Messages

So, obviously the game will involve the movie Shazaam starring Sinbad? Could be interesting if done right. Elements from Back to the Future 2, Sliders, and maybe even Looper.

And an idea I had was less of a specific game, but making shared worlds for people to make games in. Kind of like the Reality on the Norm and Maniac Mansion Mania games. Except not limited to a specific area. And they could be expanded upon for any time period, but assets could be freely shared, etc.

The idea split into 3 different worlds. A "goofy" world which is kind of like LucasArts games. And the future would be more optimistic and colorful.
Another would be a "punk" world where most time periods would be gritty. Graphics would be more realistic, and the farther future would be along the lines of Alien/Aliens.
And the other would be more "normal".

In fact, what I had in mind was more along the lines of merchandise, i. e. candies, cereal brands, comic books, etc., as well as altered versions of our world's well-known places (like Big Ben and Eiffel Tower, for instance) - or it could be in one particular place (like a city or a mansion) but in drastically altered versions of it, like the mansion in DOTT. I also thought that some of the worlds could be really weird - for instance, we could have our 100% normal world with normal candies, a world with magical creatures in which the candies turn you into a vampire or a werewolf, a world full of spies and conspiracies in which the merchandise items have secret messages inside, a surreal world in the style of Sam & Max Mystery Vortex in which the laws of physics work backwards, etc. The protagonists in different worlds (or different versions of one protagonist) could pass items to each other, like Bernard, Hoagie, and Laverne, or find other ways to cooperate.

I'm really curious about your idea too; could you please tell me more about it? You mean, that there are three worlds, each with their own past, present, and future? Are they interconnected somehow?

Got a game idea but feel you don't have time or dedication to work on it? Share it here, perhaps it would be useful for others!

My suggestion: a game about Mandela effect, probably based on multiverse/Everett's many worlds! I. e. where you could travel through different versions of the world with differently-looking places, different trademarks, etc., and there could be puzzles based on those differences. Maybe kinda similar to DOTT, only instead of three time periods (past, present, and future) you could have three or more Everett's worlds.

https://www.buzzfeed.com/christopherhudspeth/crazy-examples-of-the-mandela-effect-that-will-make-you-ques?utm_term=.dm6GjdM2Y#.bdGk6aO4b

Ooo, fun. Most of mine are MAGs games.
My first is the Day of the Tentacle fan game. I never actually had puzzles for it. But it was going to have monster versions of several characters from the original game plus a few Sam and Max characters (but not Sam and Max themselves).  Bernard was going to use a Chewbacca costume to dress as a werewolf, though...

Man, I really dig that idea! What sort of storyline did you have in mind?

A few years ago, I worked with an amateur game dev team on a game called "Slimy Jackpot". The premises were the following:

Meet Marty Martinson, a lowlife employee of Croco's Diner. He is an avid fan of noir and horror stories, spending most of his modest income on the newest issues of "Weird Tales" and other pulps. One midnight party completely changes his life: having drunk some mysterious liquid, he's thrown him into an adventure of his life, with mafia, occultism, vampires, a mysterious red-headed lady, a demonic clown, etc. Is Marty just dreaming, having fallen asleep on a park bench? Or perhaps the drink was hallucinogenic, and he's now delusional? Or maybe (just maybe) there really is something bigger behind this all?

and

This game tells the story of Marty Martinson, an ordinary diner employee from the city of New Misterio. One evening he receives an invitation to a party hosted by the enigmatic Louis DuMongue. Once there, he drinks some strange (probably hallucinogenic) booze called “Emknird” (“Drink me” in reverse), which makes him believe that he is a secret agent on some kind of a mission. Guided by a (probably imaginary) cartoon creature called Whiskey, he goes on a weird trip (in both senses of the word) through the dark underworld of New Misterio.

It was a real acid trip; now I understand we didn't finish it because it was too ambitious and incoherent. Basically, it was a wild mish-mash of LucasArts classics, surreal noir in the vein of David Lynch's "Mulholland Drive" and Cronenberg's "Naked Lunch", psychological thriller, King's Quest/Torin's Passage-style fairytale, and much much more. It had drug visions, blends of different genres, and dreams within dreams within dreams; at a certain point, it was conceived as something along the lines of "Toonstruck meets Sanitarium", but basically we couldn't decide where the whole thing was going (I like to think of it as "on indefinite hiatus" rather than "abandoned" though; I hope that someday it will see the light of the day, maybe in a shorter and more modest form).



Marty Martinson, the geeky protagonist dreaming of fantasy worlds and spy adventures!


Julia Silverstone, the mysterious femme fatale and his ladylove!


Louis DuMongue, the evil artistocrat and millionaire!



The map of New Misterio!



Ice cream factory "Mad Clown Inc."


Marty's flat



I should not be really taking credit for this awesome art; it was created by Jennifer "BlackBat" (mostly), and also a couple of other team members. I'm a terrible artist myself.

I really love that combination of fantasy and sci-fi, reminds me of Chronicles of Amber!

As I wrote above, I start an own game, keeping the dott/Sam and Max style and humor I have some old sprites of characters that I made and a story wroted a long time ago, maybe you can be interested in help me on this with your experience in storywriting and more (I can send you the story, sprites, ideas and stuffs that I have)

That would be great, I happen to have some ideas for exactly this kind of game, and would love to share them!

If this project is completed and is an exact copy of the original comcerning the gameplay and story then if will mean that people can play Thimbleweed Park for free if they don't want to pay the money for the real thing.

I realise that it won't have the same voice acting and perhaps not every animation or cutscene but people will still be able to choose it over the commercial product and have a similar experience.

This might not be looked on so generously as, say, the AGS remake of Maniac Mansion, a game which is no longer earning Ron Gilbert, and his team, money.

I don't want to be negative about what looks like a great project but it would be a shame if a lot of effort was going into something which might never be able to be released.

Well, that can be a reason to somewhat change/reimagine the original storyline; I have some experience with storywriting, so I think I can help you with that

Awesometastic!!! I don't think there will be any problems with this project, since Ron is very tolerant towards fangames: just "label them as such, respect the world and the characters and don't claim they are canon". One thing I was curious about, will it have exactly the same plot/puzzles, or are you planning to change something? I really love it when remakes somehow reimagine the original storyline, give it a new meaning or add new plot branches.

It's now even in the news:

https://thenextweb.com/gaming/2018/05/15/monkey-island-fans-are-begging-disney-to-sell-the-rights-back-to-its-creator/

Awesometastic! I'm a big fan of "cartoony/humorously creepy" stories, so I can't wait to try it out! Somewhat reminds me of "Jacob's Ladder" and "Dr. Terror's House of Horrors".

Wow, it is now over 10000 signatures!

Do you have any ideas for your next project?

I have a few ideas for much smaller games that I've started fleshing out. I haven't been able to make much headway yet, though.

Wishing you the best! Btw, this paranormal researcher I mentioned, John Keel, suggests that the entities we used to know as fairy-tale creatures (gnomes, fairies, demons, etc.), are now pretending to be aliens and representatives of "Intergalactic Federation". So it's quite plausible that the regal Queen Valanice of Daventry would now present herself as the space officer Thalia James

https://secretsun.blogspot.com/2012/06/wizards-workings-and-walk-ins-enter.html

There's probably enough material there to make a whole new game out of (though I doubt I'd be up to the task).

Do you have any ideas for your next project?

Wow, I've figured it out, thank you very much!!! For anyone else who wants to cheat:

Spoiler

Once you arrive to the alien planet, TALK TO YOURSELF.

[close]

That game was a trip and a half, an awesome conclusion to an awesome saga! Some if the puzzles were really tricky and ingenious, especially the ones relying on "in-game" mechanics, like

Spoiler

the code on the pillar in the 3D maze, the zoom-in and zoom-out in the garden to get the lazy CGMS agent to transport you, and the non-verbal dialogues in Suzy-Ann's console game.

[close]

What I'm really stumped on is

Spoiler

finding that Easter Egg with the questions.

[close]

Thank you very much!

Regarding the

Spoiler

Easter Egg, I'm assuming you saw my "out of this world" hint in the game announcement thread.

[close]

If you want another hint...

Spoiler

When you first arrive in a strange place, it's always good to have someone to talk to.

[close]

One more hint...

Spoiler

Minus green.

[close]

Hmm,

Spoiler

I can think of three "strange/out of this world" places: the alien planet, the 3D labyrinth, and the Momo game. Also the Administrator's room, but Thalia visits it early enough, not in a later part of the game. "Minus green": the creatures of the alien planet are green and shaped somewhat like minus sign, I tried talking to them, doesn't help.

[close]

I'm really looking forward to your next project! As usual with trilogies, the first part was great because it had a cool fresh idea, and the final part was even better because it squeezed every drop out of this idea.

My favourite locations were the "cutesy children's room" in the Mega-Game, the Adventure shop with its internal narrator, and the Vertex (was cool to see how characters in Thalia's world spend their free time).

I dig the Cabal, especially Loamy (it is a bit sad that his "toad prince" backstory didn't make it into the game) and LeMort with his "stereotypically villain" appearance and room. IMO, a
"pure oldschool 2D" version of him and his room could be interesting, maybe somewhat like Mort Cadaver's cabinet from KQ7.   

I also loved the idea about "adventure archeology" and the pre-computer origins of the adventure genre. Know what, I have my own idea about this, that perhaps "purely digital" characters existed in some forms and interacted with humans before humans even invented computers. Some paranormal researchers believe that humanity during its whole history has been surrounded by weird teleporting and shapeshifting creatures made of unknown form of energy who manifested themselves as "ghosts", "demons", fairy folk, etc.; sounds really reminiscent of game characters with their changing sprites and CommKeys, doesn't it?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Trojan_Horse_(book)

That game was a trip and a half, an awesome conclusion to an awesome saga! Some if the puzzles were really tricky and ingenious, especially the ones relying on "in-game" mechanics, like

Spoiler

the code on the pillar in the 3D maze, the zoom-in and zoom-out in the garden to get the lazy CGMS agent to transport you, and the non-verbal dialogues in Suzy-Ann's console game.

[close]

What I'm really stumped on is

Spoiler

finding that Easter Egg with the questions.

[close]

Christmas Quest 1-3 is the best in my opinion (especially the third part). You can also check out Search for the Christmas Present Remake by Petteri if it's still available.

Just noticed this thread... Ok, then I can ask some more kooky questions

1) In the second game of the series, we saw "the most offensive game ever". Does there exist "the scariest" or "the weirdest" game ever (like maybe a game composed entirely of red herrings)?
2) Is Thalia's world anyhow related to the concept of "Multiverse"? The official King's Quest lore says that Daventry is in a "pocket universe" parallel to our own world.
3) Can characters from Thalia's world somehow enter our own world, shapeshift into humans, etc.? Could our world be controlled by a "video game character conspiracy", in the style of They Live?
4) What is CGMS' policy regarding red herring locations, objects, etc.? Should they be kept intact for the players like the ordinary game items, or may the game characters borrow them or add new ones?

Ahem, here go the questions:

1) In "our world", there are many interesting myths and urban legends about some lost treasures, ghosts, and stuff like that. Does something like this exist in the world of Thalia and CGMS (like maybe a "lost room/object" or a "ghost character")?
2) Are there any in-universe trademarks (snacks Thalia and her colleagues eat, movies they watch, novels they read)?
3) Not really a question, but you may probably find this interesting. Nowadays some physicists tend to think that our own Universe is digital, and may be even a computer simulation; this conjecture is called "holographic Universe" or "It from Qubit". Thus our reality may not be so different from Thalia's one, and perhaps they are even interconnected

https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/2017/09/26/it-from-bit-is-the-universe-a-cellular-automaton/#73ff4adf46b7

Thank you! It comes from The Illuminatus!

Spoiler

I believe that Bugs Bunny is no longer the shoggoth symbol for Hollywood Illuminati, now Roger Rabbit is

[close]