Failure and success live next door to each other and the doors have no number, you just knock and you don’t know who is going to open.
-Guillermo del Toro
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Ok, nice game.
Guybrush, obviously.
But, I admit there could be one (max two) scenes that could be done taking control over a side role. I don’t think Murray should be present in 3a.
TWP style
Original way it was going to be if made back in 91
Well, I’d say the second… it’s a more modern approach. But iMuse was so gorgeous… so I’d say, maybe if today there’s an highly realistic sampling, maybe I’d choose iMuse with a realistic sound, as if it was live played…
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For me it is different. I am a fan of your games, not necessary point and click. Story and athmosphere (+humour and immersion) is the key for me. So give it a shot, not everyone is stuck in the past.
I agree with you. But …
… point-and-click doesn’t mean that you are stuck in the past. (You don’t have to reinvent the wheel to build a good car.)
IMHO the problem is/was that there weren’t much premium point-and-click adventure games with good puzzles and a thrilling story for the masses. For example most WadjetEye games are for science fiction or mystery fans. Monkey Island on the opposite had lovely pirates (everybody loves nice pirates) and a a lot of humor - and was on the long term a huge success.
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Yes, I think the most important aspects are:
- humor
- charming characters
- logical puzzles
- nice artworks
- an atmospheric setting
- (a suitable soundtrack)
And most adventure games fail at more than only one of them. Admittedly, it’s very difficult to get it right.
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Thats not what I meant. What I meant was this: if ppl (hardcore gamers) dont like a mi3a game because it is not point n click, then these guys are stuck in the past. But I believe not so many are stuck.
Indeed. 
Ah, sorry. Yes, here I agree with you too.
(btw: It would be interesting to see an “aged” Guybrush: 27 years past since the second part. So he could joke in game that not only he but the technology progressed. 
)
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Okay, I’m stuck in the past then. Of course I am open-minded for different styles of adventure games, but I am convinced that point-and-click has been the perfect choice for games like MI. I just don’t get why the direct control of the character is presumed to be better / more popular. I admit that it’s more suitable for consoles, but it feels cumbersome to me.
It’s hard to tell the market share of point-and-click games and compare it with their share in the supply of all adventure games. Maybe Ron underestimates the potential of point-and-click games in the market. For example, I’m pretty sure that most people who have Grim Fandango Remastered installed on their PC or Mac prefer to play it with the coin interface. Maybe the big market share of console ports, which of course cannot be played via mouse, is the actual doom of the point-and-click genre. After all, the announced mouse support for the Xbox One is overdue!
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Machinarium is considered a point and click adventure game and it sold 4 million copies, so I’m not sure I buy the “point and click is dead” argument…
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Also, Double Fine collected a few millions from backers for Broken Age.
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Should the conversation regarding MI3a and what it could be, should be, be moved to a separate thread, considering this is supposed to be one about MI4? Or is it too far gone
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Yes, I agree: The discussion is now about MI3a. So one of the moderators should/could move it into a separate thread. 
And doesn´t that also kind of reaffirm that people just don´t care about MI4? 
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I think that it’s okay to talk about a hypothetical MI 3a as well here. When it comes to the low popularity of EMI, we discuss about what was done wrong in EMI. And this implies the question of what would Ron have done differently if he did a 3rd MI game, since he created MI and most of us appreciate his games.
Separating all discussions about MI 3a in these forums might be a Sisyphean struggle anyway.
It definitely does.
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That’s the most interesting example, even more than Machinarium, which is a different kind of game. It shows how much potential there is in this market. Sure, Broken Age nearly ruined kickstarters for P&C games, but people who were initially interested in BA are still there.
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Not only potential: There seems to be a need for new classic point and click adventure games.
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I’m pretty sure that Ron and Gary could have collected more money if they had decided for a higher goal on Kickstarter. Once all stretch goals have been reached, the incentive for backing disappears.
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Well, but Ron gave it a shot and sales are bad as far as I understand.
Sales were not bad. It was in the top 5% of all Steam games in terms of revenue and probably the best selling PnC game in 2017. Sales just weren’t high enough to pour $1M+ into another one. Making a game is an exhausting, time consuming, and risky process, it’s not something I want to do to “break even”. this isn’t a hobby for me, it’s what I do to pay rent and eat.
When you look at SteamSpy numbers to compare sales, remember that some of these games have been on huge discounted sales over their lifetime. TWP has basically been at full price for a year, only doing small reductions for a limit number of sales/promotions. Also, a lot of these games have been in Humble Bundles. They eat up 100K+ keys that were not bought but still show up on SteamSpy. The only realistic comparison you can make with SteamSpy are for games that came out about the same time.
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Ron has given already an answer to this, but as you have cited me, I would like to add the following. Please note that this is my own view and opinion. So please don’t tar an feather me.
As I said somewhere else here in the forum: The story in TWP is “made from nerds for nerds”. It is not about nice pirates, furry hamsters or lovely anime unicorns that everybody instantly loves. The story in TWP has a lot of mystery, fantasy, Matrix and Twin Peaks stuff in it plus a lot of in-game-jokes (even if you deactivate them in the options). You have to like this setting, the unusual ending and the many open questions. In addition TWP was marketed as an “old school adventure” and has pixel graphics. So for me TWP isn’t a typical point-and-click adventure made for the masses and thus not a counterexample. The opposite is true: If the sales of TWP weren’t not bad, then a point-and-click adventure made explicitly for “the masses” could generate even more money. (But of course it would cost more in production.)
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