Q&A With the Team

[SurplusGamer]

I've said this before but it's useful to bear in mind that this approach to monkey island storytelling has been used before, in a less overt fashion:

in the Secret of Monkey Island, Part One is the story of how guybrush completes the three trials to become a pirate, with a cliffhanger at the end to lead us into the next part, and so on.

It's even clearer in Curse of Monkey Island - spoiler warning of course for anyone who hasn't played

In Part One it's the story of how guybrush reunites with elaine and lechuck, culminating in the marriage proposal which of course goes wrong, turning elaine into a statue.

Part Two is a classic monkey island map/ship/crew quest, ending in them setting sail for Blood Island

Part Three is all about getting the map back, culminating in the shipwreck on blood island

Part Four is the story of Blood Island and the quest for the ring, (and I've forgotten how that ends)

Part Five is the return to the carnival and the final defeat of LeChuck

So you can see how all of the sections tell their own story, completely seperate gameplay/location-wise but linked by the running plot of the cursed ring.

I expect Tales of Monkey Island will adopt a similar approach to storytelling, except that:

1) Each part will be of more consistent length
2) The individual story/theme of each part will be more overtly spelled out, as will the lead-in to the next part.

Apart from that, though, this is really what we're already used to.

[Jake]

Originally Posted by Rather Dashing

I noticed you didn't mention a keyboard-only option a la Wallace and Gromit. Is that off the table for this game, then?

Monkey doesn't support keyboard only, I'm sorry to say for those who preferred that. The "what the character is looking at appears in the top corner of the screen where you can then use it or combine it with inventory" system built for W&G isn't in the Monkey codebase. That's one of those things that happens when you have projects with staggered/overlapping schedules. I imagine if the game ends up on XBLA we'll give that stuff a look again (don't quote me on that though as I'm just thinking out loud here), but the game on PC is keyboard/mouse hybrid or mouse only.

Originally Posted by Nacholabs

Here's a question that I don't recall it's been asked:

Does the title Tales of Monkey Island make any sense with the plot? It would obviously fit like a glove if the episodes were separate stories, but you've ruled this out.
That means either that somewhere in the game you come across some Tales about Monkey Island (and they are vital to the plot), or you just thought the name sounded cool and there are no significant tales whatsoever.

I did my best to answer this question (or at least my personal take on an answer) just one page back!

[Laokin]

Originally Posted by Rather Dashing

I noticed you didn't mention a keyboard-only option a la Wallace and Gromit. Is that off the table for this game, then?

According to Kotaku the developers used me and another guy here on the forum's combined effort to create a do-able mouse only control that still requires drive mechanics like WASD.

So I gotta say.... thanks for reading your forums.... and thanks for using my evolved Idea. I think more than one person on this forum will be happy... especially those with disabilities because there are a few.

[Xsiah]

Why did Elaine's eyes turn green? I'm certain that she had blue eyes in MI1 and CMI.

[AndyBundy]

Same question for the voodoo lady: In part 1 and 2 she had green eyes, now she has brown eyes in the new ones. I loved the magical atmosphere of the eyes, they fit so well in the dark room.

[parabolee]

Ok so I am confused by the questions on the name and how it relates to Monkey Island itself.

Monkey Island IS in the game is it not? It would seem strange if it wasn't in there at least as a plot device of some sort.

[Zomantic]

Originally Posted by Jake

the game on PC is keyboard/mouse hybrid or mouse only.

That'd better be a sweet sweet mouse-only control scheme! I do not prefer keyboard over mouse, it's just that the hybrid solution in W&G was far too intricate for simple adventureing: if the newly designed mouse system works well and allows a smooth single-handed enjoyment of the game, well, count me in!

[Sir Pantalones]

Pretty nerdy question, but going over the titles...

The Secret of Monkey Island was kinda about finding the secret of the island called Monkey Island.
LeChuck's Revenge was about LeChuck's revenge, simply.
The Curse of Monkey Island was about the Carnival of the Damned, pretty much.
Escape from Monkey Island was later on about just what the title said.

So, are the "tales of Monkey Island" the episodes or an in-game element?

[Espiox]

Originally Posted by Dave Grossman

I, for one, disagree - I think it kind of messes up the cliffhangers by removing the mental space between the episodes. (Sometimes you notice a similar effect when you watch a TV show designed to have commercial breaks after those breaks have been removed.) The season is designed serially, and should be played that way for maximum enjoyment. In fact, I personally think that the folks who wait until the run is over to play the whole season at once (and some people will) are going to miss out on a cool part of the experience, that being the conversation that goes on in the intervening weeks between episodes.

Just my opinion, mind you.

I've never taken part in the "conversation" in the intervening weeks with the other series, and I've enjoyed them plenty. Not to mention that it sounds like TMI will be a much tighter experience (more like a full-size game in five parts), moreso than the previous Telltale series.

I just think it would be cool to have it move from one episode straight into the next, just cutting out the opening and closing credits (except for at the beginning and end, naturally).

[hplikelike]

Originally Posted by Sir Pantalones

Pretty nerdy question, but going over the titles...

The Secret of Monkey Island was kinda about finding the secret of the island called Monkey Island.
LeChuck's Revenge was about LeChuck's revenge, simply.
The Curse of Monkey Island was about the Carnival of the Damned, pretty much.
Escape from Monkey Island was later on about just what the title said.

So, are the "tales of Monkey Island" the episodes or an in-game element?

He's only answered it a hundred times. Take a look a few pages back.

[Avace]

Hi i dont know if this question has been answered previously but i was wondering when you say there are 5 chapters. will each chapter be the equivalant length in time to play the games or will the chapters be like small parts in the whole games e.g. part 5 Guybrush kikcs butt again

[Sir Pantalones]

Originally Posted by hplikelike

He's only answered it a hundred times. Take a look a few pages back.

Somehow missed it. Excuse me. Though there are A LOT of pages.

[Secret Fawful]

Originally Posted by Sir Pantalones

Somehow missed it. Excuse me. Though there are A LOT of pages.

He's stated that the title is more about "tales in the world of Monkey Island" and not as much about tales about Monkey Island. The game deals with the adventures of Guybrush and Elaine while battling the evil Lechuck, but there is no guarantee we will return to the legendary island again this time around.

[Sir Pantalones]

Found it just a bit after posting that, but thanks anyway. : )

[Haggis]

I hope this is the right place to ask this... will Telltale be at Gamescom in Cologne? (It's pretty much the European version of E3.)

[Candyghost]

Originally Posted by Haggis

I hope this is the right place to ask this... will Telltale be at Gamescom in Cologne? (It's pretty much the European version of E3.)

... If this is the case, can someone grabs some MI buttons for me?

[Abel]

8 days left and I just wondered if there will be a demo before the release?

[Cyphox]

Originally Posted by Abel

8 days left and I just wondered if there will be a demo before the release?

Good Lord, please NOT! This would completely kill any kind of pleasant anticipation

[Junaid]

Will we get a preview of the next episode after each one?

[MarkDarin]

Originally Posted by Junaid

Will we get a preview of the next episode after each one?

We aren't doing previews for this one. We want to use up every single second of time to make sure the episode itself is as perfect as we can get it. And every single free byte of space on the Wii for the game itself!