Phone FAQ
Dec 18, 2015
When do I have to submit my name and voicemail recording?
You can submit them anytime between now and July 1st and change them as often as you like. If you're not ready to submit your voicemail recording, we suggest you submit your name now so it's locked in and submit the recording later.
I never got, or lost my phonebook invite email! Am I doomed?
No, not at all. Just CLICK HERE and enter the email addres you used to back the project and we'll send you a new one.
Where phones even invented in 1987?
No, we're taking creative license.
Can I put my dog in the phone book.
Yes, that is OK, but make his or her name realistic: Pep Gilbert.
Can I put my cat in the phone book.
No, I'm allergic to cats.
Why does my name have to be unique?
Players might need to look your name up to get a phone number and we need to be able to give them a unique name to find. Try adding a middle initial or middle name to make it unique.
I didn't back during the Kickstarter, can I still get my name in the phonebook?
No, unfortunately that was a Kickstarter exclusive and we want to be fair to the people that did back during that time.
Does it have to be my real name?
It needs to be the real name of you, your significant other, friend, child, pet, etc. The point of the phonebook was to immortalize you or someone you love in the game.
Can my name include a funny nickname like Todd "Funny Pants" Smith.
Yes, that is OK as long as it's still under 30 characters and not offensive (we get to decide if it is or isn't).
When do I need to fill in my name and have my recording?
You have until May 1st. You can change any information, including your recordings, up until that date.
Can I have fun with my recording, or do I have to play it straight?
Have fun with it! Voicemail recordings in real life can be very fun and off the wall, just make it something you would put on your voicemail.
Can I use gibberish or some made up language?
Yes, that is fine, as long as it is truly made up.
Ron "Grumpy" Gilbert.
Bob: "You have reached the home of Bob..."
Jenn: "and Jenn."
Bob: "We are probably hanging out at the river right now so..."
Both: "leave a message and we will get back to you."
I mean I guess it would be a landline so technically more than one person in the house would be able to pick it up anyways as opposed to a mobile phone lol
you should record the voicemail in your mother language, then write the original text and the english translation (for checking purposes).
You will find everything in your personal voicemail page.
For instance I'm having my two year old son do the recording and we're Finnish - he'd probably have more to say in finnish, but he does do a fairly lovely 'hellooo' on the phone so I guess we'll have to go with that.
I will record the message in english. After all Thimbleweed Park is located in the USA, isn't it?
I'm not German, actually I'm from Spain so I have recorded it in spanish :D
i did two voicemail kickstarter donations (one for me and one for my brother as a gift) but i only have ONE link to do the voice mail. can you check to see where the other email i should have is so i can forward it to my brother?
THanks!
I have already wrote the italian and english text, and uploaded the .mp3 file, but the radiobutton still doesn't allow me to select "Italian" language.
Can we record the voicemail in two languages (for example English+Italian etc.)?
Thanks
I would prefer if I could use my native language, i.e. Swedish, but the information on the upload page states that I am not allowed to use that language.
"Anyone who backs at $50 or higher will not only get their name in the Thimbleweed Park phone book (used for actual puzzle solving), but you’ll also be able to record your own custom voicemail message when the number is called (subject to approval)."
and in the pledge description:
"Get your name in the exclusive Thimbleweed Park in-game phone book (subject to our approval). Your name could be the solution to a puzzle. Plus game + soundtrack."
So we're pretty much bound by what the authors decide.
One might argue that it's important that the voicemail sounds like the captioning / subtitles attached to it, but then again, it could be just unintelligible gibberish in the real world as well, so it would be fun if we were allowed to do the recording in any language as long as the description is included.
Maybe this would pose a bit of a problem with checking that no profanities and whatnot get included in a language not understood by the development / testing team? I mean I wouldn't understand a single word of mandarin chinese, and couldn't tell if the speech really did say "leave a message after the tone" or "x never marks the spot"..
I would like to include my nickname but it contains two characters. Is it possible to add it? That would be great.
Thanks,
Sebastian
".,/&-:ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzÀÁÂÃÄÅÆÇÈÉÊËÌÍÎÏÐÑÒÓÔÕÖØÙÚÛÜÝÞßàáâãäåæçèéêëìíîïðñòóôõöøùúûüýþ
So, no numbers!
"Hello..."
"... I'm not here right now."
Is such a thing possible? Or is it always going to be the entire message in one big chunk of text?
Using Firefox, I wasn't able to click on the radiobutton "Italian", to select the language.
Using Chrome, it works.
I returned to firefox, and I see the changes, but when I click on another languages, it automatically select "English".
Im ceo of own business, am i allowed to name the business and www adress?
Like, hi there im xy ceo blabla at www.xy thanks to leave a message...mushrooms?
Not too original, I guess. :P
I'll see if I can come up with something funnier. If not, I'll leave it as is.
Can I record a message like this?
Hi, I'm Daniel Martinez, but can't assist you right now because I'm probably playing some classic style adventure game such as Thimbleweedpark... Please leave your message and I will call you back. thanks :D
Ok, I had this idea of us referencing each other (it's a small town, we should know each other, right?).
Like, you could say "for a good time, call Steven at XXXX" at the end of the message. Or "John knows the secret of Monkey Island, reach him at XXXX". Or things like that.
So if you want to do something like this, just leave your number in a comment, and we can reference each other.
My phone number is: 2684
I'll reference the next person to leave his number with the Monkey Island line (remember to put your real name to be accurate, and it would be fun if you say something like "This is Xxxx, I'm not at home, and please stop calling me about the secret of Monkey Island! Call Xxxxx at XXXX, he really know it". Or something similar. :D
Cheers!
I had a similar idea of having a small puzzle game within the game that
involves calling different numbers. Something like:
"Hello, this is Andreas Fröhlich. I'm not at home right now 'cause I'm trying to find my missing
dog Spiffy. I've lost him near the harbor. If you have any information call Sanders at Xxxx he is
investigating in the matter."
And in a second message you could hear the horn of a ship, so you could guess that
there is a harbor nearby.
But that would involve a lot more planning, so I'm going with your idea.
My number is: 1477 (Andreas Fröhlich)
Here is my line:
"Hello, this is Andreas Fröhlich. I'm not at home at the moment. Please stop calling me about the secret
of Monkey Island. Call Xxxxx at XXXX, he really knows it. But if you have any information about my lost
dog Spiffy just speak after the signal."
OK, who is the next one?
I hope more people get into this idea. :)
The idea is, the last one to join the conspiracy, should ideally refer back to my number, to create an endless loop.
It would be fun, no matter the number of people participating. :)
Here's my message:
"Hi, you've reached Taylor, I can't come to the phone right now. *dog barking* Quiet Spiffy!!! Sorry about that... If you're calling about the Secret of Monkey Island... I'm not at liberty to discuss that. Just call Xxxxx at XXXX. He (or She) will hook you up. And don't leave a message, I never check this stupid thing."
Here's mine:
"This is Maggie's phone. I'm screening my calls because SOMEONE thought it'd be funny to tell people I know the Secret of Monkey Island... well I don't! But if you call XXXX at XXXX, you might get somewhere. If you're calling about my band's auditions, just leave 16 bars at the beep and I'll get back to you if you're any good. Thanks."
My name is Zac Kinross-Smith and phone number is 1897:
"Hi, you've called Zac - he's too young to come to the phone right now, and it might take a few years for him to get back to you. If you're asking about the Secret of Monkey Island then here's what you need to know.. Guybrush <toddler noises drown out the critical words> - isn't that amazing!!! Anyway I've got to go - Zac's in the pantry again! - call XXXX on XXXX if you need further info!"
So, I guess the phonebook is for the whole Thimbleweed County area, and not just the town. :)
So, most of us live not in Thimbleweed Park, but rather in Rudbeckia, Anemone Fields or Pulsatilla...
Yes, those are al thimble genus plants. :P
I got a small non commerical "company" and we are producing weird sci-fi movies (https://www.youtube.com/user/Horizontalfilm/). Would it be ok, to use the name of the "company" (Horizontalfilm International)? Becuase the name would stand for much more people than myself ;-) I would like to start with a small Soundeffect (made by myself and totally loyalty free ->https://soundcloud.com/horizontalfilm/jingle_international)... would that be ok as well?
Thank you very much and i'm sorry for my bad english
Due to the podcast we are familiar with your voices, and it would be fun to hear you in the game...
Keep up the good work!
thx guys ;)
Guybrush Threepwood
Zak McKracken
Bobbin Threadbare
I'm from switzerland, but also from a region with a very special kind of german dialect (even for switzerland). So would that be ok, or should I do it in standard german?
Thanks.
I was not liking my voice in English, so I used this: http://onlinetonegenerator.com/voice-generator.html
There are others out there (some even generate a file for you).
e.g.
-John Smith, Attorney at Law
-John Smith, Beautician
-John Smith, Freelance Wizard
If yes, will you disclose it or will it be an Easter Egg?
as an old Amiga fan I would like to record my message with the original Amiga text-to-speech software from the Workbench. Will you accept this?
Sebastian
I bought two voicemail pledges, one for me and one for my brother.
He got one email and recorded his message, but I got TWO emails, different links, with different numbers, and I can record two messages.
I think one must be an error (I really think I bought only two, not three...), but I don't know what to do.
So in case one gets removed, and it was the one I didn't expect, I've recorded the same thing in both...
My numbers are 3157 and 5127, and right now they look very similar. I guess you'll want to delete one?
Or let me know if they both stay, then I'll do something different in one of them.
Sorry for the trouble,
Thanks,
Victor
While I listed my actual name for the phone book perk, I was wondering if it was okay for me to speak a fake name on the voice recording. (The fake name on the recording isn't entirely dissimilar from what I listed as the contact name, as I have "Darkflint" in quotes on the listed name, but ,"You have reached Mark Darkflint's cell phone," as the phone greeting. If it's absolutely necessary for me to use my actual full name in the recording, just let me know and I can rerecord it. ^_^
Best,
Evan
I posted this somewhere above earlier but I guess it got lost somewhere in the noise. I pledged both kickstarter and humblebundle but only received one link so far, I guess for kickstarter. Haven't done anything with it so far as I wanted to wait for the kids to do both at the same time. Did you process the humblebundles yet or is there some issue with my info?
Thanks,
"Hi there, sorry I can't come to the phone, but like just about everyone else in Thimbleweed Park I'm out living life to the fullest... not stuck indoors playing a videogame or anything boring like that. Leave a message and I might get back to you when I'm not doing something exciting."
I would like to use the two (first) names of my daughters. Do you accept double names like "Anna & Bella" instead of first name AND family name?
BTW: I really like your weblog - its great to see how game development works and how this game develops! Many thanks.
I just could not come up with anything funny or meaningful to say in my voicemail. I didnt like to hear my own voice in english (nor in my native language).
Is that okay? Or should I change it to some english stuff?
But in the post above you there is a link or email adress for support in this manner.
Also I hope the dev-team will make a blog post or pod cast going into detail about this before April ends.
Maybe you should try and write this a couple of places during blog posts, so that the dev-team will see it. Because I would love to see this joke in the game.
"You have reached Serena's Noodle Whip Emporium. We are sorry but Serena Nelson herself is unavailable as she is currently with a client. Please leave your name and favorite type of pasta. We try to meet all the needs of our noodle clientele. Hard or soft your pleasure is our business."
Well, except if there's already a Noodle Whip Emporium integrated into the current story line, probably located next to the pillow factory... then you'll have to change your message to stop interfering with the plot!
I just registered a voicemail, but just to be sure… Could we use some jokes from Monkey Island (like three headed monkey, inserting disks etc.) or these jokes are copyrighted? :)
Thanks!
Ipek
I have some questions regarding the voicemail.
In the phonebook I have my whole name, is it ok to use my initials in the voicemail to short the message down, like you have called mr T*?, otherwise the messeage will be to long.
Is it ok if I saying Maniac Mansion and C64 somewhere in the message or is that to much of "The recording can not include copyrighted material of any kind" thing?
Does anyone else have experience this?
Ukrainian is not in the list, is it all right?
Please let me know.
(I've provided the translation and original text, just wanna make sure that it's gonna be included in the game)
Would also like to ask if it is ok to start the recording with a singing a short phrase in norwegian (will of course supply translation),
and then having the rest of the recording in english.
Cheerio.
Is there something like a final submit button or is it already sufficient that every box is ticked and the name + soundfile submitted?
It would be a shame if I missed my chance of being part of the telephone book just because there was something like a final submit button that I didn't see :)
thank you and best wishes!
I want to update only the audio file of my phonebook entry.
From my page, I browse the new file (.mp3), and push the "Submit recording" button.
It works, apparently.
When I Play on the little player below, I hear the old file.
I don't want to delete everything (including texts!) just update my voice file.
Is it possible?
I tried to change the filename, but it keeps the old one, always!
I opened Chrome instead of Firefox, and it works.
Sorry
Is there a way to know if a submission was approved? I included a little guitar ditty at the end of mine and then noticed the no music ban. I would happily resubmit an updated version if not approved.
I ran my submission through 1987 software filters (creative license) to make it sound like a phone call. Is this something you are going to do globally? If so i'll have to undo and resubmit because it would just sound silly.
If our recording for some reason does not get approved, will we get informed about this and
have at least a day or two to submit a new recording?
Here is an example how it could look like: https://blog.thimbleweedpark.com/voicemail_contest
The black ones have messages. I would assume when calling the other ones the phone will just ring and no one answers.
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