It’s time for part two ofour interview serieswith Gary Winnick andRon Gilbert, two of the fathers of the Point & Click genre. as we count down to the end of theirThimbleweed ParkKickstarter. Talking to these legendary creators is a privilege that I wish that I had access to every day. I’m tempted to run a Kickstarter for a campaign to force Ron and Gary to keep running Kickstarters year round, so they’d always have motivation to respond to intrusive questions from strangers (aka “interviews”). I wonder how much money that campaign would pull in?
This time around we talked about the differences betweenManiac MansionandThimbleweed Park, Ron’s tendency to name his games after locations, and how the games that were influenced byManiac Mansionwere in turn an influence on him. Thanks again to Gary and Ron, and come back tomorrow for the final part of this spine-tingling series of questionsandanswers, because it’s nice to have both.
Dtoid: A lot of Ron’s games are named after places — a mansion, an island, and now a whole town. Sometimes these places are quite literally characters in and of themselves,like the cave in The Cave. This differs a lot from the cartoon mascot (Super Mario) or dramatic phrase/action title (Just Cause, Grand Theft Auto) convention that’s common with big name games. Why do you want to make games about places?
Ron: To me, the main character in an adventure game is the world. I always start there and build up. It’s where the player spends all their time, exploring and interacting with it. If you build an interesting world then it’s easy to populate with characters and story.Maniac Mansionstarted because Gary and I were poking fun at the main house at Skywalker Ranch.Monkey Islandwas because I wanted to live in thePirates of the Caribbeanride.
Location. Location. Location.
Gary: We just like weird and eclectic storylines and characters—and being able to create a place/world setting, giving it an identity that fits it into a particular universe, helps us ground an adventure and give it depth. As you mentioned, it’s like the house or the town is a character itself.
Dtoid: While the character proportions and general look ofThimbleweed Parkshares a lot in common withManiac Mansion, there’s some added texture to the characters that give them a “homemade paper” feel. What inspired this use of “strategic visual noise”, and do you plan to use it the in final version of the game?
Gary: I think we really wanted to evoke the nostalgia ofManiac, but also wanted to try adding a little extra nuance. Just wanting to see if it might come across as a bit more interesting. As far as using it in the final game, I think we’ll fool around with this and a couple of other approaches since we’ll have some time to experiment.
Ron: Yeah, it as just an idea we were exploring. Once things really get into the engine we’ll play around with the look. We want it to be very “authentic”, but also slightly modern. We often talk about it being like you rememberManiac Mansion, not how it actually was.
Dtoid: You’ve created a lot of games sinceManiac Mansion. What do you know about game development now that you didn’t know then, and how do you plan to use that wisdom to make a better game?
Ron: We’ve learned a lot about adventure game design since then.Maniac Mansionwas our first game, so we were basically fumbling around hoping not to get fired. AfterManiac Mansion, I wrote an article called “Why Adventure Games Suck” that outlined a set of rules I had for designing an adventure game and followed that very closely duringMonkey Island. I think all the rules still apply. We also know a lot more about managing a project now. Controlling scope and the art of cutting. What you cut is often more important than what you leave.
Dtoid: Just about every narrative and/or comedy game of the past 20 years has been influenced by your work. The Telltale games,Stanley Parable, andKentucky Route Zeroare just a few examples. Have any of those games influenced you in return, and if so, in what ways?
Ron: I love the mood ofKentucky Route Zero. There is a feel and ambiance to it that is just perfect. I love studying that game, trying to see everything they did to achieve that. Music, art, lighting, it all comes together perfectly in that game.
