For the adventure game return of the decade, Monkey Island creators Ron Gilbert and Dave Grossman have big plans. That’s why they don’t want to drift completely into retro territory and offer pure fan service. Because the target group is different 30 years later.
Good things are worth waiting for. Ron Gilbert and Dave Grossman had to wait 30 years to continue Monkey Island. Of course we wanted to ask the two adventure legends about their plans immediately after the announcement of Return to Monkey Island in April. So we sent interview questions … And waited.
In the meantime first screenshots of the game appeared and the US press was allowed to publish their conversations with two of the three founding fathers of Monkey Island (the other is called Tim Schafer and most recently made Psychonauts 2). And this in the land of adventure lovers, where point-&-click games continued to sell briskly in the 1990s and 2000s even as global interest in the puzzle genre plummeted.
For almost two months we had to twiddle our thumbs, interrupted only by regular enquiries with the German press department of publisher Devolver Digital, sometimes repeated prayerfully in a weekly rhythm:
- When is the interview coming?
- What are the developers doing?
- Does Ron Gilbert fight like a cow?
- Behind you, a three-headed monkey!
But at the end of May, the long-awaited confirmation finally arrives: Although the game’s story is still top secret despite a 2022 release target and no concrete questions about game content or features were allowed, the two head developers of Return to Monkey Island are eagerly chatting out of the sewing box.
Among other things, they tell you why the new Monkey Island should not be mere fan service for players with retro desires. One reason for this is something that did not yet exist in this form in the direct predecessor Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge: the internet.
Ron, Dave, what goals have you set for Return to Monkey Island?
Ron Gilbert: “I really wanted to make it a true pirate adventure, and I always felt that was the roots of the first game. Much to the dismay of some Monkey Island fans, we didn’t want to make a retro game.
We wanted to make a Monkey Island that pointed to the future rather than the past, but still captured real adventure puzzles, great dialogue and the feeling of being in that world. “
Are there certain points that every Monkey Island game must include?
Dave Grossman: “I resist the idea that there are specific requirements, but I think the most important elements of Monkey Island have to do with the tone of the world and the story and the nature of the characters.
The details are funny for the most part, but humour always plays second fiddle to story for me. Our story has something serious and real at its core. In the original, Secret of Monkey Island is about a young man starting his career and finding something more important along the way – the fact that this idea is not inherently funny helps keep the game grounded, despite all the silliness with which the story is then told.
The same goes for the characters. Although the side characters are often caught up in their own oddly myopic points of view in a way typical of adventure games, which makes for funny puzzles, they do have a point of view, and that helps keep them and the game from feeling too cartoony.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_5SU9fDXNY
How has the adventure game genre evolved over the last 30 years and what does that mean for Return to Monkey Island?
Ron Gilbert: “In the 1990s, it was okay if the puzzles in adventure games were very difficult because they were poorly designed. That doesn’t work today. Nowadays there are so many things that take up players’ time that you can’t leave them sitting for hours on a puzzle. Besides, we have the internet, and if you get stuck, you can just look up the solution. Now it’s about finding a good balance between a difficult puzzle and one that’s too difficult. “
What kind of audience do you want to target with Return to Monkey Island?
Dave Grossman: “The kind that would buy eight copies of a game just for fun?”
Ron Gilbert: “There are millions of people who have played Monkey Island. But there are also tens of millions of people who haven’t played it. I want to welcome them into our world. “
How do you want to appeal to (younger) gamers who have never played Monkey Island or even an adventure game (shame on them!)?
Dave Grossman: “For people who don’t know the series yet, or who just want to brush up on it, we’ve included a ‘catch-me-up’ feature that gives an overview of the most important things to know about all the other games. The most important things to do with the new story, anyway. And the game itself is pretty beginner-friendly, you can just pick it up and play, you don’t need any experience in the genre. “
How did the return of Monkey Island come about
How did you convince Lucasfilm that the time was right for a return of Monkey Island?
Ron Gilbert: “It’s a process with a lot of moving parts. When all the gears mesh, the machine starts rolling. I don’t think there was one ‘event’ that kicked it off, but many small events over the years. “
What did it take to get the band back together?
Dave Grossman: “The timing happened to be a good fit for me, so it didn’t take much convincing on my part. I’ve always enjoyed doing projects with Ron, and a new Monkey Island game sounded fun. We had to meet for a weekend to make sure we agreed on the direction it should go. But once we did that, we just needed a big pile of money to fund the project.”
Ron Gilbert: “When developing a new Monkey Island became a real possibility, I contacted Dave and we had an initial brainstorming session to see if we had any good ideas. Months later, when the project was official and the contracts were signed, we started on the story and design. We worked on that for almost three months before production started. “
Nowadays, almost every major game announcement is leaked in advance. How did you guys manage to keep Return to Monkey Island a secret
Dave Grossman: “We kept it under wraps like a spy movie. In the non-disclosure agreements there are many pages listing all the terrible punishments that await anyone who spills the beans.
People didn’t know what the project was about until we hired them. There was a specific instruction not to mention my name, and we didn’t even network on LinkedIn until we had completed the project.
It all sounds fun, like a cloak-and-dagger movie, but the excitement faded after about five minutes, and then it was terribly awkward for two years. “
Ron Gilbert: “I’m amazed it didn’t leak. It’s a real testament to our team and how seriously we all took the secrecy. But I think that for a game that came out of The Secret of Monkey Island, you can expect secrecy. “
How the new Monkey Island is currently being made
When you compare your work on Return to Monkey Island with your work on Monkey Island 1 & 2: What’s different? And what is still the same?
Dave Grossman: “Well, the world is different. The technology we use to play, make and deliver games is different too. Things like voice recordings mean the process has to be different. Adventure games themselves are different. And Ron and I are different, at least a little bit, than we used to be.
And yet the creative back-and-forth of sitting down in a room, or more specifically on a phone call, to come up with puzzles or stories or solve problems with the game experience feels like it hasn’t aged a day. It’s very satisfying! The only thing missing is the couches, because Skywalker Ranch had comfy couches.”
Ron Gilbert: “Working remotely has made a big difference. Our team is scattered all over the world and it can be a challenge not being able to get into someone’s office and share ideas. Overall, I don’t think it’s been a problem, but I do miss it. Dave probably doesn’t miss me coming over and saying, ‘Hey, what are you working on?'”
