Thimbleweed Park Podcast #47

by Ron Gilbert
Apr 16, 2016

Your constant reminder of how boring game development really is.

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

You can also get the podcast directly from iTunes.

- Ron

Mattias Cedervall - Apr 16, 2016 at 16:53

Is this the real or fake podcast?

Zak Phoenix McKracken - Apr 16, 2016 at 18:08

Objection!
I'm innocent, Your Honor!

Mattias Cedervall - Apr 16, 2016 at 18:11

Case dismissed!

Brian S - Apr 16, 2016 at 16:53

Did you skip #46 intentionally? (Perhaps you mention this in the podcast, I will find out shortly)

Ron Gilbert ✓ - Apr 16, 2016 at 17:07

Yes, That was the one almost lost when my computer crashed, my plan is to edit it for next week since there won't be a podcast due to PAX.

Nor Treblig - Apr 17, 2016 at 04:52

Ooor will there be one? I've heard David, Octavi and Mark won't be at PAX, sooo...
And also there is some Italian who has profound knowledge in editing podcasts for helping them out... :-)

Zak Phoenix McKracken - Apr 17, 2016 at 18:05

Any similarity to real people is purely coincidental :-) :-)

Mattias Cedervall - Apr 16, 2016 at 17:01

What UI changes?! I demand that the verbs and icons will be on the screen all the time!

Ron Gilbert ✓ - Apr 16, 2016 at 17:08

They will... put down that pitchfork.

Fin C - Apr 16, 2016 at 17:10

I'm trying to put down the pitchfork but there's no "Drop" verb...

Chris Capel - Apr 16, 2016 at 18:02

Try 'Give pitchfork to farmer' or 'Use pitchfork on floor'.

Mattias Cedervall - Apr 16, 2016 at 18:04

The (your?) comic is not bad.

Farooq - Apr 17, 2016 at 04:44

You. :D

Mattias Cedervall - Apr 16, 2016 at 18:01

Great! Thank you for reassuring me, Ron, because this pitchfork is pretty heavy to hold and eat pizza with!

Iron Curtain - Apr 16, 2016 at 20:41

I realize you're Italian, but here in New York City, we take great offense to anyone who eats pizza with a fork (including our very own mayor and reality star Donald Trump).

Iron Curtain - Apr 16, 2016 at 20:43

BTW, NYC's Mayor is Bill DeBlasio, who is NOT Donald Trump. I just want to make sure that is clear.

Mattias Cedervall - Apr 16, 2016 at 20:50

No, I'm not Italian! I use a knife and a forklift to eat pizza.

Iron Curtain - Apr 16, 2016 at 20:55

Phew! Okay, you're good.

Gffp - Apr 17, 2016 at 09:19

Since I come from the province of Naples, the birthland of pizza, I find the discussion about politicians eating pizza in USA very funny!!! Eheheh... In Naples everyone eats pizza as he/she likes, with hands or with fork, it doesn't really matter, the important is the quality of pizza itself! If you buy it from a kiosk in the street, pizza is usually small, they give it to you as a street food in a sheet of paper for food, and you can fold it and eat it directly. If you're in a "pizzeria", you can sit at a table, they give to you fork and knife, pizza is bigger and since original recipe is thin and soft, sometimes it is difficult to eat one piece of pizza without using fork and knife to obtain smaller pieces. But if you're able to take a piece of pizza in your hands, then you can eat it without any fork and no one will ever notice that, since the most of us do so.

Hey look at this: Donald Trump is wearing pizza like pizzaman from Timbleweed Park
http://www.bustle.com/articles/112392-4-snl-donald-trump-skits-that-are-alarmingly-accurate-absolutely-hilarious

Mattias Cedervall - Apr 17, 2016 at 10:48

I've been to Naples in Florida and I think I ate pizza with a spoon and a straw.

Gffp - Apr 17, 2016 at 11:32

Wow Mattias, I didn't know there are 10 Naples(es) in USA!!! (Florida, California, Idaho, Illinois, Maine, New York, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Winsconsin). That's amazing!!! Pizza with a spoon and a straw... it would be a milkshake, but it seems not very tasty eheheh
Come to Naples, Italy, and I'll take you to eat a wonderful pizza and a gelato (italian icecream made with milk).

Iron Curtain - Apr 17, 2016 at 13:03

Don't worry, we know what Gelato is in the US (or at least in NYC). We have places that sell Gelato everywhere in NYC.

Mattias Cedervall - Apr 17, 2016 at 15:52

Thank you for your invitation! :-) I thought there was only one Naples in the USA. I've never been to Italy. Maybe we can play football together? :-) Great female football player?

Zak Phoenix McKracken - Apr 18, 2016 at 06:18

"Gelato = Ice cream made with milk"...
Pardon my ignorance, but... I always believed that ice cream = gelato, that is... if you don't use milk, it's not ice cream. It's... coloured ice with no taste. Am I wrong?

Gffp - Apr 18, 2016 at 08:35

@Iron Curtain: could the Big Apple miss something tasty like Gelato? Shame on me. That's fantastic!!!
@Mattias Cedervall: you're welcome, literally! Yes we can play football together (for the americans I mean soccer) but I have to admit that I am not that great player, nor female!!! ahahah
@Zak: in a few words ice-cream is made with cream, gelato with milk but... here's the difference explained better than I could ever do. http://morellisgelato.com/the-difference-between-gelato-and-ice-cream

Zak Phoenix McKracken - Apr 18, 2016 at 09:48

Excellent explanation. So, if I went to San Francisco, and asked a "Gelato", they will understand me.

Mattias Cedervall - Apr 19, 2016 at 10:28

I see. I'm male and very good at soccer. I can for example shoot with my right or left foot.

Gffp - Apr 20, 2016 at 05:37

Then you're really good. With my left foot I can barely pass the ball to my team mates. :-P

lynchuist - Apr 16, 2016 at 18:38

Whatever you do, just add an option to revert it.
Just joking.
GIVE "hand-tied bouquet of apology flowers" TO RON

Zak Phoenix McKracken - Apr 16, 2016 at 18:16

I want to let you know that the new fan movie of Daniele Spadoni is online, and it's called....MANIAC MANSION!
Ron and David already whatched it, and commented on twitter.
This is the link:
https://youtu.be/B6m1BiRyzbw

Daniele - Apr 17, 2016 at 07:18

thanks for sharing

Zak Phoenix McKracken - Apr 17, 2016 at 18:10

Ok Daniele. Now give me my money. In pieces of eight.

Zak Phoenix McKracken - Apr 16, 2016 at 18:51

When I return home from the Saturday night, I usually check the blog for a new podcast. I like them, I like when you talk about everything, related to the game or not. It's like telling a goodnight tale :-)
So... Thimbleweed Park will feature animations and more animations, I can't wait to see them!
But Boston is a bit too far from me, unfortunately...
Have a nice weekend!

Peter Campbell - Apr 17, 2016 at 00:38

I haven't listened to the podcast just yet, but before doing so (I can't type and listen at the same time lol) I quickly wanted to comment that Gamespot just published a new article on their front page about Thimbleweed Park with some really cool, never before seen art and a discussion with Ron about the game =)

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/thimbleweed-park-is-the-classic-adventure-game-you/1100-6438864/

Zak Phoenix McKracken - Apr 17, 2016 at 06:17

Great!! Thimbleweed Park is creating a hype through those kind of articles!

Gffp (Gary's fullfilling fantastic pictures) - Apr 17, 2016 at 09:45

Gary that's your turn to show the world your amazing skills at pax east!!! I hope someone will make a video. I watched your patreon video and you're such a nice person! You seem to be the fellow that everyone would like to have in the office , what makes you think that even though the work is hard and the weather (haha ) is bad, there will be a lot of fun. Now I understand better how TWP is born!!!

Gv - Apr 17, 2016 at 18:31

I was playing with some images of TWP and made them to look like EGA
http://www.freewebs.com/gfvh/sci/tw1.png
http://www.freewebs.com/gfvh/sci/tw2.png
http://www.freewebs.com/gfvh/sci/tw3.png
http://www.freewebs.com/gfvh/sci/tw4.png
They don't look very good maybe you are right in making the game "VGA", but also you are good programmers (not like me) and maybe make an optional filter like the "e" option of VGA Lucasarts games.

e - Apr 17, 2016 at 20:30

You can't make things "EGA" just by dropping the number of colors. Everything would need to be re-colored from scratch for that. Let's just settle for the visual full-color treat we're getting?

Mattias Cedervall - Apr 17, 2016 at 20:57

Excuse me, but I think it looks really bad.

Gv - Apr 17, 2016 at 20:59

Thank you. Just trying :)

Mattias Cedervall - Apr 19, 2016 at 10:28

I still appreciate your effort so please don't get me wrong.

Gv - Apr 19, 2016 at 13:12

I'm joking :) I know they look awful.

Bogdan Barbu - Apr 20, 2016 at 06:14

They do but if anyone is into this this sort of stuff, they could manually turn the color depth down when playing on PC's to achieve this effect. Yuck, though.

Bogdan Barbu - Apr 20, 2016 at 06:18

And the resolution. Sorry for the double post, I accidentally double tapped the screen before it got a chance to reload the page.

Bogdan Barbu - Apr 20, 2016 at 06:14

They do but if anyone is into this this sort of stuff, they could manually turn the color depth down when playing on PC's to achieve this effect. Yuck, though.

longuist - Apr 18, 2016 at 04:08

I like the wrong aspect ratio :)
Maybe the almighty design department of Terrible Toybox could devise a 99% secret room in which a switch does not flip the brightness but VGA+ to true EGA. *hint

Gv - Apr 18, 2016 at 06:01

Thanks :)
It's a quirk of my "VGA to EGA tool". :)

Nor Treblig - Apr 17, 2016 at 20:59

I also think an automatic filter for converting VGA to EGA will never look good.

But if the game would have been originally designed for this 16 colour palette, although there would be quite a lot limitations for the artist, it could have looked great.

It's crazy what they got out of those 16 colours in Maniac Mansion and Zak McKracken (all those shadows and shades!).

Gv - Apr 17, 2016 at 21:19

Exactly. I agree with you.

Malcolm Stead - Apr 19, 2016 at 23:41

That choice of palette isnt close to EGA colours - sorry :D

Gv - Apr 20, 2016 at 06:48

I choose the coulours "by eye", or I took them from a EGA image from a screenshot of Monkey Island EGA conversion from VGA (via "e" comman line option), I don't remember because I made different versions. But yes, those values can be wrong since it is an internet image.

Gv - Apr 20, 2016 at 06:50

... since it is an internet image. (I mean the original picture I took the colours from)

longuist - Apr 20, 2016 at 06:53

This means you, Gv, should go on with your tool and map the colors to the nearest correspondent colors in the EGA color pallette.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enhanced_Graphics_Adapter#/media/File:EGA_Table.PNG

As you can only use 16 at one time, i suggest as an artistic choice to put at least cyan and pink in it. For maximum beauteousness!

Gv - Apr 20, 2016 at 07:21

I'd use the first 16 as it's what I am accostumed to. Thanks. I used similar colors because it doesn't matter now. Like the Mark Ferrari talk in GDC: I prefer the renaissance fair to the actual renaissance ;)

Gv - Apr 20, 2016 at 07:23

I see now in that table that they're not the first 16. I mean the 16 colors Lucasarts (and many others) used.

longuist - Apr 20, 2016 at 07:45

Ok, maybe i'm wrong about it, but doesn't the actual used colors change from room to room?

And to Marks remarks, i understand his standpoint, but with reducing the amount of colors to 16 you are going in a quite different (opposite) direction. Going retro, isn't that the purpose of your tool?

(p.s. don't take my comments too seriously :)

Gv - Apr 20, 2016 at 07:52

Yes, I know, just kidding with the Mark Ferrari reference :)
Yes, I choose the colours "by eye" just because of lazyness and also because I didn't know that table you showed me, thank you.
I think that the games used only 16 colors and they are all the same. I think now that I read the article they are the CGA 16 color mode. I think (I may be wrong here) that it is only one bit for each color channel (red green blue) and one bit for intensity (bright, darker)

Ron Gilbert ✓ - Apr 20, 2016 at 09:01

Bright magenta would never have appear in the image, it was used as a transparent color (before the days of alpha).

Gv - Apr 20, 2016 at 10:37

Great. I didn't know that.
Then it's even more genius the work of Mark and all the artists. They didn't even work with 16 colors but 15 :)

Steve - Apr 17, 2016 at 19:20

The new animations sounds cool... when can we see them in action?

Zombocast - Apr 17, 2016 at 23:35

I bet Ransoms roommate is the killer.

http://img-9gag-fun.9cache.com/photo/aX9QXn6_460sv.mp4

Mattias Cedervall - Apr 19, 2016 at 18:29

That was funny.

Nor Treblig - Apr 21, 2016 at 01:05

Here is the original in all its HD glory: https://youtu.be/14077PJvg4E

Roman - Apr 18, 2016 at 03:03

#46 can be found somewhere on a tape hidden in the library inside Thimbleweed Park I guess...or you only find a cassette recorder and the actual tape in the successor of Thimbleweed Park "Ransom's lost files' (tm).....

juan martín - Apr 18, 2016 at 11:57

Did Ron say there are about 100 rooms in the game?

Does anyone remember how many did MI had? Zak? MM?

Just to get an idea of the size.

Ron Gilbert ✓ - Apr 18, 2016 at 12:01

MM had around 48. MI 1 was around 80 and MI 2 was 90, but those numbers include a lot of close-ups, which we don't have in TWP.

Ron Gilbert ✓ - Apr 18, 2016 at 12:03

It's also worth noting that MM had very dense rooms. A lot happened in those 40-odd rooms.

Big Red Button - Apr 18, 2016 at 14:56

In my opinion, the widths of some rooms in TP are noteworthy, too. Especially the streets are extremely wide since they are created with the same perspective as it was done in MM and Zak, whereas the streets in MI used to have a much more complex vanishing point perspective, which was very space-saving and allowed to reduce both the required disk space and the amount of work for the artists (The only exception I spontaneously remember is the long boardwalk that leads to the town on Mêlée Island - and to one of the most famous bars in the Caribbean).

Brian S - Apr 18, 2016 at 22:27

Were you limited in rooms in MM for any other reason than the effort to create new rooms? Did you cut many rooms during the process of creating MM?

Ron Gilbert ✓ - Apr 18, 2016 at 22:34

Yes, very limited. We had two sides of a C64 disk. Each side could hold 160K, so we had to fit the whole game in 320K. Some of the rooms were duplicated on both sides of the disk to limit disk swapping. It was a constant fight to make it all fit.

Carlo Valenti - Apr 19, 2016 at 18:07

Just like my pants.

Helge Frisenette - Apr 19, 2016 at 20:23

The most impressive thing about Maniac Mansion is that the ideas, compression techniques and programming methods where just as interesting and new as the game itself.
320Kb for a game of that scope is really impressive!
Sure, weaker implementations of all of the ideas had appeared in games before it. But MM used the in concert and with much greater success. The endresult truely was greater than the sum of the parts.

Zak Phoenix McKracken - Apr 20, 2016 at 04:25

You are right, with Commodore 64 there was the thrilling of the programming challenge. In my mind, the most impressive result of fitting something huge into a small computer was "Sky Travel", a software where you could navigate (even with the Enterprise!) through the sky. "We're loading a big chunk of the universe into a very small computer (which thinks very big thoughts)".

juan martín - Apr 20, 2016 at 16:13

Thanks for the answer Ron!

Yes, the ammount of things per room in MM was great!! Sometimes les screens with more to do makes the game feel bigger and more alive.
In recent times many games only have one or two things for a single room/screen which creates these hollow world effect.

Gffp - Apr 18, 2016 at 13:22

Ron, you said that you didn't like close-ups in Monkey Island 1. Why? I still remember the big face of Mancomb Seepgood smiling and that was funny, I never tought it broke the continuity of gaming, it reminded me the images of a book, and it was like a beautiful storytelling. Also it added a movie-like change of camera that helped break a sort of monotony of platform-like scenes. I missed it in Monkey2 and other scumm games. Why don't you like them?

longuist - Apr 18, 2016 at 15:58

@ Gibbon Flipflop Fur Puppet
Maybe i have a dejawoo, but hasn't Mr. Grumpy McGrumpface answered this in a comment a while ago? Can't find it though, maybe i'm wrong...

Gffp - Apr 18, 2016 at 16:15

Yes, I've the same deja vu and I can't find it too.

Big Red Button - Apr 18, 2016 at 18:53

I'm not sure, but if I remember correctly, he said that it was due to a lack of time and that the close-ups weren't suitable to the other artworks of the game.
And it's probably due to the limited disk space (Bear in mind that the facial expression additionally varied in some cases).

Gv - Apr 19, 2016 at 12:12

How cannot one like those close ups, they're wonderful. The VGA close ups they are different, maybe they don't go well with the other art.

Big Red Button - Apr 19, 2016 at 15:27

I know the VGA version only. I think they've been a nice elaboration and they helped to work the characters out in a more multifaceted way. I love the close-up of the navigator's head in particular, especially his smile!
Though, I wouldn't insist on the use close-ups. I've never missed a close-up of Herman Toothrot, for instance. I just liked him the way he was presented. The character animations in MI are already pretty detailed, in my opinion. Moreover, every detail the low resolution isn't capable of showing stimulates my imagination. And when I saw the close-up of Guybrush for the first time I was a bit surprised, because I had imagined his face differently.

Big Red Button - Apr 19, 2016 at 15:30

By the way, the single-colored backgrounds bothered me a bit. I would have prefered a blurred corner of the particular room.

Big Red Button - Apr 19, 2016 at 14:00

Though, I'm pretty sure that it was not in the comments. If at all, he might have told it either in the podcast or in an interview.

procrasturist - Apr 20, 2016 at 06:39

Ok, what can be said is there was a question (but no answer) about close-ups in the comments here:

https://blog.thimbleweedpark.com/podcast26

Ron had his opinion about the matter a while ago here:

http://grumpygamer.com/stuff_and_things_and_monkey_island

"P.S. I was always bothered by these close-ups. While they were great art, I never felt they matched the style of the rest of the game. Not sure how I feel about them 20 years later."

hmm, in fact i have more important things to do :/

Gffp - Apr 20, 2016 at 08:58

Hey, you know things pretty well. Are you sure you're not really that Ron Gilbert, under a cover name? Thank you, the article on grumpy gamer was interesting.

longuist - Apr 20, 2016 at 12:17

Hmm, let me think...nope, guess not :)

Suppose i'm good at partially remembering things (mostly unimportant stuff). Secondly i'm a key senior procrastination engineer expert evangelist. Thus having lots of time to look things up.

PrinzJohnny99 - Apr 19, 2016 at 02:06

You havn't missed it in Loom™ ;-)

Gffp - Apr 20, 2016 at 05:34

Oh no, that's for sure! :-)

Farooq - Apr 19, 2016 at 12:50

Yes I loved them too but I think the character proportions won't make it into a feasible close-up. MI was aimed to have adequately realistic proportions hence it worked there.

Carlo Valenti - Apr 18, 2016 at 15:16

Oh, glorious times! Will we ever discover one day - maybe - one undisclosed Lucas-like adventure game, hidden in a dusty closet, ready to be played and solved, and be able to enjoy it down to its 100th room?
Oh, I feel sooo empty.

Carlo Valenti - Apr 18, 2016 at 15:52

Hey! I never noticed that, in Monkey1, when you arrive outside the Scumm bar it is sunset for a while, and then it becomes night!

Ema - Apr 18, 2016 at 18:44

That's true in the EGA version. When I bought the VGA I was so eager to see that marvellous 256-colour-sunset that I was very disappointed stating that in VGA the game started at night...

Gffp - Apr 19, 2016 at 02:54

Could you imagine that, 25 years later, Mark Ferrari would give it back to us in Thimbleweed park opening?

Black Six - Apr 18, 2016 at 19:56

It seemed like this episode was mastered at a much lower volume than they usually are. I really had to crank things up in order to hear what you guys were saying. Not the end of the world, but I figured you should know so you can look into it.

I'm excited for the game!

Ron Gilbert ✓ - Apr 18, 2016 at 19:58

Yeah, I'm a game designer, not a sound mixer and I have a game to work on, so just feel lucky you can hear anything at all. :-)

Leak - Apr 22, 2016 at 17:54

Maybe you could run the separate audio tracks through ReplayGain, and do it again with the resulting mix when you're almost done?

PrinzJohnny99 - Apr 19, 2016 at 02:13

I'm a doctor, not a game designer, Ron!

Zak Phoenix McKracken - Apr 20, 2016 at 05:12

Tonight I had a dream:
"Lucca Comics & Games Event: Ron Gilbert and the redemption of the adventure games".
If the wind of change coming from USA will reach my country, maybe... who knows...
Luckly, dreams are still free and possible.

Giulio - Apr 20, 2016 at 06:50

That would be awesome! :D

Mattias Cedervall - Apr 20, 2016 at 17:40

Cool dream! :-)

Zak Phoenix McKracken - Apr 21, 2016 at 06:05

I have never played Little Nemo, altough I have already heard it, but thank you for the longplay video!

Nor Treblig - Apr 21, 2016 at 12:58

Never heard of this game before but the game mechanic looks interesting.

But this is not really a great line to teach kids all over the world: "Anybody smart enough to gimme candy can't be all bad" (taken from the intro)...

Mattias Cedervall - Apr 21, 2016 at 16:21

I like the game.

Mattias Cedervall - Apr 21, 2016 at 22:09

PS. I agree that it's not a great line! I'm surprised Nintendo didn't change that!

Nor Treblig - Apr 22, 2016 at 03:55

Yes they are/were quite strict. But since this line doesn't contain any nipples or phone calls it was apparently fine.
You probably have seen before this but for reference and for those who haven't read it yet: http://www.crockford.com/wrrrld/maniac.html

Mattias Cedervall - Apr 22, 2016 at 19:20

Yes, I hate that Nintendo made those silly changes! :-( There's a patch to correct that, but I haven't tried it yet. http://www.zophar.net/hacks/nes/maniac-mansion/Maniac-Mansion-Prototype-556.html

Zombocast - Apr 21, 2016 at 01:29

After fully testing on harmless animals.. "Thanks Thimbleweed Team". Thimbleweed Park is ready for human trials!
So stick those 5.25 floppies into the slot, and listen to those Read heads purr. "Buzz Buzz, Baby!"

Thimbleweed Park will have it's first playable demo this year and we're all wondering if the tech market is ready for it's release..
Ron's newly developed graphical changes will make its debut, like floating UI and Improved "Full Screen" 16x9 aspect ratio.

Will our current video cards handle it? Or will we be left upgrading for years just to keep up with Ron's changes to the game engine...
Only time will tell, so place your fingers on the home keys and get ready to execute those Run commands.

Pax coming, and so are we..

Zak Phoenix McKracken - Apr 21, 2016 at 03:54

Will you be one of the lucky human being, touching with their own hands, the long-waited playable demo of Thimbleweed Park at PAX East?

T.M. - Apr 23, 2016 at 02:07

For those of us who are not so lucky, there’s still a chance to have an early glimpse of gameplay, taken apparently from Microsoft’s ID@Xbox showcase.

Although, there will of course be some spoilers as there are scenes that haven’t been showed here in blog yet. (I know I shouldn’t have watched it but my curiosity got better of me, you know how it is.) You’ve been warned:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVmioEtIZiU

Carlo Valenti - Apr 21, 2016 at 15:34

Have a great PAX, Thimbleguys!
Pax et bonum!

Robert - Apr 21, 2016 at 18:12

It seems like you changed the top banner of the blog. So finally agent Ray has quit smoking... a shame, I thought that made her look pretty cool.
Is she going to smoke in the game?

Big Red Button - Apr 21, 2016 at 18:54

At least, it's more pedagogical now.
That said, I hope that she is going to smoke in the game and maybe to usually drop the cigarette stub onto the ground, even though - or maybe just because - I use to dislike such a misbehaviour in the real world. It would make the game feel more authentic and closer to reality.

Nor Treblig - Apr 22, 2016 at 03:57

And they should be (semi-)persistent and pile up with time, like (semi-)permanent blood stains in shooters :-)

Big Red Button - Apr 22, 2016 at 06:23

I'm not sure. In my opinion, the way the disappearance of items was typically done in shooters has always been a bit too conspicuous and unrealistic. Maybe she should simply throw the stub away, in such a way that it disappears either behind an edge of the screen or behind anything in the foreground, so that nobody knows where it remains.
The easiest - and still a satisfying - way would probably be a cigarette that glimmers and disappears while it's still falling.

By the way, Captain Smirk has smoked, too, but I don't remember if we could watch him dropping his cigar.

Nor Treblig - Apr 23, 2016 at 16:17

Also there should be a proper physics engine for piling up all those pixels! But I'm just kidding.

Oh and also I don't think you do this with cigars at all... (putting them out on the floor...)

Big Red Button - Apr 28, 2016 at 15:40

You may be right. Cigar stubs on the ground are extremely rare.

By the way, I assume that a tough guy like Smirk doesn't need to leave a stub over. He just smokes his cigars down to the end.

Nor Treblig - Apr 28, 2016 at 16:30

Yes, this sounds like him!

Gffp - Apr 22, 2016 at 18:03

I don't have the answer to your question but, if you look at her in the "Game" section of this site, she is in her newest "clothes" and she still holds a cigarette...

Big Red Button - Apr 21, 2016 at 18:38

The traffic on this blog has increased since GDC, hasn't it? I'm sure it will increase once again due to PAX.

Zuckerberg - Apr 22, 2016 at 09:13

Speaking of traffic:
Ron et al, would it be possible to let us in on traffic numbers, iTunes podcast downloads and such? Would be interesting to know how much visitors this blog here has, or in other words, how much dust is raised by such a successful kickstarter.

Zak Phoenix McKracken - Apr 22, 2016 at 03:51

Warning: the last part of "Answers to Unanswered Questions of Friday Podcast" has been delayed.
Please don't cry and don't rip up your clothes, I'll post my last podcast next week. :-)

Brian S - Apr 22, 2016 at 19:57

Looking forward to it! You have a knack for answering questions in a dryly funny, and plausible way that Ron, Gary, and David would likely answer as well - in some cases, anyway :). And I hope there's more singing.

Zak Phoenix McKracken - Apr 22, 2016 at 18:13

Today I'm not in the mood to write in English, if you want help ask google translator.

Mi sento triste, oggi è il classico giorno in cui vorresti non esserti alzato dal letto. Non ho più la forza nemmeno per pensare in inglese. È strano che io venga qui, in questo blog, a sfogarmi. Forse perché qui, è nata una famiglia, un gruppo di persone, accomunate dalla stessa passione, ma comunque persone valide, gentili, rispettosi. È molto raro vedermi triste, chi mi conosce lo sa, ma oggi è uno di quei giorni.
Perdonate lo sfogo...
Grazie.

Carlo Valenti - Apr 22, 2016 at 19:10

coraggio

Zak Phoenix McKracken - Apr 23, 2016 at 01:52

Grazie, oggi è l'alba di un nuovo giorno :-)

Brian S - Apr 22, 2016 at 19:37

Io non parlo italiano , ma volevo rispondere al tuo post di cuore . È possibile grazie a Google Translate per la cattiva traduzione di quello che probabilmente è veramente sorprendente prosa. Apprezzo molto la vostra presenza qui su questo blog . Si mettono un sacco di vita e divertimento per la comunità . Sono sicuro che sia una sfida non comunicare nella vostra lingua madre , ma sanno che la maggior parte di noi veramente apprezzare tutto ciò che si mettono . Spero che domani (o più tardi di oggi ) porta la felicità . Per ora, apprezzare quanto la tristezza contrasti e ci aiuta ad apprezzare il contrario , che è sicuro di venire .

Zak Phoenix McKracken - Apr 23, 2016 at 01:48

Hello, thank you for your effort and your kind words! I really have appreciated it! It's morning now and the beginning of a new day. Yesterday is past, now, time to start again!

Gffp - Apr 23, 2016 at 04:46

Vai Zak, ricomincia alla grande!

Mattias Cedervall - Apr 23, 2016 at 11:11

I hope you feel better soon!

Carlo Valenti - Apr 22, 2016 at 19:13

Is there any possibility to use the verbs Turn On/Turn Off in Monkey1. The game can be completed without touching them, I think.

Carlo Valenti - Apr 22, 2016 at 19:15

Can first part of Monkey1 be completed without even talking to the important pirates and to the voodoo lady? I believe so!

Nor Treblig - Apr 23, 2016 at 01:47

You can definitely finish the game without ever visiting the Voodoo Lady!

Gffp - Apr 23, 2016 at 04:43

Yeah, just take the rubber chicken and run!

Nor Treblig - Apr 23, 2016 at 15:21

Though heed my warning: You will probably be cursed if you play it that way! (there should have been an alternate ending for this case :D)
"Do not mock the voodoo priestess!"

Carlo Valenti - Apr 24, 2016 at 03:07

Yes, but you can also avoid to talk to the important-looking pirates. I played it such way up to two trials; and was about to complete the third (sword master)