Ransome unbeeped DLC

by Ron Gilbert
Feb 28, 2018

All clowns swear, don't let anyone tell you otherwise, but for Ransome the Clown it is an art form. In our new "not kid friendly" DLC all of Ransome's beeps can be remove and you'll be able to hear Ransome in all his unbeeped glory.

Available now on Steam and GOG!

Unfortunately, the DLC will only be on Steam and GOG. All the other platforms require that DLC be rated the same as the main game (they do make exceptions for some AA game, surprise, surprise) so it won't be coming to Switch, XBox, PS4 or mobile. We apologize in advance, but that is out of our hands.

When Lauen and I wrote the script, we didn't add the swearing, we just put in *beeping* or *beeper*. Adding the swearing would have meant some pre-process to remove them all and it would have been hell on translators. It was also more fun to write because I had no idea what he was really saying.

When we got to the studio, I wasn't sure if the actor was going to swear or just say "beep". We did some tests and it was pretty obvious that having Ransome say "beep" really undercut his personality. You got the impression that Ransome was censoring himself, which he would never do.

So, we decided to have the actor (Ian Corlett) go full on swearing. The problem was the script didn't contain swear words, just *beep*, *beeper* or *beeping*. Ian didn't think he'd have a problem just filling in the swear words on the fly and it was amazing to listen to. He would do first run cold readings and seamlessly add swear words. It was amazing and hilarious.

I hope you enjoy and please, keep the kids away. We aren't kidding about this stuff.

- Ron

Jacky - Mar 01, 2018 at 13:57

Yes!

Josejulio Martínez - Mar 01, 2018 at 14:01

*beeping* yes!. I mean, fucking yes!

Randy "Dirt Farmer" Hofbauer - Mar 01, 2018 at 14:03

Haha! Ron, does this provide enough release to make up for the decades of holding everything in since the tuna head/sh*thead incident?

vegetaman - Mar 01, 2018 at 14:12

The best DLC ever!

Andrea "Rum Rogers" Serreli - Mar 01, 2018 at 14:14

This is absolutely hilarious, thanks a bunch for this! It looks like your dad **cked a pizza. Brilliant!

Tim Lammert - Mar 01, 2018 at 14:19

Aaand bought. :Yes. Thanks. :)

PiecesOfKate - Mar 01, 2018 at 14:19

That must've been so much fun watching Ian ad lib the swearing! Looking forward to checking it out.

Arto - Mar 01, 2018 at 14:22

Oh wow. This actually makes Ransome a different person. The one he was suppose to be all along!

Patrik Spacek - Mar 01, 2018 at 14:27

Fucking Clown, fucks me up! :)

Sebastian - Mar 01, 2018 at 15:01

Great news, been waiting for this (though I forgot until just today when I saw the announcement and freaked out). : )

But, how exactly does it work (on GOG) ?

I bought the DLC, downloaded the patch (bout 70 MB), installed, started the game.

But its still beeping and I can see no *beeping* difference. Also no options to activate / deactivate the DLC?

Am I missing something?

Ron Gilbert ✓ - Mar 01, 2018 at 15:23

You have to update the main game as well. This is A LOT of new code that went along with supporting this DLC.

Sebastian - Mar 01, 2018 at 15:34

Oh okay, I see the problem. I have version 1391.919 installed, there is an update available at Gog, but it doesn´t accept my version.

So I re-download the whole game and install patch and DLC, then it´s gonna work I guess.

Thanks a bunch for the quick answer (and effort of putting together the DLC) !

BTW, I would be curious about how many DLCs you´ll sell in this case. ;)

DZ-Jay - Mar 02, 2018 at 05:17

I'm on the same boat:  I just purchased the DLC in GoG, and got access to a patch.  It downloads as an installer, but it doesn't seem to "patch" the original, it creates an icon in my GoG games folder with a ghostbuster [circle-bar] symbol on it.

Is there some special incantation I must recite?  Or perhaps I have to swear loudly for it to work first?  ... cuzz I'm about to...

  -dZ.

DZ-Jay - Mar 02, 2018 at 05:24

Never mind, I see that the game has been updated to version 1.0.957.  I was just checking the Changelog and the update has not been posted there yet, so I assumed I had the latest version of the game.

So... I guess I have to install the updated game, then the patch on top.  I'll try that.

    -dZ.

DZ-Jay - Mar 02, 2018 at 05:32

Yep, that was it. It works now! :)

But... OMG!!! My ears! I don't think I can play a full game like that! :O

Good job to the actor, but... wow!

insightman - Mar 17, 2018 at 19:02

Today I downloaded setup_thimbleweed_park_1.0.958_(19287).exe and setup_ransome_unbeeped_1.0.958_(19287).exe from GOG. Then I uninstalled my original day-1 download and installed both of these. However, Ransome is still *bleeping* when I visit his trailer. Do I have to somehow activate the fucking add-on? Is there a check-box somewhere? I can't find it.

Ron Gilbert ✓ - Mar 17, 2018 at 20:15

It's in Options-> Video, right where you'd expect it to be because you can "see" Ransome's lips move on the "video" screen.

P..S. No, I'm not making fun of you. There wasn't room on any other menus. Everything is so overloaded with all the different platforms. I tried to rearrange it and gave up after breaking all the other platforms, so I moved it to Video. Now you know.

in - Mar 18, 2018 at 12:47

Thanks! It's an honor to receive help directly from you, Ron. I was an eager Kickstarter supporter of TP because I'm a 68-yr old Monkey Island fan. However, if I couldn't solve Ransome's simple check-box puzzle, my chances of finishing TP appear slim.

Milan - Mar 01, 2018 at 15:04

Fuck yeah!

Pistaba - Mar 01, 2018 at 15:42

Is there a *beep* new achievement included like 'say something nice' to every single NPC in the game?

Mahaku - Mar 01, 2018 at 17:50

Hell yea! :D

Zombocast - Mar 01, 2018 at 19:27

Thanks Ron, its almost been a year since release.

You had a great blog and its still going!, Fan contributions were amazing too like the raspberry lip-sync , you really brought out the best of the community.

Bruno Fonseca - Mar 02, 2018 at 03:37

Instabuy! Not because I like the swearing (I honestly prefer the censored version as it sounds funnier) but because I want to keep supporting you guys!

Thanks again for this amazing game.

Søren Ladegaard - Mar 02, 2018 at 04:40

Man I gotta play this game once more! I think I'll buy the boxed edition from fangamer and have another go. The newspaper reminds me of my original Zak McKraken.

Mattias Cedervall - Mar 02, 2018 at 08:08

Why do you greedily charge me money (I don't have much) for the DLC?! :-( I have the game via Steam and I bought it via Gog, I helped you out with the C64 font and I hoped/thought that would count for something...! :-/ Skitstövlar!

Nathan - Mar 14, 2018 at 17:05

Did you try asking first?

Mattias Cedervall - Mar 16, 2018 at 18:42

No, but I was hoping they would have a list with contributors... Yoda said: "Do or do not. There is no try." I guess I have to ask then!

Ron Gilbert ✓ - Mar 16, 2018 at 19:03

A lot of people helped out with the game from small to large contributions. It's not reasonable for us to go through the list and bug everyone on it, most of whom don't want stuff. I think people underestimate how time-consuming a lot of this stuff is. It's not pushing a button. So far, you're the only person that has brought it up. We do appreciate what how you helped, and I'm sorry you feel slighted, but please just ask.

Mattias Cedervall - Mar 18, 2018 at 14:28

Ron, I'm sorry I was channeling Ransome... :-( It's just that I'm unemployed and therefore I don't have much money, but I can now hear Ransome telling me to go out and rob people, so I'll do that and then buy the DLC. ;-) Thank you for your reply, Ron! :-)

Mario F. - Mar 02, 2018 at 10:48

haha. finally.

Ijon - Mar 02, 2018 at 13:06

Ransome now sounds, like he should have sound from the beginning. Thanks!

It's weird to hear Ransome swearing, when subtitles are activated and the text is still censored. Ideally both would be uncensored.

So, how many DLCs do you plan to offer (puzzles, sound, arcade, dev commentary)?

K. - Mar 02, 2018 at 13:25

There have already been several major free DLC updates, including new dialogs between playable characters and the Arcade. Seems you have missed them?

K. - Mar 02, 2018 at 13:29

Also, replacing the *beeps* in the texts would be quite a task, and it would also require translating the uncensored sections into all the available languages, which would probably be pretty expensive.

Ijon - Mar 02, 2018 at 13:38

I was thinking about fixing/replacing the broken arcades.

I'm aware of that it's more effort but as a user, you read uncensored but the text is still censored.

K. - Mar 02, 2018 at 16:33

Well, the text was supposed to be censored - it was written that way, with all the *beeps*, on purpose. Which poses a problem. For the DLC, they would have to manually replace all the *beeps* with words that would match the improvised voiceacting - and that sounds like it would take A LOT of time. And you'd also have to consider the translations. In the other languages, the swear words are also *beeped* and would need to be replaced, and that could potentially cost a lot of money.

Ijon - Mar 02, 2018 at 18:46

You don't get it for free, but it's doable and the better solution in the long-run.

Andrew Herron - Mar 02, 2018 at 20:24

I’m not even likely to use it beyond a bit of novelty - I bought the game on switch which is where I prefer to play - but I grabbed the DLC for my kickstarter steam version. Worth supporting imo!

Mac - Mar 03, 2018 at 04:15

I'm using Steam. Updated the game to the latest version, installed the DLC - but I still hear the beeps (when using a savegame). Does it only work after I started a new game?

Cheers,
Mac

Mac - Mar 03, 2018 at 04:53

I just played a new game until I got to the first Ransome part. Still beeping... Steam says the DLC is installed and activated.

Nor Treblig - Mar 03, 2018 at 05:04

"NOTE: To enable the *unbeeped* voice, go to Options -> Video and check the box. This option is not sticky, so you need to turn it on each time to start (you know, for the kids)"

DZ-Jay - Mar 03, 2018 at 07:49

By the way, just a comment: I find it strange that you chose the "Video" options page to contain this feature. Intuitively, I went first to "Text & Speech" options page, and not finding it there, then to the "Sound" options page. It never occurred to me to look in the "Video" options.

Perhaps that was your intent, to bury the feature to avoid it being triggered inadvertently or found casually by children?

-dZ.

Ijon - Mar 03, 2018 at 09:49

I thought this was a bug. If it's supposed to be a feature, TWP could win an award for the most immature implementation of mature content too, and maybe attract a very special audience.

Till - Apr 28, 2018 at 08:35

„award for the most immature implementation of mature content“

You, Sir, just won the internet today!

Bloody new player here! How could I have just discovered this gem last week? Well, a friend of mine just brought my attention to Thimbleweed Park on iOS. Checked out the description and oh my...! Ron Gilbert! A real point and click adventure from the master (*bows to the floor*) himself! And thanks to anyone who helped in shaping this gem!

I remember having read about this crowd-funded project 2 years ago or so, but then it escaped my radar. Am so glad I „discovered“ it again.

Of course the *unbeep* DLC was an insta-buy on Steam (I eventually bought the game for Mac instead, not iOS. You know, I‘m a mouse and keyboard guy ;))
And now I still have the whole game in front of me :)

I love, love LOVE that 320x240 kind of resolution! It looks so much more crisp on my Retina fucking high resolution screen than the same 320x240 resolution 25+ years ago! No seriously, I love the great handmade artwork, very much appreciated. And damn I haven‘t even seen much of it, basically just the murder scene in that canyion.

Talking about that first character in the game (sorry, I forgot his name - was it even mentioned?): why oh why did he have to go? I guess I‘m about to find out - but just why? :( I loved his cheesy akzent an ze Wiener Schnitzel attitude. And now he‘s about to pixelate in that mud hole. Poor guy! I already started to identify myself with that character (and yes, I‘m from Switzerland, that‘s next to ze Germans and near Wiener Schnitzel Austria ;))

And now onwards, exploring Thimbleweed Park, fuck yeah...! :)

Nor Treblig - Mar 03, 2018 at 12:24

It's called consistency:
That's why there are miscellaneous UI options in the Controls menu although they have not really anything to do with controls.
And you also have the in-jokes option under Video which IMHO doesn't really fit. :-)

DZ-Jay - Mar 06, 2018 at 07:31

So... by "consistency," you mean "consistently random menus," right?

Nor Treblig - Mar 16, 2018 at 05:51

Exactly :-)

Pandy Fackler - Mar 03, 2018 at 18:32

There was fucking beeping in the game???!

Malcolm - Mar 05, 2018 at 20:11

Fuck censorship!

Fuckety-bye!

M@UD - Mar 05, 2018 at 20:49

I put my four in the jar :D

tyler - Mar 10, 2018 at 06:02

This game has been one of my top priorities and have delayed it until I completed some of nintendos in-house games they made for switch. I played maniac mansion on my Amiga and I own a cartridge for the nes(although the carts button battery is dead) This game is amazing but I am surprised of this censorship especially for a game aimed at an older demographic. Otherwise like I said, perfect and hilarious game. 9/10(dlc for consoles could make it more legendary than maniac mansion.

Matthias Gansrigler - Mar 12, 2018 at 04:36

That trailer alone is *hilarious*!

Farooq - Mar 15, 2018 at 10:27

Forgive me if this has already been said but I just learned that this guy, among other things, is actually the original voice of Goku in Dragon Ball Z! Did you guys shoot BTS videos of the voice actors? I really really REALLY wanna see Ransome's in action. Damn that'd be a treat.

Fernando - Mar 29, 2018 at 09:56

Hi, my name is Fernando, I'm 36 years old, and I'm from Argentina. First of all, Ron, Gary, thanks for the magic ... I feel like that 8-year-old boy who was afraid to go into the kitchen and find Edna ...
Linking on youtube, looking at the postmortem review of maniac mansion by Ron, I found "From Maniac Mansion to Thimbleweed Park" Talks at Google "... what is this? A new game to the old school? I can not believe it!

Before downloading the game, and containing my anxieties, I have some doubts about the versions of the game and the "Ransome * unbeeped * DLC" ...
The main game, is the same file that is downloaded from the microsoft page that the page from gog.com? If I download the main game from the microsoft page and the gog.com DLC, do they work?

Greetings and thanks in advance!

PS: I hope the patch for the arcade to be playable ... maybe maniac masion in the arcade "meteor mess" ??? XD

Fernando - Mar 29, 2018 at 10:59

I just see the updates of the arcade and the dialogues, my apologies ... are in the main game?

Nor Treblig - Mar 31, 2018 at 13:02

Yes, arcades and additional dialogue (e.g. between main characters) is all in the main game.

The game is meant to be played with Ransome's *beeps*, but if you like to enable the DLC you can do this in the menu: Options - Video.
Ensure the "Annoying in-jokes" option is enabled (Options - Video), as you probably want to have all those references to old games.

Ransome *unbeeped* DLC

Ransome unbeeped DLC