Ron Gilbert's next game may be a puzzler for iOS, but he still gets nostalgic on occasion. For example, just how would he handle a new installment in the Monkey Island series? Hypothetically, mind you.
Gilbert tackled that question in his Grumpy Gamer blog, making it quite clear that he was just talking, nothing more. But if it did happen, he'd make it a fully voiced 2D game, and do all the things they couldn't do in the '90s with the limited engines and hardware. "Monkey Island deserves that. It's authentic. It doesn't need 3D. Yes, I've seen the video, it's very cool, but Monkey Island wants to be what it is. I would want the game to be how we all remember Monkey Island."
Telltale brought the series to 3D
Before making The Walking Dead, developer Telltale Games made their own take on the franchise in Tales of Monkey Island. However, Gilbert said that none of those games mattered. "It would be called Monkey Island 3a. All the games after Monkey Island 2 don't exist in my Monkey Island universe," Gilbert said. "I'd want to pick up where I left off. Free of baggage. In a carnival. That doesn't mean I won't steal some good ideas or characters from other games. I'm not above that." The reason for the "a" is that the game would not be the Monkey Island 3 he had envisioned in 1992. "I'm not the same person I was back then. I could never make that game now. It is lost to time. Hopefully this one would be better."
As for going the crowdfunding route, Gilbert said he wouldn't do anything flashy, preferring to keep it "raw and honest." He doesn't want the hype or the distractions, but just to make a game.
"The game would be the game I wanted to make," he said. "I don't want the pressure of trying to make the game you want me to make. I would vanish for long periods of time. I would not constantly keep you up-to-date or be feeding the hype-machine. I'd show stuff that excited me or amused me. If you let me do those things, you will love the game. That, I promise."
Disney now owns the rights to the game after its purchase of LucasFilm and subsequent closure of LucasArts. Gilbert has said he wants to talk to Disney about getting the franchise rights to the series.
