Thimbleweed Park Podcast #19
by Ron Gilbert
Aug 28, 2015
Aug 28, 2015
In a podcast that would be unthinkable 25 years ago, we answer reader questions from the Internet and David explains why if your not using a VAX 750 and Emacs to make games, you're doing it all wrong.
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- Ron
Pesky pointers.
Keep it up! We'll try to keep thinking up interesting questions.
I kind of look forward to the problems, which somehow managed to slip under the radar and you might run in during production, and the creative decisions which arise from that. Or maybe just to see that the planning was so watertight, that this won't happen (which I don't think is possible for a project more elaborate than cooking a pot of tea, and even with that I failed today).
Since it is your game, you have every right to decide for yourself. Just please have a look at it before release whether it really makes sense or just looks ridiculous. I fully trust you in this.
Thanks, guys, for making this game.
Besides I think it's impossible to let the motion of the head look significantly more realistic, due to the low resolution. But maybe the bigger size/resolution of the heads will soften the motion a little.
I have to say in my 30 years of gaming I have never looked forward to a game remotely as much a I do with Thimbleweed Park, but hey, no pressure here! :-)
Are you still planning on letting users update their Kickstarter pledges? I would shell out another couple of bucks within an instant!
I think you should definitely keep doing the Q&A section, as long as there are enough interesting, fresh questions each week...
I do also really like the stand-up meeting parts too though - I don't think you need to rush through those parts to get to the questions, as I like hearing the little details in meeting part, like, "I did a dialog tree for a contest in the game" and "I worked on making the heads move and finalized the rendering look,", and "I added music to the opening, "etc... those bits really help to keep us involved in the development, IMO.
yaahp
(this should sound about 87% ok :) )
As to the whole Q&A: It's really enjoyable and a nice way to get some new perspectives on things.
I have a question about a man, involved (directly or indirectly) in: Maniac Mansion, Zak McKracken, Loom, Monkey Island 1, 2, 3, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis... I can say, he's a milestone in programming classic adventure games, like the four of you (Ron, Gary, David, Mark). But he is absent in Thimbleweed Park project.
I wonder if anyone has figured out who I'm talking about?
Anyway... on Friday's post I'll write my precise question!
Have a nice weekend!
The person in question is another one.
You can see his name in the opening credits of Maniac Mansion, Zak McKracken, and the other Lucas games I mentioned before.
However, even Microsoft itself used a surprisingly large amount of Unix tools for the development of their software. Just have a look at the build scripts and tools in the Word source code (http://www.computerhistory.org/atchm/microsoft-word-for-windows-1-1a-source-code/), folder Opus/tools/dos
Tim is a terrific comic writer and collaborator, but frankly I dont think much of the games where he was the lead.
His adventures are not bad per se, but not at all up to the standard of the other Lucasfilm games. I don't like any of the Double fine games other than the Cave.
Which reminds me of 1993 or 1994, when I edited Monkey Island 2 Amiga version partly Finnish (no one sue me, it was only for me). That was easy :)