Herman Toothrot's MONKEY ISLAND - Babar joins the team!

[Chicky]

I am very pleased to announce...



A prequel to Secret Of Monkey Island

Play as Herman Toothrot and experience the golden age of piracy!

Experience the full story behind the gap toothed wonder!

Play with a genuine feeling of 90's pirate nostalgia!

No stupid plot holes here, true to Ron's initial vision for a trilogy.

Finally experience the real secret of Monkey Island!

Screenshots:

Explore the island


See the sights


Eat bananas







Story
Play as Herman Toothrot fresh on the shores of Monkey Island for the second time. After a lengthy intro tale on the decks of the Sea Monkey, first mate Herman and his captain stand face to face with fate in the hope of finding the secret of this seemingly harmless island.  Play through from the first footsteps in the sand all the way to meeting the mighty Guybrush Threepwood, as seen in SoMI.  

Development Progress:

Story: 60%
Scripting: 15%
Graphics: 60%
Sound/Music: 0%

Art, puzzles and story: Chicky
Programming: Babar


Development Diary:

21/02/06: Completed three new backgrounds today, mostly finished story planning.

15/03/06: I've been re-working the story somewhat and working on background art and scripting. I've come to the point where i'd like to include some music to add to the atmosphere of the game. I don't know much about composing but i want the music to sound retro, like the graphics.

19/03/06:I've been working hard on the game almost all day today and decided to play through MI1 again for some more ideas. I'm at part 3 of MI and have been taking a lot of notes and working on the story a lot more.

Fond a Musician now.

20/03/06: Finished Monkey Island 1 again this morning (first time in a good 2 years!) and i have over 3 pages of notes now! I am currently re-working the story to make is as true to the two first MI games as possible. At the moment i've got close to 15 backgrounds complete and am hoping to really explore Monkey Island a bit more. Maybe Melee island will have a few new footsteps too

Thanks for the comments and help guys, i've got a close circle of ags'ers keeping me going on this one and every comment is apreciated.

06/04/06: Release dates suck. College work, lovelife and band work has kept me from doing any serious work on the game the past couple of weeks but development will soon be underway again.

06/07/06: Ahh, been doing lots of little bits with the game, working with the palette is a pain but should pull off. I keep re-playing and re-playing the game to make sure everything feels right, i hope the humors up to standard of the series.

14/06/06 : Well progress has been going slow but sure, GUI, inventory and puzzle system have been implemented, few more puzzles have been programmed and i've managed to hook myself up with a tablet pc so i can work on the game anywhere i go.

REALLY NEED A NEW MUSICIAN - If you're interested please pm me on the forums or email cs.chicken@gmail.com. Cheers.

Much love x

05/03/07 : My my, doesn't this game making process take a long time, 'ey

I've started work in HTMI again, don't worry I'm not redoing backgrounds or rewriting story, just plodding along with the same stuff i've been working on all this time.

I'm a VERY slow programmer, scripting puzzles takes me hours so bare with me. I'm getting there, slowly but surely.

Like i've said a hell of a lot of art is done its just putting it all together now, i've coded another big puzzle today so i'm happy.

We WILL get there, in the end!

27/01/2010 : Blast from the past!

Teehee...

I have coined this year as the year of AGS so it seems i have to contribute in some way  Seeing as i'm a hopeless programmer and so many people have been waiting on this game I am very happy to announce i now have a code junkie helping me! Babar is the new weapon in the HTMI fight for release, this is awesome because he's very enthusiastic and has been a fan from the start. It also means that now i have someone else doing the editor stuff i can concentrate on getting every pixel perfect on every screen, i appreciate there are a few improvements that could be made.

I can confidently say that there WILL be a HTMI release in 2010

[scourge]

That's brilliant!!! 3 colours! It really looks awesome.

[Peder 🚀]

Haha!! This is awesome!!

I am for SURE gonna play this game!!

It looks pretty good!

[DanClarke]

Sweet!

I love the graphics and it's a great idea too, keep it coming

[Sam.]

this looks amazing. Im glad im not the only one messing around with mega lo res. (now we just need CJ to add support for it!)

keep up the good work, look forward to it muchly

[Scummbuddy]

Surely someone will come and rescue you. I mean hey, why shouldn't they?

I know how it ends... 

First, I also adore the backgrounds. Adobe-Schmobe.
Second, I'm glad you are not retaining the wild and crazy storylines from MI4, but Herman sailed to Monkey Island and sent back his ship with a bunch of monkeys, I believe.

Unless this is a totally new tale of how he got to Monkey Island, gets rescued, and then gets stranded again. That'd be funny too.

[Chicky]

I have already taken the monkey thing into consideration Scummy. The game has it's own clever way of getting around that glitch (one that i did not consider when i first wrote the story, i admit) so don't worry too much.

I'm currently looking for someone who knows the world of Monkey Island inside out, i'm going to need someone who can check through my ideas and play thought the game to make sure that everything is true to the first two MI games. Any takers?


Also, thanks for the kind words Buloght, Peder, Dan, Sam and Scumm. It's all much apreciated. 

[Ubel]

Wow, Chicky! I don't have much time now, got to go to school...but WOW! You can expect me to play this!

[Kweepa]

Stylish and beautiful.
Like MI on a Gameboy.
I look forward to it!

[Mats Berglinn]

I'm sorry to say this but I don't like the way you changed the story of Herman Toothrot and claiming it to be a prequel of MI1 mostly because both the tales of LeChuck in MI3 and in MI4 explained a lot that was totally mystery. Of course the only fact that I consinder wrong in MI4 that it was about 20 years before MI1.

Here's why (if you haven't played MI3 or 4 to the end don't look below):

Spoiler

We know from MI4 that H T Marley was Elaine's granpa but the event with LeChuck trying to impress Elaine by going to Monkey Island and the thing with Marley and his crew happened about some time right before MI1 (About a year or so, don't know) so how can it be 20 years since Herman gets sucked by a whirlpool and got to Monkey Island if he confronts LeChuck about 1 year before MI1 and then gets sucked into a whirlpool. It would make more sense that the thing with LeChuck and Ozzie Mandrill happened the same time. I believe that LeChuck used somekind of Voodoo magic to kill H T and then created a whirlpool neirby but the magic only made him faint and when he gained consciousness Ozzie pushed H T's boat into the whirlpool.

[close]

If this game is just a fun spin-off, like Night of the Hermit, it feels more okay but I wouldn't count on being a "true to story" MI game.

Well, the three color graphic thing is quite unique but if it's a "true to story" MI game then that style would rebel against the other games which feels wrong (not development wise like having MI1 in MI3 style because that's only good). It's like mixing togeter The Dig with Sam and Max, it's like oil and water.

I apologize for being a complainer but I have to say this. If there any of you going to hate me because of all I say, I just say this one thing: I don't care about it.

[Chicky]

Well thanks for the nice positive feedback there Mats! I'll be sure to treat your 'unique' art style the same way!

CMI was written by Jonathan Ackley and Larry Ahern and EMI by Sean Clark and Michael Stemmle. Do i see a Ron Gilbert there? No. I'm trying to stay as true to the story of the first two Monkey Island games as possible. If you're trying to show some sort of intense knowledge of Monkey Island then could you please do it elsewhere or take it to PM. I don't need 'complainer's in this thread thankyou.

[DonB]

Chicky, I gotta compliment you about the stylish gameboy-ish graphics you made.. very.. very original! and playable! it really sets a good atmosphere..
i totally dig it..!

I think if you make this true, it will be a masterpiece.

Good luck and keep us updated!

[Barbarian]

Hey "C"... Love the low-res-retro-graphics style! Good schtuff.
Keep a MI type of humor injected in your story along with your other interesting ideas, and I'm sure you'll have a great game to share with us.

  Now for my complaint: What?!  :o We need to wait 'till about April for the release of this? Me wants it sooner. *Crackz Whip* (Says in Mr. T voice) "Work harder , Foo!"   
   Heheh, just kiddin'.  It takes as long as it takes, no need to "rush" anything.
Best wishes.

[CaptainBinky]

That's absolutely smashing!
Kudos to the idea Ã, - I hope the music will be appropriately catchy boopy ditties.

[Grundislav]

It's like mixing togeter The Dig with Sam and Max, it's like oil and water.

Oh really?Ã,  So I guess that mixing Monkey Island and Grim Fandango is okay?

(From Mats' website)

The story so far: Guybrush Threepwood meet the Voodoo-lady on Scabb Island to find out that he needs to find the Death-controller, which is twice as powerful as the Ultimate Insult and can use the powers of Life and Death, before LeChuck who has come back from the dead as a Skeleton-pirate together with Ozzie Mandrill (Who is fully restored). Guybrush travels together with Manny Calavera, his wife Elaine and Manny's companion Glottis throughout the Tri-Island Area in search of the Death-traveler which can teleport living people back and forth through the Living world and the Land of the Dead.

I like the look of your game, Chicky.  It's nice to see a Monkey Island fangame that actually has an original idea behind it.

[big brother]

Hahahahahahahahaha......oh, man. I did not expect to see Manny or Glottis in that statement! Mats unintentional sense of humor cracks me up!

I love the low color style you've got there, Chicky. One concern - the orange may be a bit too saturated. I mean, if the majority of the backgrounds is that color, you might want to tone it down so it doesn't hurt people's eyes. To prevent it from looking bland then, I'd bump up the saturation of your mid value color. Also, I wouldn't use black, but a very saturated dark color. I'd make sure all three colors are different hues.

I know this isn't the CL, but let me know if you want me to demonstrate what I mean.

Hope this helps!

[CaptainBinky]

One concern - the orange may be a bit too saturated.

I sort of agree, but I think it depends on whether or not the intention is for it to run fullscreen or in a window.

[Fuzzpilz]

Sounds interesting! I too enjoy the graphics. Looking forward to it.

I'd make sure all three colors are different hues.

Unless you meant slightly different, I disagree with this bit fairly strongly, though your other points may be reasonable (the bright red/orange doesn't look eye-hurty to me, but that's going solely by my monitor and eyes, which aren't everyone else's). The (more or less) monochromaticity is part of the style's appeal, in my opinion.

[big brother]

Quickie example... I think these better describe a sort of jungle island.

My monitor is calibrated, Fuzzpile. You should check yours. As for the hues, if you're going to only have three colors, you best make the most fo them.

[CaptainBinky]

Unless you meant slightly different, I disagree with this bit fairly strongly

I totally agree - the garishness is part of it's charm for me. Like I said earlier, if it's fullscreen I can see the point in desaturating it a bit, but windowed it looks grand. And the orange is great because it's kind of old-computer-monitor-orange.

[Mordalles]

i like the look of it, but it seems you just copied/traced mostly silhouette's of monkey island 1 backgrounds. if you didn't, then I'm impressed.

[Kweepa]

it seems you just copied/traced mostly silhouette's of monkey island 1 backgrounds.

WHAT? Stone him!
This is worse than Gandalf-gate!

[Chicky]

Trace? Never!

Some of the images i used as referance, afterall i need people to recognise them to deliver the nostalgia. But i honestly see no point in simply tracing them.

And i'll keep your point in mind BigBro, for the moment the current colours arn't too eye gourging. I will change the main char tho 

thanks for the comments guys!

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

Actually, I'm leaning towards agreeing with Big Brother on the color scheme- not the dark red for the character, but the background colors definitely look more lively in creme and green or something like that.  Project sounds really good at any rate!

Looks interesting in the gameboy yellows

[edmundito]

Not critic's lounge but... though I liked the orange look, progzmax and bb have a point. I think by lowering the saturation of what was orange it definitely enhances the contrast between toothroot and the jungle.

[DanClarke]

Couldnt there be some way of being able to choose your colour scheme in game seeing as it's really a matter of preference?

[Snarky]

In 8 bit (and really, why would you need more than 8 bit for a game like this) color, that would definitely be possible. Would be a cool feature, too.

[Kinoko]

Chicky, it looks fantastic!!

I LOVE the concept, I love the art style, I love the story. This is going on my List ^_^

I must also commend you for taking the same stance as myself on the continuity of the MI games. The only proper MI games are the first 2. CMI and 4 might as well be fan games. Stay true to the first 2 games, and you'll have my love and admiration.

[Sam.]

I really like the concept of this game, but it sucks that you'reonly using two colours. I mean, when in real life do you ever see two colours? Iv done a paintover to show you how i would do it, in a more realistic style.

You dont need tothanks me, just put me in the the credits as like, lead designer or something. Nothing to fancy though.

[Chicky]

Hah, you crack me up Sam 

[Snarky]

Hey Chicky,

I order to be able to modify the three colors at will, you have to make the game in 256 colors (8-bit). Then you set three of the colors in the palette to the default colors of your game and import your backgrounds and sprites.

Now, in order to modify the colors in-game, you have to change the palette. Look up SetPalRGB and UpdatePalette in the manual.

[CaptainBinky]

Yeah! And you could colour cycle Zooty's pal 60 times a second! That'd be cool!

[scourge]

Hey Chicky,

I order to be able to modify the three colors at will, you have to make the game in 256 colors (8-bit). Then you set three of the colors in the palette to the default colors of your game and import your backgrounds and sprites.

Now, in order to modify the colors in-game, you have to change the palette. Look up SetPalRGB and UpdatePalette in the manual.

That would be cool! Then the player could choose any three colours he/she likes to play the game in

[DanClarke]

Hey Chicky,

I order to be able to modify the three colors at will, you have to make the game in 256 colors (8-bit). Then you set three of the colors in the palette to the default colors of your game and import your backgrounds and sprites.

Now, in order to modify the colors in-game, you have to change the palette. Look up SetPalRGB and UpdatePalette in the manual.

That would be cool! Then the player could choose any three colours he/she likes to play the game in

I'm getting deja vu....

[Nickenstien]

 

This is an awesome game idea Chicky!!

I cant wait for this one!

Also, I would just like to say that I am in utter dissagreement with everyone except Captain-Binky on your chosen colour scheme.

I think it looks brilliant! It has a true retro feel to it, and as Captain-Binky pointed out it looks like old-computer-monitor-orange making it feel Retro-Authentic (if you know what i mean). Additionaly to this, I dont think you should provide functionality for players to change the palette. Allowing people to change the palette would just destroy your creation. (which is genious in my opinion).  I mean Davinci didnt provide his viewers with paintbrushes so they could change his work to how they wanted it.

Keep up the good work Chicky   

[ovid]

love love LOVE this idea!

3 colors is a deliciously bold move  8)

t.

[Chicky]

Hey thanks for the comments guys!


How about another screenshot for the dedicated fans

[Saberteeth]

Nice!

Is that a frame from his walking animation?
I just love the 3-color idea.

[Chicky]

It's a running animation. From a sequence in the game where he's being chased by a boulder!

[The Ivy]

Love it.  Very original style and idea, I can't wait to see it finished.

[Grapefruitologist]

I really like it, the art and colors, especially.
Green looks OK... but orange, I think, is better, I don't know why, but it reminds me of a tropical island at sunset.

[Chicky]

That was the idea when i first started concepts. To be completely honest i don't plan on changing the colours at all, i like them how they are.

thanks for the all the comments guys.

[scourge]

Doesn't matter colours you'll use, it's still unique and looks great. Can't wait for April

[Razorback]

I also love the 3 color idea. And I personally like the orange scheme better than the ones suggested so far.

[fovmester]

What an idea!  I love it. It reminds me of my dad's old monochrome computer screen.

[skw]

Whoops! I've started to think about making a game inspired by GameBoy version of Castlevania, with the background art in 4-color palette (GameBoy-like). But don't worry, I won't finish it like all my projects so far .

Anyway, I'm looking foward to play your version of MI. It looks great!

[Chicky]

Hey all,

I've added a progress update to the first post and am now looking for someone to make the tunes for this game, full information is in the first post.


thanks

[MugOGrog]

I'm excited about this game and looking forward to playing it. I have spent the last 2 days after work looking for methods of getting that classic Atari 2600 / Commodore 64 Sound. Turns out this kind of music is modernly called "chip music."

EDIT:

Well alot of progress toward getting music for this game has possibly been made. I already made a post with all the news and details of what I have done to get some great music for this game.
The problem is i'm on dial-up, and appearently the post which took me around 15 - 20 minutes to write didn't really upload when it said it did or something.

I have found a Nintendo NES music composer scene over at www.2A03.org. These guys are actively writing music which plays on NES sound hardware. Finding Atari composers was a little harder, and the NES scene I found at 2A03 was larger and more active, so i've asked for their help, and already gotten an excited reply. I have told the crew over at 2A03 that if the game uses any of their music, they will probably get to have a BIG link / ad for www.2A03.org in the Intro or Credits. Seems like a fair trade off.

In the mean-time, go to www.2A03.org yourself and check out there cool chiptunes! (There is a .NSF plugin for WinAmp in the download section, which emulates a real NES 2A03 sound chip.)
(also would be good to have this ported to the AGS engine to avoid large mp3s)

- MugOGrog

[Stefan Z]

This is my stab at some old sounding tunes. Thinking back at the NES 8-bit, I tried to emulate that sound. It broke my heart a bit having to butcher the beautiful Monkey Island themeÃ,  :'(

Ok, so I removed the URL's. You'll just have to wait till the game's official

[DanClarke]

Stefan, i really like your tracks they sound cool

[Chicky]

Wow! They're exactly how i wanted stefan!

thankyou very much, You're hired


Just dont post the other one's strait in the thread, keep it to pm

*edit

Updated game log, first post.

[Stefan Z]

Thanks for the kind words guys!

thankyou very much, You're hired

Hope you don't pay the wages of 15 years ago

[MugOGrog]

I have recieved the monkey island main theme in Nintendo NES code, and it sounds really awesome.
I need an email address or free webspace to send it to.
I have converted it into a 192kbps MP3 file.
Hit me back here or VIA PM.
MugOGrog

[Wiggles_Say]

This looks really cool, I can't wait to get to play that! I just hope you've got the Ron Gilbert style wit in there, it can't be a monkey island game with that!

[Chicky]

06/07/06: Ahh, been doing lots of little bits with the game, working with the palette is a pain but should pull off. I keep re-playing and re-playing the game to make sure everything feels right, i hope the humors up to standard of the series.

Here's a new screenshot for all you dedicated fans:





Much love x

[i k a r i]

Those close ups are very similar to the ones in monkey island I, I like them.
Could you give us an update of the progress? 

[Jimtbrit]

Chicky, its great to know that the project isn't dead.

I like the simplicity of the graphics and think that the colours really fit the style.
Don't worry too much about whether the humor is up to standard, you will find that no matter how great it is there are those which love it and think it works and those which don't.

Remember it is your project and as long as you are happy with it everybody elses opinions are not as important.

Looking forward to playing the game, any idea of a release date?

[skullkid22]

This looks excellent, I'm a huge MI fan and can't wait to play it.

[Babar]

Patiently waiting for this, but you've got me depressed now, Chicky. I'm gonna find out why that guy hung himself

[advent]

Your project looks GREAT, but don't contradict CMI and EMI, I' m one of the few people in the world that consider them canon.

[ScoobyFan14]

   Just what we need:another Monkey Island game.

[Chicky]

Big Bump!

Well progress has been going slow but sure, GUI, inventory and puzzle system have been implemented, few more puzzles have been programmed and i've managed to hook myself up with a tablet pc so i can work on the game anywhere i go.

but...

REALLY NEED A NEW MUSICIAN - If you're interested please pm me on the forums or email cs.chicken@gmail.com. Cheers.

[CosmoQueen]

So the whole game is gonna look exactly like the screenshots you've showed?

[calacver]

Yes, I think it is an original and very kewl style!

[lemmy101]

I'm not usually much of a fan of games made in an existing commercial franchise but for some reason I've not counted this one love the graphic style and am looking forward to playing it immensely! Keep it up

[Chicky]

ProgZmax is now the official musician!

ProgZ has joined the team to produce some lovely old skool gameboy style music, production should be kicking up a notch now!


The whole game does look exactly like the screenshots ive shown, or you can change the colours via the options menu.

And thanks for the nice words everyone.

[Nikolas]

That's great news.

Whatever I've heard of Progzy sounds really nice and exactly what this game needs Great news indeed.

and I can't remember posting in this thread (I think I must've though.. :p) but:
It looks really original, a brilliant idea and a very good game to play.

[thewalrus]

     Glad you finally got yourself an exellent musician! Now get that game finished won't ya? 

Thewalrus

Goo, goo, ga, joob!!!!!

[Chicky]

05/03/07 : My my, doesn't this game making process take a long time, 'ey

I've started work in HTMI again, don't worry I'm not redoing backgrounds or rewriting story, just plodding along with the same stuff i've been working on all this time.

I'm a VERY slow programmer, scripting puzzles takes me hours so bare with me. I'm getting there, slowly but surely.

Like i've said a hell of a lot of art is done its just putting it all together now, i've coded another big puzzle today so i'm happy.

We WILL get there, in the end!

cheers,

[Baron]

I have this fatal expectation that production on this game might be suspended again.....

Not to be discouraging: I'm looking forward to the finished product(s). 

[Cyrus]

Well, I'm sorry, but I don't like the 3-colour idea. To my opinion, Zooty's version looks better. Are you going to put the Big Whoop or the Secret storyline in the game?

[Akatosh]

I have to say, Cyrus, I'm not that surprised.

[Nikolas]

yay!

3 months and 2 days! Well done Cyrus! Chicky, any update on this? Before Darth sees it?

[Cyrus]

There's no special mark "No posts for over 120 days", that's why I thought it wouldn't be so bad to dig it up.

[Gilbert]

There's no special mark "No posts for over 120 days", that's why I thought it wouldn't be so bad to dig it up.

Did you read the forum rules?

DO NOT dig up old threads!!
If you're interested in an old thread* about a project don't post asking about the progress.  Send a PM to the game's author.  If the project has been cancelled and/or abandoned there's no point in bumping the thread!

* Old Threads are threads that have been inactive for near to over 90 days (3 months).

[Darth Mandarb]

Yo Chicky ... if/when you want to update hit me with a PM or MSN and I'll unlock this for you.

Just want to prevent it being dug up again in 92 days ...

*sigh*

[Chicky]

Teehee...

I have coined this year as the year of AGS so it seems i have to contribute in some way Seeing as i'm a hopeless programmer and so many people have been waiting on this game I am very happy to announce i now have a code junkie helping me! Babar is the new weapon in the HTMI fight for release, this is awesome because he's very enthusiastic and has been a fan from the start. It also means that now i have someone else doing the editor stuff i can concentrate on getting every pixel perfect on every screen, i appreciate there are a few improvements that could be made.

I can confidently say that there WILL be a HTMI release in 2010.

And here's a screencap from my alpha code for Chapter 1 of the game where i cocked up the palette a bit.

[Igor Hardy]

First time I see this game. The graphics are amazing.

[Snake]

This is great, Chicky! Glad to see you are back with another update... after 3 years

[Chicky]

Cheers guys! The story brief on the first page has changed as well, fyi.

And Snake, one can learn a lot in three years

[Bulbapuck]

First I've seen of this too, looks very promising and awesome! Can't wait

[Frodo]

Chicky, I'm SO glad you haven't given up on this game.  

I love Monkey Island, and your graphics are brilliant.  


EDIT:  If you need someone to playtest, I gladly volunteer!   

[Baron]

Well, well!  Chicky has rebuilt his fortress of Barad-dur, and once more menaces Middle Earth with this long-anticipated game.  Can anyone stop him, this time?

[Kweepa]

Sweet!
I'm looking forward to this so much I nearly volunteered to do the coding

[Khris]

Great stuff, this has been on my list (for a long time ).

The new orange is a real improvement btw

[ThreeOhFour]

Holy crap I remember this.

Awesome!

Still!

[Dixon]

I thought about this game a couple of days ago. Today a was a bit sad, I had a few pancakes, played some ukulele and went here to find this awesome news. Food, music and good news. I feel all better now.