# Ron declares he is working on a new Monkey Island **URL:** \ **Category:** General\ **Created:** [April 3, 2022, 8:18pm UTC](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/t/ron-declares-he-is-working-on-a-new-monkey-island/4993 "2022-04-03T20:18:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 131
**Author:** ![Sushi](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forums.thimbleweedpark.com/sushi/32/163_2.png) [@Sushi](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/u/Sushi)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2022, 12:22pm UTC](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/t/ron-declares-he-is-working-on-a-new-monkey-island/4993/2619 "2022-08-30T12:22:29Z")
> [@seguso](#): > > Toothrot: the origins! You mean Toothrot’s roots: a dentist story. ---
**Author:** ![BaronGrackle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/848f3c/32.png) [@BaronGrackle](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/u/BaronGrackle)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2022, 12:33pm UTC](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/t/ron-declares-he-is-working-on-a-new-monkey-island/4993/2620 "2022-08-30T12:33:02Z")
Do we have a fan theory thread? I can go wild on Herman Toothrot. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![seguso](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forums.thimbleweedpark.com/seguso/32/1232_2.png) [@seguso](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/u/seguso)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2022, 12:36pm UTC](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/t/ron-declares-he-is-working-on-a-new-monkey-island/4993/2621 "2022-08-30T12:36:09Z")
> [@GuybrushTransmasc](#): > > No it doesn’t. The Great Ace Attorney gives you an option to retry when you lose, which resets you directly before the problem where you failed and with full health. > > The original Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney game had that “five strikes and its game over” system. And it wasn’t really great Sorry, out of memory I must have made a mistake. Anyway, the point is that the developer understood that the player must suffer some kind of penalty for trying wrong combinations. It can be a restore, a 30 seconds delay, a long tiresome dialog, anything. If you try doing that in Monkey island, what’s going to happen? That people are going to say “wait, you are punishing me for exploring, you are punishing for being curious”. And so we come to the core of the problem: we need two distinct UIs, one for exploring, one for solving puzzles. (Great Ace Attorney has them separate) ---
**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:** [August 30, 2022, 1:27pm UTC](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/t/ron-declares-he-is-working-on-a-new-monkey-island/4993/2622 "2022-08-30T13:27:24Z")
> [@GuybrushTransmasc](#): > > The original Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney game had that “five strikes and its game over” system. And it wasn’t really great. I agree, before every cross-examination, I saved the game, in order to reload it if I went out of attempts. Glad they fixed that thing, in the subequent games, allowing the player to restart from the point of failure, without loading a previously saved game. ---
**Author:** ![BaronGrackle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/848f3c/32.png) [@BaronGrackle](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/u/BaronGrackle)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2022, 1:54pm UTC](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/t/ron-declares-he-is-working-on-a-new-monkey-island/4993/2623 "2022-08-30T13:54:13Z")
> [@seguso](#): > > a long tiresome dialog Do this one! Do this one! Then it becomes a feature, and I’m trying every possible interaction I can just to hear the unique dialogue! Example: Use Map with Lemonhead ---
**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:** [August 30, 2022, 3:10pm UTC](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/t/ron-declares-he-is-working-on-a-new-monkey-island/4993/2624 "2022-08-30T15:10:43Z")
Some many books… and pamphlets… and scrapbooks… and to-do lists… and hint-books… and brochures… and sheet music… and… really a lot of paper. ![image](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/uploads/thimbleweedpark/original/2X/7/772f3561b34a43ec75c8b405bb97afb4648a20f9.jpeg) So, here are my guesses: - The first thing is a to-do list. - The second thing is the scrapbook seen in the trailer video. This allows Guybrush to travel to different times/games. - The third one is the hint system. - There is also Chuckie’s diary. ---
**Author:** ![Paul](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forums.thimbleweedpark.com/paul/32/15080_2.png) [@Paul](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/u/Paul)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2022, 3:12pm UTC](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/t/ron-declares-he-is-working-on-a-new-monkey-island/4993/2625 "2022-08-30T15:12:51Z")
One seems to be a half eaten purple tentacle in a box/tray thing ---
**Author:** ![BaronGrackle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/848f3c/32.png) [@BaronGrackle](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/u/BaronGrackle)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2022, 3:18pm UTC](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/t/ron-declares-he-is-working-on-a-new-monkey-island/4993/2626 "2022-08-30T15:18:34Z")
> [@LowLevel](#): > > The second thing is the scrapbook seen in the trailer video. This allows Guybrush to travel to different times/games. When this all started, you made a wish (?) that Guybrush would be able to scrapbook-travel to previous games while keeping his same inventory. I’d love that so much, just to screw around. Imagine grabbing the bottle of root beer from MI2 Part 4, then traveling back to MI1 Part 3 and confronting LeChuck early. 😆 A whole new gaming experience, heh. …crazy visions of getting Hitler to sign my Mêlée Island PTA Minutes… using the Horse Armor on the talking horse in Edison Mansion colonial times… …crazier visions of giving Hitler a Myst trap-book, sending him to Dunny when he tries to sign it. Sorry, I got distracted again. ---
**Author:** ![seguso](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forums.thimbleweedpark.com/seguso/32/1232_2.png) [@seguso](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/u/seguso)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2022, 3:28pm UTC](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/t/ron-declares-he-is-working-on-a-new-monkey-island/4993/2627 "2022-08-30T15:28:12Z")
> [@BaronGrackle](#): > > …crazy visions of getting Hitler to sign my Mêlée Island PTA Minutes… using the Horse Armor on the talking horse in Edison Mansion colonial times… > > …crazier visions of giving Hitler a Myst trap-book, One way or another, Hitler needs to be there 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![St\_Eddie](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forums.thimbleweedpark.com/st_eddie/32/13650_2.png) [@St\_Eddie](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/u/St_Eddie)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2022, 5:24pm UTC](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/t/ron-declares-he-is-working-on-a-new-monkey-island/4993/2628 "2022-08-30T17:24:14Z")
> [@LowLevel](#): > > ![image](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/uploads/thimbleweedpark/original/2X/7/772f3561b34a43ec75c8b405bb97afb4648a20f9.jpeg) I agree with other’s opinions of what many of these items are. For the record, I suspect the following… - To do list (same as in _Thimbleweed Park_) - Guybrush’s scrapbook - I don’t believe this will allow players to interactively travel back to previous games’ events, but rather that it will act as a narrated “Previously on Monkey Island…” picture book for players unfamiliar with the previous games - Hintbook - Key (obviously) - Monocles (possibly belonging to Wally) - Pieces of Eight - Cutlass or sushi knife - Crackers for parrot (same as on Dinky Island in MI2) - Pamphlet about the new Pirate Leaders of _Mêlée Island_ - Pamphlet about… something or other (possibly a travel brochure) - Purple tentacle dish from the eating contest on Brrr Muda Island - Voodoo spell book - LeChuck’s Diary or an educational book about LeChuck - Sheet music - Skulls for use with the poles outside the monkey head on Monkey Island. The above sheet music will also be used in conjunction with these skulls ---
**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:** [August 30, 2022, 10:29pm UTC](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/t/ron-declares-he-is-working-on-a-new-monkey-island/4993/2629 "2022-08-30T22:29:06Z")
> [@BaronGrackle](#): > > When this all started, you made a wish (?) that Guybrush would be able to scrapbook-travel to previous games while keeping his same inventory. Yeah. 😛 I’m pretty confident that it will never happen and that the gameplay will revolve around way simpler and traditional game mechanics, but it would have been nice. I don’t really know why I’m feeling this strong impression of a game in which Guybrush has to “tie up loose ends”, but for some reason I perceive a strong revival vibe, maybe related to the fact that Guybrush visits well known places seen in the previous games. > [@St\_Eddie](#): > > but rather that it will act as a narrated “Previously on Monkey Island…” picture book for players unfamiliar with the previous games I didn’t think about that. I wonder why such a scrapbook needs to be carried during the game as an item instead of being only shown in the introduction of the game. > [@St\_Eddie](#): > > Crackers for parrot (same as on Dinky Island in MI2) Yep; they are from/for the locksmith’s parrot. > [@St\_Eddie](#): > > Purple tentacle dish from the eating contest on Brrr Muda Island Hmm… the fish of the day for that contest seems an eel, more than a tentacle. I’ll vote for a sashimi box from the fishmonger’s shop run by the former pirate leaders! Edit: I’ll mention again that these icons look incredibly beautiful to me. ---
**Author:** ![St\_Eddie](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forums.thimbleweedpark.com/st_eddie/32/13650_2.png) [@St\_Eddie](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/u/St_Eddie)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2022, 10:35pm UTC](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/t/ron-declares-he-is-working-on-a-new-monkey-island/4993/2630 "2022-08-30T22:35:50Z")
> [@LowLevel](#): > > I didn’t think about that. I wonder why such a scrapbook needs to be carried during the game as an item instead of being only shown in the introduction of the game. If my theory is correct, then I think that would be because it’s quite likely a fairly lengthy tome (5 previous games is a lot of ground to cover) and it would break the pacing and flow of the narrative to start out with a long narration of the events concerning the previous adventures of Guybrush. Ultimately, I think one of the absolutely worst ways to start any narrative is by giving a massive exposition dump to the audience. This would be especially true for longtime fans, who are already well versed with the history and just want to start playing this new chapter in the Monkey Island series, but it would also be an information overload for newcomers to the series. By having the scrapbook be an item which Guybrush carries throughout the game, it would allow players to digest that material at their own leisure, either by reading it in one go, or by spacing out the reading of pages across the duration of the game. It would also allow newcomers to refer back to specific pages, should they want clarification on a specific character or events which are pertinent to their current situation. ---
**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:** [August 30, 2022, 10:50pm UTC](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/t/ron-declares-he-is-working-on-a-new-monkey-island/4993/2631 "2022-08-30T22:50:57Z")
That’s a good explanation; I still wonder why the player would _need_ so much information on the previous games. There are definitely well-known and less explicit ways to inform less familiar players of events happened or characters met in previous games, for example through dialogues (the clip with Wally is an example of this). The need for a detailed “reference manual” to consult during the game feels a bit cumbersome. ---
**Author:** ![BaronGrackle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/848f3c/32.png) [@BaronGrackle](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/u/BaronGrackle)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2022, 11:40pm UTC](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/t/ron-declares-he-is-working-on-a-new-monkey-island/4993/2632 "2022-08-30T23:40:42Z")
> [@LowLevel](#): > > I don’t really know why I’m feeling this strong impression of a game in which Guybrush has to “tie up loose ends”, but for some reason I perceive a strong revival vibe, maybe related to the fact that Guybrush visits well known places seen in the previous games. The title has “Return” in it. The trailer declares this is when Guybrush found the Secret of Monkey Island. Even though we know it isn’t really Monkey Island 3a, it still has a taste of that, because I’m not sure Ron has even seen a playthrough of Escape or Tales. Mêlée and Monkey Island revisited. More returning characters than any other Monkey Island game thus far. Let’s break that last sentence down for emphasis. Returning characters in MI1: 1. Cobb Returning characters in MI2: 1-5. Guybrush, LeChuck, Elaine, Voodoo Lady, Stan 6-8. Men of Low Moral Fiber (Pirates) 9. Herman Toothrot Returning characters in MI3: 1-5. GuyLeElaiVooStan 6. Wally 7. Lemonhead Returning characters in MI4: 1-5. GuyLeElaiVooStan 6. Carla 7. Otis 8. Meathook 9. Murray 10. Herman Toothrot Returning characters in MI5: 1-5. GuyLeElaiVooStan 6. Murray Returning characters in MI6 (known so far): 1-5. GuyLeElaiVooStan 6. Murray 7. Carla 8. Otis 9. Wally 10. Herman Toothrot 11. Cobb 12. The Lookout 13. The Chef 14-16. Important Looking Pirates 17. Bob ¿¿18-20. Those three pirates on the cover, or maybe Ron was joking?? And that’s not necessarily bad. A lot of us would even like to see Men of Fiber or Cannibals again. It feels like a revival, a commemoration. ---
**Author:** ![GuybrushTransmasc](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forums.thimbleweedpark.com/guybrushtransmasc/32/14191_2.png) [@GuybrushTransmasc](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/u/GuybrushTransmasc)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2022, 4:46am UTC](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/t/ron-declares-he-is-working-on-a-new-monkey-island/4993/2633 "2022-08-31T04:46:38Z")
GuyLeElaiVooStan is my favourite five headed monkey. ---
**Author:** ![ephialtes](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forums.thimbleweedpark.com/ephialtes/32/11961_2.png) [@ephialtes](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/u/ephialtes)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2022, 5:50am UTC](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/t/ron-declares-he-is-working-on-a-new-monkey-island/4993/2634 "2022-08-31T05:50:40Z")
> [@seguso](#): > > Was a podcast episode released for Delores? Yes, there was a [Thimbleweed Park podcast #Delores episode](https://soundcloud.com/grumpygamer/thimbleweed-park-podcast-delores). YouTube’s closed captioning of it’s UI section (21:58-27:30) is below. Ron Gilbert: Manuel asks would it be possible to add all the verbs in when right clicking? Currently it only shows the possible verbs and not the wrong ones. Well, I mean technically that’s possible, but the problem is I think Delores has probably close to 30 verbs. Is that right David? David Fox: Yeah, that’s about right. Ron: Yeah, so there’s about 30 verbs in the game. So, you know, it’s really not kind of possible to dump all 30 of them, you know, onto the screen with that stuff. I think that’s kind of not really what you want to do anyway. Yeah, I think you want to kind of narrow down the verb set and this, you know, this interface was a little bit experimental for me and it was, you know, trying to look at, you know, the verbs like the Thimbleweed Park had or Monkey Island had and trying to find something that was in between that and the, you know, kind of coin single use or poke verb interface which is very common today. Which I really really do not like and so this was kind of looking at, you know, is there a nice middle ground between those two things and I don’t think, you know, what what what we did for Delores though is the end-all I think there’s a lot of, you know, refinement that we’ll probably make on that interface, but I think it is kind of pointing in the right direction David: I think from a game point of view I mean some people have said that they like having all the verbs because then you could try all these different verbs on every object and find hidden funny things or hidden surprises and I think my feeling was that is tedious so you basically most objects maybe only have one or two responses and the rest where you can’t do that or you can’t do that with this or that doesn’t work and that’s like getting slapped in the face multiple times that thing you just tried isn’t there or the programmers were too lazy to put it in or or what and I really liked working with this in that it let me let me just code what I wanted to code and if we had a great idea we could add it but we didn’t have to fill in with a bunch of unnecessary stuff just, you know, to fill up the verbs, right? Ron: Or, if you had an idea you didn’t have to figure out, you know, well, how can I push this or how can I, you know, pull it or turn it on or, you know, just using the limited set of verbs and the other impetus I really had for this interface was that it was a lot more expressive. You know, it’s not just push and pull and turn on and, you know, turn off and that limited set of things, but things could be very very expressive right so if you’re using a screwdriver on something it’s not just use screwdriver with, but you can actually say that you’re, you know, you know, undoing something you’re loosening something you’re tightening something and to me that kind of takes his ambiguity for the player that when they click on something they know exactly what this thing is trying to do and I think that also and you don’t see this a lot in Delores because we really didn’t, you know, have the space to really explore it, but I think that leads to a very different kind of puzzle and that’s what really excites me about this interface is that **it’s not a guess the verb puzzle anymore and it be it becomes hopefully it becomes the puzzles become a lot more conceptual. You know, that you’re trying to understand what you could do at a much higher level with the objects rather than just randomly, you know, poking things and poking this and poking that and figuring out what can work** and I don’t think Delores really explored that well, but it’s something I definitely want to explore with future games in this UI. David: During the final phases while we were in tests since we knew we could add a bunch more stuff we asked both Robert and Katrina if they could come up with any additional thing that they wanted to try to do with with these objects and, you know, there are a few things that came up as a result that were really funny that, you know, we could just reuse old animation that we had from before and I just triggered any new in a funny way and so there’s a there was a richness there that, you know, we could just pop it in with it with a verb that you might never have had before. Ron: Yeah and and adding a new verb to the game is it’s like three lines of code, you know, so if you’re thinking that you want to have a new verb because this thing can be used in, you know, a different obscure way, you know, it’s three lines of code and you suddenly have a new verb in the game. So, you know, it’s really easy to add them and as I was doing, you know, the programming for the UI that was a big impetus of all this was that it was really easy to add verbs. David: Also, as I say the ability to turn off a verb. So, rather than having to have code that you see you’re turning on the light switch, but it’s already on, you know, it’s already on you don’t we that just doesn’t happen because you don’t get that option as a verb when yeah. Ron: You cannot turn on a light switch if the light is already on. it’s just not possible right. ---
**Author:** ![Frenzie](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forums.thimbleweedpark.com/frenzie/32/4416_2.png) [@Frenzie](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/u/Frenzie)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2022, 5:57am UTC](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/t/ron-declares-he-is-working-on-a-new-monkey-island/4993/2635 "2022-08-31T05:57:53Z")
> [@BaronGrackle](#): > > because I’m not sure Ron has even seen a playthrough of Escape or Tales. Seems unlikely, but regardless there’s Dave Grossman among others. 😉 ---
**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:** [August 31, 2022, 6:10am UTC](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/t/ron-declares-he-is-working-on-a-new-monkey-island/4993/2636 "2022-08-31T06:10:20Z")
What a list indeed! Still, what I was trying to say is that even if the revival theme is obvious, it doesn’t necessarily imply that a game mechanic will be about Guybrush revisiting events of the past. All those characters might have been added to the game just for nostalgia reasons, not necessarily because they were needed to re-enact past events. > [@GuybrushTransmasc](#): > > GuyLeElaiVooStan is my favourite five headed monkey. 😄 > [@ephialtes](#): > > **it’s not a guess the verb puzzle anymore** That’s also a mechanic and habit inherited by textual games. Everybody was taught to give orders to the playable character by composing a sentence and this linguistic and detailed approach to give orders became so common that now it’s difficult for some of us to accept something slightly more abstract. ---
**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:** [August 31, 2022, 8:01am UTC](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/t/ron-declares-he-is-working-on-a-new-monkey-island/4993/2637 "2022-08-31T08:01:23Z")
Serious question to everybody: should we try to manage RtMI-related discussions and spoilers in some way in this forum, when the game will be released? Maybe some people would like to ask for hints here, or maybe those who have finished the game would like to discuss it. It could be nice to recreate an environment similar to what we had after Thimbleweed Park was released. Or do you think that creating a spoiler-free environment here would be impossible and that the only realistic option for not getting spoilers would be not to visit this forum at all? ---
**Author:** ![seguso](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forums.thimbleweedpark.com/seguso/32/1232_2.png) [@seguso](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/u/seguso)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2022, 8:04am UTC](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/t/ron-declares-he-is-working-on-a-new-monkey-island/4993/2638 "2022-08-31T08:04:39Z")
Personally , as soon as RtMI is released, I’ll be busy playing so I won’t visit the forum for 2-3 weeks (the time I expect to complete the game). I can’t imagine coming here before I finish the game. [Previous page](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/t/ron-declares-he-is-working-on-a-new-monkey-island/4993.md?page=130) [Next page](https://forums.thimbleweedpark.com/t/ron-declares-he-is-working-on-a-new-monkey-island/4993.md?page=132)