The team could create a game which would be expanded by and by. Unlike Tales of MI, the episodes of this game could be interwoven - just like the consecutive parts in TWP or in MI 1 & 2 - so that the result of all upgrades would be as homogeneous as TWP or the SCUMM games are.
No, in the blog or here in the forum. AFAIR it was in a discussion about a/the MI IP? But maybe Iām remembering it wrong. 
Oh, yes! Only a game with zombies is a good game!
Thatās an interesting idea. You mean similar to the games of Maniac Mansion Mania?
The reason why I would be a bit surprised to discover that Ron wouldnāt work (again) for a game company is that after leaving Double Fine he said:
āI would love to do something again with Double Fine,ā
āThey were a wonderful group of people to work with. Super smart and super talented, and doing something down the road with them would be a fun idea. If that opportunity ever came up again I think it would be fun to do.ā
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Ah, Ok. Then I was wrong.
Hey, I just had a brilliant idea! Double Fine could do again a multi-million Kickstarter campaign and they could just give that money to Ron!
Ron would know how to use 3 million dollars.
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I donāt think that DF will get another 3 Million after Broken Ageā¦ But if they say that they will give the money to Ronā¦ Hmā¦
Exactly! Itās the best of both worlds: the wider visibility and marketing reach of Double Fine mixed with the solid reputation and delivery skills of Terrible Toybox!
We are in business. 
Yes, a cooperation between DF and TT would be an interesting combination. 
But hasnāt DF switched to his own crowdfunding platform?
Yes. Thatās not necessarily a bad thing. Or they could use again Kickstarter just for this joint-venture.
Also, I have just discovered that āFig Marketingā, the marketing service of the crowdfunding platform of Double Fine, has provided services to Terrible Toybox. Source.
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Thatās interesting, thanks for the link!
I thought that Terrible Toybox was going to follow a general LucasArts model (that is similar to a lot of models)ā¦
Game 1: Thimbleweed Parkā¦ the equivilent of Maniac Mansion
Tasks for Game 1:
Gets the engine up and running (like SCUMM did)
Starts to build the audience
Starts to build the reputation of the company
Has multiple characters
Based on a cult concept (horror b-movies/detective-mystery)
Game 2: ???.. equivilent of Monkey Island 1
Tasks for Game 2:
Builds on the engine developed for the first game
Sells to existing audience for game 1, and builds on top of it
Further solidifies and publicises the good reputation of the company
Has one main hero, in a simple, satisfying heroās journey story
Based on a broader, more mainstream concept (pirates! zombies! wizards! aliens! magic! super heroes! etc!)
So Game 2 is like the first, but learns from it and improves on itā¦ some things get more sophisticated (perhaps art, puzzle design, etc.), but in some ways it also gets simpler and more streamlined (maybe the story and UI, etc.).
And Game 2 is like the breakthrough game for the company, or close to being the breakthrough (which may actually come in Game 3).
Iād say a classic Game 1 to Game 2 equivalent would be the Terminator 1 and 2 movies, where the first built the buzz with a smaller more cult audience, then the sequel built on it to make the experience more widely applicable.
Or something like Resoivoir Dogs that was more cult, but built the audience, buzz, and reputation for Pulp Fiction to then have a bigger impact.
Then Game 3 could be the bigger, better sequel to the popular Game 2, where the characters/story are further developed.
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Similarly. Every episode from Maniac Mansion Mania or Tales of MI can be played separately, which makes those episodes feel less interwoven. But, I think that it would be important to force the player into playing the different episodes in the correct order, in order to tell a bigger story. You would have to start with the very first part of the game. Whenever a new part is published, the player would be able to load his saved game and continue to play it.
This concept would allow the developers to release the game with a smaller budget and extend it by and by with the revenue.
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I like your idea, but what happens if the sales of episode 2 decrease? If the sales of episode 2 are too low, the developer wouldnāt be able to produce episode 3 - and the whole adventure wouldnāt be completed.
So I would prefer an approach used by TV series or Maniac Mansion Mania: Each episode tells a separate story, but they are still connected.
I presume that the tail would be pretty strong, thanks to these extensions - even though the game would sell worse at first, because the it would need to grow before it would be comparable with TWP.
If the tail is unexpectedly too weak to develop more parts, the team can finish the story with a smaller upgrade containing an ending. For example the last part in MI 1 was also short (but nonetheless great).
Do you have a time in mind, how long each part should be?
However, the first part would need to be long enough to provide a promising prelude. I think that all subsequent parts wouldnāt need to have a minimal length, provided that the total game would end up with a reasonable total length.
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3M = MI3(a)
Q.E.D.
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@Nor_Treblig and @benderete and you are actually agreeing. The literal interpretation might be different, but what you elaborate on is pretty according.
Yoda says āDo. Or do not. There is no try.ā He never says it is wrong to try. He only says that there exists no such thing as an erasable, free try (like a save, try and reload in a game). Every action has consequences. Every non-action has too.
You can try to achieve a goal but your confidence in the outcome could be low that you feel the need to add the word ātryā to not lose face when things go south. But in the end you decide to either do or donāt. He never says you cannot give up either. He just encourages [Luke] to consider the consequences of his actions (or inactions).
The same way Ron canāt try to make another game or not. As soon as you decide to start, you invest time, money,ā¦ with an uncertain outcome. There is no restore point to go back to if after 6 months or more of pre-pre-production (pre-KS), it turns out no-one is interested in another classic point-and-click adventure game.
If he decides to never make another, there will be thousands (millions?) of saddened fans. Consequences, I tell ya!
[Yoda and his fortune wookiee cookie wisdoms are trademarks owned by Lucasfilm/Disney]
Thatās not true: If a Kickstarter fails, he maybe can develop the game sometime in the future. The work he invested in the pre-Kickstarter wouldnāt be wasted time (or ālostā). So he can try to make a game.
And I donāt generally agree with you: Even if you try something and fail with it, it was worth the time due to many reasons: You had fun, you have learned something, you have made the base for something new, etc.