He's said he'd keep them coming, and he's delivered. Check out Aric's site to find the list of downloadable LucasArts design docs updated with:
- LabyrinthSo nevermind your previous Fourth of July weekend plans; it's SCUMM history you need to be honoring.
Source: Aric's World
We already knew that Duke Grabowski had landed a publisher, but there's something comforting about getting the actual corporate screed to back it up. Today comes that very press release your heart so coveted:
In furtherance of its strategy, Alliance has partnered with two indie studios, PixelMetal and Venture Moon Industries, to publish two original games for PC and digital consoles. PixelMetal's Sombrero is a spaghetti western multiplayer shootout game scheduled for release on PC this summer. Players grab treasure and have shootouts, and can play specialized modes such as "Capture the Flag" and an Indiana Jones-like mode called "Banditos." Venture Moon Industries' game Duke Grabowski, Mighty Swashbuckler is a point-and-click comic adventure game about the biggest, roughest pirate in the Azurbbean and his struggle to become a noble swashbuckler. Alliance expects the first episode of Duke Grabowski to be released on Steam and Xbox One in November 2016.
[...]
Bill Tiller, President and Creative Director of Venture Moon, said "The deep game industry experience at Alliance ensures our collaboration is going to result in Venture Moon making the best game possible. In addition, they bring the PR, marketing and distribution expertise that will get the game in front of the largest possible global audience. This may sound hyperbolic, but they really are a dream come true for a small developer like us."
Note the launch platforms, as well as a release date of November for the first episode. Congrats once again to the team! Now give Pedro a call.
Source: PR Newswire
This seems to happen every once in awhile. Ron will make some overture, like this tweet, about wanting to buy the Monkey Island and Maniac Mansion IP from Disney, dozens of sites will seize upon it, fans will work themselves into a tizzy, and then nothing happens.
And nothing happens because nothing will happen. Big companies do not sell their properties pretty much as a matter of policy, and even if they did it's not like Ron would ever be able to meet their quote. It took having the right friends at Sony for Double Fine to get licenses for their recent remakes from Disney, and Ron has made it clear that licensing isn't good enough for him. So what motive is there to beat this drum?
The last time Ron made sure to pump some oxygen into the flame of that mythical creator-sanctioned "Monkey Island 3a" was last fall:
I don’t know if I will ever get to make another Monkey Island. I always envisioned the game as a trilogy and I really hope I do, but I don’t know if it will ever happen. Monkey Island is now owned by Disney and they haven't shown any desire to sell me the IP. I don’t know if I could make Monkey Island 3a without complete control over what I was making and the only way to do that is to own it. Disney: Call me.
Maybe someday. Please don’t suggest I do a Kickstarter to get the money, that’s not possible without Disney first agreeing to sell it and they haven’t done that.
Maybe I'm just a jerk, and Ron is shrewdly trying to build enough interest to get himself invited to a negotiating table. Maybe that is somehow something that's actually possible in the real world. Show me the light in the comments if you've got any to shine.
Source: Ron's Twitter
It's easy to forget that Ron Gilbert and Gary Winnick's retro adventure game and fated masterpiece Thimbleweed Park is less than a year from release. We haven't been particularly good about keeping on top of the coverage, but our laziness isn't the only factor - the game's really been getting around lately.
Still, it's mostly the laziness thing, so to make amends for being lax in our duties, here's a handy compilation of just a few of the previews from the past two months:
-Hands-on Preview + Interview: Thimbleweed Park and Ron GilbertThose oughta hold you for awhile.
You've really got to admire this kind of stubbornness.
A fan-made remake of Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis has been incubating for over two years now. I'm not clear on how far along the project is - indeed I've lost track of the Fate of Atlantis fan projects over the years - but the Facebook page has screenshots.
Labors of love like this traditionally just get put out at the risk of cease-and-desist orders, such as 2004's Maniac Mansion Deluxe, which as far as I know faced no legal repudiation, although the risk of getting the kibosh rises steeply when fans start dabbling in the big IPs, specifically Star Wars and Indy.
Whether for that reason or some other, the team has apparently sent a formal request to Disney to obtain a license for this remake. They even included some schwag! I find this admirable and crazy in roughly equal measure, but color me impressed.
I have a hard time imagining these good folks will get a response, much less approval, but I'm also a curmudgeon-y bastard without a sliver of optimism. At any rate, this has gotta be unprecedented, no? Correct me below if I'm wrong or at least join me in being awed by this team's hard work and indomitable spirit that's reminiscent of Indy himself.
Source: Facebook
Keep a watchful eye on Aric Wilmunder's site, because he quietly adds to his LEC design document uploads. Unless I'm remembering wrong (entirely possible), I don't think the Forge design document was there originally.
Well, it's not the whole document, but rather the cover only ("at this time"), which nevertheless contains the synopsis for the unproduced game:
Forge is the second game in the Loom trilogy. The game utilizes the 4.0 - 256-color SCUMM system. Forge will retain the same artistic style and story-telling of Loom, incorporating a new user interface appropriate to the new lead character Rusty Nailbender.
The player will assume the role of Rusty Nailbender, the young Blacksmith's apprentice and friend of the weaver, Bobbin Threadbare. Acquiring various ore's from different places, Rusty sets off on a quest to free his Guild from Chaos's control. Rusty's adventures make him aware of his own potential and ability to not only save his Guild but the entire universe of the living.
You might also be surprised to see that the game's project leaders are Kalani Steicher and Mike Ebert (who would go on to work on the likes of Zombies Ate My Neighbors and Indiana Jones' Greatest Adventures) with Brian Moriarty's name nowhere in sight. This is because Moriarty fatefully chose to work on other, ill-fated projects as opposed to a sequel to his game, a decision he's recently indicated he regrets, but how was he to know?
Hopefully the full document gets posted at some point and we can pick over it together, as an exceedingly pathetic team.
Source: Aric's World
Yesterday, actor and voice actor Alan Young died of natural causes at the age of 96. A prolific performer, Young is best known and beloved worldwide as Wilbur Post - the human sidekick of Mister Ed - and of course as the voice of Scrooge McDuck in DuckTales, a role he continued to voice in work as recent as this year.
Here at Mojo, though, he will always be remembered as Haggis McMutton, one of Guybrush's amicably mutinous crewmen in The Curse of Monkey Island. We thank him for his characters and congratulate him on the immortality.
Source: CBS News
As Jennifer reported this week, Duke Grabowski is no longer a bite-sized vanity project that the Autumn Moon guys (under the label "Venture Moon") will work on nights and weekends, but a full-length episodic adventure game with a publisher and everything. And episode one is out this summer!
To celebrate, we felt it would be useful to collect the media that the team has been trickling out over the last eighteen months. That's right, we've beaten the odds and updated the galleries. It hearkens back to the days when Mojo, if you can imagine, served as a resource for the games it covers.
Remember also to check out the Duke Grabowski Youtube Chanel for a collection of behind-the-scenes videos.
It's just our way of saying, "We don't think enough of you to trust that you can just Google this stuff."
The game that backers will be getting will now be episode one out of five. Backers will get the game exactly as described in the Kickstarter, but the good news is that Duke's adventures will be larger than planned. The other good news is that the backing by a publisher means that the Duke Grabowski team can now work on the game full time. The first episode, the one that backers of the Kickstarter will be getting, is now planned to be finished in July.
I'm back from PAX East. I'll post about my experience at the show in a bit, but for now, I'll catch up on some of the releases that have happened lately.
The Walking Dead: Michonne, the miniseries by Telltale Games that reveals what happened to the character of Michonne during the period when she left the group in the comics after the events of All Out War, is now complete, with yesterday's release of episode 3.
Also receiving its third episode yesterday was King's Quest, the official ninth game in the series, by The Odd Gentlemen. This episode, Once Upon A Climb, tells the story of how Graham saved his future wife Valanice, who is also Gwyndolyn's grandmother.
Before work began on the Day of the Tentacle remaster, Tim and Dave sat down and played through the original game in its entirety, equipped only with their memory. The result is fascinating, humorous, and three hours in length:
Source: Double Fine Youtube Channel
We have awful news to share today as audio veteran Jory Prum has passed away. Since 1999, Jory has been credited on innumerable titles published by LucasArts, Telltale, and Double Fine in a broad scope of sound design, recording, and engineering capacities.
Those of you who follow Jory's colleagues on Twitter may know that he was involved in a bad motorcycle accident last month from which he sadly did not recover. You can read the statement from his parents as well as heartfelt remembrances from some of his colleagues - including Julian Kwasneski - here. It appears to be one of many articles published in tribute of Jory today.
While we may not have known him personally, any reader of this site will be familiar with games to which Jory Prum made a vital contribution. It's hard to imagine titles where sound design could be less trivial than the sort he worked on while wearing any number of hats. The reason we celebrate the best of these games as timeless is because good stories endure, and Jory's work - far from merely a technical supplement - serviced those stories. Our condolences to his friends and family.
Source: Designing Sound
They'll also be selling merchandise at the show, including the Raz and Two Headed Baby Pinny Arcade pins, and a new special edition game bundle box. The bundle contains 10 games, with 10 game cards drawn Jon Magram and Melissa King. The game cards can be seen below (click to see them in a larger size).
I'll also be volunteering at the Double Fine booth at PAX East this weekend, so if you're at the show, come by and say hello. :)
Update: 4/19 10:45PM: Two more games have been added to the bundle: Jurassic Park: The Game and Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People.
Telltale Games are now in a Humble Bundle. For $1 or more, you can get Back to the Future: The Game, Sam & Max: The Devil's Playhouse, Poker Night at the Inventory, Puzzle Agent 1 & 2, and The Walking Dead: Season One. If you pay more than the average (currently just over $8), you also get The Walking Dead: 400 Days, The Wolf Among Us, Poker Night 2, and Tales from the Borderlands. Finally, if you pay more than $12, you'll also get Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead: Season Two.Note that all of these games are redeemed through Steam only, as there is no DRM-free option available. There is about a week left to pick this bundle up, and there are hints that more games will be added to the package soon.
Source: Call me Squinky
Telltale managed to meet its projected dates for two of its series, as today sees a double release from the studio. Minecraft: Story Mode Episode 5 sets up the scenario for the upcoming three downloadable content episodes, while The Walking Dead: Michonne is the penultimate chapter of the three episode mini-series, furthering the danger and setting up the finale.
Both episodes are available to download today across all all available platforms, except for the Wii U version of Minecraft: Story Mode. Also, due to an unexpected delay, the PlayStation versions of The Walking Dead: Michonne Episode 2 will be delayed until the 31st of March.
Also, Telltale now has a dedicated page available for the Adventure Pass, which will be available as downloadable content and will encompass episodes 6, 7, and 8 of Minecraft: Story Mode, continuing the story from the cliffhanger at the end of episode 5. Episode 6 will be available Summer 2016, and the other two episodes will follow shortly afterward.
Update March 25th: The video in this post just became more relevant as Shrmargin pointed out in our comments section that The Wolf Among Us will be free in its entirety to Xbox Gold subscribers on Xbox One in April.
Telltale updated their blog with Minecraft: Story Mode news. Episode 5 will be releasing on February 29th. Then three new episodes will be released as downloadable content that can be purchased on the platforms supported by the game. The DLC episodes will be released over the course of this year.Also, Mashable revealed, in an article with Telltale's CEO Kevin Bruner, that The Walking Dead: Season Three will begin releasing some time this year. More news will be revealed about Telltale's third season of The Walking Dead when Comic Con International occurs between July 21st and July 24th.
Finally, did you ever notice that Prince Lawrence's television displayed Night Court in The Wolf Among Us? Did you ever wonder what the two would look like mashed up? I made a video to answer that question, so you don't have to wonder anymore.
Some interesting things have emerged from that panel. Players will play as Bruce Wayne more than usual in a Batman game. In many situations, there will also be a choice between confronting a situation as Bruce Wayne, or going all in as Batman. As Batman, you'll also be given a choice to physically harm a suspect or take a more diplomatic approach through interrogation to get the information you're seeking. You won't be able to play the whole game without becoming Batman, but the developer's have stated you should be able to play a large portion of it as Bruce if that's the way you wish to play.
It is going to be similar in approach to their The Wolf Among Us series in terms of artistic presentation. It will be set in its own universe. Although it will draw from the 77 years of comic lore that already exists, the team will be able to make their own mark on the iconic characters.
It will have an art style inspired by DC artists such as Jim Lee, Greg Capullo and Neal Adams. It will have an M for mature rating, will consist of five episodes, and will begin releasing this summer.
Thimbleweed Park has evidently been making the rounds at GDC, a conference in desperate need of a vowel, and consequently a few new previews have sprung up, including this one by USGamer and another from Pocket Gamer.
Looks like there could be a new screenshot or two to be found in those articles, but I'll be damned if I've been keeping close enough track of all the media released to date in order to declare that with any authority. Get off my lawn!
For those waiting for Day of the Tentacle Remastered to show up on Steam, it can now be pre-ordered there as well.
Like GOG.com's Day of the Tentacle store page, Steam only lists Windows as a supported platform. Mac and Linux versions are coming, but they won't be available at launch.
