Update: Maker Of Monkey Island Departs Double Fine

Karloff

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Update: Maker Of Monkey Island Departs Double Fine



It's time for the Grumpy Gamer to plot his next move.

"So many games left to be designed," Ron Gilbert - aka Grumpy Gamer - muses, as he announces his departure from Double Fine. The man who made Monkey Island and The Cave has decided that it's time to move on from Tim Schafer's outfit, but that doesn't mean there's no new worlds left for him to conquer.

There's an iOS side project for one thing: Scurvy Scallywags in The Voyage to Discover the Ultimate Sea Shanty: A Musical Match-3 Pirate RPG. Or he may have other, less peaceful plans [https://twitter.com/grumpygamer/status/311315886717943808]. It's all up in the air at the moment; Gilbert's more concerned with his PAX Australia keynote right now than he is with a new gaming project.

"I want to thank all the amazing people at Double Fine for all their hard work on The Cave," says Gilbert. "It was a true pleasure to work with every one of them over the past two years." Gilbert promises to post some behind-the-scenes Cave stuff over time; for the moment, the map you see here will have to do. Yes, those little pink dots have meaning. So much meaning ...

Source: Grumpy Gamer [http://grumpygamer.com/2304836]

Update: Gilbert has since said, in a Eurogamer [http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-03-12-ron-gilbert-on-why-he-left-double-fine] interview, that his tenure at Double Fine always had an expiration date. He had been brought on to create The Cave, and when that was done, so was he.

Describing himself as "a little bit of a nomad," Gilbert said that:


It wasn't, 'Hey, come to Double Fine.' It was, 'Come to Double Fine and make The Cave.' I was telling [Tim Schafer] about The Cave and he really liked it, so he said, 'Come to Double Fine and make it.' It was really all about making that game.


Gilbert also confirmed that the Sea Shanty iOS title was an actual game, and not a goof. He'll be working with DeathSpank co-creator Clayton Kauzlaric to make it happen, and hopes to eventually take his match-3 shanty game to Android devices.

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Karloff

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He doesn't really give a reason, and he's still on good terms with Double Fine and Schafer - judging by the Twitter feed - so that old standby "it was time to move on" pretty much covers it. The Pirate thing could just be a goof, but I wouldn't put it past Gilbert to try and sell that title. Only time will tell.
 

Louis Martin

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Hmm.... it was kind of implied in the Double Fine Adventure Kickstarter pitch that Ron Gilbert would be working on the game as well. I wonder how his departure affects backers?
 

Tolkienfanatic

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I guess this means we aren't going to get two new characters that make playing the Cave again worth my time... sigh.
 

anian

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Louis Martin said:
Hmm.... it was kind of implied in the Double Fine Adventure Kickstarter pitch that Ron Gilbert would be working on the game as well. I wonder how his departure affects backers?
Indeed, I got the same impression. DF adventure game kind of seems to be in limbo for some reason, while pc ports of Brutal legend, Cave etc. gets published.
 

Callate

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I probably lack the details to make a fully qualified pronouncement, but on the face of it, it seems like departing Double Fine isn't a good move for Gilbert. It seems unlikely he's likely to get that combination of funding and creative freedom anywhere else.
 

Somebloke

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The DF Adventure is progressing (minus the annual company-wide timeout for Amnesia Fortnight). Brütal Legend PC sales bolster the budget of the Adventure.
 

JSoup

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Louis Martin said:
Hmm.... it was kind of implied in the Double Fine Adventure Kickstarter pitch that Ron Gilbert would be working on the game as well.
He did, it was The Cave.
 

Louis Martin

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JSoup said:
Louis Martin said:
Hmm.... it was kind of implied in the Double Fine Adventure Kickstarter pitch that Ron Gilbert would be working on the game as well.
He did, it was The Cave.
The Cave was not the Double Fine Adventure. Development is ongoing.
 

JSoup

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Louis Martin said:
JSoup said:
Louis Martin said:
Hmm.... it was kind of implied in the Double Fine Adventure Kickstarter pitch that Ron Gilbert would be working on the game as well.
He did, it was The Cave.
The Cave was not the Double Fine Adventure. Development is ongoing.
Wasn't attempting to claim it was. I actually misread the post I quoted, mistook "working on the game" for "working on a game".