The International House of Mojo

You begged, you bartered, and as Mojo loves you, Mojo has provided the Mojo Forums. That’s right, party like it’s 2001 with good, old-fashioned posting boards.

So what do we got? Well, these are a continuation of the old LucasForums, so if you had an account there, you’re good to go here. Otherwise click the "Sign Up" button (it’s under the hamburger menu if you’re using your phone) to get rocking. All the old forums can be viewed in read-only mode; for new stuff we have a brand new board.

So why are you reading this when you could be posting your heart out? Be part of the Mojo Community – we are sure it will be very, very active!

And remember, these kind of updates would not be possible without the help of you, our dear Patreon contributors. If you still haven't had the chance to love Mojo back, why not do so now, with a healthy contribution to the Mojo Fund!

Looking for some Psychonauts 2 gameplay footage? Who better to show it to you than Jack Black himself?

While renowned illustrator and one-time Autumn Moon CEO Bill Tiller continues his slow, NDA-shrouded efforts to get A Vampyre Story 2 financed, his drawing hand hasn't just been sitting around idle. He's been recruited as the artist of a crowdfunded board game.

It's called The Shivers, which describes itself as a "mystery pop-up Role-Playing Game for 2-5 players, exploring a spooky mansion filled with hidden secrets!" With 28 hours to go at the time of this writing, the Kickstarter has raised $490,000. Its goal: $40,000. Well, good for them, but when I think about how Bill's AVS prequel Kickstarter seven years back couldn't come close to its $200,000 goal, well, the contrast is saddening.

Check out the project for The Shivers to get a sense of its Tilleresque beauty, and do excuse me while I come up with some-assed board game concept. Apparently that's where the money is.

Source: Kickstarter

This one was irresistible. It turns out that The Orlando Sentinel does a pretty admirable job of digitizing its archives, as this online version of an editorial from August 16th, 1991 proves.

Here's how it opens:

You'll have to read the article if you want to see their useful hints for yourself. Tough break for the LucasFilm Games hint line.

Anyway, this is awesome. And a reminder that video games were always appallingly expensive. I would point out that the Nintendo version of Maniac Mansion was released in September 1990, so if they were getting "letter after letter" eleven months later, the game must have been big in central Florida -- and particularly so relative to the rest of the country, as the cartridge did not sell well enough to earn a second North American printing.

Source: The Orlando Sentinel

Because it is apparently compulsive for LucasArts legends to subject themselves to 90-minute interviews over Zoom, David Fox strapped himself into a headset and took his turn for a grilling over broadband. He and the interviewer cover a lot of ground about halcyon LEC, so do check it out when you're done with the Tim one, and just hope that someone will give enough of a damn about you when you are David Fox's age to put you through this:

Fox is apparently the darling of YouTube, as he's sat for quite a number of these over the years, and I doubt we've caught them all. If you find yourself craving more, Youtube is your friend.

Source: EuroEuskal 2020

First, so we don’t bury the lede: If you want to play the talkie-edition prototype of Monkey Island 2, we are here to provide: Download it right here.

Of course, when I say “we”, the credit belongs to Nicolas Deneschau, the gentleman author of the French Monkey Island tome, "Les mysteres de Monkey Island: à l'abordage des pirates!" Not only did he provide the file, he also conducted interviews with Aric Wilmunder (the man behind the voiced prototype, and also the voice of Rapp Scallion) and Khris Brown (LEC’s famed casting director). Make sure to read all the way to the bottom for instruction on how to get the prototype to run under DOSBox. Check it out now.

And Mojo wouldn’t be Mojo without without Benzo hacking his way into the prototype. If you’re the type of person who find deepdives into resource files interesting — and seeing you are reading this, you probably do — go read it, too.

In summation: A playable prototype; interviews; hacking tutorials. Mojo has it all for you. Go read, and expect more from this, because we’re going to milk this for what it’s worth.

And if you enjoy this kind of fine, quality content, why not contribute a donation to our Patreon campaign? Only you can ensure the continued excellence of Mojo and its vast ocean of exclusive features!

Way back in 2002, LucasArts.com, which was a site that once existed (ask your grandparents), underwent a revamp as the studio was celebrating its then 20th anniversary. In an effort that arguably represented the only substantial content the official site ever laid claim to, a 20th anniversary section was launched with all sorts of multimedia goodies. Aside from the immediately looted concept art gallery, most of that stuff has been lost to time, presuming you can't be motivated to board The Wayback Machine.

Among the offerings were three nice features -- one a four-part history of the studio, one a collection of employee memories, and one a series of profiles of five veteran developers: Jon Knoles, Sean Clark, Eric Johnston, Mike Stemmle, and Larry Holland. Thinking that these pieces deserved better than being lost to the ages, we went ahead and ported them to Mojo for posterity:

• LucasArts.com 20th Anniversary History Feature
• LucasArts.com 20th Anniversary Flashback Feature
• LucasArts.com 20th Anniversary Developer Profiles

As you might expect, not all media survived the Wayback Machine crawls, and LOL on trying to match the LucasArts.com layouts in MojoEx to any pleasant effect. But whatever, at least they're essentially intact, and can now be enjoyed for centuries to come. Or until Zaarin misses a payment next Tuesday.

I am currently doing a Coding for COVID-19 fundraiser. This is a game making fund drive with funds being raised through the West Elmira Computers Museum, with game development by my company Cydoca Entertainment with support by Double Fine through use of their

intellectual property.

All proceeds go to charity. 90% of proceeds will be split up evenly among Doctors without Borders, Direct Relief, and Action Against Hunger. The remaining 10% will go to the West Elmira Computer Museum.

Three games are currently being developed: a conversion of Host Master and the Conquest of Humor from Flash to Wintermute, A Host Master Carol - a sequel that sees Tim Schafer work with himself in three time periods to make sure he has a game for each time he hosts, and OpenQuest II, a sequel to Michael Sheail's OpenQuest that takes place right where the last one left off. All games will be available for Linux, Mac, and Windows through ScummVM. More games will be added as the charity drive goes on.

To support the fundraiser, visit https://donorbox.org/coding-for-covid/

The West Elmira Computers Museum is a 501 (c)(3) charitable organization, EIN 83-2343976. Your contributions may be tax-deductible.

In order to celebrate 20 years of Double Fine, Humble Bundle have are giving you the chance to pay what you want for every Double Fine game ever*. And some of their soundtracks, too. And also a ton of their "Presents" games.

The bundle includes Psychonauts, Day of the Tentacle Remastered, Full Throttle Remastered, Grim Fandango Remastered, Broken Age, Brutal Legend. As well as Everything, Gang Beasts, RAD, and 140 just too many more for me to type out!

If you own them all already, why not bestow the give of Double Fine on a friend, neighbour or total stranger?

Partake here: The Double Fine 20th Anniversary Humble Bundle

* There's probably some games missing.

Source: Humble Bundle

When it comes to Lucasfilm news, I am well aware that the only thing our readership values is scoop on Willow. Be assured, I hear you loud and clear.

And on that front, Ron Howard's got some updates. Speaking to radio host Andy Cohen, the director of the 1988 "classic" confirms that development on the potential Disney Plus series continues, with Jonathan Kasdan as the creative mastermind and presumed showrunner. Though quick to reiterate that the show is still yet to be greenlit, Howard makes it clear that the prospects have never been better:

Reading between the lines, it sounds like Kasdan is acting as head of a writers room that is in the process of breaking a first season for the proposed show, implying that Disney wants all the scripts written upfront before deciding whether to move forward. Still, while an active writers room is hardly full-on production in terms of a financial commitment from the studio, it isn't nothing, either. In a separate interview, Howard even indicated that "tentative" scouting in Wales has already occurred. Fans will note that Wales, along with New Zealand, was a primary filming location for the original film, and both countries are probably in a better position to safely accommodate film production than a few others I could name and/or find myself occupying.

Godspeed to the Daikinis trying to prove the potential of one of Lucasfilm's more neglected properties (aka Our Thing). And let's do DRAGONSLAYER next!

Check this out: News while it's still fresh! The YouTube interview show/podcast We Have Cool Friends has just dropped a new 80 minute interview with Tim Schafer. Like three hours ago!

(I told you it was fresh.)

See you in three weeks we spot some news from two months ago.

Source: Kinda Funny

It's a listicle ranking. It's someones opinion. Have at it, or just live and let live...

20 BEST POINT AND CLICK GAMES YOU’LL PROBABLY CLICK WITH

Source: Cultured Vultures

Do you remember Legend of Monkey Island? Of course you do, and as you probably know, the site has been offline for nearly a decade. Until now. The web site, possibly best known for its library of Monkey Island animated GIFs, is back with a new design, one that even is responsive. A first among the old Monkey Island fan-sites, and what I can personally only consider a slap in my face.

So, that means two of the classic fan-sites are alive -- The SCUMM Bar too, of course. Get World of Monkey Island going again, and we really can party 2002-style.

Source: Jake

If you, like us, have been waiting for some new Psychonauts 2, wait no more.

DoubleFine's classic adventure, Broken Age, and all their LucasArts remasters, Day of the Tentacle, Full Throttle, and Grim Fandango can now be played on macOS Catalina. But that's not all. In order to celebrate this fact, DF have made them all FREE to download for the weekend!

If, by some small chance, you don't all these great games (and you're a Mac owner) now is your chance to grab them!

Here's a link to get you going.

Thanks, DoubleFine!

Source: DoubleFine

While you count down the hours to tomorrow's Limited Run release of Star Wars Episode I Racer, you can spend your time wondering if a buying a single boxed anthology of the first three four Monkey Island games is something you'd be willing to do.

View the tweet.

Due for launch this October, so a bit of time to save your silver coins.

Update by Remi: As you may already have noticed, Escape from Monkey Island will too be bundled. JP's paycheck has already been docked due to his embarrassing error.

Source: Limited Run Games

If you bowed out of buying Telltale's adventure games around the time they stopped producing Sam & Max or Monkey Island episodes, now's a great time to grab a Humble Bundle of their later releases.

Spend US$1 and receive:
Batman: The Enemy Within – The Telltale Series
The Walking Dead – Season 1
The Walking Dead – 400 Days
Oxenfree and the Oxenfree soundtrack (non-Telltale)

Pay more than the average purchase price and you'll also get:
The Wolf Among Us
Batman: The Enemy Within Shadows Mode
The Walking Dead: Michonne
The Walking Dead: Season 2

Spend over US$15 to also receive:
Batman: The Telltale Series
Batman: The Telltales Series Shadows Mode
The Walking Dead: The Final Season
The Walking Dead: A New Frontier
Heaven's Vault (non-Telltale)

On top of that, profits from the sales will go towards diabetes support and research. So what are you waiting for, go buy the bundle.

Source: Humble Bundle

Tales of Monkey Island is once again available for purchase from GOG and Steam. If you somehow haven't bought Telltale's single Monkey Island outing, it's going for $9.99, a healthy 50% off.

Source: GOG

Staring at a screen with nothing to do? Here's something to while away the hours until normalcy returns. Video Game Newsroom Time Machine has published a brand new interview with LucasArts alum, Noah Falstein.

You will primarily remember Falstein as co-lead designer on both Last Crusade and Fate of Atlantis games, but his name appears in most of the classic LucasArts adventures somewhere. From Maniac Mansion to LeChuck's Revenge, and even Thimbleweed Park, his fingerprints are there.

So what else is there to say? Go listen!

Source: Video Game Newsroom Time Machi

Other than arcade flight sequences in Battlefront FPS games, it's been 21 long years since the Star Wars space fighter pilot seats were warmed.

The game was leaked as Project Maverick a while ago, and has just been revealed as Star Wars Squadrons with a full trailer reveal due in the next day. Expected to be available for PC, Playstation, and Xbox.

Source: Twitter