If we talk about a “game for all” I agree with you. But I really enjoyed in TWP to have more possibilities/verbs instead of a (boring) one-click interface.
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I was mostly saying those things could be what might have put off a lot of people from purchasing TWP.
Yes, that’s where I agree with you. 
But I wonder why the simple one-click interface is so popular. Because I for myself enjoyed it far more to have more possibilities/verbs than just to click an all objects on the screen.
I’d say it’s more a matter of appearance and less a matter of behaving old-school. Way back then you even had the “What is” verb, without which none of the available hotspots would light up. In comparison, in TWP you hardly needed the verbs at all, as most interactions had a sensible default action assigned.
Personally, I saw the verbs more as a visual gimmick to evoke the good ol’ times and less like a element relevant to gameplay. But as I tried to argue before: just looking like it might behave in a clunky, old-fashioned way may already be enough to shy some people away.
I can only imagine because it is a more immediate means of controlling the “action” (such as there is in a P&C adventure). The verbs (or a popup) or any other kind of UI that does not blend well with the world separates the player from the world.
There’s this article about Dungeon Master that kind of elaborates on this aspect.
“How do you go from being a player to being ‘in’ a game?”
It’s also the reason why I am still a huge fan of Ultima VII, because it did away with the UI and showed a fullscreen view of the world. What may have been revolutionary back then is state of the art now. As such, including verbs in TWP was quite an anachronistic thing to do (though I liked it for exactly that reason!)
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But we have complex interfaces in other (very) popular games. Let’s take World of Warcraft for example - the controls of TWP are far more easier to “learn”.
You mean this?
I agree that compared to that, the verb UI is not very complex (it’s also very self-explanatory). But it’s not so much about complexity, but about immediacy. I think there’s a difference between clicking into the “world” or on an UI element. There’s a difference if the world takes over the whole screen, or just 80% of the screen. Depending on the game or genre, more or less of an UI is needed, and it may integrate more or less seamlessly into the world.
For a P&C adventure, where I am in direct control of a bunch of characters, I’d definitely prefer a more immediate form of control. But then, I’m an advocate for unobtrusive UIs in general.
Yes. 
But the controls are immediate? Ok, the verbs could be a little bit smaller. But it’s very handy to have the inventory on the screen. The UI in TWP is transparent so you can see into the whole world.
If the goal of TWPs interface has been to closely match the visual style of the classic LA/LFG adventures, then I have no complaints. Mission accomplished, with bonus points for the transparency and general usability. But that doesn’t change my view that usually less is more when it comes to UIs in games .
Yes, this was the only goal. If I was to make another PnC adventure, I would use a very different UI. It was done purely for nostalgic reasons (plus a little curiosity).
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But I it’s still working. The only “difficult” thing for new players to learn is, that you first have to click on a verb and then on an object.
Of course, it’s not that simple as a one-click interface but it’s still a good compromise between “easy to use” and “give the player more possibilities”.
But I agree with you: In a PnC adventure for the “masses” you have to chose a different UI. (And I’m curious about what your new UI will look like )
Huh? I have to put two lego pieces together if I want to build a house then I have to repeat that several times? Why doesn´t that house built itself, it´s just so inconvinent. Derpy derp! 
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Damn Millennials.
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Yes, exactly.
Ask not what is wrong with Thimbleweed Park, but what is wrong with people who don’t like it and Big Bang Theory is their favorite show.
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But but but…is so funny when guy says “Bazinga!” hahahaha…
Would that be new radical UI that we haven’t seen in other games?
He could move the verbs to the right and the items to the left, tadaah.
Or, you could use icons instead of verbs (an eye for LookAt, hands for Use …) and add some personality and character, like sometimes the eye is blinking, it looks at you, when you’re doing weird things or looking at something obvious. When you’re in a cold scene the hands could rub each other. They could clap if you did something clever, show you the middle finger if you try something stupid (from the hands pov). The mouth for TalkTo could mumble stuff, snore at night, tell a story and maybe give you a hint.
You could make them interact with each other as well. The hands want something very badly from the inventory. The mouth argues against it whilst the eye is looking at something secretly (herself). The hands get angry because the eye doesn’t support them. Once they are supposed to use the pepper item, they throw it towards the eye and the eye is crying, her feelings are hurt too. Now you can’t use your eye anymore, until you’ve fixed this conflict.
According to the specific situation you could feed them with certain actions and items, repositioning creates/solves conflicts (which might be part of some puzzles too).
:
In the right dosis you could add some life and fun to the interface/inventory and make it a part of the game.
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QTE adventures and turn-based strategy games aren’t exactly the most popular genres ever, yet games like Heavy Rain and Fire Emblem: Awakening sold like cake.
Marketing is EVERYTHING.
And by marketing I don’t mean good press. TWP has awesome reviews.
I mean TV commercials, specials and banners on popular websites. Even giving away free copies to popular let’s play-ers like, I don’t know, Pewdiepie are GUARANTEED to boost your sales exponentially.
Also, this is a new story with new characters. That resembles no popular game franchise either.
The closest thing is Maniac Mansion, which isn’t exactly super popular among modern gamers. It’s more of a niche game, nowadays. You can bet that a Monkey Island 3 would have had much more visibility and a massively succesful crowdfunding.
The most succesful Kickstarters have been either for sequels of well known franchises or “spiritual successors” (aka unofficial sequels because the creators don’t own the rights of the originals anymore). I GUARANTEE a MI3 KS would smash.
I can only talk for Germany and that’s not common. Here TWP had a great marketing campaign. Even radio stations that don’t report about games have mentioned TWP. Beside that, there are Indie games that made less marketing and sold far better than TWP. An example is Cuphead.
And what about Broken Age?
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say whaaaaa? 