# Original Lucas game design documents (and the MI story written by Ron) **URL:** \ **Category:** Adventure/Lucasfilm Games\ **Created:** [May 13, 2017, 12:01pm UTC](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/t/original-lucas-game-design-documents-and-the-mi-story-written-by-ron/438 "2017-05-13T12:01:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![LowLevel](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forums.thimbleweedpark.com/lowlevel/32/48_2.png) [@LowLevel](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/u/LowLevel)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2017, 12:01pm UTC](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/t/original-lucas-game-design-documents-and-the-mi-story-written-by-ron/438/1 "2017-05-13T12:01:12Z")
Aric Wilmunder, who worked at Lucasfilm Games / LucasArts during the golden age of adventure games and co-designed the SCUMM engine is creating an archive of the original design documents for the games that the company published back then. **It’s a real treasure chest** for anyone interested in adventures games, have a look: [http://wilmunder.com/Arics\_World/Games.html](http://wilmunder.com/Arics_World/Games.html) The document that I’m reading right now is [this little gem of narrative by Ron: the story of Monkey Island [PDF]](http://wilmunder.com/Arics_World/Games_files/1990%20The%20New%20Monkey%20Island.compressed.pdf). I love it! The downloadable documents are about the following games (not all from Lucas): - Mutiny on Monkey Island - The New Monkey Island - Curse of Monkey Island - Maniac Mansion - Maniac Mansion II - Day of the Tentacle - Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade - Indiana Jones and the Iron Phoenix - Sam and Max Hit the Road - The Dig - Star Trek The SCUMM Game - FORGE - Star Raiders - Star Raiders II - The Dragon Game (The Eidolon) - Alien Tanknology (Koronis Rift) - Labyrinth - Defenders of Dynamo City - The Secret Project - Star Wars CD (Rebel Assault) - Shadows of the Empire ---
**Author:** ![milanfahrnholz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cab0a1/32.png) [@milanfahrnholz](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/u/milanfahrnholz)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2017, 12:16pm UTC](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/t/original-lucas-game-design-documents-and-the-mi-story-written-by-ron/438/2 "2017-05-13T12:16:24Z")
> [@](#): > > 1988 04 27 Star Trek The SCUMM Game. There is no designer credit on this document, but within LucasArts there was always an understanding that anyone in the organization could propose a game. Going out on a limb here and saying that was Ron. At least he´d loved to have been involved. Paramount distributed the Indiana Jones films, so that might not even have been completly out of the realm of possibilty. And there even were Star Trek p&c games later on. Would´ve loved to have seen this! ---
**Author:** ![LowLevel](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forums.thimbleweedpark.com/lowlevel/32/48_2.png) [@LowLevel](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/u/LowLevel)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2017, 1:01pm UTC](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/t/original-lucas-game-design-documents-and-the-mi-story-written-by-ron/438/3 "2017-05-13T13:01:49Z")
Ron is (obviously) a Star Trek fan but I’ve always depicted him as someone interested more in developing by scratch his own stories and characters. But maybe he loved the franchise so much that working on a game set in the Star Trek universe would have been a dream job, for him. Let’s ask him. 🙂 Hey @RonGilbert , it was you who wrote this [“Star Trek The SCUMM Game” concept document](http://wilmunder.com/Arics_World/Games_files/1988%2004%2027%20Star%20Trek%20-%20The%20SCUMM%20Game.compressed.pdf)? ---
**Author:** ![RonGilbert](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forums.thimbleweedpark.com/rongilbert/32/7_2.png) [@RonGilbert](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/u/RonGilbert)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2017, 3:05pm UTC](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/t/original-lucas-game-design-documents-and-the-mi-story-written-by-ron/438/4 "2017-05-13T15:05:44Z")
> [@milanfahrnholz](#): > > Going out on a limb here and saying that was Ron. It wasn’t me. I don’t remember who it was. ---
**Author:** ![milanfahrnholz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cab0a1/32.png) [@milanfahrnholz](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/u/milanfahrnholz)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2017, 3:22pm UTC](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/t/original-lucas-game-design-documents-and-the-mi-story-written-by-ron/438/5 "2017-05-13T15:22:22Z")
Would that have been something you would have enjoyed or do you agree with @LowLevel that you´d rather have done something original (looking at the date it seems like that would have been between Maniac Mansion and Last Crusade) ? ---
**Author:** ![RonGilbert](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forums.thimbleweedpark.com/rongilbert/32/7_2.png) [@RonGilbert](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/u/RonGilbert)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2017, 6:05pm UTC](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/t/original-lucas-game-design-documents-and-the-mi-story-written-by-ron/438/6 "2017-05-13T18:05:09Z")
Working on Indy was fun, but I was pulled off of MI to go work on that with David and Noah because it needed to be done quickly. ---
**Author:** ![Gabarts](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forums.thimbleweedpark.com/gabarts/32/115_2.png) [@Gabarts](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/u/Gabarts)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2017, 9:05pm UTC](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/t/original-lucas-game-design-documents-and-the-mi-story-written-by-ron/438/7 "2017-05-13T21:05:32Z")
Crazy stuff… luckily they didn’t implement this in Last Crusade: 🙂 ![](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/uploads/thimbleweedpark/original/1X/0385073395ee04deb1d9e6a8be8c97f6d469dd79.gif) But the arcade fighting was awesome of course! ---
**Author:** ![ktzar](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forums.thimbleweedpark.com/ktzar/32/38_2.png) [@ktzar](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/u/ktzar)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2017, 9:45pm UTC](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/t/original-lucas-game-design-documents-and-the-mi-story-written-by-ron/438/8 "2017-05-13T21:45:30Z")
That site has been a little hidden gem of the internet. He mentions that he wants to upload some Scumm code to Github, but I don’t know how long it will last there if he does so. ---
**Author:** ![ZakPhoenixMcKracken](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forums.thimbleweedpark.com/zakphoenixmckracken/32/41_2.png) [@ZakPhoenixMcKracken](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/u/ZakPhoenixMcKracken)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2017, 10:02pm UTC](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/t/original-lucas-game-design-documents-and-the-mi-story-written-by-ron/438/9 "2017-05-13T22:02:45Z")
> [@RonGilbert](#): > > because it needed to be done quickly. I think because Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade should had be ready as soon as the movie was finished. Right? ---
**Author:** ![ZakPhoenixMcKracken](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forums.thimbleweedpark.com/zakphoenixmckracken/32/41_2.png) [@ZakPhoenixMcKracken](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/u/ZakPhoenixMcKracken)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2017, 10:04pm UTC](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/t/original-lucas-game-design-documents-and-the-mi-story-written-by-ron/438/10 "2017-05-13T22:04:04Z")
In the Aric’s list, there is also a “Indy Iron Phoenix” – never heard of that, the title looks interesting to me… ---
**Author:** ![milanfahrnholz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cab0a1/32.png) [@milanfahrnholz](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/u/milanfahrnholz)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2017, 10:08pm UTC](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/t/original-lucas-game-design-documents-and-the-mi-story-written-by-ron/438/11 "2017-05-13T22:08:21Z")
It was a tie in game, so that´s the usual procedure. The result is usually that the games end up lacklustre and feel like cash-ins (which they usually are), Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade The Graphic Adventure was an exception (the action game was still pretty shitty though). ---
**Author:** ![ZakPhoenixMcKracken](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forums.thimbleweedpark.com/zakphoenixmckracken/32/41_2.png) [@ZakPhoenixMcKracken](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/u/ZakPhoenixMcKracken)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2017, 10:14pm UTC](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/t/original-lucas-game-design-documents-and-the-mi-story-written-by-ron/438/12 "2017-05-13T22:14:58Z")
I’m reading the Maniac Mansion doc, and the following lines caught my attention: ![](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/uploads/thimbleweedpark/original/1X/3215e28b474b453f07c9ceea587545d88a5bdfca.jpg) I wonder if this sentence is to remark that Maniac Mansion would have been a game diametrically opposite to Epyx’s Impossible Mission, where there was a time limit of 6 hours, and every time the character died, 10 minutes flew away… Interesting also the “No Death” intentions! ---
**Author:** ![ZakPhoenixMcKracken](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forums.thimbleweedpark.com/zakphoenixmckracken/32/41_2.png) [@ZakPhoenixMcKracken](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/u/ZakPhoenixMcKracken)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2017, 10:25pm UTC](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/t/original-lucas-game-design-documents-and-the-mi-story-written-by-ron/438/13 "2017-05-13T22:25:53Z")
Observe these images. The upper one is the dungeon from the Maniac Mansion Doc (early design). You should well know the lower one. ![](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/uploads/thimbleweedpark/original/1X/a8186e6b6cf4a4343635f83094094956ee143319.jpg) Look carefully: is the final version skeleton from (A) or (B)? ---
**Author:** ![milanfahrnholz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cab0a1/32.png) [@milanfahrnholz](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/u/milanfahrnholz)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2017, 10:29pm UTC](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/t/original-lucas-game-design-documents-and-the-mi-story-written-by-ron/438/14 "2017-05-13T22:29:22Z")
Whoever it is I hope it´s not someone we knew. ---
**Author:** ![maritzac](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forums.thimbleweedpark.com/maritzac/32/2220_2.png) [@maritzac](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/u/maritzac)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2017, 4:51am UTC](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/t/original-lucas-game-design-documents-and-the-mi-story-written-by-ron/438/15 "2017-05-14T04:51:47Z")
This thing is pretty freaking awesome. ---
**Author:** ![dangerouslee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecccb3/32.png) [@dangerouslee](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/u/dangerouslee)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2018, 11:34pm UTC](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/t/original-lucas-game-design-documents-and-the-mi-story-written-by-ron/438/16 "2018-04-11T23:34:44Z")
Has anyone else any trouble accessing Aric’s website? It just comes up blank for me ---
**Author:** ![Someone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b77776/32.png) [@Someone](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/u/Someone)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2018, 9:02am UTC](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/t/original-lucas-game-design-documents-and-the-mi-story-written-by-ron/438/17 "2018-04-12T09:02:20Z")
> [@dangerouslee](#): > > Has anyone else any trouble accessing Aric’s website? Yes, it seems that his whole website has gone/is down. Each page consists only of an iframe that redirects to a page on Godaddy… Aric’s Homepage is on [Archive.org](http://Archive.org) at least, but I haven’t found the design documents there: [https://web.archive.org/web/20171001000311/http://wilmunder.com/Arics\_World/Home\_Page.html](https://web.archive.org/web/20171001000311/http://wilmunder.com/Arics_World/Home_Page.html) /edit: Here are the design documents: [https://web.archive.org/web/20180226005830/http://wilmunder.com/Arics\_World/Games.html](https://web.archive.org/web/20180226005830/http://wilmunder.com/Arics_World/Games.html) ---
**Author:** ![FormosaFalanster](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forums.thimbleweedpark.com/formosafalanster/32/4737_2.png) [@FormosaFalanster](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/u/FormosaFalanster)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2018, 10:59pm UTC](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/t/original-lucas-game-design-documents-and-the-mi-story-written-by-ron/438/18 "2018-04-12T22:59:05Z")
Would it be okay for one of us to save these docs and archive them somewhere else, or would that be illegal? It would be a waste not to salvage them. ---
**Author:** ![RonGilbert](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forums.thimbleweedpark.com/rongilbert/32/7_2.png) [@RonGilbert](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/u/RonGilbert)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2018, 11:01pm UTC](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/t/original-lucas-game-design-documents-and-the-mi-story-written-by-ron/438/19 "2018-04-12T23:01:44Z")
> [@milanfahrnholz](#): > > Going out on a limb here and saying that was Ron. The limb broke and you sustain internal injuries. Turn to page 49 ---
**Author:** ![milanfahrnholz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cab0a1/32.png) [@milanfahrnholz](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/u/milanfahrnholz)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2018, 11:49pm UTC](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/t/original-lucas-game-design-documents-and-the-mi-story-written-by-ron/438/20 "2018-04-12T23:49:09Z")
Thanks again! That was at least a more original and funny answer than the one you already gave me almost a year ago! 😉 > [@Original Lucas game design documents (and the MI story written by Ron)](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/t/original-lucas-game-design-documents-and-the-mi-story-written-by-ron/438/4): > > It wasn’t me. I don’t remember who it was. [Next page](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/t/original-lucas-game-design-documents-and-the-mi-story-written-by-ron/438.md?page=2)