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A couple of last minute fixes, and I'm officially releasing DREAMM 1.0. DREAMM provides a simple way to run your original DOS or FM Towns SCUMM games on a modern Windows system with high fidelity to the originals. Download it here: https://aarongiles.com/dreamm/ At this point, DREAMM will run all the known DOS and FM Towns versions of the SCUMM games, along with the Windows-only The Curse of Monkey Island. This includes: Maniac Mansion (both low and high resolution versions) Zak McKracken & the Alien Mindbenders (both low and high resolution versions, plus FM Towns version) Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: The Graphic Adventure (both EGA and VGA versions, plus FM Towns version) Loom (both EGA and VGA versions, including CD-ROM talkie, plus FM Towns version) The Secret of Monkey Island (both EGA and VGA versions, including CD-ROM music, plus FM Towns version) Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge (including FM Towns version) Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis (both floppy and CD-ROM talkie versions, plus FM Towns version) Day of the Tentacle (both floppy and CD-ROM talkie versions) Sam & Max Hit the Road (both floppy and CD-ROM talkie versions) Full Throttle (CD-ROM) The Dig (CD-ROM) The Curse of Monkey Island (CD-ROM) How Is DREAMM Different From ScummVM? ScummVM is a modern reinterpretation of the original SPUTM game engine. It has a modern(-ish) interface, and runs lots and lots of games, but its fidelity to the original games is limited to the accuracy of the reverse engineering efforts, combined with how closely the ScummVM developers choose to mimic precise behaviors and details. In general, it does an excellent job at this, but may not achieve 100% fidelity to the original code, due to the fact that it is not actually running the original code. DREAMM, on the other hand, runs the original SPUTM game engine code in an x86 emulator. This means that fidelity to the original depends largely on how accurately DREAMM emulates the well-documented x86 architecture. Further, it means that you get all the original “chrome” (such as the save/load screens) and behaviors of the original game. Finally, DREAMM provides a streamlined, simple user interface that is customized for running the SCUMM games. In the end, for most people, the two are probably equivalent for running most games. But if you’d like to experience the games closer to their original form, complete with original bugs and user interface, DREAMM might be closer to what you want. Try them both! How Is DREAMM Different From DOSBox? DOSBox is a generic DOS emulator, and has a lot of similarities to DREAMM in how it is constructed. Both DOSBox and DREAMM emulate an x86 machine and all attached peripherals, and offer a fake implementation of DOS to service requests from the games. But DREAMM takes this concept further by optimizing its experience and interface specifically around the SCUMM games. This means that mouse cursor control is integrated, video updates are done without tearing, and idle time is given back to your system. It also means that DREAMM will help you install your old games into its environment, and will handle all the configuration of video and sound devices. Finally, DREAMM has the advantage of including a miniature 32-bit Windows implementation as well that allows it to run The Curse of Monkey Island, plus a miniature FM Towns layer that allows it to run the original FM Towns versions of the games that were released for that system!

Thank you so much for sharing this!! I also hope the kids move on to shouting "Spit on the candle!" soon. And thanks everyone for reacting to my last post. Generally I know that I am not responsible for their behaviour, and don't need to feel a burden to "convince them to change their minds" bla bla. Right now, I chose not to remove those comments, since they are only few, and they are not blatantly rude... ... ... Hmm, but to be honest, I mostly don't throw them out because I still suffer from worrying what others think, and my head spirals into the thought of them noticing how I remove their comments and eventually I get flooded by more angry comments about censorship... You know, the kind of overthinking fear. But it's ok, like I said, I don't feel pressure to do anything right now. Also, I downvoted their comments, which I am seriously proud of, because even that took a bit of courage. Anyway. What I wanted to say is: Thank you for this platform here, where I can just share my feelings and feel heard. That alone makes my day much better. 😊 Also, while the views are steadily rising, these comments are still in the minority. So, all is great right now.

Hi all. I'm new to this site but just want to say how pleased I am to have found it. It's such a relief to find somewhere on the internet full of thoughtful, interesting discussion about the new game. I think I'm going to like it here.

An very tiny detail that excited me the first time I saw it. When Murray lands on that other ship, we can see him jump up and down from a distance. And this far away, his animation looks kinda oldschool pixel arty, you know, as if the animator had to deal with a low resolution. Do you know what I mean? See the gif below. (Sorry for posting my twitter thread. I couldn't figure out how to make that GIF small enough for the forum )

I wanted my hand at EGA-palettised version of new Guybrush.

Hey all! Thanks for the support and viewing the "Live Action" trailer. Here's some shots of the scrap book. From page 8 onwards it was just interpretation based on the first 7. The book was made out of a art pad which was recovered with the pages aged. I've also included the maps from Lechuck's Revenge.

Congrats Aaron, great job!

Marius, thank you for making this! My kids are absolutely obsessed with it and must have watched it at least 20 times. They keep on randomly blurting out 'I'll pee on the candle!' and falling into gales of laughter. (Hope they manage to resist this urge when they're at school... Erk.) Excellent work. Dmnkly's cameo made my jaw drop. I especially loved the bit at 4:18 with Elaine!

It is sad, but I’ve personally stopped reading into it too much now. There is a clear pattern emerging of these idiots mostly coming from some pretty sad corners of the internet, for example you look at their Reddit profiles and they’re full of right-wing nonsense. I think there is unfortunately a subset of fans of most things — after all, they were once children just like us — who also have an incredibly toxic view of the world, and a knack for sharing that toxicity far and wide. In a funny sort of way it makes me feel better about it all, because frankly there is no helping those people. And so the only reasonable option is to disengage and not allow them to poison the good vibes, which is what I have been doing when the nastier comments appear in the Mojosphere — straight into the bin.

Thanks, I've trimmed my beard recently and have been training hard... or not. OK, I know the way out.

I wrote a Choose Your Own Adventure story a few weeks ago in response to general negativity permeating certain online forums (not this one) after the first screenshots of the game were released. It features Stan, tunnels, Carla the Swords Master, more tunnels, Ron Gilbert, and seventeen half-empty cups of tea. This is the intro:

Not seen this posted yet, but here's a petition that exists for no other reason than to show the team our appreciation: https://www.change.org/p/just-some-love-for-ron-gilbert-and-return-to-monkey-island?redirect=false

All the talk of keys reminds me of a thimbleweed park blog post where Ron mentioned that all point and click puzzles can essentially be thought of as doors and keys. https://blog.thimbleweedpark.com/act1issues.html perhaps Ron is taking that more literally in this game and it’ll tie thematically into the story

Thank you so much 😊

I'd say there are lulls while playing Sea of Thieves, but I'm rarely bored. It doesn't take that long to get anywhere, and there are always hazards to look out for and things to be worried about while sailing. The most bored I get is when I'm ready to leave for somewhere and the rest of the crew are still mucking around on the island

Wonderful stuff!

Incredible work. Thanks for the immense work you’ve put into this!

I would LOVE another Maniac Mansion that is closer to the first game. Since Resident Evil 7 I wish for a new MM with an advanced "resident AI", where everyone inside moves around and you feel that constant tension that you have when breaking into a place. That was my favorite part of Maniac Mansion.

SoT is one of my favorite games. I have had my account since the beta, although recently I have not been on as frequently as I used to. It is one of my favorite games to goof off in -- being bored is part of the experience and the atmosphere makes the whole thing enjoyable. Highly recommend to anyone who enjoys the Caribbean pirate aesthetic... which I suspect many in here do! 😁

Sadly, Ron shot me down.

I don't want to derail the discussion about Marius' lovely work much more but the repeated comment that confuses me the most e.g in the above tweet is how the art style is being perceived as too 'simple'. That just makes me worry for people's basic critical literacy. It's like people notice that there's a sort of simple sort of shading and use of certain kinds of shapes going on and then just stop there. Did they not notice all the animation detail? All the scene decoration? Are they looking at the jail scene in MI1 and RMI and honestly arguing the former is more detailed? Like, I don't mind if they don't like it but some people don't even seem to understand what they don't like. Which is why I wanna disregard it as noise. And you're right they're using flattery as an attempt to draw you in

It's a recruitment strategy. Same thing happened to David Puerta recently: https://twitter.com/davidpuerta85/status/1543257811009867777?cxt=HHwWgsC44a6z4OoqAAAA The places where positivity is even welcome are in rapid decline these days. I don't know, I kind of think in the long term for this. When naysayers will have long forgotten that there even was a Return to Monkey Island, I can still sing its praise. And one day in the far future, you'll have to make a Return to Monkey Island flash film, just so people are up to speed for part seven.

I'll just combine everything with everything as always.

I have to admit I've always loved the VGA versions -- there's something so "real" about them that grounded the game for me. I reached out to Purcell and asked if he knew who was responsible for them (I couldn't find the answer online anywhere). He pointed me to Ian McCaig, I reached out and he was brilliant enough to share all those little details about his time at LucasFilm Games. What a great surprise it was! Also: Did McCaig use himself as a model for Guybrush? Interesting when you compare their faces!

It has always been my dream to get a fully orchestrated Fate of Atlantis soundtrack. I mean ... most of the tracks don't even need a full orchestra and could be done with just a few instruments. But this OST really really deserves so much more attention and appreciation, because it's just awesome. I don't need a FOA remaster, strictly speaking. I'd rather have a five part episodic series reboot: parts 2 to 4 would be the action, puzzle and team parts, they'd yield one stone disc each. You'd play all of the episodes in the order you choose with slight consequences on the storyline. Yeah, I have this all mapped out. The puzzle part has Indy infiltrating the Icelandian black market art thieves that Sophia sold Atlantean artifacts to. At the same time, Sophia is in equally uncharted waters – hunting for info at Princeton University. Indy sent her there. He wouldn't go himself, too afraid to meet his dad. Sophia, of course, will meet Jones Sr., quite unexpectedly.

Dunno, while I appreciate Rex‘ vision of Guybrush, I can somehow connect more with YOUR version. Great job 😀

Fun and wonderfully animated. 😀 "Are you El Carlo?" 😁

You can never unhear those awesome explosion SFX.

Some of you might have seen this on Twitter already, but I'll add it here anyway. I've tried to recreate the marbled paper frames of the classic boxes in Substance Designer, and this is where I'm at currently. Maniac Mansion: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade - The Action Game: Loom: Zak McKracken: Battlehawks 1945: Pipe Dream: Night Shift: None of these are final, and the colors might be off, as I was just working off of different scans or stuff from the web. I guess I'll keep working on these, as some aspects of the paint-in-liquid effects of the original papers aren't fully captured yet.