Q&A With the Team

[der_ketzer]

Originally Posted by ttg_Stemmle

Oh, and no Monkey Kombat. I promise. Pinky swear. I've learned my lesson, really.

Ack Chee Oop?

Originally Posted by GuyMontague

I know I'm the only human on the face of the Earth that can say this, but I enjoyed the Monkey Island mini-games.

That makes two of us then.
I loved the monkey combat.

[Shanksworthy]

Originally Posted by Junaid

If Ron would do that, one of the changes would be to not have Guybrush and Elaine in a relationship

And they are still married in TMI, so I think it's not the case...
Nice theory though

I realize that he could not undo the marriage (it's well known that Ron didn't approve of the marriage... if he had been invited, he would have raised his hand during the "If anybody has just cause..." part of the ceremony).

I'm talking about the convoluted way in which the MI 2's esoteric ending was just explained away in CMI. CMI's story was not Ron's original vision of how the story would continue -- the entire story arc would have been very different if Ron had been invited to the party. But it may not be too late -- there are still creative ways in which a very clever story-teller such as Ron could fix things. But like you said, he'd still have to compromise on the marriage thing. :-)

Even if he doesn't attempt to "fix" anything, I still think he's going to do MI 5. And while he's at it, he may just give away the big *secret* (or invent one).

[seanvanaman]

I think Mark and Mike have constructed the character's with both classic and new motivations -- Tales is definitely a story that stands on it's own. The questions and answers I mentioned shouldn't be interpreted as us referring to old canon OR as us turning this into a monkey-tastic version of Lost -- just that each episode is interconnected and that there are both episode wide AND season wide arcs for your savory consumption. And in my humble opinion, they're deeeeelicious.

(This is just me speaking, Mark and Mike have their own opinions, I'm sure) It's always a delicate balance when you return to a beloved series: we want to make something that sits alongside what you know and love, but is also new and interesting. We want to be canonical, but also tell a new story. Bottom line, we want the Monkey fans who have been waiting all this time to finish each episode feeling like we did right by them. Hopefully you guys do!

[Shale]

It's not the Ron "wasn't invited" to the party. He left the party. I bear him no ill will of any kind, and would love to see what he'd do with a new MI game of his own, but I don't expect the other people who worked on the series to abandon it just because Gilbert struck out on his own.

[Ry Guy]

Originally Posted by Tjibbbe

First off, what was the reasoning behind giving Guybrush his current look? I like the tradition of Guybrush looking different in every game he appears in, and I have to say I'm absolutely in love with how he looks right now. The weird cross between his CMI/MI2-look really works for some reason. But yeah, how many versions of the new Guybrush were there, and what made you decide that this look was the one you wanted?
!

Well, we took into account the way people responded to the previous looks of Guybrush. Most people really dug his blue jacket and look from 2. Many people didn't like the tall lanky version from 3, but we still wanted to stylize and have it feel like Guybrush. His real personality, for me, came out when he finally had a spoken voice. We also wanted to have him seem older because this is essentially after MI5. He just came across as creepy with a beard. I had fun drawing him regardless the way he looks. I have a sheet of old Guybrush drawings laying around here I'll see about posting. Once Guybrush was designed, he served as something to gauge everyone else off of (i.e. Elaine compliments his shape)

[Secret Fawful]

I have a question for you guys that shouldn't be spoilerish. Does this game go back to the feel of the first two games, the last two, or is it a unique beast all it's own?

It sounds like you're more interested in continuing the story rather than making a game chock full of what the fans want (which I agree with). I'm all for a quality fresh product versus everybody getting their favorite character cameo.

[Junaid]

Originally Posted by Ry Guy

Well, we took into account the way people responded to the previous looks of Guybrush. Most people really dug his blue jacket and look from 2. Many people didn't like the tall lanky version from 3, but we still wanted to stylize and have it feel like Guybrush. His real personality, for me, came out when he finally had a spoken voice. We also wanted to have him seem older because this is essentially after MI5. He just came across as creepy with a beard. I had fun drawing him regardless the way he looks. I have a sheet of old Guybrush drawings laying around here I'll see about posting. Once Guybrush was designed, he served as something to gauge everyone else off of (i.e. Elaine compliments his shape)

Great concept art by the way!
Curse of Monkey Island was the reason I started to really work on my drawing skills, so the art of Monkey Island was always important to me. After seeing the art for TMI, a lot of the inspiration I thought was gone, came back so thanks for that

[Squinky]

Random comment: I'm glad I'm not the only one who keeps misreading this forum's title as the "Pirate Privates Club".

[Lunatic]

The first thing i thought was, Why ... not ... LOOM...! :'(
But I love MI quite as much and have great confidence in you guys, really.
Two tiny questions (sorry if they might be stated before, but the only oney who have to read this massive thread is you...muahaha.)

1. Are the puzzles going to be as easy as in your other games? Or are we getting some real point&click Adventure finesse?
2. Judging from the video (which might be shots from an early alpha/beta?) the scenes look as clean/empty as in Wallace&Gromit. What I loved about all the older Adventures was, that there was a lot of eyecandy in the background. Any chance of having some?
3. Why not Loom?

[Guybrush_Threepwood]

Ok, guys, I'm pestering the forums with this question, now that I've bought the game I think this is the right thread and forum section where to ask:
the choice of using so few polygons for the models, expecially for inanimated ones, is due to limitations of the engine, limitations of time, pure choice (unlikely) or simply the space limitations for the Wii Ware?
Please Telltale, answer to this one!

Thanks anyway, love ya guys!

[Shanksworthy]

Originally Posted by Shale

It's not the Ron "wasn't invited" to the party. He left the party. I bear him no ill will of any kind, and would love to see what he'd do with a new MI game of his own, but I don't expect the other people who worked on the series to abandon it just because Gilbert struck out on his own.

I wouldn't expect that either. It's just that he's mentioned previously that he would have liked to have been consulted for part 3, to complete his vision of the story. He never seemed upset about it, it was just a wish. So I think it's cool that they made a point of inviting him to participate in TMI, and moving forward it would make sense for him to make a MI 5, since it almost seems like the Telltale team *want* him to tell the sweeping 40-hour epic that part 5 is supposed to be.

I dunno, just guesses/predictions. I'm not married to the idea -- at this point I'm just so glad that the excellent Telltale team has picked up the gauntlet.

[seanvanaman]

Originally Posted by Guybrush_Threepwood

Ok, guys, I'm pestering the forums with this question, now that I've bought the game I think this is the right thread and forum section where to ask:
the choice of using so few polygons for the models, expecially for inanimated ones, is due to limitations of the engine, limitations of time, pure choice (unlikely) or simply the space limitations for the Wii Ware?
Please Telltale, answer to this one!

Thanks anyway, love ya guys!

Hopefully Wallace shows a taste of what our engine is capable of... But yes, we do have to do a bit of economizing for Wii Ware.

Also -- even though July 7 is around the corner, there is still stuff going into the game every day that just rocks -- games get awesome FAST and there's going to be a lot of stuff shipping with the game that we haven't shown yet, from the way environments animate, to FX and the like.

[MarkDarin]

Originally Posted by Tjibbbe

First off, what was the reasoning behind giving Guybrush his current look? I like the tradition of Guybrush looking different in every game he appears in, and I have to say I'm absolutely in love with how he looks right now. The weird cross between his CMI/MI2-look really works for some reason.

You hit the nail on the head! Right from the begining we decided we wanted to shoot for a look that fell somewhere between MI2 & CMI. These are generally most people's favorites (Often depending on which one they actually played first.) We wanted to keep a bit of the lankiness that kind of defined Guybrush in CMI, and couple it with that Iconic coat & beard we saw in MI2 (That is if you squinted enough).

[Guybrush Threepwood]

Originally Posted by seanvanaman

But yes, we do have to do a bit of economizing for Wii Ware.

3char

[Guybrush_Threepwood]

Originally Posted by seanvanaman

Hopefully Wallace shows a taste of what our engine is capable of... But yes, we do have to do a bit of economizing for Wii Ware.

Also -- even though July 7 is around the corner, there is still stuff going into the game every day that just rocks -- games get awesome FAST and there's going to be a lot of stuff shipping with the game that we haven't shown yet, from the way environments animate, to FX and the like.

I perfectly understand, and can't wait to play the game (you made more curious now )
Thanks for answering, and congratulations to all of you guys at Telltale!

[Guybrush_Threepwood]

Originally Posted by MarkDarin

You hit the nail on the head! Right from the begining we decided we wanted to shoot for a look that fell somewhere between MI2 & CMI. These are generally most people's favorites (Often depending on which one they actually played first.) We wanted to keep a bit of the lankiness that kind of defined Guybrush in CMI, and couple it with that Iconic coat & beard we saw in MI2 (That is if you squinted enough).

Perfect choice, imo! And I've always been with MI2 Guybrush! Absolutely love his look!

[seanvanaman]

Originally Posted by Guybrush Threepwood

3char

Cheer up, buttercup. You'll never even notice.

[Mromson]

Someone release the ToMI Theme .mp3 already!

[Sky]

question, are you guys privy to the release date of Lucas Arts re-release of the original Monkey Island adventure??

[freerad22]

Originally Posted by seanvanaman

Cheer up, buttercup. You'll never even notice.

Would it be at all possible to have a higher rez option in the PC version?