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👕 I beat #MojoleXtremer #591 and all I got was this stupid t-shirt. 1/6 💚💚💚💚💚💚 https://funzone.mixnmojo.com/Mojole/

It seems like Ron had some scenes and moments and a vibe that existed concretely in his head for the third game, and beyond that not much else other than the confidence that chasing those ideas would result in a good game. My guess is that’s how he started on the previous two and it’d worked out well. Not everyone works by plotting out all the details of their world in advance, and basically no one works by figuring out a bunch of symbolism and “what it all means” before putting pen to paper* - interpreting a work is usually a fan or critic’s job - so it seems very likely that nobody knew the answers to these things until the next game was made. *I’m aware that people like Tolkien and Lucas seem to work this way, and their process is legendary among nerds like us, so people who are into nerdy things think that their worldbuilding-and-symbolism-first approach is a normal way to tell a story, but at least historically it’s actually highly irregular!

The thing about the "original intent" is...there wasn't one, and couldn't be. Ron Gilbert never started working on how that ending would be resolved until Return was a reality and development started on that game. He made the ending, and didn't think about how to "resolve" it, that could be a fun problem for him to solve later when he made the third one...or as happened in reality, for the Curse team to solve. I think that over the years, Ron has built excitement for a hypothetical third game by making bold claims about having the story in his head for years, possibly also thinking that it was such a pipe dream he could say whatever he wanted. It's only once Disney gave him the green light that he realised he would have to actually come up with something, and imo it's nothing short of a miracle that he was able to come up with something so clever and in spirit with everything that came before, but that's another discussion. He's alluded to this in interviews, but I don't think we realise how much Ron kinda forgot about Monkey Island on some level in the years since he left LucasArts because we're fans and we're almost more close to it than he is in some respects. He didn't spend his nights over the last 30 years pondering what he would do with that ending, that's just not the sort of person he is, at least with what we can glean from his limited public persona. That's just my take anyhow, I'm also not someone who buys into the all knowing auteur idea. Most creative works are people winging it, and that is not intended to minimise the art that is created, if anything it shows how incredible it is that any art is any good at all.

👕 I beat #MojoleXtremer #591 and all I got was this stupid t-shirt. 1/6 💚💚💚💚💚💚 https://funzone.mixnmojo.com/Mojole/

Monkey Island Heardle #408 🔉🟥🟥🟩⬜️⬜️⬜️ #MonkeyIslandHeardle

Monkey Island Heardle #408 🔇🟥⬛️🟥🟥🟥🟥 #MonkeyIslandHeardle I got the game right, but the wrong island, somehow...