![secrets of monkey island secrets of monkey island](https://www.abandonwaredos.com/public/aban_img_screens/monkey1-2.jpg)
It was kind of like being at a start-up, except that we also had the security of actually being part of a larger, more stable, and considerably wealthy company, says Grossman. The atmosphere was typical of the industry at the time, even if the setting wasn't - small teams making games for the love of the craft, not the bank balance. Occasional sightings of snakes and mountain lions certainly kept things lively." It felt more like making Super-8 movies with your friends at summer camp - and I'm sure being out at Skywalker Ranch didn't hurt that image any. We worked hard, but nobody acted like they had a job. You knew who everybody was, and something interesting always seemed to be going on, Grossman recalls. The games division was only a couple of dozen people then. Not that anyone resented taking on so much work when you were based in such a picturesque environment. Gilbert fleshed out his pirate idea and brought in the equally fertile minds of Grossman and Tim Schafer to help brainstorm on the puzzles, develop the story, write the dialogue and do all the million-and-one jobs that small programming teams used to do back in the day. Contrast that with the Star Warsob sessed, varying-quality LucasArts of today, and you could say you have a snapshot of the entire history of the games industry in microcosm. The fact that we had to come up with original properties let people express themselves a lot more freely, and I think it showed. Well, if by glory you mean the sort of fun but relatively unprofitable place that produced things like Monkey Island, I will say that I think one thing that helped us back then was that even if we wanted to, we were not allowed to build games about Star Wars" confesses Grossman.
![secrets of monkey island secrets of monkey island](https://www.lemonamiga.com/games/media/screens/full/secret_of_monkey_island/secret_of_monkey_island_14.png)
Something that would capture the glory of working at the home of George Star Wars' Lucas. LucasFilm was fresh from the success of transforming the third Indiana Jones film into a point 'n' click adventure and was looking for a fresh idea. Monkey Island began life in the fertile mind of legendary game designer Ron Gilbert, allegedly following a visit to Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean theme park when younger where he wanted to get out of the ride and play in the ships. But he never writes, and nobody ever wants to hear about my prize collection of antique hose nozzles. Of course, within the games industry plenty of people are familiar with it, and I suppose that's sort of like how I imagine it would feel to be, say, one of Doctor Seuss's parents - proud of our boy, yes. A true gaming legend.Ī legend? Fortunately for the health of my inflatable ego, the reality is that hardly anyone I run across in the course of my day-to-day life has even heard of Monkey Island," says its co-creator Dave Grossman, with typical self-deprecating humor (spelt that way because he's American).
#SECRETS OF MONKEY ISLAND SERIES#
But when it comes to comedy pointing 'n' clicking, one series towers above the others like a King Kong to the rest of the industry's Fay Wray - The Secret Of Monkey Island. Games such as Maniac Mansion, Day Of The Tentacle, Zak McKracken, Grim Fandango, Sam And Max and the Indiana Jones adventures. None more so than the adventure titles so regularly chucked out of the fabled Skywalker Ranch - home of LucasArts (nee LucasFilm). Just funny in that plain, ordinary, knockabout, laugh-out-loud funny kind of way. Not funny in that knowing, eyebrow-raised, ironic, ooh-aren't-we-clever-and-oh-so-self-referential way that infests so many of today's games. How appropriate, you fight like a cow! says Guybrush Threepwood From: Insult Sword Fighting, The Secret of Monkey Island Games used to be funny. "You Fight like a dairy farmer," says the Pirate.