Questions for Dominic Armato!

[hockeyalltheway]

Has anyone ever recognized you as the voice of Guybrush in a random, everyday setting (ex grocery store, walking down the street...)?

*insert OMGYAY about new Monkey Island game coming out*

[Aster]

Not a question so much as a confession, but I named one of my pet cockatiels after you. Not just the Dominic part, his full name is Dominic Armato. He even says 'Hello Dommie"

[Silverwolfpet]

Hee-hee... A long time ago I was searching for wallpapers with monkey island, and I found a picture of a dog called Guybrush

[stryfeman]

Adventure games have sort of been an almost dead Genre until recently, which is a shame because they are great fun. People love RPG's because of ''the story'' so why aren't adventure games more popular, they have great stories too. In short, why do you think Adventure games aren't as popular as other Genre's?

[cameleon33]

Originally Posted by stryfeman

In short, why do you think Adventure games aren't as popular as other Genre's?

Maybe because you need to think to solve puzzles... In RPG's, it more like you shoot everything you see ^^

Cam'

[Silverwolfpet]

True... So sad and true...

[Guydutch Smokeweed]

Q: Have you already been contacted about voicing the MI2 special edition?

[cameleon33]

I played some time age to Loom, SoMI and Indiana Jones The Last Crusade on my old ATARI ST... I really enjoyed it!! Those games were wonderful!! CMI were a good one too...

I am looking forward playing TOMI!

Cam'

[Impossible3144]

Originally Posted by hockeyalltheway

Has anyone ever recognized you as the voice of Guybrush in a random, everyday setting (ex grocery store, walking down the street...)?

...How would you recognise someone's voice walking past them on the street? This isn't like some TV/movie celebrity... Anyway, I think he already said no to this question. Probably because he doesn't go around talking like Guybrush.

[Silverwolfpet]

People look at me funny when I go into supermarkets or parks and start mumbling to myself stuff such as "I can't pick that up" or "I can't reach it".
...why?

[hamzie]

Originally Posted by Silverwolfpet

People look at me funny when I go into supermarkets or parks and start mumbling to myself stuff such as "I can't pick that up" or "I can't reach it".
...why?

Dominic is it because everyone knows he isnt guybrush

[stryfeman]

Originally Posted by cameleon33

Maybe because you need to think to solve puzzles... In RPG's, it more like you shoot everything you see ^^

Cam'

Not so much in an RPG, they are in general quite sedate and the storyline in a rpg seems to be as important as anything (look at the new Star Ocean, gameplay is good but the storyline is terrible and it has quite possibly the worst voice actor of all time)

[hockeyalltheway]

Originally Posted by Impossible3144

...How would you recognise someone's voice walking past them on the street? This isn't like some TV/movie celebrity... Anyway, I think he already said no to this question. Probably because he doesn't go around talking like Guybrush.

Talking to friends, maybe? And, I dunno, I figured that his voice sounds somewhat like Guybrush's.

[dantheape]

Something i ask any one in a q&a: Chicago or New York pizza?

[Salty Sea Sausage]

Hello Dom and everyone else I'll can the formalities of writing how excited I am that the series haven't ended, and that you're back to deliver more Guybrush-Goodness (damn, I just went through the formalities)....

Oh well, here are some questions:

1) How many people did you 'compete' against back when you were auditioning for Guybrush? Did you hear any of the others' version of Guybrush?
2) Will the epic story of porcelain continue?
3) Have you ever been to Denmark? (very random quesiton, I know)
4) Am I the only one to rush out into the kitchen and make me some chicken salad when I hear the words: "El Pollo Diablo!" - and do you actually speak spanish?

Regards, A Salty Sea Sausage

[bookwo3107]

Can you share with us a special top secret pre-orderers recipe? Jerk chicken or something appropriately carribean maybe for us to collectively feast on on July 7th....

[Lena_P]

Originally Posted by hamzie

ask him the meaning of algebra
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dominic what do you think of this slogan for MI

B A N A N A - P I C K E R - E N G A G E

It means to balance, like when you reset a bone. Oh ... that was a joke. Sorry!

[Dmnkly]

Originally Posted by Secret Fawful

How does it feel to hear your voice coming through Guybrush's lips? A little disconcerting? A little too awesome?

A lot too awesome.

Originally Posted by Secret Fawful

Also, what puzzle in the adventure games you've played has stumped you the most? (Not sure if these have been asked before.)

Hmmm... um... I remember getting Blondebeard's tooth on MegaMonkey being pretty tricky... and I'd already recorded the voice!

Originally Posted by ZombieAtPlay

No voice work on The Sims for you then?

The VO on The Sims is awesome.
(Schpa, schpa, wumbydooby wumbydooby schpaaaaaaa!)

Originally Posted by Arodin

Hey Dom..
I imagine back in CMI when you were recording the phrase "with the potential for a few more sequels" you didn't think you'd get to do another sequel, give voice to the original, and do a 5 part episodic series! And more (probably)!

In a word, no.

Originally Posted by Arodin

Here's a question: supposing LucasArts decides to do a special edition of MI2 in the future (I hope so!), are you prepared to make hooooock, chwwwwwk, swish-swish, and other various spit-related sounds?

I've always considered screams of various kinds to be one of my specialties. I can't say loogie-hocking was something I'd considered, but it can't be the strangest thing I've done in a VO session.

Originally Posted by Shoemonkey

Hey dude, I live in Baltimore too! Where are you? (Not exactly; I don't want to be a creep.) (I mean what area are you in...)

Smack dab in the middle of Little Italy. Wouldn't live anywhere else.

Originally Posted by Fausk

I don't think many other people would be so willing to connect with their fans, or are you under some sort of contractual obligation to keep us happy until the new episodes release?

No, no, I'm really having fun answering everybody's questions. Jake just caught me online to check and see if I'd like to field some questions in the preorder forum, and I said sure I will! After all, I consider the role a privilege and just wanted to give back however I can!

Originally Posted by Fausk

In Escape from Monkey Island when Guybrush talks to himself, did you pretty much just record that by talking to yourself, or was it just a normal recording session where you have to say each line individually?

Do you mean the intro or the lil' LeChuck and lil' Guybrush bit?

Originally Posted by Fausk

And as a huge Harmonix fan, I gotta ask... What's your favorite Freezepop song?

Hard to name a favorite, but I enjoy Chess King an awful lot. "Hiding in the food court I know that I may not get a second chance. I've got a car, I've got Drakkar and now I'm looking for romance." C'mon. Genius.

Originally Posted by serweet

What sort of promotional work do you go out and do, if any, to advertise a new game, such as ToMI? And if you have done it, what's the weirdest you've ever had to do?

You're reading it :-) Prior to this, I think the most I've done was hanging out at the release party for EMI on PS2 and answering a couple of questions for the G4 folks, and a couple of random web interviews (Mojo, SCUMM Bar, that kind of thing). I have a hunch that's going to be changing in the next couple of weeks, though. The buzz is big!

Originally Posted by serweet

Also, a bit random and off topic, but what car do you drive?

The same '95 Toyota 4Runner I bought and drove out to California that same year. About to be put out to pasture. Hard to let a car of 14 years go :-(

Originally Posted by Silverwolfpet

1. Do you have any advice for me, from your point of view (a man that never ceased to feel happiness and to see the world through the eyes of a child), and from Guybrush's point of view (the character that inspired my way in life and has shown me that I should never stop "wanting to be a pirate", as in fulfilling my dreams and never give up)?

Uh... this question may be a little above my pay grade :-) But that's one of the great charms of Guybrush, isn't it? He's surrounded by salty sea dogs, chased by ghosts/zombies/demons, doesn't get an ounce of respect from anybody, but he just happily drifts through life with a positive attitude and bit of charming naivete. Seems like a pretty good existence to me.

Originally Posted by Silverwolfpet

2. Is there any way I could receive your autograph on a picture of Guybrush? :-) I know it's silly, and perhaps everybody wishes that, but it would mean a lot to this old sea urchin.

I think that's a first! I wouldn't even know where to get Guybrush's 8x10 :-)

Originally Posted by WDeranged

My question is, when you were recording for EMI did you feel any difference in the spark of the story? Not that it was a bad game but I think most of us old timers agree it wasn't up to the Lucasarts standard, how well do you think Telltale are doing bottling the lightning?

You know, I believe I kind of touched on this earlier, but given how much of the script I recite, it's surprising how incomplete a picture I have of the final product while recording. I think I actually got more laughs out of the EMI script than the CMI script during recording, but as much as I enjoyed it, I understand (and I hope Mike will forgive me for saying so!) why a lot of the series' fans felt it just wasn't right. But the great thing about TMI is that these guys are the lightning! I'm as excited to play it as you are.

Originally Posted by dumpling321

everyone has asked what your favorite parts of the MI games were but i would like to know what was your least favorite puzzle/line/scene of all the monkey island games?

Personally speaking, I'm not a big fan of minigames. I likes my point-n-clicky adventure pure as the driven snow.

Originally Posted by LuigiHann

If LucasArts does a remake of MI2, would your Guybrush sound different than your MI1 Guybrush? Or more generally, when you play them do you imagine them sounding different? I have the most trouble picturing the CMI voice with MI2 Guybrush, probably mostly due to his slightly aged appearance.

A little, but very, very slightly. It's still Guybrush. Besides which, if we keep making these things and I keep adjusting, he actually IS going to sound like Barry White by the time MI9 rolls around.

Originally Posted by HappyBob

What the he'll is the McDonald's mascot "Grimace" meant to be?

Good question. But I'm more interested in finding out who he hooked up with to spawn Barney.

Originally Posted by hamzie

Any theories on how guybrush threepwood ended up on melee island

Funny you should ask! The week we were recording SMI:SE, I was hanging out and chatting with Adam Bormann, Senior Game Designer on the project, and he was talking about how when Guybrush first appears, he walks down from the top of the mountain on Melee. He doesn't come up. He doesn't drift ashore. He comes down from a place that doesn't seem to have any other point of access. Implication being, is Guybrush some kind of messianic figure? Could be that Ron's MI3 would have been a lot more interesting than anybody might've guessed :-)

Originally Posted by Pale Man

When Wallace and Gromit was announced, my first thought was that you would be clutching your stuffed Gromit and squealing with joy whilst playing through it, Dom. What has become of your Gromit?

My two-year-old is very fond of him. He was... um... hard to surrender.

Originally Posted by Sheepbrush

1. How did you react when you got the role of Guybrush in Curse of Monkey Island?

It's been so long, I don't remember exactly how I celebrated. But I'm pretty sure it involved booze. (Yup... it's a running gag.)

Originally Posted by Sheepbrush

2. How did your wife react when you told her you where the voice of Guybrush?

Don't remember... I'll have to ask her along with her other pending question. Let me get back to you on this.

Originally Posted by Shmeh

If you work with LA to make a special edition of this game, will you try to get them to add the scene?

While I appreciate the vote of confidence, I think you all grossly overestimate the amount of sway I have when it comes to anything Monkey Island. I mean, ask yourselves -- if I had any influence over at LucasArts whatsoever, do you really think I would have let the series lie dormant for ten years? :-)

Originally Posted by GraVe

Oh, and I do have some questions (if you have time and energy to answer it): You’ve stated many times, that the voicing of SMI remake was a challenge due to the way the lines were written for the game. Are there actually some lines which aren’t spoken exactly as they were written or is the remake voiced exactly 1:1? If there are differences, could you quantify them .

I think there were maybe one or two instances where we had to make a very, very small change because there was just no way to read something. In a couple of other cases, I read something that clearly wasn't meant to be spoken, and it actually came out kind of funny as a result, so we ran with it. Especially maddening, however, were the lines for when Guybrush looks at the number of pieces o' eight in his inventory. In print, it's no big deal. You enter the variable and it displays how many you have. But how the heck do you record that short of recording hundreds of lines stating how many pieces o' eight I have? The way they ended up doing it was that the aforementioned Adam Bormann sat down for an hour or two and tried to figure out what he considered the hundred most likely possibilities, then we recorded those as well as a few general lines like "I have a whole lot of pieces o' eight", or "I barely have any pieces o' eight". But every effort was made to be as faithful to the original text as possible... within reason :-)

Originally Posted by GraVe

Also you stated that they were very strict about the script regarding ad-libing. Well, who was stricter, Telltale or LucasArts? You remember any of your own “tunes” that made the cut and are in CMI or EMI (regarding your previous “The tunes, not the lyrics.« answer)?

Funny you should bring this up! While recording episode two last week, I was actually asked to ad-lib for an interactive project for the first time ever. And I was so taken aback, I completely fell on my face (sorry, Mark!). And I definitely remember the tunes from CMI. They're all in the game.

Originally Posted by Lord Banshie

Hi, I liked those games you were in :P (yeah, thats been edited), anywho I've got one of these one-free-question tokens, and my friend has a really pressing question, he's a bit of a tennis nut, so I don't know if this will be lost on you (it's lost on me) I think what he was getting at was, if there was a MI film, this guy would be a good pick huh? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLKXB...eature=related

Now, I'm not a tennis nut, but c'mon, I know Nadal! He has a good piratey look! A little pretty for Guybrush though, I think.

Originally Posted by PariahKing

Do you feel like in the realm of adventure games you've been typecasted as Guybrush in terms of getting voice over work?

Nah. I doubt if most of the people I audition for even make the connection.

Originally Posted by Fausk

Just thought of another question to ask... Got any good recipes for some good viccysoise?

Never made it. Might have to change that.

Originally Posted by Silverwolfpet

"Please tell Mr. Armato that many years ago my son wanted a Guybrush Threepwood action figure. Knowing the fact that such a thing doesn't exist, I actually created one out of hardening clay. Besides that, he <<terrorised>> me all these years with Monkey Island and how he wants to become a pirate... I just want you to acknowledge that. That's all."

Duly acknowledged... and you can tell her that I covet your clay Guybrush :-)

Originally Posted by playclever

I play a lot of adventure games, and often I despair at the way lines are read: Stressing the wrong word, mispronouncing character names, etc. Probably this happens most in either low-budget or translated games, and I always curse some sort of mythical director. Is this really the problem? Is it a bad script, bad direction, lack of re-takes, an unquestioning actor, or something else? LucasArts and Telltale stand out for me as studios that rarely slip up in this regard, so hopefully you have some insight!

I think I touched on this above, but it isn't hard to understand how that happens. In something so massive and disjointed as an interactive script for a game like this, it's really hard to keep track of the context on everything. I mean, if you were to look at the script (don't ask!), you'd see it's just a jumble of seemingly random lines. Plus, you have nobody to play off of, and it doesn't take much for something to come off awkwardly. Frankly, I'm amazed there are as few awkward lines as there are. But I know exactly what you're talking about, and it kills me. There's nothing worse than finally playing the game, catching one of those lines, seeing it in context and knowing exactly how it should have been read and wishing I had the chance to redo it. But all you can do is do your best, and hope there are as few of those clunkers as possible.

Originally Posted by backslash

Dominic, do you own a pair of these shoes? And if not, why not?

Because you haven't sent me a pair!!!

Originally Posted by backslash

Also I'm still waiting for a reply for that "did your wife marry you because you're the voice of Guybrush?" (unless you weren't really planning to ask your wife)

No, no, it's coming! We've just been traveling the past few days. I'll bug her about it tomorrow.

Originally Posted by hockeyalltheway

Has anyone ever recognized you as the voice of Guybrush in a random, everyday setting (ex grocery store, walking down the street...)?

See, now even I can't remember what I have and haven't answered. Short answer, no. Never. And the day that happens I'll be amazed.

Originally Posted by stryfeman

Adventure games have sort of been an almost dead Genre until recently, which is a shame because they are great fun. People love RPG's because of ''the story'' so why aren't adventure games more popular, they have great stories too. In short, why do you think Adventure games aren't as popular as other Genre's?

Because you have to think, and people don't want to think. And don't mistake that for a criticism. I'm not judging. Sometimes you just want to be able to turn off your brain and do something kind of mindless. When that's the frame of mind you're in, an adventure game is WORK. But I really do feel that the timing is right for a comeback. Throw in a good in-game hint system, push the cinematic storytelling aspect of the game even more, and I think you're making something that people really crave right now. I'm trying not to set my hopes too high, but I have this feeling that adventure games might be ready for something of a rebirth. Fingers crossed.

Originally Posted by Guydutch Smokeweed

Q: Have you already been contacted about voicing the MI2 special edition?

I haven't. But I know how these things works, and let's just say I'm hoping these new games sell very, very well :-)

Originally Posted by Silverwolfpet

People look at me funny when I go into supermarkets or parks and start mumbling to myself stuff such as "I can't pick that up" or "I can't reach it".
...why?

Because you're not me, silly!

Originally Posted by dantheape

Something i ask any one in a q&a: Chicago or New York pizza?

If you're talking Chicago-style deep dish vs. standard issue greasy NY corner fare, it's a toss-up. But at the risk of drawing the ire of my Chicago-born bretheren, if it's Chicago-style vs. some of the better NY style that's kind of rooted in Neapolitan? Gotta go with NY. Don't get me wrong. I love me a Gino's East with the layer of sausage. I grew up on the stuff. Unlike some other Chicago food nerds, I won't knock it for a moment. But make me choose one to eat for the rest of my life, and I have to go with the charred, blistered, wood or coal-fired flatbread over the 82-pound cheesy gut bomb.

Originally Posted by Salty Sea Sausage

1) How many people did you 'compete' against back when you were auditioning for Guybrush? Did you hear any of the others' version of Guybrush?

No idea, and no. But I'm at least as curious as you are.

Originally Posted by Salty Sea Sausage

2) Will the epic story of porcelain continue?

One can only hope.

Originally Posted by Salty Sea Sausage

3) Have you ever been to Denmark? (very random quesiton, I know)

I haven't, but based on the fact that the Danes I've known have been some of the most laid-back, groovy folks I've met, it really should be at or near the top of my travel wish list.

Originally Posted by Salty Sea Sausage

4) Am I the only one to rush out into the kitchen and make me some chicken salad when I hear the words: "El Pollo Diablo!" - and do you actually speak spanish?

Probably. And I only speak menu Spanish.

Originally Posted by bookwo3107

Can you share with us a special top secret pre-orderers recipe? Jerk chicken or something appropriately carribean maybe for us to collectively feast on on July 7th....

Not off the top of my head, but this is an awesome idea. I've been trying to figure out some way to plug MI in my food blog while remaining topical, and I think you just gave it to me... thanks!

[Secret Fawful]

Originally Posted by Dmnkly

A lot too awesome.


Hmmm... um... I remember getting Blondebeard's tooth on MegaMonkey being pretty tricky... and I'd already recorded the voice!

Ahahahahahaha. I was replaying CMI for the first time in a couple years, to ready for TMI. And that is the EXACT same puzzle that stumped me the most in the game. It has to be one of the most frustrating puzzles I've ever encountered. And I didn't want to use a walkthrough, so it was absolutely terrible. And IF you can remember, another tough one was putting the Goodsoup portrait on the door frame.

[HoppyDragon]

Originally Posted by Dmnkly

I've always considered screams of various kinds to be one of my specialties. I can't say loogie-hocking was something I'd considered, but it can't be the strangest thing I've done in a VO session.

In The Curse of Monkey Island if you use the mouth icon on the spittoon at the Goodsoup Family Hotel on Blood Island, there's a few nice loogie-hocking sounds as Guybrush spits into it. So you've already done this before!