The International House of Mojo

ScummVM and its sister project, ResidualVM are participating in the Google Summer of Code once again.

This year, the students are working on the following games:

ScummVM:

Pink Panther: Passport to Peril and Pink Panther: Hokus Pokus Pink. Student: Andrii Prykhodko

The Immortal. Student: Joseph-Eugene Winzer

Star Trek: 25th Anniversary and Star Trek: Judgment Rites. Student: Matthew Stewart

ResdiualVM:

The Longest Journey (currently completable with missing features). Student: Liu Zhaosong

While we're on the subject of ScummVM and ResidualVM, both projects have had updates lately:

ResidualVM 0.31 has been released. This is a bugfix release that fixes a few bugs in Myst III, in preparation for Cyan's upcoming digital release of Myst III that will use ResidualVM to play the game.

ScummVM's addition of Xeen, the first RPG engine added after ScummVM changed their guidelines to allow RPG games alongside the adventure games, is now completable in the daily builds. There are five RPGs that are currently completable: Might and Magic IV, Might and Magic V, World of Xeen, World of Xeen 2 (CD Talkie), and Swords of Xeen. If you want to play these games in the daily builds, make sure that you place xeen.css in the same folder as your game files.

Over at his blog, Ronzo has announced A Little Something, and has downright promised it’ll be his next game:

“Currently, it's [..] a real project [..]” (Some words edited out for brevity.)

Described as an RPG with undertones of religion and a “choose-your-own-playstyle”, it certainly sounds like it could be interesting. Go check out the almost finished graphics, too!

The answer is, unlimited. So why not grab a PS4 and Switch one-year anniversary copy of the game from Limited Run Games on March 30th? They’re practically giving it away at $34.99, and the $64.99 collector’s edition is the equivalent of them paying you. Both Switch and PS4 versions are region-free, so no excuses. Ronzo probably needs a new car.

Relevant links: Switch, PS4; Switch big box edition, PS4 big box edition.

It's up to you to decide if it's worth the $1.99 they downright demand for it -- I mean, that is half a day without coffee -- but if you want to, Thimbleweed Park now has a "Ransome Unbeeped" patch on Steam and GOG. No longer will you have to suffer the clown's beep, but rather hear a naughty word. Grab it at your favorite service if you so like.

We have a good reputation of being "hep and with it" here at Mojo, and therefore we’re all about the vinyl. Just like the kids. Therefore I’m sure you, the discerning reader, as us, will be over the Thimbleweed Park double-LP, which you can purchase right now. I mean, right now!

Source: Ronzo

Jake had not seen this video before, and nor had I — a PAX Australia keynote from Ron Gilbert where he, among a lot of other interesting tidbits, talks about how the ending of MI2 was conceived. Sure, it doesn’t reveal the secret (and so Mojo lives on; I mean if that piece of information ever gets out there, we can probably just pack up), but it gives you insight into how and why these things are written, and why it’s OK to be pissed off about endings.

If you’re a heathen who hated the Twin Peaks season three ending, you should watch this. The big reveal can be found at 35:32, but you should watch the whole thing.

Source: Jake

Mark the calendar: Presumably in celebration of the recent Thimbleweed Park release, the Nintendo Switch subreddit will feature an ask me anything session with Messrs. Ron Gilbert and David Fox. That's tomorrow, September 26th, 11am ET, 8am PST, 3pm GMT, which I'm pretty sure are the only three time zones of any importance.

This is the perfect opportunity to ask Ron what the secret of Monkey Island is, because, let's be honest, the only reason we don't know is that nobody bothered to ask.

Got a Switch? Don't be a butt; be a completionist and grab Thimbleweed Park from their eShop. It's available today.

Speaking of, you can vote for the game in the Golden Joystick awards -- best indie game, no less. You probably should go and do so, because really, if you're reading this, it's not like you have that much going on today.

And now for a news post from yours truly, as I finally remembered how to log into the Mojo X News System™.

Thimbleweed Park is now available to purchase for iOS devices, so you can now be a clown in a gritty town while moving around.

Oh, and one of Ron Gilbert's other iOS games, co-created by Clayton Kauzlaric, is now optimised for iOS 11 and is permanently free! I'm talking, of course, about the sadly oft-neglected match-3 RPG puzzle game with a long name, Scurvy Scallywags in the Voyage to Discover the Ultimate Sea Shanty. It's fun and it's now free, so grab it on iTunes now.

First, Thimbleweed Park now has official release dates for three new platforms: iOS on September 19; Switch on September 21; Android on October 3. When pressed, Mr. Gilbert admitted to it not being Apple TV compatible, but we will assume it and an Amiga versions will at least be released "later". (You can also pre-order a boxed copy if you didn't get one during the first run.)

If you are a fan of the Puzzle Agent games -- and if you're not, what the hell's the matter with you? -- you now have the chance to Kickstart Hidden People figurine, designed by Graham Annable and sculpted by Paul Lopes. For $50 you can have one of them, so run and buy!

Finally, I'm not sure if we've posted this video before, but J0j0 provided us with a link to a Michael Land and Clint Bajakian video interview. Set aside an hour to learn the dirt on their time at LEC.

Thimbleweed Park, much like Mojo, is the gift that keeps on giving. Play minigames, find tokens, and give Ronzo and Winnick a most gracious thank you for giving us what has to be the first adventure game to receive these types of add-ons.

Oh, and the game is available for the PS4, too. Owning the game on only one platform is gauche; have some class and get at least one other copy.

Speaking of games on other platforms, the new Batman game and Guardians of the Galaxy will be released for Switch. When? I didn't see any dates, so we'll go with "soon".

OK, that was a small dollop, but then, what did you really expect?

Ronzo took to Twitter yesterday and announced an announcement of Thimbleweed Park (a recently released adventure game) for Switch. There is even a video...

Screw Super Mario Odyssey, you clearly need to complete your Thimbleweed Park collection instead!

Consider this one unexpected...

Probably my main issue with Thimbleweed Park was that playable characters couldn't talk to each other while on the same screen. Well, let us never speak of this oversight again, as Terrible Toybox have added just that: cross-character dialogue. I honestly don't think I've ever seen anything quite like that before as far as a content update is concerned, so chalk it up as a win for the good guys.

And as that wasn't enough, there is a new in-game hint line. Call it up from one of the phones, and hopefully Chester will be on the other end.

These updates should already be available on Steam. Additionally, expect to see the game for iOS and Android "later this summer."

Source: Ronzo

It's finally here! International Thimbleweed Park Launch Day!

MixNMojo's official "most looking forward to game in 2017" is out today. It's all downhill from here for the rest of the year (well, except for maybe a few exciting highlights that are also due soon).
If you don't have it already, make sure you pick it up so you can enjoy it today along with the rest of the coolest members of society.
https://thimbleweedpark.com/

Source: Thimbleweed Park

Ron and his hat sit down with Google to discuss a thirty year career. Pull up a chair and be grateful to spend fifty minutes with Ronzo:

Source: Youtube

Thimbleweed Park, the adventure game by Ron Gilbert and Gary Winnick, with art by Winnick and Mark Ferrari, is coming soon to a computer or console near you.

It has just been finalized, and has been sent to Microsoft for Xbox certification. In light of this, a release date has been set. It's releasing just a month from now, on the 30th of March!

You can check out more on the game's Steam page.

If you backed it on Kickstarter, then be sure to update your information through PledgeMaster, so you can get your rewards.

We're now a week into 2017, which means it's the perfect time for a new poll. We couldn't just put one up on the first day of the new year. That's just not The Mojo Way™.

There's a lot of goodness coming out this year, from just about every company that this site covers. So go to the poll on the right and let us know which one has you excited the most.

We've been a bit laggard in our Thimbleweed Park coverage, so here's a preview of the game by the good and qualified folks at Destructoid. Their time with the game exposed at least one Maniac Mansion reference, so let's go ahead and raise our expectations. January is closing in!

And don't forget to check out the new month old trailer centered around the character of Dolores. Because we certainly didn't forget:

Source: Destructoid

ScummVM is the project that aims to re-create the engines used in adventure games (and, since this year's Google Summer of Code, role-playing games) so they can be played on systems ranging from Windows, Mac, and Linux to iOS, Android, and even consoles such as Dreamcast, PlayStation 2, and Wii.

Right before a major release they do a public testing phase for new and improved games, which helps them iron out any remaining bugs. This testing cycle includes two new games: Myst (and Myst: Masterpiece Edition) and U.F.O.s (also known as Gnap). There also have been a lot of improvements in the SCI engine as of late, so they are also testing Conquests of the Longbow, Freddy Pharkas: Frontier Pharmacist, King's Quest V, King's Quest VI, Quest for Glory 1 VGA, Quest for Glory 3, Space Quest 1 VGA, and Space Quest 4. Other games that have seen recent improvements and are undergoing testing include Beneath a Steel Sky, the Commodore-64 version of Maniac Mansion, Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Rose Tattoo, and Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Serrated Scalpel.

So, if you have any of those games, play them through in a daily build of ScummVM on your platform of choice, and report any bugs you find at the new and improved ScummVM bug tracker. Then tell the team about your experience, and any bugs you filed (or if you didn't spot any bugs at all) in this thread on the ScummVM forum.

Jennifer visited PAX East and she wrote about it! Read about the whole thing here.

Mandatory second link.