Here's a big thank you to reader/veteran Laserschwert for this: Ron Gilbert's recent talk for Game Forum Germany, entitled "The Making of Maniac Mansion", is available to be viewed online. Just click on "2011" and then on the link that does not not have "Ron Gilbert" in the title. You should be able to find similarly-educational videos elsewhere: one by noneother than LucasArts VP Mary Bihr herself, and, in the 2009 section, one by Noah Falstein (Fate of Atlantis) and one by Telltale CTO Kevin Bruner.
I must say, though, that I deeply admire the dubbing in those videos. It doesn't look like they're actually speaking German - the native language of 90% of the world's adventure gamers - at all!
Source: Nordmedia
Very interesting insight though!