed Park and discussed adventure game design in depth. Many of my questions were inspired by Gilbert’s 1989 statement of intent, Why Adventure Games Suck. As Thimbleweed Park looks back to that time, it seemed appropriate to ask what has changed for the better. And for the worse.

A clown is scrubbing and clawing at his face, attempting to remove the pasty makeup and honking red nose that are the tools of his trade. He can’t. The clowning is no longer a costume, it has become his reality. Long live the new flesh.

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Thimbleweed Park Trailer Evokes X-Files, Twin Peaks

Thimbleweed Park [official site] is the upcoming point-and-click adventure from Ron Gilbert and Gary Winnick that’s billed as a “true spiritual successor” to the duo’s 1987 classic Maniac Mansion. It’s designed to emulate the LucasArts games of Way Back When, complete with black comedy and an instantly recognisable SCUMM-style interface, and now has a new trailer. Introducing Agent Ray:

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Maniacs: Thimbleweed Park Kickstarter Funded In A Week

Broken Age was trapped between two posts: its need to satisfy the nostalgia of the people who funded it via Kickstarter, and its desire to be accessible and reach a modern audience. The former group seemed displeased with the results, which is maybe what’s pushed Thimbleweed Park beyond its own $375,000 Kickstarter goal in just a week. It’s from the creators of Maniac Mansion, Ron Gilbert and Gary Winnick, and they’re creating a point and click adventure that feels like “opening a dusty old desk drawer and finding an undiscovered LucasArts adventure game you’ve never played before.”

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Maniac Mansion 3 By Any Other Name: Thimbleweed Park

are you OK, sir?

Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the crowdfunding waters – the Old Men Of Videogames are back, and they want your cash so they can pick up where they left off. Again. This time it’s Ron Gilbert & Garry Winnick, creators of Lucasarts point’n’click grandparent Maniac Mansion (not to mention a little game called Monkey Island), and they’re after $375k to make a spiritual sequel named Thimbleweed Park.
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No More Monkey Business: Ron Gilbert Leaves Double Fine

Well, this is slightly unexpected. Ron Gilbert’s always kinda done his own thing, but sharing a colorful roof of pure, shining whimsy with partner in pirate-y crime Tim Schafer just sort of, you know, made sense. It is, however, like they say: all good things must come to an end. Also, The Cave was actually only kind of all right, so maybe this is for the best. But what’s next for the man they call “RonnyG” (and I guess also Grumpy Gamer)? Solve a series of increasingly obtuse puzzles to get past the break for more. Hint: the first one involves clicking. And also a rubber chicken with a pulley in the middle.

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The Cave Is Late On PC: Brief 360 Impressions

We’d rather hoped to have brought you a review of Double Fine’s The Cave by now, but unfortunately Sega only made 360 code available before release. And then to make matters dumb, despite its release date being today, and its being out today on 360, the Steam version has seemingly been set for the incorrect date, and is locked until tomorrow morning. Having already completed it twice on the consolebox, I’m in the frustrating position of wanting to tell you wot I think, but completely unable to advise you as to the state of the PC build. So while I hope this might get someone’s attention and have the Steam build unlocked for everyone, below I’ll give you a couple of lines of impressions and tell you to cross your legs.

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Digging Deeper: Meet The Rest Of The Cave’s Cast

Yaaaaaaay, I'm on fire!

Wanna know what you usually find in caves? Bats. Awful, shrieky little things with webbed wings, beady eyes, and a thirst for that red stuff that sloshes around under your precious neckflesh. Also spiky ceiling rocks that could fall and cave in your head, and lots of unpleasantly cold water. But sometimes – every once in an eerily blue moon – you also find yourself. Or at least, that’s what Ron Gilbert’s talking cave argues in a new trailer, and who are we to disagree? Not caves, that’s for sure – so probably not particularly qualified. But this cave also seems to know people, so what do I know? Probably nothing. Hear about the Adventurer, Knight, Time Traveler, and Twins in The Cave‘s learned, slightly sultry baritone after the break.

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RPS Feature Looking Back, Moving Forward

Ron Gilbert On Being A PC Gamer, What’s Next

The Cave is right around the corner. Well, not literally – unless you live inside a rocky outcropping in the frigid wildness or are being stalked by some kind of sentient, not-completely-immobile cave. But Ron Gilbert’s Cave is rapidly nearing its January 2013 release date, and naturally, that raises questions. Fortunately, I was standing right next to the very same Ron Gilbert when those questions came up, so I decided to ask him. Find out after the break why – in spite of its platform-y looks – The Cave’s a PC game at heart and how that ties into Gilbert’s plans for whatever he ends up making next.

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Ron Gilbert Explains The Cave’s Weird Character Count

SEVEN WHY ARE THERE SEVEN AAAAAUGH.

I have been – to put it lightly – bothered by the fact that Ron Gilbert’s The Cave only has seven playable characters. Six or nine, you see, would make each playthrough nice and clean – no character overlap. But seven? That’s messy. I’ll get juicy character development and thick, fibrous hunks of plot thread all over my shoes as I wade through The Cave’s murky depths. It’ll be gross. But why? What diabolical plan could Gilbert possibly have in store that would warrant such numerical absurdity? During PAX, I asked him about it, and he explained to me the grisly fates of two characters that didn’t make the cut – as well as why he kind of really doesn’t like DLC.

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Point & Spelunking: Latest Pics Of The Cave

Mr Ron Gilbert, inventor of clicking, has released a bunch more screenshots of his forthcoming adventure, The Cave. The existence of The Cave does seem something of an anomaly – Doublefine ran their famous Kickstarter campaign on the basis that publishers won’t fund the development of adventure games. And almost simultaneously announced they’re developing a new adventure game published by Sega. Huh. IS the sort of disguise as a platformer really that effective? You can take a look at how it’s shaping up below.

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RPS Feature "unrelated object B"

Ron Gilbert, Pt. 2: Legacy, Learning, And… Diablo?

Look into my eyes. The real ones or the necklace. Whichever.

Yesterday, I had a chat with the first half of Ron Gilbert about his upcoming descent into madness (and in the game), The Cave. Shortly after, the other half of Ron Gilbert teetered awkwardly into the room, so I decided to speak with it as well. In this very special non-Cave-flavored episode, we discuss goofy adventure game logic, the ups and downs of being inextricably tied to a legendary hit like Monkey Island, leaving a legacy, rebelling against that legacy, and kids games like the secretly-completely-rad Pajama Sam. Also Diablo III for some reason. The thrilling conclusion’s after the break.

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RPS Feature "nobody liked Jeff"

Ron Gilbert Interview, Pt 1: All Things Cave-Related

This is also an exclusive reveal of the eighth playable character: a campfire.
You should be excited about The Cave. It is, after all, Monkey Island maestro Ron Gilbert’s latest brainchild and – startling revelation that brains can have children aside – it looks to be a pleasant reminder that Double Fine’s far, far more than just a one-trick Kickstarter pony. Also, and I can’t stress this enough, the cave talks. So, after seeing it in action last week, I crept back into Double Fine’s offices for a nice, long chat with Gilbert himself, who – much like your average magical cave – also talks. There, we discussed the game’s parentage (Is Maniac Mansion the father? Shocking reveal on page 17), real life inspirations, why there’s an odd number of main characters, the Cave’s voice, and the reason Gilbert can never go on a whirlwind tour of the world’s finest caves. Oh, and more, of course.

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It’s Totally Underground: The Cave’s First Trailer

Tee-hee, that tickles. Oh you.

I recently got to see Ron Gilbert’s latest slice of adventure platformer mania, The Cave, in action. It was pretty great. I mean, characters walked and jumped and moved – as though propelled ever onward by the invisible hand of fate or the very visible hand of someone holding a controller. You should’ve been there. But since you weren’t, I desperately struggled to find a way to best relay that experience back to you. At first, my preview was a bunch of screenshot cut-outs glued to popsicle sticks, and then I fiddled with tiny felt finger puppets. Alas, however, it just wasn’t the same. But then Double Fine released this trailer. Madness, I thought. How could a mere video beat the fully 3D, impossibly high-def and immersive experience of a finger puppet? But you know what? It sort of works. Given time, these things might even catch on.

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RPS Feature Deep, dark secrets

Ron Gilbert’s New Game Revealed: The Cave

Not pictured: a cave.

Really, there are only two things you need to know about Monkey Island and Maniac Mansion mastermind Ron Gilbert‘s The Cave: 1) It takes place inside a talking cave. 2) The cave is mysterious. And a bit sultry. “Welcome,” the Cave said as the demo began. “Don’t let my sultry and mysterious voice startle you.” Meanwhile, when asked about the titular magic rock formation’s overall role in the game’s proceedings, Gilbert chimed in: “He’s kinda mysterious. Sultry, too,”

OK, maybe there’s a bit more to it than that. Here are the basics: there are seven characters, each of whom has ventured to a time-and-space-transcending cave to “learn something about themselves and who they might become.” So yeah, Mr Cave (whose last name is hopefully not “Johnson” – that could get confusing) gets top billing, but this is a game first and foremost about those seven – with backgrounds ranging from Medieval knight to time-traveler. So you pick any three, descend into the depths of their respective madnesses (and, you know, a cave), and leap between them to advance through an interconnected Metroidvania-style world. Appearances, however, can be deceiving, so here’s the bit that should have you jumping for nostalgic joy: “It is an adventure game,” said Gilbert, quickly pocketing an entire bucket in-game. “You want to pick up everything you can.”

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