Questions for Mike Stemmle? Post 'em here!

[Silverwolfpet]

Hello Mike!

First, it's a great privilege to talk to you and I want to thank you (as I thanked everybody on the team) for bringing back our childhoods once more.
Second, the questions (I'll try to keep them short):

1. What was the first line that you wrote for the game (the first thing you actually put on paper)?
i.e. One of Guybrush's lines, the plot summed up in one sentence, a minor detail regarding one character or something more practical such as "must buy milk" etc.

2. How does a normal work day go for you? Do you enter work place - sit down - drink coffee - write ideeas - watch youtube - write some more - draw - go home? I'm really curious how much work there is to be done on a normal day.

3. What exactly did you work on in MI4? I am talking about an ideea that was 100% yours that made it into the game (i.e. the duck or Giant LeChuck Statue)

4. Would you work on a Monkey Island Movie? (I know it will never happen, but if someone would just have sooo much money on his hands and was a MI fan?)

5. What is the most dearest memory of them all, regardin the MI series?

Thank you! For everything...

[ttg_Stemmle]

Originally Posted by Rather Dashing

Since you're a designer/writer for a single episodie, how much collaboration do you have with the designers/writers of other episodes? Is it all kind of worked out in an outline beforehand, or is it kind of developed as you go?

Mark Darin and I have sort of "taken point" on the storyline for the whole season, laying out the big beats, big puzzles, and themes beforehand. Of course, we didn't do that in a vacuum, as nearly every designer in the building (and a couple NOT in the building) have contributed to the overall shape of the season, but by and large the overall plot structure was worked out before Chapter 1 ever got started.

Originally Posted by Rather Dashing

If you're working on the first episode, would your decisions for that episode end up affecting later ones, or are all "overarching" and repeating series gags talked about beforehand?

The plot threads for the season have been worked out ahead of time (mostly), but running gags tend to be more organic, with writers seeing things they like in the first episode, then deciding to run with them. Of course, some running gags are so important that we DO plan them out from day one.

Originally Posted by Rather Dashing

In fact, what really is your role in it? We know that you dessode, wign and write the first episode, so we'll know we thank you when it's great. But how's that work into the grander scheme of the season?

After the first episode, I'll be going off to design/write the fourth episode, all the while keeping a steady eye on the second and third eps, to make sure that there's a reasonable continuity of plot and tone. Not that they need my eye THAT much, since Mark, Joe, and Sean have a REALLY good handle on the story.

Originally Posted by Rather Dashing

Who's your favorite Star Wars character?

Jar Jar Binks. What can I say, I LOVE the challenge of redeeming unlovable characters.

[ttg_Stemmle]

Originally Posted by Gryffalio

I have a couple of questions if that's okay.

1. One thing has perplexed me since I bought EfMI (and enjoyed it ). What was the purpose of Pinchpenny and the other non-playable islands/was there a purpose/was there an idea to use these in a later game?

Frankly, I think we were just trying to fill out the map Of course, it's possible that there was a subtler plan at work, but that's an awful lot of brain cells ago...

Originally Posted by Gryffalio

2. Is there much more to the island we see in ToMI (Flotsam iirc?) than we have seen already, or will the episode be built largely on the dock-area?

There's much, MUCH more to Flotsam than those two exteriors, you betcha.

[ttg_Stemmle]

Originally Posted by LuigiHann

When you were working on SBCG4AP, did anybody ever come into the room and say "Hey Mike," and then both you and Chapman said "hey" at the same time?

Hey, are you insinuating that I've got a writing tic?

Hey,
Mike

[Arodin]

It was commented in an E3 interview that you guys are all 10-15 years older now than when you last worked on Monkey Island and other classic adventure games. It also follows that most die hard fans of the classic Monkey Island games are also 10-15 years older now. How has that influenced your writing of the jokes and puzzles, if at all? Do you feel that you are purposely trying to go for more sophisticated humor to appeal to us old farts or trying to think 10-15 years younger to match the humor of the classic games?

[LittleBuddy]

That's an interesting question, yep Also, any big influences this time around like Pirate of the Caribbean was originally for the first ones?

[ttg_Stemmle]

Originally Posted by Secret Fawful

I'll leave you alone on Escape From Monkey Island *booming voice* FOR NOW. Mwahahaha. What I really have questions about are the Sam and Max series.

On Hit the Road.

1. How much creative input did you have on the game?

2. What's your favorite puzzle?

3. Any interesting or funny stories about the production of the game? Where did the idea for the Andy Griffith/Don Knotts twin come from? I always wondered how you guys got this idea.

4. What made you switch to that interface instead of the old SCUMM interface?

1. Sean, Steve, Collette, and I pretty much teamed up to design the whole thing.

2. I'm really quite partial to the "bungee cord out of Mt. Rushmore" puzzle, although the "pulling the tooth from the wooly mammoth" puzzle also has its charms.

3. The Andy Griffith/Don Knotts thing was a Steve invention... at least I think it was.

4. We'd been drifting away from the classic SCUMM interface for some time by the time Sam& Max rolled around. With machines getting more and more powerful, it seemed time to make the full break and present our games with glorious full-screen graphics, and to eliminate the 6 or so extra verbs that were cluttering up our designs.

Originally Posted by Secret Fawful

On Freelance Police (yep, I have to grill you on it. whether you answer me is a different story.)

1. With you guys and Lucas finally in good terms again, do you think you'd consider or rather would LA consider remaking Freelance Police with updated graphics? I know you tried a long while back to obtain the rights again and failed. And if not....that brings me to Question 2.

2. Can you give us any good snippets of some funny moments out of the game? Or a general idea of what it was going to be about? Or are you constantly finding red beams of light flashing over your forehead every time you're about to type the words Freelance Police?

1. I kinda doubt that'll happen, cause the amount of work we'd have to do to wrestle down the old project into, say, the Telltale Engine really wouldn't be worth it. I wouldn't mind if LucasArts freed up the intellectual property, though, so that we could mine some of the funnier story bits with a clear conscience.

2. My favorite lines that no one else thinks are funny:

Max - "Don't look at me, I'm more regular than an atomic clock."

Max - "Oh no, it's the Rapture, and I'm not wearing any pants!"

Originally Posted by Secret Fawful

On you-

What did you think of the new Star Trek movie?

On Tales of Monkey Island-

1. Which game in the series would you compare it the most to?

2. Is the bad guy going to be big mean and scary?

3. Who is your favorite MI character?

4. What was your main goal when writing for the game versus when writing for Escape? Okay, I brought it up once. Did you have a general idea of how it would go in your head when you started out?

0. As a fan, I was quite pleased and relieved by the new Trek movie. As a guy who worked on Star Trek Online for a long time, I was amused by some of the plot, um, gaps that ended up in the final version.

1. Monkey 2. It's a continuation, it's funny, and it goes into some dark places.

2. Isn't LeChuck always mean and scary? Oh, you mean our OTHER bad guys. Well, they're mean and scary too. And crazy. And occasionally obnoxious.

3. Elaine. She's a pain in the tuchus to write, but there's a hidden complexity to her that's fascinating.

4. This time around I'm looking forward to introducing these characters to an entire generation of game players who've never played a Monkey Island game before, while simultaneously moving the overall saga forward in a surprising fashion. Previously, we weren't as concerned with re-introducing the franchise, since was still quite active at the time.

And with that, my lunch is over for the day,
Mike

[RockNRoll]

How are you balancing a sense of nostalgia and classic MI while pushing the series forward? Is there a conscious effort to "bring it back" or is there more of an effort to create new worlds and characters and story devices.

[RockNRoll]

Is there an effort to keep monologue and dialogue brief and to the point? That's one of the things I really enjoy about the first two games, there's not a ton of reading or overexplaining but the laughs still come. It's fast moving, and mostly one or two liners. It's like you either see the joke or you don't. It seems like a lot of adventure games since then have relied on paragraphs and paragraphs of reading.

[LuigiHann]

Originally Posted by ttg_Stemmle

Hey, are you insinuating that I've got a writing tic?

Hey,
Mike

What? No. Just that you and Mike Chapman have the same first name. It was kind of an "I can't think of any good questions" question.

[Lena_P]

Mr. Stemmle, if you were a tree, what sort of tree would you be? Have you ever read any of the works of P.G. Wodehouse? If not, go right now and get Mulliner Nights and jump to "Strychnine in the Soup."

[Mike Haley]

Hey, Mike.

I have a question, but I don't know whether or not it can be properly answered until after the game is released to the public. While designing Tales of Monkey Island, were there many ideas that were tossed around, but in the end, left on the cutting room floor?

[esteban]

Hi, Mr Stemmle, I have one question for you. For a long and a difficult time, the adventure game was near to death. Then, Telltale Games in the USA and others in Europe have tried to reborn this kind of games... I hope successfully and for a long time... I won't ask you about the Telltale's Games (They are great of course !!!) but I would like to know what do you think of the european productions like Jack Keane or Runaway 1&2 (especially because they are tribute to MI and LucasArts productions) ? And Thanks to you and Telltale Games to be so close to your customers in this great event ! It's like participate in the game ourself ! Thanks again !

[Gryffalio]

Thanks for the reassuring answer

When you write/design/etc. on ToMI, how much freedom do you have in re: the MI franchise? Given that you guys seem to be driving character dev. forward, were there calls to make to LA, or are they quite cool about your creative freedoms?

[PariahKing]

Why did Stone LeChuck die at the end of Escape?

[koosjebig]

Are you also excited about Bill Tiller's Ghost Pirates of Vooju Island, the way he is excited about Tales of Monkey Island?
2 games like that coming out soon; for Monkey Island (or MI-related) fans that's like heaven

[kenwoods]

- Since you've worked on both of the "3D" Monkey Island projects,
I wanted to know which of the control interfaces did you prefer?
The EMI keyboard or the TMI point & click?

In case you answer point & click, I have another question.
- Why wasn't there a point & click interface to EMI?

[onlyamonkey]

Hi.

1. What kind of variables are you talking with your team about/thinking a lot about in the equation of making a good game?
2. How do you react when you've put down shitloads of time in a project like MI 4 and then what you put out gets heavily critisized by the more hardcore fans?
3. Where do you think the future of gaming is (in terms of gameplay)?
4. I reckon you're very proud of your ToMI. Is it very hard to resist the urge of just spamming the forum with screenies, hints and spoilers? Do you have general guidelines to follow?
5. How does creativity come to you; do you have it under control or do you get possesed by it?

[plagiarize]

i have to say that i'm currently replaying Escape, and while there's a lot that's making me smile there are still things in it that i don't like, and frankly i think i'm one of the much kinder people to the game. i love, for example, that you can throw pretty much every single thing in your inventory at Herman. i love howling at the moon by Meat Hook's. i love that mists of time puzzle (who doesnt?). some of the puzzles are just a bit too random though, not really up to the whole 'ah why didn't i think of that!' standard of old. like, the names on the bottom of the manhole cover rewarding you with the fake skin to get into the bank. i never got that one...

anyways... i guess what i wanted to ask was given that Escape is seen as the weak link in the series, does that effect your approach coming in to Tales? i mean, Sam and Max Hit the Road is an absolute classic, and your Telltale episodes have been some of the strongest ones (i think).

Escape is really the only thing on your record approaching a black spot. Are you approaching this as a shot at redemption? Are you worried about getting a similar kind of backlash? Are you trying to put it all behind you and just focus on making Tales as good a game as possible, or are you more doing the whole 'what went wrong? how do we fix that?' post mortem.

in a weird way, you may well know better than anyone else what kind of jokes and puzzles work in Monkey Island game cause you mainly only hear the bitching about the ones that didn't.

well apart from that swamp of time puzzle. everyone raves about that one. rightly so. i still think it's one of the funniest puzzles in any adventure game.

[SRTie4k]

When you spend every waking day of the week working on these stories, do you ever dream about them at night? What's the weirdest dream you ever had?