Non gamer converted into adventure game fan

[Xabaras]

My girlfriend didn’t know anything about computer games up until a year and a half ago. That’s because she never ever cared about them. But I do have a habbit of playing games at least two hours a week (busy schedule and all that). So she joined me playing games and all that time poor soul was subjected to my constant ramblings about TWP blog, programming, adventure games, history, Sierra, Lucas Arts, Ron Gilbert, Monkey Island, etc.

Anyway, we played these games:

Broken Age (she didn’t like it)
Machinarium (she loved it a lot)
Whispered Worlds (she hated it)
Samorost 1 and 2 (liked them)
Botanicula (liked it a lot)
Thimbleweed Park (“BEST GAME WE EVER PLAYED!”)

The only thing she was puzzled about was why playable characters don’t and can’t interact with each other (other than giving items). This has been dealt with by now, but we finished the game two days before the release of an updated build.

We finished it in 22,5 hours. I couldn’t have it done on my own, some of the puzzles were too hard, however with her help we managed to finish the game without resorting to any hints or walkthrough. We were stuck many times, but never longer than an hour or hour and half (once). Game is perfectly balanced for two players, one with seasoned mind and the other with fresh, unspoiled mind.

She says she can’t wait to forget all about the game so she can play it again in a couple of years.

And yes, now we are playing Monkey Island …

I do have a couple of questions and I apologize if they were already answered somewhere in this forum.

What are the sales of the game? Number of copies sold? What cut of 20 euros goes back to developers? We bought the game off GOG and I have to admit I was not a backer due to some rather unfortunate developments of Kickstarter projects by other famous game developers.

What will be Ron’s next project? I saw some pixel art depicting Han Solo and Darth Vader marked as WIP and my heart skipped a bit but in this era of fake news I can’t trust anything on the nets anymore.

[LowLevel]

It’s nice to know that someone new to games has been fascinated by adventure games enough to become a frequent player.

It seems that your girlfriend has a preference for all Amanita Design games. Did the graphic style of Amanita games have a big influence in her choice?

@Xabaras

And yes, now we are playing Monkey Island …

Are you playing it with the old graphics or with the modern graphics of the remakes?

About your questions…

@Xabaras

What are the sales of the game? Number of copies sold? What cut of 20 euros goes back to developers?

This information has not been disclosed by the developers.

What we know is that back in May they didn’t reach break even yet and that in their last podcast they said that the break even will require some time to be reached. Here is some additional information by Ron on this matter (read also his other posts in that thread).

@Xabaras

What will be Ron’s next project?

We don’t know, nothing has been announced so far. Ron said that Thimbleweed Park sales were not enough to start working on a new game right now. They are still working on Thimbleweed Park, both adding new stuff and porting it to other platforms.

About the pixel art that you saw, it was just some fan art. I think that you can safely ignore any news out there unless it’s an article of a well known website that provides a link to the original source.

And, of course, the best thing to do is to directly read the source itself, for example the Thimbleweed Park development blog or ThimbleMail (which is very useful if you have not much time to monitor all these stuff) or these forums.

[Someone]

@Xabaras

What cut of 20 euros goes back to developers?

Somewhere Ron said: 30% for the platform/online shop, 70% for the developers.

@LowLevel

We don’t know, nothing has been announced so far.

Ron has some posts on Twitter showing some kind of RPG. AFAIR he said, that it is a “pet project”.

[RonGilbert]

@Xabaras

What are the sales of the game? Number of copies sold? What cut of 20 euros goes back to developers?

Once all the ports are done, I’ll do a post talking about sales. We have not broken even yet, once you take out taxes, and other stuff. We’re close, but sales aren’t on some giant trajectory, so when we do break even, it’s bound to be a dribble of profit after that.

We get 70% on all the platforms (GOG, Steam, App Store, etc, etc). In some countries we get less due to how taxes are taken out, some take it out before the purchase price, some add it on after. It’s all very confusing and I don’t pretend to understand it.

[LowLevel]

@Someone

Ron has some posts on Twitter showing some kind of RPG. AFAIR he said, that it is a “pet project”.

I think you are referring to a screenshot published by Ron on Twitter a few months ago?

[milanfahrnholz]

@RonGilbert

Once all the ports are done, I’ll do a post talking about sales. We have not broken even yet, once you take out taxes, and other stuff. We’re close, but sales aren’t on some giant trajectory, so when we do break even, it’s bound to be a dribble of profit after that.

Has the summer sale shown some sort of increase (as has been predicted by some) so far?

[Someone]

@LowLevel

I think you are referring to a screenshot published by Ron on Twitter a few months ago?

Yes, he had several tweets. Quick search:
https://twitter.com/grumpygamer/status/868240253525516288
https://twitter.com/grumpygamer/status/865720845972328448

[milanfahrnholz]

@Ron Gilbert

I suck even at programer art.

Still better than Alien Covenant…

[LowLevel]

@Someone

Yes, he had several tweets. Quick search:

Oh, OK. I saw those tweets (and I don’t think that the first screenshot sucks) but I thought you were referring mainly to this one:

https://twitter.com/grumpygamer/status/855910167023468544

[Someone]

@LowLevel

but I thought you were referring mainly to this one:

Ah, yes! Thanks!

[milanfahrnholz]

To me the latter one also looked more serious, but it´s often hard to tell with some of Ron´s tweets if he´s serious or joking.

[Xabaras]

Wow, a big thank you to everybody for all the answers. I even got one from mr. Gilbert himself!

@LowLevel

It seems that your girlfriend has a preference for all Amanita Design games. Did the graphic style of Amanita games have a big influence in her choice?

Yes. Gorgeous graphics is more or less a given these days, so it all boils down to the preference of style and Amanita is perfect for her in that regard. But she likes those games mostly because all exposition of story and plot is given without any text or loooong movies/videos that you have to wade through. Just short comic book ballons with some animation and that’s it. Plus, for a novice gamer it’s really great because most of the puzzles take place on only one screen. So you solve one and move on to the next. Nice system for introduction to adventure games.

She also liked brief plot introduction to Monkey Island.

“I am Guybrush Threepwood and I want to be a pirate.”

And that’s it. You don’t need to know anything else, you are already invested. Just start playing. Great intro, one of the best.

@LowLevel

Are you playing it with the old graphics or with the modern graphics of the remakes?

Remake. Although I can’t say I like it much. Yes, graphics is better and all, but there is something off, but I can’t put my finger on it. Best description would be that it lacks ‘warmth’ of the original graphics. I am not sure I like the cartoony close-ups either.

Well, she is playing the game, I am only watching. I have to admit she is a natural. After two hours she is almost done with the first part (The Three Trials).

Since she is not as tall as me (me being an eloganted vertical worm or a wooden electricity pole with glasses on top) I have to pick up stuff from upper shelves and since TWP she is calling me PickaTron3000.

Too bad about the money in gaming industry. I hope mr. Gilbert and his associates will be able to make games they want without going into any personal financial loss. A shame, really.

[LowLevel]

@Xabaras

Plus, for a novice gamer it’s really great because most of the puzzles take place on only one screen. So you solve one and move on to the next. Nice system for introduction to adventure games.

I agree. I especially liked Machinarium for this same reason. Not because I’m not an avid reader of texts in adventure games but because Amanita Design has used an alternative and very effective way to convey the story. They are good visual artists, so it was natural for them to express themselves (and the characters of their games) in a visual way.

@Xabaras

“I am Guybrush Threepwood and I want to be a pirate.”

And that’s it. You don’t need to know anything else, you are already invested. Just start playing. Great intro, one of the best.

I consider the first line of that game an iconic one and even a spark of genius. It’s incredible how those few words are able to both introduce the character to the player and the player to his/her goal without the need of any additional backstory or explanation.

@Xabaras

Remake. Although I can’t say I like it much.

Well, more than one person in this community doesn’t like the graphic style of the remake of MI1. We have discussed it a bit in this thread. There are even links to download fan-made better graphics, that fix the mistakes made by the original authors.

To me the charm of the original pixelated graphics is irresistible, but I liked the style of the remake of MI2.

@Xabaras

After two hours she is almost done with the first part (The Three Trials).

Out of curiosity: does she read all the texts (e.g. object descriptions) and select all the dialog options? In other threads we have wondered whether reading texts is an activity that alienates new adventure gamers.

@Xabaras

I hope mr. Gilbert and his associates will be able to make games they want without going into any personal financial loss.

Oh, don’t worry. I’m an optimist. Thimbleweed Park will win several G.O.T.Y. awards, a lot of people will buy it and Terrible Toybox will get the money to make other games.

[Nor_Treblig]

Also don’t forget that you can always play MI1:SE in classic mode (or better play the Ultimate Edition if you want it with original graphics + voices and bugfixes).

[cvalenti]

I’d love to see this. Are we any close to it?
Thank you!

[LowLevel]

@cvalenti

Are we any close to it?

Here is an update (the whole thread is also interesting):

Will we get a new game from Ron Gilbert and Team in near future?

I guess it depends on your definition of “near”. We’re still working on TWP, that will continue until the end of Oct. TWP has broken even, and will probably due fine over time (it has a very strong tail), but it hasn’t made enough to fund a new game. Kickstarter is likely to fund (at most) half of a new game, and I can’t afford to work for free for another two years waiting for backend to pay me far less than I could get just getting a job. That’s the ugly reality of indie game dev. Now of th…

[cvalenti]

Thank you. But I’d really like to know what’s the trend like in sales. I backed it, I didn’t just buy it. It’s my creature also

[LowLevel]

@cvalenti

But I’d really like to know what’s the trend like in sales.

Oh, sorry. Since Ron said that the update about sales will not come before all the ports are done, I erroneously assumed that you wanted just an update about reaching the break even.