Return to Monkey Island: Ron Gilbert comments on the artistic direction of the game

If the announcement of a new Monkey Island game by Ron Gilbert and Dave Grossman, the authors of the first two episodes of the saga, provoked great joy in the community of adventure game fans, the artistic choices have Not being unanimous because very different from the games made at the time by Lucasarts. A point on which Ron Gilbert wished to express himself by means of a new publication on his blog Grumpy Gamer.

“I did a single game in pixel art in all my career and it is Thimbleweed Park. Monkey Island 1 and 2 were not games in Pixel Art. They used Pointe Artistic technologies”, first clarifies Ron Gilbert, notably referring to the digitization process of the illustrations of Peter Chan and Steve Purcell in Monkey Island 2. “si I had stayed to do Monkey Island 3, he would not have looked like Monkey Island 2. We would have continued To go ahead and Day of the Tentacle is a good example, “adds the author.

“Lorsque Dave and I started thinking about Return to Monkey Island, we talked about Pixel Art, but that didn’t stick. We didn’t want to make a retro game. We can’t read an article on Thimbleweed Park without It is qualified as retro game. I didn’t want Return to Monkey Island to be just a retro game, I wanted to keep moving Monkey Island because it’s interesting, fun and exciting. This is what games Monkey Island have always done, “he explains in stride.

As a reminder, it was Rex Crowle who was chosen to be the artistic director of Return to Monkey Island . Veteran of Media Molecule, Rex Crowle worked on the Littlebigplanet franchise before directing the development of the memorable tearaway and co -bike Knights and Bikes with its independent studio. The arrival of Rex Crowle on this project was done in particularly original circumstances told in this previous article.

“Return to Monkey Island may not be the artistic style you want or you expect, but it is the artistic style I wanted. When I started this game, my biggest fear was that Disney did not Don’t let me make the game I wanted, but it was wonderful to work with them. “

“It is ironic to note that people who do not want me to play the game in my own way are among the biggest fans of Monkey Island. And that’s what makes me sad in all these comments. Return to Monkey Island is An incredible roller coaster. You can go up and have fun or get out of the amusement park because it is not exactly the roller coaster that you wanted. “

The release of Return to Monkey Island is expected this year on PC.