The International House of Mojo

Avast! Two years ago it was but a humble Kickstarter pitch, and today it is a real life computer game. See, not all video game Kickstarters are scams just because ours will be! (There's nothing in the pipeline, but with Remi around it's a foregone conclusion.)

Backers received their Steam keys yesterday, but the rest of you can get it now for a measly $6.99. There is no reason to wait for my review, which is nevertheless coming shortly. Now go forth and help ensure the subsequent episodes get finished.

Source: Steam

Read the press release, if that's your thing, but the point is Bill's newest game is finally upon us. I'm also noticing that some new screenshots have popped up in a few places, so do check those out.

I'll have a review of the first episode in as few as seventeen months, guaranteed.

Source: Gamasutra

Always nice to see this game get some exposure outside of this site, with its global rank of 918,640.

The preview is positive, although I must politely disagree with HardcoreGamer's memory of The Curse of Monkey Island as a "3D game." They also note that we still don't know for sure how many episodes Duke Grabowski will consist of:

We'll see indeed. One unfinished series is enough for this team to have on its resume.

Source: HardcoreGamer

That and more is revealed as part of the latest update on the game's progress from Bill. Sound like they're wrapping up on the first episode.

I have confused feelings about this, since I was rather hoping Pedro would be invited back to do the new music, in keeping with tradition. But who the hell can complain about Jared doing the soundtrack to anything? Sounds like some of Pedro's music from Ghost Pirates - which Duke Grabowski is technically a spinoff of - will be reprised to complement Jared's original work.

Source: Kickstarter

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:

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

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."

Duke Grabowski's Kickstarter updated with news that more Duke Grabowski is coming, as the game is now episodic and will now be published by Alliance Digital Media.

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.

IF Games has announced that their adventure game, The Perils of Man, which has a design by Bill Tiller and Gene Mocsy of Autumn Moon, and is also co-written by Mr. Mocsy, will be released on April 28, 2015 for Windows, Mac, and iOS. Episode 1 of the game was previously only available on iOS, and for those who have already purchased the iOS version of Episode 1, the app will be updated to the full version at no extra charge once it's released. They also released an announcement trailer for the game, which has been embedded below. You can see the trailer here if the embedding doesn't work for you.

For those, like me, who have been wondering how the second and final episode of the Bill Tiller and Gene Mocsy designed Perils of Man is coming along, developer IF Games has announced an estimated release window of Spring 2015 for the full game.

Perils of Man will be released for iOS (people who already own Perils of Man Episode 1 on iOS will get the second episode as an update to the game app at no additional charge), and IF Games also have announced their intention to release the game on Steam for PC and Mac in the same estimated Spring 2015 timeframe.

My assigned part it, anyway. In a show of support for Jennifer, I strove to ensure that whatever she could possibly come up with would be considerably less humiliating by comparison.

As you were promised, here is my incident-free re-enactment of the wedding scene from The Secret of Monkey Island as a reward for the support you damned well should have shown to Venture Moon's Duke Grabowski.

Note: We provided subtitles this time out in case the combination of my Cajun accent and the home movie audio fidelity prove to be too much of a barrier.

Well, basically.

You may have seen this Kotaku article if you were keeping tabs on us on Twitter during our downtime, but why admit to reading Twitter when I'm handing you this convenient out?

The article goes into the sometimes extreme measures that the Double Fine team had to take in trying to track down old Grim Fandango assets for their upcoming remastering.

Read the full article for more kah-rayzee stories about Grim's excavation.

Source: Kotaku

Update by Jennifer: The campaign is also now accepting Paypal donations for the digital tiers (you'll find the Paypal links at the bottom of the main page). So, if you wait for that option before backing a crowdfunding campaign, and if you want to play a campaign with an awesome art design by Bill Tiller and a game design by Dave Grossman, Bill Tiller, and Gene Mocsy, then you can now be a backer as well.

Oh, and my rendition of the pirate song is on its way. Since I actually made that promise myself, I'll try to get it done soonish. :)

Original post:

There's a first time for everything.

Duke Grabowski up and got itself funded by the skin of its teeth, and there was much rejoicing. Don't forget that although the minimum amount has been reached, you can still pledge money to the project so that it can hit some of its stretch goals. One of them is "new swashbuckling music," which I'm taking to mean that Pedro Macedo Camacho will compose new stuff as opposed to his Ghost Pirates tracks being recycled.

As for me, I apparently owe you guys some sort of re-creation of the wedding scene from Monkey Island 1? At least, that's what Remi seems to have effeminately (and unilaterally) obligated me to, and I'm nothing if not a man of Remi's word. So while I'm not putting a clock on it, stay tuned for a deranged grotesquerie of some sort.

Source: Kickstarter

The Duke Grabowski Kickstarter now needs less than $5,000 to make it's goal. There's just three days left to go, but it's certainly doable. They've posted an interesting update about how Dave Grossman got onboard. Apparently Bill's helping Dave out with art for one of his projects, and Dave's helping Bill out with game design on his. So, we'll hopefully be seeing the results of another Dave Grossman and Bill Tiller collaboration in the future.

The update also includes information about slots being opened up for the higher tiers. So, if you've been holding back because you wanted to back at one of the sold out higher tiers, you're in luck, as more slots have been added to these tiers. Go ahead and grab them quick if you're interested (there's some neat goodies in there, like getting to voice a character named after you for $300, or if you have some money to burn, having Bill fly to your house and paint a mural on your wall for $10,000).

Of course, the most important incentive is that if this is funded, you'll get to watch Jason reenact the Melee Island wedding scene, and watch me perform the Curse of Monkey Island pirate song. So, go ahead and back. You know you want to.

The Perils of Man: Episode 1, the first part of the two part adventure with a game design by Bill Tiller and Gene Mocsy of Autumn Moon (and co-written by Mocsy as well), is now out for iPad and iPhone/iPod Touch for $4.99. Your five bucks will get you all seven chapters of The Perils of Man, as you'll get the first three chapters now in episode one, and the remaining four chapters at no additional cost once episode two is released in December.

The game is excellent, but if you'd prefer to try before you buy, chapter one (the first third of episode 1) is available on iTunes for free.

Update: If you don't have an iOS device, you'll have to wait a bit longer. According to The Perils of Man Frequently Asked Questions page, they are currently developing the game for Android devices as well as PC, Mac, and Linux.

A little over $15k remains before Bill Tiller and his good friends (who now include Dave Grossman!) have their modest graphic adventure game Duke Grabowski funded, and there's only twelve days to go pick your favorite tier (among them a brand new option).

Don't get me wrong, it's cute that you're this fashionably late with your pledge, but you really don't want to be the reason Bill's painting Bounty Bots 56 instead of an adventure game background. Because you will be forced to wear a T-shirt to that effect.

Source: Kickstarter

Cliqist has an interview up with Bill Tiller about Duke Grabowski, including the hows and whys of choosing to go to Kickstarter, why they chose to make another pirate themed game, and a fine selection of haikus, including this gem:

Duke, red with fury
Terrifies men and women
No one sees his heart

There is also an update on the Kickstarter where Bill Tiller draws an Inn with no name and is holding a contest to find the best name for it. It should be something piratey and fun, probably incorporating the word "Inn". For more details about the contest, see the above link to the update.

In an effort to raise awareness for their adventure game Kickstarter, Bill Tiller and two of his Autumn Moon cohorts, operating under the label Venture Moon Industries, have set up a Steam Greenlight page for Duke Grabowski: Mighty Swashbuckler!, which has garnered a little attention.

As for the Kickstarter itself, after quickly raising $15,000 of its $40,000 goal, things seem to have stalled a bit, but there's still 46 days to go. This should be far more achievable than last summer's A Vampyre Story: Year One Kickstarter, which rang up $77,000 despite the recurring complaint that it was not an original adventure. With that issue addressed and with a much more modest goal, I'd like to think this one should have a happy ending. Unless you snatch it away, ya penny-pinchers!

Source: Steam

Bill Tiller, Jeremiah Grant, and Gene Moscy started a new company (Venture Moon Industries) and a new kickstarter to fund a pirate themed adventure game inspired by Monkey Island. It's called Duke Grabowski, Mighty Swashbuckler, and will be set in the Azurbbean, the fictional version of the Caribbean from Ghost Pirates of Vooju Island.

The three created a tech demo for an homage and spoof of The Secret of Monkey Island, but liked it so much they decided to extend it into a full, small adventure game. The game puts a twist on the concept, as the main character is a big, dim, angry man who turns out to be a man of honor. Bill Tiller is going to be the project lead and art director, Gene Mocsy is going to design, produce, and write for it, and Jeremiah Grant is going to be the programmer. They founded a new company to produce the game because the three wanted to be equal partners and since Autumn Moon Entertainment belonged solely to Bill Tiller, a new company was decided the best way to do so. Because of this, Autumn Moon Entertainment will be licensing the Ghost Pirates of Vooju Island intellectual property to Venture Moon Industries for this game.

They're looking for $40,000 which will fund the game, which will have about ten to twelve rooms and be a quarter of the size of A Vampyre Story. So, if this interests you, what are you waiting for? Pick a tier and back it now.

Your final excuse has just been abolished. Autumn Moon's first (of two) games is now on the one last digital distribution service it had been glaringly missing from. So get on it - aren't you hankering to know what all that fuss was about six years ago?

It seems Bill Tiller had some help getting the game fitted to Steam's specifications. I'm sure many of you share his gratitude:

Buy it for yourself and then a friend! Every million sales make a difference for that sequel's chances.

Kaptain Brawe 2: A Space Travesty is now on Kickstarter. It is an adventure game with a story by Steve Ince (who worked with Revolution on most of its games, and created the So Blonde series) and 2D art by Autumn Moon founder (and Curse of Monkey Island lead artist) Bill Tiller.

This seems like a perfect pairing, since just about everyone would agree that it's always great to see Bill Tiller artwork in adventure games, and Steve Ince has been nominated for multiple awards for his adventure game scripts. So, what are you waiting for? Go ahead and pick a tier to help get the game made.