Ports Ports Ports

Sep 14, 2017

Been awhile since I posted here, and I should start doing that more with news and updates. I post a lot of Twitter, but forget that not everyone is on Twitter. I'm starting to think you're the smart ones.

We released the arcades last month. There is a new puzzle chain to find tokens for the machines. The puzzle chains can only be done in hard mode, but once you find the tokens, they will be there for every new game, including those started in easy mode.

Occuplying much of our time now are ports, ports and more ports.

The iOS build has been approved by Apple, and now we're waiting for some PR stuff.

The Switch port has also been approved by Nintendo, but we still have to do some "paperwork" before it will be on the e-store.

Exciting times.

We're doing last minute testing on the Android port. It's much harder than iOS due to the huge variety of hardware. We've come across a couple of GPUs that don't have the power, or are just buggy and needed to rewrite some of our shaders.

We're also trying to get full controller, mouse and keyboard support into the Android, which is also proving to be more work than anticipated.

Yeah, I know. Bitch, bitch, bitch. Bring us solutions Mr. Gilbert, not problems.

- Ron

P.S. The PS4 port has been live for several weeks now.

Brian - Sep 14, 2017 at 18:35

Sweet! Looking forward to playing on Switch.

Matt - Sep 14, 2017 at 18:41

Had NO idea the PS4 port was out. Heck ya! Looking forward to playing this game! Woohoo, thanks for the blog update! :)

urielz - Sep 14, 2017 at 19:33

Congrats to the team. I will get the Android version, not likely to play it there but I want to support TT Inc.... Looking forward for more games!

Pavel - Sep 14, 2017 at 19:42

Congrats!

Derrick Reisdorf - Sep 14, 2017 at 20:07

When is the C64 port coming?

Fernando The Vicious - Sep 14, 2017 at 20:49

Wow! My 7 manuscripts in different systems. Congrats to the team :D

Nor Treblig - Sep 14, 2017 at 21:01

I think it's great that Android ports will (likely) get controller, mouse and keyboard support!

Tim Lammert - Sep 15, 2017 at 04:46

I was about to ask for exactly that. Yeah that's great. And my superbook is finally about to get shipped within the next weeks, going to be perfectly together :D

Chaz - Sep 14, 2017 at 22:51

Is the letterboxing deliberate? The PS4 version has black borders...was't sure if that was by design.

Norman - Sep 14, 2017 at 23:13

I understand about Android. I do both Android and iOS and there are just too many devices in Android, many of which barely function in terms of multimedia. That and the fact that almost no one uses the recent Android releases. But, glad to hear iOS is coming very soon!

Molul - Sep 15, 2017 at 01:27

Thanks for the Android port! It must be a PITA testing so many devices. Google should set some kind of "gaming level" standard for Android devices to make developing games easier.

Jerry - Sep 15, 2017 at 02:01

That's a lot of ports! You guys are Awesome!

Andy Latham - Sep 15, 2017 at 02:34

Hi Ron, I can't wait for the Switch version, and I like that it has touch controls. I'm just wondering if it also has wii remote-style pointer controls when playing on the TV or is it analog sticks only?

Sushi - Sep 15, 2017 at 02:42

@Ron: Is there an option to reset the tokens being found? (Other than doing a fresh re-install of the game)

I am still 5000 comments behind on this blog, when would I have time to read Twitter?

I missed the secret question, which is not mandatory in the otherwise excellent TWP forum.

hihp - Sep 15, 2017 at 02:52

Ron, I am sure no developer reading your post would hitch about solutions... I for myself am only a hobby programmer, but I have done my share of Android development and know what you are talking about ^^ Sort of reminds me of those old days when you had to tailor your sound output not only for a SoundBlaster(TM), but also had to code for AdLib(TM) etc...

Seeing how many people use Android these days, it is therefore highly appreciated that you guys are putting so much effort into the Android version!

I'd love to say "Well, at least the next graphic adventure you write will be a bliss, will all only be writing a new story and scripting it, no more work on the engine or the ports", but we both know that would be a lie... But it WILL be less work, so all the time you invest now is well-spent :D

Nuno - Sep 15, 2017 at 03:13

Any chance for a PS Vita port ? Thanks for the awesome work.

Have you heard anything from Disney about the Monkey Island rights ? :D

Juan - Sep 24, 2017 at 02:23

Second that. Played Tentacle on my Vita and I want Thimbleweed. Take my money

Jan-Peter Rühmann - Sep 15, 2017 at 05:36

Port to 32Bit Linux?
Please.

Someone - Sep 15, 2017 at 10:50

Why? Most distributions are cutting their 32 bit versions at the moments.

Carlo Valenti - Sep 15, 2017 at 07:34

Great job! It's nice to be back here, too...

BadWampa - Sep 15, 2017 at 08:14

Will there be a physical version for Switch?

Paul - Sep 15, 2017 at 15:59

awesome I've been saving my second play through so i can play the arcades :)

ps I bought a second copy for my mum for her birthday.

I hope the sales are going well guys?

e - Sep 15, 2017 at 16:35

Still looking for the arcade tokens...

A few weird things I noticed when starting a new playthrough (my 3rd) with the latest (and greatest) Mac version on Steam:

1) Default verbs don't seem to work on other playable characters. Talk to is highlighted, but nothing happens when you right-click?

2) Default verbs act strangely when you keep the cursor on an item that has a default action while the screen is scrolling. The verb gets dehighlighted when the screen moves, then either stays unlit, flashes on and off, or turns back on like it should.

3) The down-arrow in the inventory is still clickable one more time after it turns invisible when you reach the end of the item list. This has never really made any sense to me, is it a bug or a feature?

Ron Gilbert ✓ - Sep 15, 2017 at 16:37

1) This has never been the case, they are incorrectly highlighting now. Fixed in next build.
2) No idea.
3) I left it in to catch any odd error where there was an item, but it won't scroll. Been like that since day-1.

e - Sep 15, 2017 at 17:10

Ok, thanks for the clarification.

Just tried the hintline out of curiosity, that must have been an enormous amount of work to script...

Geoff Paulsen - Sep 15, 2017 at 17:26

"I post a lot of Twitter, but forget that not everyone is on Twitter. I'm starting to think you're the smart ones."
- Haha!

JJK9 - Sep 15, 2017 at 18:20

Will you allow Scummvm to add Thimbleweed park in the future if they are still going in 10 or 20 years? I noticed you mentioned scummvm in several of you podcasts when talking about the lucasarts games.

Soong - Sep 22, 2017 at 05:17

I am not sure the ScummVM developers would need consent. All they do is implement an engine that can run SCUMM code. They did this with other engines too and reimplementing (parts of) the Thimbleweed Park engine shouldn't pose a legal issue either. However, Ron said he might release the engine code as Free Software at some point. That would of course greatly simplify the process for ScummVM or similar efforts.

Mattias Cedervall - Sep 16, 2017 at 03:08

I'm so happy that you released the arcades! :D

I only wonder if you have fixed my books in the library like I begged you to...!

Ron Gilbert ✓ - Sep 16, 2017 at 10:29

We have not made any changes or fixes to library books. A lot of people have requested that, and it would be a logistical nightmare to do it. The books are fixed in time.

Mattias Cedervall - Sep 16, 2017 at 17:08

Oh, I see... I volunteer to fix it for a lot of people! ;-) I'm a quick typer! :-) I just wish it was fixed for the physical release because that version can't be altered later on! :-( Thank you for your reply, Ron! <3

longuist - Sep 19, 2017 at 15:32

(Never gonna) Give it up! Your book will look like an unfinished draft for-ever-ever-ever :P

Steffen - Sep 16, 2017 at 16:40

Great news!
For me it's the Android version I am waiting for. So thanks for the ports... And BIG thanks for still updating the game!

iPadCary - Sep 18, 2017 at 00:42

This means it AND iOS 11 are both coming on Tuesday ....
HUZZAH!

Alex - Sep 18, 2017 at 01:15

Hi,

Will the game run on iOS 8.4?

Many thanks

MaaS - Sep 18, 2017 at 02:25

So... Apple TV.. maybe? ;P

Ryo - Sep 18, 2017 at 04:40

Keyboard and Mouse support for Android sounds awesome!
Can't wait for it. It's okay to wait a little longer for more features. Thanks!

Soong - Sep 18, 2017 at 05:11

Awesome! So far, I only have the PC version and I was thinking about getting the PS4 version (not sure what for), but in three days, I can get in on the Switch and finally find the time to finish hard mode because I can play while I commute. Yay!

Soong - Sep 22, 2017 at 05:13

Bought the Switch version this morning. So excited to try it out!

Julian - Sep 19, 2017 at 04:56

Great news!

What about Linux armv7h (Raspberry Pi with Debian/Raspbian or Arch Linux ARM)?
I guess you already ported to arm for the Android version, so this should be basically done already?
Unlike Android systems the Pi port could use the same i/o code as on 64bit Linux.

Okona - Sep 19, 2017 at 08:31

Very nice.

One small comment:
The iOS version should automatically display subtitles when the iPhone is switched to silent mode which the game honors by being silent. Thereby making playing a bit pointless when you can't read and hear what all the characters are saying.

Ron Gilbert ✓ - Sep 19, 2017 at 09:15

Yeah, that would be nice... except there is no way for us to know this happened. iOS give no feedback or notification of this.

Josejulio Martínez - Sep 19, 2017 at 15:01

Maybe something like this could help if you want to know if the phone is sending any audio.

https://github.com/hoishing/MuteChecker
(Not sure if this is still working though)

Jonny - Sep 19, 2017 at 12:53

Maybe you should put the iOS AppStore link on your home page.

Norbert - Sep 19, 2017 at 16:17

I'm two thirds through on my Mac and would like to switch to iOS to be able to play it on the go. Is there any way to sync the save games between the Steam and iOS versions?

(I know that this is an edge case and that this feature therefore probably was / is not worth the effort. I just would like to know before buying the iOS version. Which I will probably do in any case. Awesome game - thanks for making it!)

Ron Gilbert ✓ - Sep 19, 2017 at 16:23

The save game files are compatible. The trick is getting them on your iPhone. I use https://macroplant.com/iexplorer to do it during development.

Norbert - Sep 19, 2017 at 16:31

I'll give it a try. Thanks for the hint!

Norbert - Sep 19, 2017 at 17:18

Unfortunately iExplorer is giving me an "This app does not have iTunes file sharing enabled" error (and links me to http://iexplorer-support.macroplant.com/customer/portal/articles/1942869). I also tried iMazing with a similar result. Meh.

Ron Gilbert ✓ - Sep 19, 2017 at 17:22

It might work for me because I have the phone in dev mode and it's been connected with xcode. I'll look into iTunes file sharing, maybe it's something I can enable.

Patrick Harrington - Sep 21, 2017 at 14:48

Very cool — might iCloud save game syncing be coming to iOS, then? I am in love with this game (feel like a kid again in my Monkey Island / Indy game days), but it would be amazing if I could seamlessly switch between playing on iPad and iPhone.

Ron Gilbert ✓ - Sep 21, 2017 at 16:15

Don't know. Apple provides a simple way to do sync, but it's very limited in the data size. TWP save games are 500K each! Doing iCloud the "normal" way is very complex. I'll probably look into it when Android is out, but I can't guarantee anything.

Patrick Harrington - Sep 22, 2017 at 08:33

Thanks for the reply, Ron, and for the countless hours of fun you gave me as a kid. :)

It looks fairly simple (famous last words), and the file size for save games is only limited by a user's available iCloud Drive space: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/gamekit/gksavedgame and https://developer.apple.com/library/content/documentation/NetworkingInternet/Conceptual/GameKit_Guide/SavedGames/SavedGames.html — looks like you just blob the save game data into a key-value pair with the GameKit API.

Ron Gilbert ✓ - Sep 22, 2017 at 09:36

I spent a lot of time with GKSavedGame. The issue is all the edge cases, what happens if you're offline on one device, then play on the second device, then sync. What happens is the user turns off icloud, plays for a while, then turns it back on, while they played on another device. There are countless scenarios that all need to be taken care off... and we have nine savegames, so any user confirmation becomes become unwieldy. Also, you don't get notifications of synced data until after the game has started, so someone could load a game and then 20 seconds after, the game syncs from the cloud. Then what? More user confirmations and confusion. All this is solvable, it's just not simple and will take me weeks to figure out and test. I felt it was more important to get the game out.

Patrick Harrington - Sep 22, 2017 at 21:26

Aah, yes - the devil is in the details - all really good points about all the edge cases!

Josejulio Martínez - Oct 02, 2017 at 13:46

I have seen some games that do have iCloud slots (I suppose is to avoid this confusion).
You are supposed to manually do a "load/save from/to iCloud".
This won't be perfect, but at least would enable to transfer your saves to other iOS devices without having to deal with lots of edge cases.

Else you might want to just save/load using the device-id that the developer can use, with options to "load from other device".

Bogdan Barbu - Sep 20, 2017 at 07:09

Is it too early to ask whether Terrible Toybox will be releasing other adventure games in the future? I'm not talking about specific announcements, only whether the future looks bright or not. :)

Enrico - Sep 25, 2017 at 02:19

We discussed this topic several times and in more than on thread in the official community forum.

Maybe the easiest reference that I can give you is this post and the following ones in the same thread:

https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/t/will-we-get-a-new-game-from-ron-gilbert-and-team-in-near-future/1505/5

Bogdan Barbu - Sep 27, 2017 at 12:08

Thanks, bud.

Giulio - Sep 22, 2017 at 14:47

What about a thimbleweedpark sequel? Greetings from Italy!

Dylan Thomas - Sep 25, 2017 at 14:31

I saw the Thimbleweed Park ad on the iOS App Store the other day and was elated! Didn't even know that it was coming out so soon. Now I just need to save up my pennies to buy it...

Batossai - Oct 04, 2017 at 13:24

I just finished the game in my switch, it is the best adventure game Í have ever played. Will the arcade games be enabled for the switch?

Ron Gilbert ✓ - Oct 04, 2017 at 13:30

They are... there is a puzzle to solve... and you have to do it in hard mode.

Carl - Oct 12, 2017 at 16:50

Switch version gave me a notification last night that download was complete since its been on my system and I have beaten it multiple times I was wondering what it was about??

Ron Gilbert ✓ - Oct 12, 2017 at 17:00

Just some small bugs. It takes a looooong time to get through Switch cert... these were bugs we fixed before launching iOS and it just now made it though.

Carl - Oct 12, 2017 at 23:52

Well thanks for the quick response and for the awesome game. Really brings back memories of playing Maniac Mansion on my NES as a kid. Keep up the awesome work!!!!

Hadi Waqar - Jan 27, 2018 at 11:39

Just finished this game on my switch :) Very Happy :)

Arcade Rewind - Mar 26, 2018 at 21:35

Totally loved this game ever since it was released till now! I love how diverse and fun it is to play! Thank you for this awesome blog too, worth reading indeed!