Ron left Hothead. Telltale is hiring.

[MusicallyInspired]

Honestly, the comments in this thread are hilarious. It's interesting how people are always ready for a Gilbert-bash.

[MIK0]

I doubt that Ron will be hired by Telltale, I think now he is more the collaboration with an idea type.
Said that, I think that he maybe could be able to do something about the constantly increasing drop of quality and lack of care for details of Telltale's games. I wish to see them more like they where at the beginning of the first season of S&M.

[Hassat Hunter]

Originally Posted by Rather Dashing

Why? The idea that a person can give their contribution to something, get done with it, and then move on to new creative projects in different areas isn't at all plausible or understandable? I seriously doubt he's "abandoning" DeathSpank.

Because in the past, key people leaving companies usually result in the death of said company. LA Adventures, Bullfrog, Cavedog, Troika... they are all dead. Now I don't say this is the fate Hothead is going for, but the past has shown more companies dying as of stuff like this than flourish better than before.
Moving on is perfectly normal... however those people usually do that within the company they work in, unless they no longer wish to work for them for whatever reason. And tell me, how does that suppose to increase my faith for HotHead and their games?
Even if the reason for leaving IS TellTale has a better offer, it still means he turns his back somewhat on the developer of his game.

If actions like this caused less company deaths or dissapointing games in the past, I wouldn't be worried. But it does, thus my concern.

Still, it's downright silly to think that this was some heinous crime intended to let the game....

I never said it was a crime. Just usually an indication that that person (in this case Gilbert) lacks faith in his own product, or is not happy with the product created.
And that never gives me a reason to be postive at all.

Of course it *could* be what he left he is satisfied with, but in the past some have said the same (it's bad PR otherwise etc.), so I am not going to take word for it.
Once again, this is not specific about Ron Gilbert, I would be suspicious of any game where it's leads (especially the famous ones) depart before it's fully gold.

....seriously, what the hell is going to ruin the project if Ron Gilbert isn't working there full time?

I am not worried about what will happen, but what already is. And that that is of such "quality" that it made Ron turn his back on it.
As said, it happened. More often than not.

What is he avoiding by leaving, especially considering his name is pretty tied to the thing anyway?

Landing a new gig before his name is tarnished, securing him work when HotHead burns down in flames?
I suppose this is really dark thinking, but that is mostly what happens in situations like these.
Get a job before people learn his "Daikatana"...

[StarEye]

Yeah, God forbid we showed some actual faith in the guy. It's hilarious that Tim Schafer is supposed to be so damn important that nobody wants a sequel to his games unless he works on them, while Ron would have to do something miraculously good before he's allowed to touch his own created.

Actually, to me, the only thing that's come out from splitting all the best LucasArts profiles is show me that they're all good at their own things. None of the stuff that's come out from any of the individuals have been remotely as good as the stuff they did at LucasArts. Here's what I've actually learnt:

Bill Tiller is great at art... and mostly art.
Tim Schafer is great at creating wacky stuff with lots of humour. Lacking in gameplay.
Telltale is great at making fun and entertaining stories, although to me they're not quite the level of the original games.
Ron apparently is great at the philosophy of game making. Which traps to avoid, which rules you should follow and which you should or could break. Well, it seemed like it with his SOMI playthrough article he did some time ago.

Yet, Ron is the only one given NO benefit of the doubt whatsoever, while all the others are continuesly getting new chances to prove themselves. The grail would probably be to have them all together again, but that's not happening. I suspect Tim Schafer likes having his own company, and I don't think he wants to go to Telltale if he was asked. Bill Tiller is probably still convinced that great art is enough to make a good game.

For all we know, Ron leaving Hothead could have nothing at all to do with DeathSpank. Hell, maybe even private reasons, maybe something's happened in his life (good or bad) that made him reconsider his career as a developer. And seriously, I think he deserves to be believed when he says the game is awesome and fun. At least give him the benefit of the doubt.

[Wapcaplet]

Originally Posted by Hassat Hunter

Because in the past, key people leaving companies usually result in the death of said company. LA Adventures, Bullfrog, Cavedog, Troika... they are all dead. Now I don't say this is the fate Hothead is going for, but the past has shown more companies dying as of stuff like this than flourish better than before.
Moving on is perfectly normal... however those people usually do that within the company they work in, unless they no longer wish to work for them for whatever reason. And tell me, how does that suppose to increase my faith for HotHead and their games?

Actually, there is some evidence that something funny is going on at Hothead.

• Penny Arcade Adventures canceled so that more work can be done on Deathspank and Swarm
• Deathspank is completed, and Ron leaves the company
• Former Telltaler Deirdra Kiai lost her job at Hothead
• Is anything happening with Greenhouse? Their newest game was added in June 2009

Originally Posted by Hassat Hunter

Even if the reason for leaving IS TellTale has a better offer, it still means he turns his back somewhat on the developer of his game.

The creative stuff in Deathspank is done. What if he has another project up his sleeve, and it won't be done at Hothead for whatever reason? Does he have to wait until the game is actually released to give his notice and start his new project? He's not getting any younger.

The status of Hothead as an ongoing concern does seem a bit questionable at the moment.

[MIK0]

Originally Posted by StarEye

Ron apparently is great at the philosophy of game making. Which traps to avoid, which rules you should follow and which you should or could break. Well, it seemed like it with his SOMI playthrough article he did some time ago.

That's exactly why I would love to see him again on a monkey island title, but ones that he directs.

Originally Posted by StarEye

Yeah, God forbid we showed some actual faith in the guy. It's hilarious that Tim Schafer is supposed to be so damn important that nobody wants a sequel to his games unless he works on them, while Ron would have to do something miraculously good before he's allowed to touch his own created.

The problem is that MI franchise was used by so many people for it's selfselling value more than because "it was the time to do a great sequel" and so the result was not so good.
MI4...
MISE and MI2SE, cute but it's clear that most of the guy who made them never played the originals once. And it's probably something that an amatorial fan group could have made without some huge mistake.
TOMI like the latest TT games is a cheap, hasty and final result sacrificing production (in all sense).
That's adding the fact that this game are more likely to be known by old fan and mostly fail to please them or take them in consideration (porting, interface, restyle without respect of the originals, ect...)

[Chyron8472]

@Bloody Eugene:

You should make a poll for this thread.

Something like:

Should Ron work for Telltale?

1) Strongly Agree
2) Agree
3) Uncertain
4) Disagree
5) Strongly Disagree

(btw, count me in as "uncertain" for all the reasons listed in above posts as to why it's not Ron's baby anymore, and as he's helped to make all of 1 or 2 games of note (including DeathSpank) that I've even heard of since MI2.)

[adventureaddict]

Ron Gilbert is not god.
MI3 is canon. Leave it.
Ron is just another person like you or me, and if he is somehow hired by Telltale, well, good for him.
/thread.

[StarEye]

Neither is Tim Schafer, Dave Grossman, Mike Stemmle, etc etc. What is the deal here?

[Bloody Eugene]

Chyron8472 suggested me to add a pool about TT & Ron.
I added it!

[Avistew]

I voted "uncertain" but what I really mean is "I don't care".

[EwenW]

Shame that Ron has left Hothead. He'd be a great addition to Telltale. His writing in the early point and click days was great and his ideas were fantastic. Sure, Dave Grossman and Tim Schaefer deserve a lot of credit for what made these games great but it was Ron's brainchild. I've not played any of his games after Monkey Island 2 but he seems to be pretty switched on. It would be really cool if he could contribute to a rising company like Telltale in any capacity. Though I have a feeling it won't happen.

[EwenW]

And I've just read the list of positions Telltale are looking to fill. Ron could easily fill either a senior designer or executive producer type of role.

[Irishmile]

So is Deathspank a full game and not episodic? I hope he owns the rights to it, If its awesome and sequel worthy it would be a shame if someone else did it.

[Bagge]

Originally Posted by adventureaddict

Ron Gilbert is not god.

No, but he is the creator of Monkey Island, and he was instrumental in defining and shaping the characteristics of post-1980's adventure games.

[Wapcaplet]

Originally Posted by Irishmile

So is Deathspank a full game and not episodic? I hope he owns the rights to it, If its awesome and sequel worthy it would be a shame if someone else did it.

It started out as being episodic, but then it wasn't.

As for the rights, I would imagine he's savvy enough to negotiate for the rights to sequels, but I bet no one outside of Hothead and Ron knows for sure.

[Irishmile]

I guess I missed the announcement that it was no longer episodic

[plrichard]

I don't worship the ground Ron walks on, even though the posters in this thread seemed to think that I do. However, I can't seem to think of any reason that Dave Grossman and Ron Gilbert working for the same company could possibly be even slightly a bad thing.

[TookiGuy]

You know what? Unless these people REALLY want to do it, I'd say don't.

I love Ron's work, but unless he actually wants to join TellTale and make "THE REAL MI3". Because, from what I've seen most of us really liked CMI. Of course, I didn't really find the "explanations" to be all that satisfying, or the ending either, it was a really nice game overall.

And if there is an "orginal explanation" for MI2's ending, then I'm sure that Telltale will find a way to weave it into the games they make next.

[Hassat Hunter]

Originally Posted by Wapcaplet

The creative stuff in Deathspank is done. What if he has another project up his sleeve, and it won't be done at Hothead for whatever reason? Does he have to wait until the game is actually released to give his notice and start his new project? He's not getting any younger.

Nope, but there is no evidence of such a project. As such, it cannot be taken into account with the info as of yet.

Of course if we hear he's hired for TTG to work on something, that would leviate some of my fear for the state of DeathSpank. Until then, the only logical thing for me to be is, based on the evidence available at the time, to fear that DeathSpank isn't what it was intended to be, it will be a letdown.
(Another project is an option besides TTG of course, but I doubt if that's the case it will be announced remotely soon, and DeathSpank's release would be earlier to already solidify or debunk my fears...)

As for the poll, "unsure". Yeah, LCR was nice, but the guy hasn't really shown anything of value after that. And 10 years is a long time to go from good to aweful (Daikatana is a beautiful example of this, or how about DNF?)