Ron Gilbert #dfadventure chat [EDITED] 5/4/13

Edited chat log - #dfadventure irc.foonetic.net - Ron Gilbert 5/4/2013


(06:55:32 AM) GrumpyGamer [GrumpyGame@hide-2D8716B5.hsd1.ca.comcast.net] entered the room.
(06:55:37 AM) Syd: Hey GrumpyGamer!
(06:55:43 AM) Zonr_0: And there's the man of the hour.
(06:55:49 AM) Scummbuddy: Welcome! Thanks for joining us
(06:55:59 AM) Cheeseness: Hi Ron!
[x100]

(06:55:51 AM) GrumpyGamer: Hello Mighty Pirates!

(06:56:01 AM) Syd: I'll be starting the stream in about 3 minutes

(06:57:09 AM) GrumpyGamer: Actually, Ron couldn't make it, I'm just a Python bot he wrote.

(07:01:37 AM) johnny32: yes!
(07:01:38 AM) Cheeseness: video^
(07:01:38 AM) johnny32: agree!
(07:01:40 AM) happygamer: brings up emotions
(07:01:41 AM) NiggloNash: ronald gilbert
(07:01:44 AM) GrumpyGamer: TURN THE MUSIC UP
(07:01:46 AM) jojo_: Ron Gilbert designer this game!
(07:01:51 AM) johnny32: this music is one of the best of the series!
(07:01:52 AM) OneHundredAndThirtySevenButts: Wheres the grump?
(07:02:24 AM) melonface: what has michael land done recently?
(07:02:50 AM) GrumpyGamer: "Crying Rainbows"
(07:03:17 AM) GrumpyGamer: I'm typing… not playing.

(07:04:02 AM) OzzieMonkey: The idea of a voiced narrator is still odd to me, even if it was Murray's voice
(07:04:30 AM) GrumpyGamer: Agree about the narrator voice.

(07:04:31 AM) Lattsam: No treasure on Scabb Island?  shyeah right
(07:04:40 AM) GrumpyGamer: HA

(07:05:14 AM) GrumpyGamer: Weenies always have deeper meaning.

(07:06:12 AM) jojo_: Largo sounds off
(07:06:24 AM) OzzieMonkey: Largo's awesome
(07:06:24 AM) johnny32: the music of this awesome
(07:06:26 AM) GrumpyGamer: He pronounced it wrong
(07:06:43 AM) GrumpyGamer: I grew up in a town called La Grande.
(07:07:34 AM) Cheeseness: I love this piece of music
(07:08:53 AM) Fireflower: one of the best adventure games ever made :)

(07:10:56 AM) Cheeseness: I imagine that there's a basic voodoo group pyramid

(07:11:12 AM) GrumpyGamer: http://grumpygamer.com/5777333

(07:11:51 AM) TimeGentleman: grumpygamer why make the player click along to get through the swamp? sense of hidden lair?
(07:12:03 AM) GrumpyGamer: It was a sign of the times.

(07:12:47 AM) Lattsam: King's Quest IV has some great tombstone readin'
(07:12:55 AM) GrumpyGamer: They were just filler.  So much to write.

(07:13:10 AM) GameClubFan_499050: GG, was The Princess Bride an inspiration for the character of Guybrush?
(07:13:44 AM) GrumpyGamer: Princess Bride was not a direct inspiration.

(07:14:05 AM) Lattsam: Only in adventure games can you get away with robbing graves without repercussions
(07:14:25 AM) GrumpyGamer: "Only in adventure games can you get away with robbing graves without repercussions" <— NOT TRUE!
(07:14:43 AM) Lattsam: GrumpyGamer yeah, but still, it's funny

(07:14:57 AM) GrumpyGamer: No, I didn't have any say in the voice casting.  I was long gone.

(07:15:36 AM) GrumpyGamer: The main inspiration was the Pirates of the Caribbean ride + On Stranger Tides.

(07:16:07 AM) TimeGentleman: grumpygamer this is one of few screens with no useful items - were you tempted to put any in?
(07:16:54 AM) GrumpyGamer: What screen?  I was looking away.
(07:17:24 AM) GrumpyGamer: I have an iMac
(07:17:31 AM) Scummbuddy: @GrumpyGamer. Dredd's boat and this dock scene. Neither room had stuff to loot.
(07:17:56 AM) GrumpyGamer: I don't remember thinking much about not having any objects in that room.

(07:17:58 AM) happygamer: grumpygamer how many lines of code does mi2 have?
(07:18:19 AM) GrumpyGamer: I have no idea how many lines of code.  A shit-ton.

(07:19:01 AM) japro: what really "suffered" under the translation was the monkey wrench puzzle though :) that was just absurdist.
(07:19:17 AM) GrumpyGamer: Yeah, I regret that puzzle.

(07:20:16 AM) happygamer: grumpygamer do you live alone?
(07:20:30 AM) GrumpyGamer: Why, looking for a roomate?

(07:20:48 AM) OzzieMonkey: Guybrush can get away with being an asshole, he has an inventory to fill :p
(07:21:14 AM) GrumpyGamer: GB isn't an asshole as much as he is snarky.

(07:21:38 AM) GrumpyGamer: I'm not married and don't have kids and I want to get another dog.

(07:22:43 AM) Cheeseness: GrumpyGamer: This comes back to the question that I asked during our interview last time about bad things happening to

people as a result of player actions. Guybrush does some awful stuff to people throughout the course of the game that players can't avoid. It seems

to be a bit of a recurring thing in your games, and I thought that The Cave was this really fascinating embodiment of the same thing, and at the

same time on a more subtle level, the polar opposite

(07:24:32 AM) GrumpyGamer: Not much of the story was written out before.  I had huge puzzle charts for the puzzles and the story just followed those

and we made it up as we went.

(07:24:40 AM) GameClubFan_496745: @grumpygamer What are your fondest memories developing this project?
(07:25:07 AM) GrumpyGamer: I loved working with iMuse.

(07:25:09 AM) lfcorreia: GrumpyGamer, do you still have some of the actual game scripts from MI2?
(07:25:19 AM) GrumpyGamer: I do have them.

(07:25:26 AM) melonface: grumpygamer What famous people you know of have played Monkey Island? Steven Spielberg?
(07:25:43 AM) GrumpyGamer: Yes, Steven Spielberg used to call me up for hints.

(07:25:45 AM) Zonr_0: iMuse is great in other old lucasart games too.
(07:25:48 AM) fibrousmen: this is the best looking adventure game ever.  the colors of scabb kill me.
(07:25:52 AM) GrumpyGamer: True story.

(07:26:00 AM) ZombieAtPlay: grumpygamer Did you have to give the go ahead for the MI movie to be developed when you were at Lucas (even though it

only made it to storyboards) or is everything MI owned completely by lucasarts?
(07:26:24 AM) GrumpyGamer: I was gone by the time they started thinking about the movie.

(07:26:26 AM) Permafry_42: @Grumpygamer What is one thing you wish all modern game developers knew that they usually don't?
(07:27:34 AM) GrumpyGamer: How to pace an interactive story and use puzzles to drive the plot.

(07:27:51 AM) Tea: Hey, GrumpyGamer, be a pal and tell us the Secret of Monkey Island
(07:28:07 AM) GrumpyGamer: Guybrush is really a Banana.
(07:28:28 AM) GrumpyGamer: I makes perfect sense if you think about it.
(07:28:53 AM) GrumpyGamer: Don't slip on the secret

(07:30:10 AM) GrumpyGamer: Man did we love having 256 colors for this game.

(07:30:43 AM) happygamer: grumpygamer can you believe we are playing this 22 years later?
(07:31:17 AM) GrumpyGamer: No, I can't believe that people still talk about this game.  I would never have believed it back then.


(07:31:42 AM) GrumpyGamer: Spoken dialog and dialog "puzzles" are sometimes at odds with each other.

(07:33:40 AM) happygamer: grumpygamer have you ever driunk grog?
(07:33:55 AM) GrumpyGamer: Not "real" grog.


(07:36:06 AM) happygamer: grumpygamer did you cut a lot of gameplay during development?
(07:36:14 AM) GrumpyGamer: Not very much
(07:36:35 AM) GrumpyGamer: Some stuff at the end, but only a room or two.

(07:36:52 AM) GrumpyGamer: I design puzzles backwards.
(07:36:58 AM) GrumpyGamer: It's the best way to do them.

(07:37:07 AM) GameClubFan_978391: Ron who is your favorite character in the series?
(07:37:25 AM) GrumpyGamer: I'd have to go with Stan.
(07:37:41 AM) GrumpyGamer: If you don't include Guybrush or Elaine.

(07:38:04 AM) Danaroth: GrumpyGamer, I have heard a lot of people complaining about the slowness of general movement of the characters. Wasn't that

one thing you were trying to avoid when designing the game (slow movements being a big issue of standard adventure)?
(07:38:53 AM) GrumpyGamer: Back then, people didn't really complain about the slowness of movement.

(07:39:21 AM) GrumpyGamer: Yeah, I was stuck on the ending for quite a while.
(07:39:32 AM) GrumpyGamer: It came to me one morning while in bed.

(07:40:25 AM) GameClubFan_978391: simon the sorcerer was great. Did you play all the non-LA adventure games grumpygamer?
(07:40:45 AM) GrumpyGamer: No, sadly I did not play very many of them.

(07:41:13 AM) GrumpyGamer: It was not meant to be a cliff hanger.

(07:41:46 AM) happygamer: grumpygamer when did you realize monkey island became more than just a computer game?
(07:42:01 AM) GrumpyGamer: Not until around 2002
(07:42:28 AM) GrumpyGamer: I didn't realize how many fans of the game their were until I started my blog.

(07:42:44 AM) geecko: It's amazing how quiet this place is, I would have imagined chaos and Ron being asked 300 questions per minute.
(07:43:06 AM) GrumpyGamer: I can hardly keep up with 3 questions a minute!

(07:43:23 AM) happygamer: grumpygamer was there a joke you had to cut bc it was not allowed by la?
(07:43:38 AM) GrumpyGamer: Jokes?  No.

(07:44:16 AM) GrumpyGamer: Last Lucas game I worked on was MI2

(07:44:50 AM) happygamer: grumpygamer tell us more about where the voodoo lady came from
(07:45:39 AM) GrumpyGamer: I don't remember exactly where she came from, other than we needed some for the voodoo aspects of the game.

On bringing back characters...
(07:46:06 AM) GrumpyGamer: We had out favorites and tended to being them back.

(07:46:09 AM) happygamer: grumpygamer in which order did you create the characters guybrush, elaine, lechuk, voodoo lady
(07:46:28 AM) GrumpyGamer: Guybrush first.  Eline came quite late.

(07:46:40 AM) Tea: OzzieMonkey: Your message cut off at "involved with voodoo". I thought you were implying GrumpyGamer was a shaman or something
(07:46:54 AM) GrumpyGamer: I do dabble in the dark arts.

(07:47:58 AM) GrumpyGamer: No, George didn't have any input.

(07:49:03 AM) GrumpyGamer: No, George didn't have much involvement in the adventure games.

(07:49:35 AM) GrumpyGamer: I honestly have no idea why MI is so popular 20 years later.

(07:50:33 AM) GrumpyGamer: iMuse was just an amazing idea Michael Land had.

(07:52:47 AM) GameClubFan_499050: grumpygamer, do you consider adventure games like MI to be more akin to interactive fiction? To me they these

games were always different to the other games I played.
(07:53:07 AM) GrumpyGamer: Interactive Fiction is a loaded word.


(07:54:23 AM) Stanismyhero: I love the voodoo guy's voice
(07:54:33 AM) GrumpyGamer: I don't know who he is.  I forget he was in the game until just now.

(07:54:55 AM) lfcorreia: GrumpyGamer, what was the total time it took to make MI2, from idea to game on shelves
(07:55:16 AM) GrumpyGamer: MI2 was made in just less than a year.

(07:55:19 AM) mancombseepgood: GrumpyGamer: Steve Purcell is now a part of Pixar, did you ever have any interest in going into animation?
(07:55:36 AM) GrumpyGamer: I can't draw for crap!

(07:56:32 AM) GrumpyGamer: I see Steve every so often.  Mostly when I'm trying to scam a Pixar tour.

(07:56:49 AM) TimeGentleman: grumpygamer was it tough keeping the balance between the funny anachronisms and keeping the world feeling "real"?
(07:57:16 AM) GrumpyGamer: No, humor made keeping that balance pretty easy.

(07:58:03 AM) johnny32: GrumpyGamer who took the time to write all the titles of the books in the library?
(07:58:28 AM) GrumpyGamer: That was a group job.  Dave Grossman might have done the bulk of the work.

(07:58:53 AM) GrumpyGamer: No, I can't do art.
(07:59:05 AM) GrumpyGamer: I can't draw stick figures.

(07:59:43 AM) GrumpyGamer: My friend Clayton did my twitter icon and all the art on my site.

(07:59:43 AM) ZombieAtPlay: Grumpygamer how many times did you ride Pirates of the Carribean for the monkey games? Did you get any backstage tours?
(08:00:05 AM) GrumpyGamer: I rode it a lot.  No back stage tours.  :-(

[Note:  Someone make this happen.]

(08:01:31 AM) GrumpyGamer: I can't vouch for anything they did in MI3

(08:01:37 AM) happygamer: grumpygamer did you use booty island structure for dinky island because it was easier, or has it a meaning?
(08:01:54 AM) GrumpyGamer: "booty island structure"?
(08:02:12 AM) happygamer: grumpygamer booty island looks like dinky island in the last scene

(08:02:13 AM) interceptor: GrumpyGamer was the joke with the fisherman's second pipe really a bug that just was left in or was the bug faked?
(08:02:30 AM) GrumpyGamer: It was a bug.
(08:03:11 AM) GrumpyGamer: I always hate that he was larger in that room.
(08:03:14 AM) GrumpyGamer: *hated

(08:04:40 AM) GrumpyGamer: We developed all the games on PCs running DOS
(08:05:02 AM) GrumpyGamer: They used a lot of disk space.
(08:05:11 AM) GrumpyGamer: I'd rather use that on rooms.

(08:05:26 AM) Smith: grumpygamer, wacom c or borland c? or something else entirely?
(08:05:40 AM) GrumpyGamer: Microsoft C

(08:05:48 AM) geecko: GrumpyGamer : From what you've been tweeting, it sounds like you're really eager to get the rights of Monkey Island back. Is

it going to happen ?
(08:05:59 AM) GrumpyGamer: I have no idea.
(08:06:05 AM) GrumpyGamer: It's a long long road.

(08:07:26 AM) GrumpyGamer: I don't remember anything special about those to islands looking the same.

(08:07:36 AM) TimeGentleman: So, how many people get the "Joy Of Hex" reference these days?
(08:07:59 AM) GrumpyGamer: Hex isn't fun anymore?

(08:08:07 AM) mancombseepgood: GrumpyGamer: Who currently has MI rights? Disney?
(08:08:14 AM) GrumpyGamer: Disney
(08:08:45 AM) GrumpyGamer: Yes, Disney owns the rights to MI

(08:09:22 AM) GrumpyGamer: Disney doesn't own S&M… Steve Purcell does.
(08:09:42 AM) GrumpyGamer: Steve created those characters before coming to work at Lucas.
(08:10:34 AM) GrumpyGamer: Steve created S&M before he came to Lucas.

(08:10:51 AM) GrumpyGamer: No, I would not make another MI unless I own the IP.

(08:11:52 AM) geecko: GrumpyGamer : Alright. Would you consider using KickStarters to collect the money to buy the IP ?
(08:12:49 AM) GrumpyGamer: I don't think KS allows for that.

(08:13:52 AM) Smith: Grumpygamer, do you still enjoy coding and if so which languages are you partial to?
(08:14:13 AM) GrumpyGamer: I love to program.  I do mainly objective-c and c/c++

(08:14:42 AM) GameClubFan_651079: GrumpyGamer Some aspects of iMUSE are being emulated on modern games using canned audio, such as mixing between

different arrangements. But because it still is canned audio, it can be awkward and limited to work with. Do you think real time music synthesis in

games is part of a bygone era?
(08:14:59 AM) GrumpyGamer: I think it is.

(08:15:27 AM) lfcorreia: GrumpyGamer, that red travelling line is a clear joke on the Indiana Jones games and movie, right?
(08:15:56 AM) GrumpyGamer: Yes, that was from the Indy moves nd game.

(08:17:08 AM) GrumpyGamer: Doesn't MI2 feel like a bigger game than MI1?

(08:17:58 AM) GrumpyGamer: First time you every played MI2, how long did it take to finish?
(08:18:03 AM) japro: after spending like one week on melee island the concept of there being multiple island completely blew my mind back in the

time
(08:18:06 AM) Gins: years
(08:18:09 AM) happygamer: I don't remember
(08:18:13 AM) fibrousmen: a month? thanks hotline!
(08:18:14 AM) happygamer: weeks
(08:18:14 AM) GameClubFan_978391: a month or two?
(08:18:15 AM) TimeGentleman: Especially rooms/puzzles like the library with its filing system and the shop here with all its stuff make the game

feel bigger/deeper
(08:18:16 AM) Tea: GrumpyGamer: A few weeks. I was 7.
(08:18:18 AM) Gins: i was too young to legitimately solve it :(
(08:18:20 AM) GameClubFan_165067: months
(08:18:21 AM) Stanismyhero: Can't remember, probably a year or two
(08:18:23 AM) Gins: so i used a walkthrough
(08:18:26 AM) TimeGentleman: Plus it's a little less linear, I think
(08:18:29 AM) johnny32: GrumpyGamer I was 6, it took me 7 or 8 months...
(08:18:30 AM) Stanismyhero: I was too young to solve it for a while
(08:18:44 AM) OzzieMonkey: Probably took me a few days
(08:18:45 AM) SirLemonhead: i remember myself and a friend playing it at the time..getting stuck and phoning each other to ask if the other person

had got further than the other
(08:18:48 AM) AnarkiJ: Played with my Dad when I was younger, took us some months, until I played through it on my own, I think it took 3 or 4 days

first time through.

(08:18:53 AM) Cheeseness: GrumpyGamer: Kate here is a refrence to Capshaw, right?
(08:19:04 AM) GrumpyGamer: Yes, she was.  :-)

(08:19:57 AM) Lattsam: Stan!
(08:19:58 AM) Rojasono: Stan!
(08:20:01 AM) happygamer: stan!
(08:20:02 AM) Gins: stan!
(08:20:02 AM) johnny32: Stan!!
(08:20:03 AM) deadmau3: a year
(08:20:04 AM) Stanismyhero: Stan!
(08:20:07 AM) Anon: Stan!!!
(08:20:08 AM) Kalavinka: STANNN
(08:20:09 AM) GrumpyGamer: I love Stan
(08:20:13 AM) Stanismyhero: Stannnn
(08:20:39 AM) Tea: dat music
(08:20:43 AM) Tea: dat mt-32
(08:21:00 AM) GrumpyGamer: The squares don't move because Steve Purcell was lazy!  :-)

(08:22:05 AM) GrumpyGamer: I've played Curse.
(08:22:20 AM) GrumpyGamer: I've only played a few hours of Escape.
(08:23:21 AM) GrumpyGamer: I just couldn't take the 3D

(08:22:41 AM) GameClubFan_978391: ron are you a fan of murry?
(08:22:50 AM) GrumpyGamer: I like Murry

(08:24:24 AM) GrumpyGamer: Guybrush and Elaine would NEVER have gotten married.

(08:25:31 AM) AnarkiJ: Big respect to Dave Grossman, I think he still did a great job with Curse. Ever think you'll get the chance to work with him

again?
(08:25:53 AM) GrumpyGamer: Dave didn't work on Curse.
(08:26:30 AM) GrumpyGamer: Dave wrote Pajama Sam for me at Humongous Entertainment.

(08:27:55 AM) geecko: GrumpyGamer : Do you plan on including some MI easter eggs in Scurvy Scallywags (your next game), which is also about pirates

?
(08:28:11 AM) GrumpyGamer: Yes, there is one big easter egg.

(08:28:29 AM) GrumpyGamer: I love rapid prototyping.

(08:29:27 AM) GrumpyGamer: I never know what I'm doing tomorrow.

(08:29:46 AM) OzzieMonkey: I never quite understood why the ending to MI2 is theorised to be connected to the secret
(08:30:29 AM) GrumpyGamer: The ending of MI2 does connect to the secret, but not in the way most people assume.
(08:31:16 AM) GrumpyGamer: BANANA! Think about it.

(08:31:25 AM) happygamer: grumpygamer what other worlds than pirates did you consider before starting?
(08:31:46 AM) GrumpyGamer: None other than Pirates.

(08:32:01 AM) GrumpyGamer: There were a couple of other games I was playing around with at the time.

(08:32:40 AM) GrumpyGamer: I spend 99% of my time playing iOS games.  Make what you play… as they say.

(08:33:12 AM) GrumpyGamer: Plus there were all the Humongous Entertainment games.  All point and click games.

(08:33:33 AM) GrumpyGamer: Leflay is the name of my warlock in WoW.

(08:34:23 AM) GrumpyGamer: I like Nimble Quest.

(08:34:49 AM) Cheeseness: GrumpyGamer: Have you interacted with Dom much at all? He seems like such a fan of the series
(08:34:58 AM) GrumpyGamer: Because LucasArts would never release anything to open source.
(08:35:21 AM) GrumpyGamer: I met him a PAX a few years ago.  Very cool guy(brush)


(08:36:04 AM) Smith: grumpygamer, what do you think of all this free-to-play malarky on mobile platforms - are there any FTP models which you think

work?
(08:36:13 AM) GrumpyGamer: I hate FTP
(08:36:24 AM) GrumpyGamer: It destroys game design.

(08:36:28 AM) happygamer: I also hate ftp
(08:36:35 AM) interceptor: But NimbleQuest is FTP?
(08:36:46 AM) GrumpyGamer: I've never spent money in it?
(08:37:18 AM) GrumpyGamer: It's OK to charge players for extra stuff, but not to sell them a half finished game and make them pay for the rest.

(08:38:30 AM) GameClubFan_978391: was MI2 a huge success on release? like a good first week?
(08:38:50 AM) GrumpyGamer: No, neither MI games did super well.
(08:39:49 AM) GrumpyGamer: It took a while for the games to catch on.
(08:40:04 AM) GrumpyGamer: They did very well in Germany, but not in the states.

(08:40:05 AM) GameClubFan_978391: were Lucas unhappy with MI2 sales in the short term?
(08:40:20 AM) GrumpyGamer: I don't know.  I left before then.

(08:40:48 AM) GrumpyGamer: I love Kindgom Rush
(08:40:53 AM) GrumpyGamer: *Kingdom

(08:41:54 AM) OzzieMonkey: GrumpyGamer: was it intentional to make the ending screen look like Booty Island?
(08:42:13 AM) GrumpyGamer: Yes, that was intentional.

(08:42:48 AM) GrumpyGamer: Oh, I see what you were asking
(08:42:53 AM) GrumpyGamer: Sorry, I misunderstood.

(08:46:26 AM) GrumpyGamer: I have another iOS game that I'll probably make… or at least prototype up until I realize it sucks.
(08:47:12 AM) GrumpyGamer: I do 10 or 20 prototypes a year and most of them suck.
(08:47:23 AM) GrumpyGamer: That's why I prototype.

[END STREAM]

(08:47:48 AM) GrumpyGamer: W00t
(08:48:15 AM) GrumpyGamer: I might be here next week.  If I'm in town.