Udvarnoky

Are you referring to the voice direction? My memory is faint on whether they gilded the lily in that regard, but I definitely remember how awkward a choice it was that Denny Delk was made to narrate those supertitles.

I value EMI precisely because of its weirdness. It seems somehow to get the alchemy wrong, in a way that's not easily definable. Its flaws aren't enough to totally sink it in my view, but just enough to ensure it'll always be an odd duck and the subject of fierce debate til kingdom come. That's fun! The Monkey Island games demand a tonal balance that's not easy to strike. They have always presented a world that was self-aware, surrealistic and not above abusing logic for the sake of a joke. (Think of non-sequiturs like Herman Toothrot revealing he had an escape ship all along, or his representation by lawyers via letter-in-a-bottle in his ongoing litigation against the cannibals. Some say the Tremendous Yak and Heavily Armed Clown still rove behind the walls of the governor's mansion to this day.) It seems crazy to call the world "grounded." But I think what was eventually learned is that at some base level the world needs to take itself seriously enough to work up some level of mystery and atmosphere. That was something the previous games definitely had, and which EMI definitely fell short of (despite pockets here and there, often with a huge assist from the music). EMI really brings the lampoonery to the forefront, and I think that handicapped immersion somewhat as a side effect. (And on top of everything, the art direction combined with the limitations of the 3D tech gave the game an overall plastic-y look that compounded the issue.) It turns out fans buy these games because to some extent they want to experience a "legitimate" pirate adventure, even if it's one laden with fourth wall winks and cartoonish swerves and vending machines. But there's no magic formula for riding that line successfully. Heck, some people criticize CMI for the perception that it goes too far the other way, by being too reticent to embrace the ramifications of MI2. I've never really agreed with that (it's still a pirate game that ends at an amusement park), but the variety in the reactions goes to show that it's a tricky business. And in defense of EMI, there seems to be some recognition by the game itself that it was kind of taking a wild turn that wasn't meant to sustain more than one installment. The game ends with Guybrush and Elaine almost literally saying, "Okay, this weird detour where we were acting heads of state has run its course, so it's back to the old ways." I think EMI tried something bold and even a little reckless and wasn't 100% successful at it, but I think it's endlessly fascinating. And for all the complaints that it trashed the joint by retconning backstories and re-envisioning beloved locales, I really think in the end it did no meaningful harm. I have a suspicion that ReMI will make that even more clear than it is now.

I believe EMI addresses this by saying the catacombs mysteriously sealed up. So the control room didn't replace the caverns -- it was some other, secret hatch opened by the Ultimate Insult. I mean, it's the most hand-wavey explanation ever, but it's there.

There is no law barring you from introducing someone to the Monkey Island series with the special editions. There just should be.

My guess is that EMI running roughshod over established geography and playing things loose with canon in general wasn’t an issue of carelessness or the team not doing their research. I think they knew what they were blowing up, and simply thought it was fair game to do so in the fourth installment of a ten-year-old series. I think they honestly misjudged how sacred fans hold some of these things. Stemmle and Clark brought a certain amount of Sam & Max flavor to EMI, and maybe it was underestimated how awkward a fit the more irreverent mentality would be. Maybe it took EMI going a little too far to find out where the limits were. Consider also that Day of the Tentacle was exponentially more irreverent toward “The Maniac Mansion Universe” (if we must) and that the game didn’t merely get away with it, but was rewarded by being the one the majority of people seem to associate with that property. There’s not much of a common denominator in the art style, mansion geography, or overall tone between DOTT and Maniac Mansion, but there’s not much complaining about it either. EMI, just the opposite. It’s sort of interesting to ponder why.

Well, I suppose by that I mean, did Lucasfilm find the original printing assets to run off "genuine recreations." At first blush all this stuff looks like bootleg merchandise, but on the other hand we have precedent of Lucasfilm using fan-based reproductions for official use, and we have a Lucasfilm rep promoting it. The fact that this stuff comes off as scummy and cheap doesn't necessarily mean it didn't get some sort of blessing. Mostly though I'm just interested in any evidence that Lucasfilm has hung on to vintage marketing assets.

The only item of any interest is the long-sleeved shirt that resembles the one sold through the company store in 1990. I suppose that's just imitation as well?

Man, if this was authorized and still based on @Laserschwert's work uncompensated then that's some military grade "thx Jan" right there.

Cool to hear about all the positive experiences people have had with Larry. He's always been a great interview. If anyone walks away from the CMI interview hungry for more, I can recommend the one he gave Adventure Classic Gaming in 2012 and the two parter conducted by Genesis Temple last year. Along with Mike Levine he also participated in a Mojo postmortem on Insecticide in 2018. And [never] forget The SCUMM Bar for the real legacy stuff.

Jonathan Ackley has been sharing developer memories on Twitter throughout the year, including many about The Curse of Monkey Island. We had thought to embed these tweets throughout our new CMI interview, but the idea proved to be impractical. Since we’d gone to the trouble of collecting all those URLs, though, I thought I’d put them all here. Taken in aggregate they’re practically an article unto themselves, and they’d be otherwise inaccessible to those of us without Twitter: https://twitter.com/ackley_jonathan/status/1487145415711420419 https://twitter.com/ackley_jonathan/status/1487199807693221890 https://twitter.com/ackley_jonathan/status/1487247707857043456 https://twitter.com/ackley_jonathan/status/1487487658544668673 https://twitter.com/ackley_jonathan/status/1487891726890983426 https://twitter.com/ackley_jonathan/status/1488673416525746177 https://twitter.com/ackley_jonathan/status/1488674191230390275 https://twitter.com/ackley_jonathan/status/1488674554897571846 https://twitter.com/ackley_jonathan/status/1490342581657427975 https://twitter.com/ackley_jonathan/status/1488672930561097732 https://twitter.com/ackley_jonathan/status/1490343063645872128 https://twitter.com/ackley_jonathan/status/1490343316004610050 https://twitter.com/ackley_jonathan/status/1490343930117824522 https://twitter.com/ackley_jonathan/status/1490344353792880642 https://twitter.com/ackley_jonathan/status/1490344758337683460 https://twitter.com/ackley_jonathan/status/1491978257368973313 https://twitter.com/ackley_jonathan/status/1492159504917549057 https://twitter.com/ackley_jonathan/status/1492663745876684800 https://twitter.com/ackley_jonathan/status/1493240973672939520 https://twitter.com/ackley_jonathan/status/1493264687718285313 https://twitter.com/ackley_jonathan/status/1493747722586779654 https://twitter.com/ackley_jonathan/status/1494025906641260545 https://twitter.com/ackley_jonathan/status/1494528958926184448 https://twitter.com/ackley_jonathan/status/1495268944369704962 https://twitter.com/ackley_jonathan/status/1496909302262423553 https://twitter.com/ackley_jonathan/status/1503755841488531460 https://twitter.com/ackley_jonathan/status/1507425120586924038 https://twitter.com/ackley_jonathan/status/1510035777350037506 https://twitter.com/ackley_jonathan/status/1511500601229656066 https://twitter.com/ackley_jonathan/status/1511956648226480138 https://twitter.com/ackley_jonathan/status/1515130237083799552 https://twitter.com/ackley_jonathan/status/1516933414913396736 https://twitter.com/ackley_jonathan/status/1518239188960768002 https://twitter.com/ackley_jonathan/status/1519436155560812544 https://twitter.com/ackley_jonathan/status/1520478121908379648 https://twitter.com/ackley_jonathan/status/1520991257073360899 https://twitter.com/ackley_jonathan/status/1521489481119019009 https://twitter.com/ackley_jonathan/status/1524838588235784192 https://twitter.com/ackley_jonathan/status/1524922568750211072 https://twitter.com/ackley_jonathan/status/1528746361646030848 https://twitter.com/ackley_jonathan/status/1528892976499286016 https://twitter.com/ackley_jonathan/status/1533133083502817281 https://twitter.com/ackley_jonathan/status/1533153572744929280 https://twitter.com/ackley_jonathan/status/1544731668056928257 https://twitter.com/ackley_jonathan/status/1545222501327781888

It's interesting because Telltale removing inventory combination from the beginning felt like a conscious part of their "streamline the interface" philosophy. LucasArts did the same thing at turns, only for a Monkey Island sequel to come along and "regress" by accomodating the feature anew. TMI similarly felt like deference to tradition. I don't know if that was Dave's influence or not. I seem to recall an interview with him from the earliest days of Telltale (I had thought it might be this one with Frank Cifaldi, but I cannot find the quote I'm looking for) where he said something to the effect that he more than anyone was in favor of leaving that behind.

Since none of the original artists were part of the VGA version, it makes me wonder if Gary Winnick himself did the "high-resolution" version of Maniac Mansion. The credits are kind of weak on the really old games.

For those interested in names, the original art team is credited as follows: Backgrounds: Steve Purcell, Mark Ferrari, Mike Ebert Animation: Steve Purcell, Mike Ebert, Martin Cameron as "Bucky" The subsequent VGA conversion is credited to the following people: -Tami Borowick -James Dollar -Bill Eaken -Avril Harrison -Iain McCaig -Jim McLeod -Michael Stemmle -Sean Turner In an old interview we did with Eaken, he remembered that the process was given about a month, which may explain why LEC unleashed such an army of people at the conversion, though the fact that programmers are among those names may suggest that some of those folks were doing touchup or technical work.

Wait, sorry. Turns out I'm interpreting it wrong. This logo is actually trying to remind me that I can dare the opposing team for double the dollars, or take the physical challenge.

The logo that takes the trouble to prepare itself for being ISO comfort-rated.

This seems dubious to me. The box art strikes me as more of an exercise in hypothetical movie poster art than anything else. Ultimately, the only safe interpetation of how the game "should" look is how it actually looks.

Hal Barwood and Noah Falstein took the concept even further in Mata Hari, as I recall. Personally, I don't think Autumn Moon's version amounts to much, because it solves a problem that never really existed. How many people were actually complaining about the improbableness of adventure game protagonists fitting all that stuff in their pants? Having to wait for a cutscene of Mona going retrieve the shovel she was only willing to "remember" earlier seems like a steep price to pay to throw a superficial bone at realism...especially in a cartoon. In the end, it feels like an inconsequential feature.

Resolution, and the same amount of colors. Which is a key point -- we often look at VGA MI1 as the defacto version, but however esteemable and tastefully done the upgrade was, however many of us knew it first, it is in fact revisionist. The EGA version is what was done by the original art team, and what shipped on release day. MI1 and MI2 will always have the closest visual continuity because they were back-to-back productions, but I think you are right that the sequel is a noteworthy departure in style. Even comparing VGA to VGA makes the difference clear, but we are actually putting our finger on the scale a bit when we do so. Comparing original release to original release is most appropriate, and furthers your point.

In MI1, Guybrush teases one of the Men of Low Moral Fiber by saying he likes rats "with a little wine sauce." Along with the cereal, the Sea Monkey contains cinnamon sticks and fine wine. Many bananas are found on Monkey Island. There's livestock on LeChuck's ship, and I doubt they're being raised for friendship. I don't know if ghost pork counts, though. In M2, Governor Marley's party is referred to as a fish fry. Insulting Governor Phatt can include a reference to "bacon grease and pure fat." Among the suggestions that appear in the end credits: - Or eat lime jello with pineapple in it. - Or go out for pasta. - Or invite some friends over for salmon and white wine. In the library's card catalog, Yorkshire Pudding is a subject. Guybrush references ketchup when reading "Vegetables Children will Eat." There is a book called "Scourge of the Pizza" with the byline "Examination of forced olive consumption." There are also references to gumbo, tomato worms, and soda fountains.

Yeah, those come from the online portfolio of Karen Purdy, an artist who I believe built environments for the game as well as Telltale's first season. We made some educated guesses about what their in-game context was in the FP article.

In the case of both games the humor is pretty broad for my tastes, but I don't know what there is to object to with regard to design. Having recently replayed the Monkey Island games in preparation for ReMI, and a bunch of other LEC adventures to put DREAMM through its paces, and Thimbleweed Park, and Broken Age, I'm now revisiting the Autumn Moon titles. I ended up starting with Ghost Pirates. It's pretty much how I remember it: budget constraints really denies it that final level of polish (cutscenes suffer especially) and I wish they'd contracted BA Sound, but it's quite solid. I am enjoying it more than Broken Age, which I compare it to because it shares the "switch between characters at will" mechanic and is even similarly divided into two main acts. It's definitely not nearly as polished as the Double Fine title but neither is it as lofty. I like the world more, even with the cheese. Locations like this supplemented by Camacho's music is just money in the bank:

Sounds like a better tip is to just avoid the SEs and play the actual games that shipped in 1990 and 1991. ;

I thought about making this into an article but it somehow seemed like less work better as a thread. The Lucasfilm learning division, particularly the early days of it, has always been a somewhat murky part of the company’s history. It wasn’t until the late 90s that the division emerged as the more recognized spinoff company “Lucas Learning,” which helped create the impression that it didn’t exist until then. But on Lucasfilm.com, the following entries appear in the company history timeline: The explanation for why the division was so invisible for ten years seems to be that they functioned more like an R&D laboratory than a game studio, and their main product in the early days was edutainment targeted at classrooms. They were making multimedia primarily for schools and organizations, not shelf-sold games for retail consumers. This software was of the then cutting-edge interactive CD-ROM/LaserDisc variety that anyone who grew up in the 90s was probably exposed to at some point. Most of what is publicly known about this era of the learning division comes from a series of contemporary articles that @Jenni helpfully collated here, and it comes across that the work done during this period could be pretty pioneering, experiment stuff. This video montage of Paul Parkranger and the Case of the Disappearing Ducks, a collaboration between the division and the National Audubon Society circa 1991, probably gives a decent idea of the kind of products they were developing: We know of a few recognizable LucasArts developers who served stints at the learning division. Husband-and-wife Jonathan Ackley and Casey Ackley did a spell there at the beginning of their careers. Most notably, Brian Moriarty hopped there to work on a Young Indiana Jones game between shipping Loom and his return for the ill-fated attempt at The Dig. The Young Indy game (putatively called Young Indiana Jones at the World’s Fair) was obviously a tie-in for the ABC television show, The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, and its planned existence explains the following reference at the end of Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis: Indy seems to have been a pretty big part of George Lucas’s grand plans for the division. In this article, he even claims that Young Indy was an educational software idea first, but one he concluded he would never have gotten funded in that form. So he came up with a show, which would produce hours of story content (on a television network’s dime) that his interactive concept could ultimately exploit. What’s described is pretty ambitious, ahead-of-its-time stuff: Ultimately, none of this software actually materialized, probably in part because the show got cancelled midway through its second season. In any case, the money dried up before Lucas could really take things as far as he envisioned. Young Indy still ended up being something of a hotbed for emerging technology. It is said that the series was used as sort of an incubator for some of the post-production tools that Lucas would use to make the Star Wars prequels. Digital editing, set-extending CGI effects, and other tech that would eventually become institutional in the entertainment business used Young Indy as a proving ground. When he got around to putting the series on DVD, Lucas drastically recut the show into 22 features and revisited the idea of the series as an educational tool. This included preparing 90 supplemental documentaries and approving a pretty serious initiative to produce companion curriculum. You can check out the still-functional http://www.indyintheclassroom.com/ for more. As for the learning division, it continued to exist in various forms, and was probably responsible for a few things sold under the LucasArts banner before “Lucas Learning” became a formal brand. For example, Mortimer and the Riddles of the Medallion seems like a shoo-in for a Lucas Learning title had the label existed at that time, and it would surprise me if Star Wars: Behind the Magic, an interactive encyclopedia for the franchise, wasn’t a product built in that building as well. In the developer commentary for Full Throttle Remastered, Tim asks Casey Ackley about a “library archive project” she was involved with at the learning division that he cites for its innovative use of a pop-out interface similar to Full Throttle’s. Something along the lines of Behind the Magic isn’t the craziest interpretation of what that could be referring to. It could also refer to the Indiana Jones thing. It could also refer to one of the several projects that actually got released that I simply wouldn’t know anything about. Anyway, there are still plenty of gaps, but it’s always fun to hear a bit more about this somewhat unsung arm of the Lucas empire. They were up to some wild stuff.

I wouldn't mind Anna Karney's Armed & Dangerous soundtrack seeing the light of day either. Unleash those bagpipes.

So you deny in front of everyone that this is you standing in front of the world's single Ghost Pirates of Vooju Island poster.