Thimbleweed Park Podcast #29

by Ron Gilbert
Nov 07, 2015

Where we spend 30 minutes answering a bunch of great (and two stupid) questions from the blog.

You can also subscribe to the Thimbleweed Park Podcast RSS feed if that's 'your thing'.

- Ron

badde - Nov 07, 2015 at 18:51

Geat! No more omment !

Mattias Cedervall - Nov 07, 2015 at 19:48

Thank you so much for answering TWO questions and thank you, Ron, for pronouncing my name in a way that wasn't bad! :-)

I don't desire achievements in Thimbleweed Park.

Nor Treblig - Nov 07, 2015 at 21:18

Personally I'm really not a fan of achievements popping up in the game, but I am pretty sure there are quite a lot of people out there who like achievements in one way or another.

Although Ron didn't like those in particular I think achievements tracking the progress of the overall story are an easy way to get statistics about the game.
I.e. look at those from MI2:SE: http://steamcommunity.com/stats/MonkeyIsland2:SE/achievements
You can see that 55% completed the first act and two third of those the next (big) act. And then nearly all of those finished the game.

Derrick Reisdorf - Nov 09, 2015 at 20:52

Yeah but Ron said that he would rather put achievements in there for stuff other than just playing the game. I'm sure they'll probably end up putting some simple ones in there anyway (like simply completing an act).

Zak Phoenix McKracken - Nov 08, 2015 at 02:40

Me too.
"Real Programmer doesn't need achievements", idem for point'n'click adventure players!

Mister T - Nov 08, 2015 at 04:23

Really depends on how they are used. They can be a great way to hint towards easter eggs.

Brian Ruff - Nov 08, 2015 at 00:41

Thanks for answering my question! It's really fun to hear your thoughts on these things and get even more backstory into Maniac and Monkey Island.

Natalija - Nov 08, 2015 at 00:59

I got mail about new blog post but it says that the last upadate is "Friday questions" . You should fix that.

Mattias Cedervall - Nov 08, 2015 at 06:52

I noticed that as well.

Zak Phoenix McKracken - Nov 08, 2015 at 02:36

7:47 A.M. - Sunday
I have to be crazy to wake up so early...
But NO! I'm NOT!
Because it's time to listen to the Thimbleweed Park podcast!!!

This one was very funny and interesting! I love the perfect mix of seriousness and humour in your answers!

Congratulations to Mattias for having 2/3 of his questions read and answered! :-)

I love these podcasts. They make my Sundays morning happier than ever!

Ciao!

Mattias Cedervall - Nov 08, 2015 at 06:50

Thank you!! :-)

Carlo Valenti - Nov 08, 2015 at 09:45

Yes, congratulations! :) I liked them!

Carlo Valenti - Nov 08, 2015 at 09:41

Ciao! :)

Big Red Button - Nov 08, 2015 at 05:11

I really appreciate all your art work and I don't want to start an extensive discussion, but is there any chance for a special pixel mode, that would feature smaller extracts of all those room screens, that have a higher resolution, in order to make the sizes of the pixels all over the screen look as coherent as possible?
Of course it would limit the field of vision in those rooms, but this could be compensated by vertical scrolling, for instance if the player wants to read a shop sign.

Maybe it would be a worthy kickstarter stretch goal.

Big Red Button - Nov 08, 2015 at 05:53

Anyway there is an obvious difference between 320 px and 640 px.

Peter - Nov 08, 2015 at 05:25

How can I find out the RSS Feed of the Thimbleweed Park Podcast, to include the Podcast in my iTunes?

Mattias Cedervall - Nov 08, 2015 at 06:54

It says so right here...! http://feeds.soundcloud.com/users/soundcloud:users:145374033/sounds.rss
Doesn't it work?

Peter - Nov 08, 2015 at 11:30

Because I try to implement my own Soundcloud Profil into iTunes. I know how to get the RSS Feed Code, but didn't know how iTunes can find my Podcast? Has somebody an idea?

Nibble - Nov 08, 2015 at 05:28

Which were the two stupid questions?

Don Juan - Nov 08, 2015 at 05:44

Gary's phone cord question and probably the magnet question.

Jaap - Nov 08, 2015 at 15:56

Hey Nibble,

it had to be also my question about whether to rather lose a kidney or never be able to work again in the games industry. Given the other more practical/good questions, mine was definitely (meant to be) a bit stupid ;-)

J.

David Fox ✓ - Nov 08, 2015 at 20:27

And I'm grateful to have both kidneys and lungs AND be able to work in the game industry. Hope to never have to make that choice!

Arto - Nov 08, 2015 at 09:58

I was excited to see a stupid question was answered. I was certain it was my question. Wasn't.
This was a good podcast.

Grafekovic - Nov 08, 2015 at 18:17

When they someday write they answer really dumb questions, that will be the point where I get excited ;-)

Lennart - Nov 08, 2015 at 14:47

It's really easy to use magnets while doing the Linux port. But I recommend using an SSD nowadays. Especially when compiling C++ code.

Jaap - Nov 08, 2015 at 16:27

Hi Gary/Ron/David,

thanks for answering my question again! Interesting to hear your quite different perspectives..

Silly, pointless side note: Ron & Gary's answer reminded me of this kind of spoof of Faust where the guy selling his soul says (in his defense): "I wasn't using it anyway!"

hdort - Nov 08, 2015 at 16:36

Thanks for answering my question, Ron. It never occurred to me that somebody who likes the pixel art esthetics does not like the chiptune esthetics; for me, they go hand in hand. I would have loved to see Thimbleweed Park with chiptunes. It'll be interesting for me to see what music you put into it.

Zombocast - Nov 08, 2015 at 17:34

1.Do you think you will add high resolution character portraits?
http://bit.ly/1XYgbel
2.Can you add a car chase?
http://bit.ly/20FaVhU
3.Will you play with the camera perspectives during in game cut scenes?
http://bit.ly/1SalSSn

Arto - Nov 08, 2015 at 17:58

"Do you think you will add high resolution character portraits?"

If not in the game, I think in marketing materials and especially in package we should see what (at least the main) characters look like "in real life". In box arts of games like Maniac Mansion, Zak McKracken and Monkey Island we can see what the characters look like, and I think because of this we can relate to these characters better.

Ema - Nov 09, 2015 at 13:06

I agree with you.
Ron stated several times he doesn't want or like face close-ups like in MI... the two guys in the scumm bar, Carla, Smirk, and obviously Elaine. Oh, and the navigator's head.
Anyway, if those close-ups can be avoided during gameplay, because -I agree- they don't add anything to the story and are very difficult to animate without appearing awkward, I still think that a closer look to some meaningful expression of the most important characters maybe during a cutscene, could improve their... humanity.

PS: MI2 close-ups are very beautiful. they are (if I am right) just 3: Captain Dredd, the Governor of Phatt Island, and Rapp Scallion in his coffin. Let me say that, if MI close-ups make me think they are avoidable, those 3 are great. Especially Rapp scallion is so expressive, and his transformation from ashes to zombie, with the appearing of the skeleton and his internal organs first is a masterpiece. Not to mention his thumb up in the transformation back to ashes! :-D
I really hope we could see something as brilliant as thins in TP

Cole Trickle - Nov 08, 2015 at 18:14

You answered the question "What would you do if you had more Kickstarter money". So I would like to know if there is a commitment, that you have to spend all the Kickstarter money on the project. I mean you made a pledge where you said what you want to do and how much money you need. As you said, a little more money would be nice, and you would have spend it reasonable, but what would have happend when you had collected $ 3.3 million or if every person in this universe had givven $50? My personal view is, that after you finished your pledge the way you promised, the funds that are left over is what you earned and you should keep it. There are other projects, that made the mistake to think they are committed to spend all the kickstarter money on the game. The result was rather disappointing and far from the original pledge.

R.C.M. - Nov 08, 2015 at 20:41

It was especially interesting hearing about your views/anecdotes about the MM TV show. Oddly enough, I had seen the show years before I even found out about the game! All I remember about the show is that there was an adult baby, a human fly and that guy from SCTV.

Zak Phoenix McKracken - Nov 09, 2015 at 23:46

Sorry for the off-topic, but for me, today, is a beautiful day!
Starting from now, for 366 days, I'm simply "The Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, The Universe, and Everything" ! :-)

(If you don't know what I'm talking about, try to google what's inside the double quotes! Really, try it!)

Ema - Nov 10, 2015 at 06:31

You're a real geek! ;-)
Happy birthday.

Zak Phoenix McKracken - Nov 10, 2015 at 09:17

Ahahahahah!! Thank you!!

monika - Nov 20, 2015 at 02:35

Very interesting podcast and thank you so much for these sites post.