ThimbleWeed park in 640x480 on a Commodore 1942 CRT

That’s impressive indeed!

The specs weren’t mentioned often in the german press or by german players, so I assumed that they aren’t such a success (like the toilet paper).

I agree with you in every aspect, but isn’t the Arcade another example for the things that became too complex?

In my opinion, it doesn’t necessarily need to have an impact on the press. It’s also worth the effort, if a lot of players appreciate it.

Of course, but if it’s not mentioned by the press and/or word-of-mouth advertising then it’s not a PR or marketing success.

We actually don’t know that financial situation at all, because we’re not the Terrible Toybox financial consultants. I don’t think that this is our business, and I don’t think it is a good idea to discuss other people’s financial situation.
And doing it in the presence of the aforesaid it is somehow unpolite, too.

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I hate the floor textures in that version.

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Kotaku devoted three paragraphs(!) in their review to the specks of dust:

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I don’t have written such a thing. Please read my other answers above - I assume you haven’t?

I think he means that at some point in time you have to let your baby go and move on to other things, lest you get stuck in a rut, working on tiny enhancements for the same game forever.

I appreciate that you may not be at that point yet – the game has only been out for a few short month – but it has already consumed over two years of your life, and we’re closing down on the third.

Of course, it’s not for anybody else but you to decide how to spend your time and how to recharge your batteries.

However, just keep it in mind. As a creative individual myself, I know how hard it is to let go of a long lasting project. I have also seen others get stuck adding endless “new levels” to the same games and trying to ride their once found glory (for whatever motivations or insecurities they may have), instead of trying out new things.

This is especially true when you are self-directed, for you do not have the pressures of an employer pushing you to move on to your next task.

All that said, I welcome those C=64 floppy sounds (and the arcade, and the extra goodies)! Bring it on. Bring it all on!!! :+1:

dZ.

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I wrote in the german press …

And yes, the specs are mentioned but not like the toilet paper thing.

Thanks, @DZ-Jay, that is exactly what I meant. :slight_smile:

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I agree with this, expect that we’re still working on 4 ports of the game, plus adding the arcades, so we’re very actively working on the game right now, so making changes and enhancements is well within reason, plus we’re actually getting good press and feedback for continuing to make improvements, something adventure games don’t commonly do.

Once all the ports are planned features are done, I don’t expect to work on the game anymore (barring big bugs).

But what if I did? Devs work on other games for years, making changes and improvements. Why can’t that happen with an adventure game? Keep adding features, maybe even new areas and puzzles to keep the game fresh. I’m not saying we’re going to do that, but it seems like a fine thing for an adventure game to do. Lots of other genres do this.

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He’s been working in the industry for more than 30 years, and not only has he closed the book on many projects, he’s even walked away from an entire franchise–a franchise that many people have demanded that he sacrifice his principles and time to return to. People who don’t want him to burn out from working on the same thing endlessly should remember that the next time Monkey Island gets mentioned.

Not “complex”, but we didn’t have the time to get them working without missing the ship date, so we just pushed it. Places like Steam also reward games for adding features. There are marketing programs you can be involved in if you do that, so it’s in devs best interest to keep making changes. Good or Bad, that’s the world we live in.

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That’s okay. We forgive Germans for their complete disinterest in dots and spaces. :wink:

That doesn’t change a single thing. Most of his past work was for a publisher, with business drive pressures and schedules, not personal passion, self/crowd-funded projects. Mr. Gilbert is very experienced, but he is a mortal human after all, with the potential of failures and bad decisions. (Not to say he has made any.)

@RonGilbert I agree with you (about continuing with the game after completion of all ports and loose ends) to a degree: an adventure game could be enhanced and expanded over time. Of course, there is no technical reason not to. Personally, I rather see new games, even games within the same world expanding the story and characters, but new ones; rather than retreading old ones eternally. It’s the difference between a long running TV series or movie franchise, and the ever-evolving sub-text, characterizations, and visual styles of a George Lucas work.

I do agree with all your other points. :slight_smile:

dZ.

I don’t think continued work would be a good idea for Thimbleweed Park, since it was never designed for that, but I could see making an adventure game that every few weeks or months got some new content, creating a ever expanding narrative and world. Kind of like episodic, but without a rigid episodes. It’s just a world that continues to grow over time.

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Most–not all–of his past work. He’s formed more than one company in his past, so it’s not like he’s new to running the show. Even when he’s worked for others, he’s still had a great deal of creative freedom. Whether his boss is George Lucas or a crowd of Kickstarter backers, he’s always had a need to focus on the big picture. That hasn’t really changed with Thimbleweed Park. That’s why most of us have already completed Thimbleweed Park even though the Arcade still isn’t open yet. Even though it’s a feature he really wants to implement, he already stated it wasn’t worth holding up the release of Thimbleweed Park for.

Also, the vast majority of burnout cases I’ve seen/heard about are people who work for someone else’s company, so it’s not like being one someone else’s payroll would have automatically made life easy for Ron. Burnout is burnout, whether its sacrificing health and personal life for someone else’s vision, or your own. I’d say the former is a lot more common than the latter. At least when it’s your own project you don’t have someone telling you that you can’t walk away from it for a little while. And unless a trip to France was a necessary part of Thimbleweed Park development, it seems like Ron does in fact know how to take a break from a project.

The important thing to remember is that the icons aren’t final.

Would you prefer a continuing narrative in such an arrangement, introducing new playable characters, or a combination of both? It seems like a continuing narrative would probably be the safest approach from a development standpoint, especially if new characters are introduced. Bringing in new characters without necessarily advancing the story first could be quite tricky from a game mechanics standpoint, though it would be interesting to see a world get progressively more populated as development progresses.

Ah, yeah. That sounds very interesting. I thought you meant Thimbleweed Park itself.

An evolving, episodic adventure game sounds exciting, and if anybody could pull it off in an interesting way, it would be you and your team. :slight_smile:

I know that it was just a throwaway idea right now, but perhaps it’s something you should seriously consider. :wink: