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Someone over on the Thimbleweed Park forums found a translation of that article. They highlighted one new thing of note, which is that they're going to include a "Catch-Me-Up" feature to recap important things from the other games. No idea what that's going to look like, would be weird (but awesome) to see a "Previously on Monkey Island" bit that has scenes from the other games in Rex's art style. Man...it'd be really interesting to play a remaster of MI1 and 2 with his art direction.

After a summoning of Mojo's Ethics Board, we decided to remove the rolling eyes reaction. (Feel free to still use it through the emojis, though! 🙄)

Hey all, thanks for giving DREAMM and try and for the great feedback so far! I've just released a new beta (1.0b3). Give it a play and let me know if it fixes any issues you encountered. Changes: • Added Hercules mode support for Maniac/Zak/SoMI. • Add integral scaling (Alt+I), on by default, which only stretches game screens horizontally by integral amounts. • Improved scaling logic to support 3x and 4x scaling in software to reduce jaggies and improve smoothness. • Improve overall smoothness of video updates. • The most recent configuration settings are now used for new games. • Report missing EXE files even when running from the command line. • Fix problems locating munt DLL when running from the frontend. • Fix long hangs/crashes in Sam & Max CD version. • Fix mouse wrapping at far edges of the screen. • Fix Unicode error when asking if you want to remove an entry. New beta here (it's linked above but links are pretty subtle here): https://aarongiles.com/dreamm/

Noah Falstein was doing a live interview right now on twitch, spoke about playing Return (Alpha testing). Nothing too specific but he says it's Ron's best work and the storytelling is one of a kind! He even said that the storytelling is so special that it's gonna be a topic for studies on the topic for years to come! He also said he's gonna be back playing it again soon because the VO is being implemented and he's still a beta tester. 'Cressup' on twitch!

These are just things that chipped away at my enjoyment quite a lot, and I’d enjoy them being rectified before finally replaying: Reuse of character models, resulting in many looking like lightly modified versions of one another, even major ones like Winslow Similar to above but animations, like that bloody finger clicking Soundtrack was given a cheapo treatment for PC, so excellent Land compositions don’t really get to shine (the Wii version did use proper Land-picked instrumentation but… is the Wii version) LeChuck voice acting recasting, which I think was only rectified for the DVD version…?! Detail can be a bit lacking My understanding is that a lot of this is down to the game being designed for Wii, which had very strict disk space limitations. So a remaster has a great opportunity to lift the ceiling on some of this stuff.

Replay? I finally got around to playing Maniac Mansion for the first time! And now I'm in the mapping phase (oh boy) of Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders, which I also haven't played before. It remains to be seen if I'll find the time to finally play Thimbleweed Park before Return to Monkey Island is released.

Okay I've scanned in the relevant page of the most accurate one I could get ahold of, which is still not perfect but its pretty dang close. 1990: Update: The 1993 map is actually probably correct? The printing makes it look like there's some subtle differences in line weight, but I dont think there actually are - it really is just the result of the ink going on a little heavier and the color matching being different. 1993: (It's not perfectly correct; the red index numbers above the roads don't line up with the HTR box, but seems to have more of the right roads.) I've uploaded them: Scans of the left and right sides of the 1990 and 1993 map can be found here.

I love Monkey Island for being so empty and big. It's pure nature with some tiny spots of human activity, surrounded by ocean. Lonely and mysterious. Needless to say that I didn't like the idea of an amusement park and a giant robot. I really hope it's back to being a lonely island.

And it was the only one to change his outfit through out the game (if you don’t count the dress in MI2). I really liked that. Hope they do that in Return (maybe even beard progression 😬).

Those are actually distance markers (in miles). So they usually change when a road gets an extension (or a reroute), or new roads get added (since these mark the distances between the "red dots" on the map, which are usually placed at intersections). Also, thanks a LOT for the hassle to get to those scans. I'll clean this up nicely.

Definitely going to replay the whole series in the leadup to ReMI, but would prefer to have a release date first so that there isn't a long gap between finishing the original games and starting ReMI. My plan is to play the Non-Ron Trilogy (CMI, EMI and TMI) followed by the Ron Trilogy (SMI, MI2, ReMI) so that MI2 can lead naturally into the new game! Since it feels strange to begin at Curse, however, I may play the classic modes of MI1/2 beforehand, and then my MI1/2 playthroughs before the new game will be the SE's. (That way, too, I'd be moreorless playing them in the order of release!) MI aside, I want to have a Lucas/Lucas-esque marathon at some point to celebrate ReMI's release. The DoubleFine remasters. Hit The Road (plus the Skunkape remasters). The other Lucas games. Thimbleweed Park (which I've only played on release and not with the patches). And Broken Age, which I have yet to play.

This thread being packed full of people figuring out these obscure background assets is making me very happy Excited to see the Indy map next!

It’s a fair point. I think it could set a nicer tone to only have positive reactions. We’ve only ever had the middle finger one previously, but I suspect the ‘nicer’ rolling eyes could actually end up being used more sincerely to unkind effect.

THANK YOU. 🧡 Any kind of emote that can instantly express negativity towards a post/member will be used as such. The thumbs down, the rolling eyes and for fuck's sake the middle finger can be slapped on a post as negative value judgements. This is an extremely dangerous social experiment. Communities have been ruined by less. 😬

My unpopular opinion: I don’t like the new thumbs down emote.

I bet not, even though it seems that way. There was the announcement trailer that blew up decently, then a good number of interviews that seemed redundant to us but did a good job of going wide with the news of the games’ existence, casting a broad net to scoop up more fans and get them on the same page. I suspect as we get closer to launch the rate of media will increase. I expected a trailer of some kind at the Devolver event and still expect one soonish, but don’t think there was some media blitz that got pushed back. I think the tuned in fans are just hungrier than normal people so for us it seems like starving off scraps, while for everyone else they’re just not thinking about the game much, but will be once a bigger push starts closer to launch.

Hi all, If you read my recent interview here, you may have caught on that I've been working hard on a new emulator that is specifically designed to run all the classic SCUMM games (DOS versions, plus Curse of Monkey Island). Well, the time has come for me to reveal more. The emulator is called "DREAMM", which is a backronym for "DOS Retro-Emulation Arena for Maniac Mansion (and other LucasArts SCUMM Games)". It's been in private beta for a couple of months and is looking pretty solid at this point. You can download the latest release and read all the documentation on the project here: https://aarongiles.com/dreamm/ At the moment, the project is Windows-only (sorry!), but it runs all the DOS versions of the games (plus CoMI) quite reliably. Give it a try, and let me know how it works for you! I'll keep an eye on this thread, plus my twitter feed (@aaronsgiles) and the official email address dreamm@aarongiles.com for feedback. Important note: you will need a complete install of the games you want to run, including the original DOS executable files. This is similar to what's needed when running the games in DOSBox. Some of the GOG versions of the games include them (DREAMM can detect this), some don't. None of the Steam releases do, sadly. 😔 But DREAMM can help you install everything from original media if you still have them! Have fun! Aaron Giles

I don't know that there's anything particularly devoted in this fanbase compared to others I've encountered. And of course many of us became fans long before there was this kind of stratification of game budgets, and long before they became 'niche'. Despite not being the absolute massive sellers, lucasarts adventures in the 90s had the biggest production values, the fanciest music and graphics. They were made for the mainstream. And like... yeah, zelda fans, pokemon fans, sonic fans, persona fans, final fantasy fans,<insert popular mainstream franchise here> absolutely can be as devoted and loyal as we are. But I think we should be fine with not being special here. I think devotion and loyalty are, perhaps, a bit of a double edged sword in the end. They have their good bits and bad bits. They can inspire great community and creativity, but they can also cause a loss of perspective.

Quick update, I just beat Monkey Island 1 Talkie edition and will play MI2 next. Other games I completed while waiting for Return: - Grim Fandango - Putt Putt saves the zoo - Pajama Sam 1 - Psychonauts 2 - Darkside Detective I started but not finished Deathspank and Brutal Legend.

It certainly is the last truly original Monkey Island costume design we've had. SE1, SE2 and even Tales were derivative designs. I so hope they're going for a completely new design in ReMI.

Escape from Monkey Island has the best Guybrush design, and the red suit is iconic

Not to sweatily defend Monkey Island as a location, but it being very “normal” in MI1 is kind of cool when the game is called “The Secret of Monkey Island,” in that you’re spending all this time there, in an empty, silent, relatively normal place, all the time knowing that somewhere there is some deep dark secret to discover. (I’d also argue Monkey Island doesn’t stay in one’s memory as well as Melee but once you’re playing it there’s a lot of good stuff. I’d concede Melee is the more memorable part though.)

I pretty much agree with what you're saying, though idk if downhill is exactly the right word; that to me at least implies that the game is just bad after Melee, and I wouldn't say that, maybe just that the game hits its peak early and the rest is a lot more straightforward. MI2 feels a lot less like that; you start with a miniturized version of The Three Trials puzzle structure with the voodoo doll and then the game really opens up. Curse feels like an even balance going from a small Part 1 to a whole island to explore, before giving the game room to breathe with a return to insult swordfighting and then a whole new island to explore, until the end which does feel abrupt (what I would give to see that extended rollercoaster sequence implemented in a remaster 🤤 ). Escape does that pretty nicely too actually, and Tales, while limited by the episodic model, was very engaging for the most part. In Return, I hope to see something along the lines of MI2's open space but with Curse's pacing, albeit with a more substantive final act. It's also interesting that the series' namesake is probably the least interesting place to explore overall, and at risk of expressing another unpopular opinion, I actually think Escape improved upon MI1's depiction in terms of giving you more stuff to do, even if the stuff you were doing wasn't always ideal. The Church of LeChuck is a great location, for example. I hope the island is used appropriately in Return, and I'm also curious if Ron will keep the carnival being on Monkey Island as canon or not.

MI is still very much a niche property for adventure gamers at the end of the day (in that it is very rarely referenced outside of the adventure game genre and the average joe in the street most likely wouldn't be able to name it), but as with most niche properties, the fans are more likely to be proportionately more loyal and devoted than if it were a mainstream property, since it feels more personal. Hell, most of the people on these forums were here 12-13 years ago for Tales and the Special Editions, if not 22-25 years ago for Curse and Escape! The community is smaller, but also more devoted. That being said, when the ReMI announcement trailer came out, it was fluctuating between the #5 and #10 trending spots on YouTube worldwide, and not just in gaming! That has to be a good sign. Granted that I doubt the release itself will garner the same level of attention, nor the second trailer most likely, but just the fact that MI was back after all this time was enough for even casual gamers to be shocked and happy with the news, if not ecstatic.

I flagged this many months ago. Glad it’s finally been actioned

I did look that game up. It of course can't hold a candle to Dynablaster on the Amiga, but it looks pretty fun to play. And, absolutely, the assorted twitchables will always reach a larger and younger audience. Then again, this is how the gamestar.de main navigational bar has looked for the past two months: Not seeing those Fall Guys anywhere ... but ... 😍

Oh, Zack McKracken and Thimbleweed Park are such great games! I highly recommend them! Enjoy your time with them, Torbjorn Andersson!

Thanks for that! It is, of course, an English interview that was translated from the German but was originally English, so shrug emotes galore. Could mean anything. The interesting thing in this tidbit, for me, is less that they want to bring you up to speed with the other games, but rather that they feel a need to. You can play any of the Monkey Island games without knowing squat about the others. So what has changed in the series? Is it possible that they'll jump wildly through acts of Guybrush's life like I predicted all those pages ago ... ? 🙃 This also points to quite an acceptance of MI canon, if that feature includes scenes from 3 to 5. Dammit, we COULD see Morgan again!

Wow. 👕 I beat #Mojole #82 and all I got was this stupid t-shirt. 6/6 💚🖤🖤🖤🖤 💚🖤🖤🖤🖤 💚💚🖤🖤🖤 💚💚🖤🖤🖤 💚💚🖤🖤🖤 💚💚💚💚💚 https://funzone.mixnmojo.com/Mojole/

Blasphemy! They all look great, and I absolutely loved what they did with the gold guy in different games. And that's a fact not an opinion. A fact that is completely unbiased and not clouded by a childhood-induced wave of nostalgia. How can you not love this?!?!

Yeah, I loved the gold guy and his/her shenannigans. And it really set the game division apart from the rest of Lucasfilm. They started with nothing Lucas, not even Indiana Jones. I liked how this was reflected in the logo. Downrep killed the GOG forum. Hate this stuff, even if the guys with the rep in the negative four digits may have deserved it. Besides, there could never be an actual "Unpopular Opinions" in a forum with thumbs down mechanics, which is what downrepping is. No one would post in this thread for fear of posting an actually unpopular opinion. It enables users to gang up on someone. It gamifies bullying. So glad they removed it, hopefully completely. I may even post my truly unpopular opinion one of these days. Didn't lie up there. It exists, and I'm ashamed of it.

It’s really nice and nostalgic to see the old logo used again. With that said, I did enjoy how the gold guy was adaptable to being dressed up, turned into a skeleton, etc. 😀

We've heard you about the reactions and have updated them to hopefully make things better! Rolling Eyes has remained, but is now a neutral reaction so it doesn't remove reputation points anymore.

I liked the big blocky one but also never thought the Gold Guy was a good logo. It’s now a little fun in a kitschy 90s way, but it never made sense for the games group. I’m honestly glad they’re back to their original original logo. I think Mojo had a history of gold guy logo at some point that revealed it was foisted off on the games group because it was commissioned for a company-wide rebrand but was rejected, and they wanted to save the design work somehow? Fake edit: Found it, it’s the Gold Guy Exposed article.

This is what I had to say about it before, yes. Now. I don't think that the game is very likely to come out as late as November. It wouldn't shock me, but here's my line of thinking: A few months ago they felt confident enough to announce it for 2022, and when asked whether that date might slip, Ron said that barring anything disastrous it would be this year. I think November would be pretty close to be able to say that definitively. A fairly small delay could push something slated for November release into next year. But if you're saying 'we really, really believe it's going to be this year unless something very odd happens' I feel like that puts it into october-at-latest planned release territory. I think if it was a july release we'd have heard more by now. So I'm going to narrow my expected window to August-October. But if it were me, and knowing that Ron has thought about release dates in relation to other games, I'd be looking at getting it out the door before the september-october flurry of high profile releases. August is a relatively quiet looking month, but Devolver are already releasing a game on August 11th, so they won't want to overlap with that, which makes late-August to early September look like a pretty juicy timeslot to me. Counterpoint - November would also be a good slot, and it could explain why they didn't want to put out a trailer quite this early. But I'm still gonna put my money on September for now.

If by legitimacy you mean something like "Ron wasn't involved so it's not a real MI game" then I would absolutely agree, I'm not concerned with who made what. But I do strongly feel that Curse is a a very literal interpretation of the previous games that misses out on the elements that make the first two games rise above for me. (Credit where it's due, EMI came pretty close with the Mysts o'Tyme)

Well good morning Jake, I hear somebody's been playing cards with Ron Gilbert yesterd Uhm, nothing to see here.

Yeah, you can be pretty sure that DREAMM won't introduce such changes. 😂 But that aside, I've seen maybe one ribbon on a real book (late 1800's) that was attached to the bottom. In some ways, it's more practical - the end doesn't get creased under the book, and it's slightly easier to remove it from the pages if the book is large (downwards rather than upwards). 😋 However, as far as I'm aware, book ribbons weren't even a thing in the 1700's anyway (not making an appearance until around 1850). But then, neither were grog machines or audio books-on-parrot.

This is an awful take! It’s a huge part of what’s wrong with the modern internet. tl;dr instead of jumping straight to complaining to someone’s face, first you could have just asked about your specific issue, but you felt entitled, and complaining to someone’s face feels way better when you’re worked up, so you decided to be rude instead. This is an archaic web forum so I’ll just indulge here and use the archaic word “netiquette,” the unspoken rules of civility that one is supposed to ostensibly follow when online. One crucial element of netiquette is you should lurk a place sufficiently before jumping into a subject. In the case of this particular site, one could learn from lurking that Andy, a regular, is also a frequent contributor to scummvm. Two conclusions should be drawn from this: 1. It’s his home as much as yours so be respectful of his space, 2. You have casual and personal access to a developer of scummvm on this board, so instead of entitled complaining into the air about something (for example, what’s the deal with Escape’s lackluster support in ScummVM), you could just ask. Unfortunately you chose to burn that opportunity to be civil and inquisitive by talking over his head to his face. I can’t see that choice being more effective in getting the outcome you desire. Your dichotomy of “I could shut up or I could complain” is a false one because it conveniently removed being a normal, civil, inquisitive person, which was definitely an opportunity given you in this context.

I had a pretty big rant written here, where I explained once again that everything in ScummVM is *volunteer work* and if you're not okay with the direction it's currently taking you can do what I did and become a team member yourself, but even though I'm sick of the project getting crapped on for seemingly no good reason at all, I'd say this is not the place for this kind of discussions

It has come to my attention that some of you find Mojole too simple. Therefore, starting with the next word cycle (5 pm Pacific -- do the math for your timezone), I have added a new layer of difficulty. Or taken away a layer of difficulty for some? Find out! If you have any issues with cache, Apple/Ctrl+Shift+R it. On the iPhone, you can tap the "AA" icon in the address field and tap "Request Desktop Site" -- that clears the cache.