by Thomas Nickel

Die deutsche Version des Interviews befindet sich hier.

Monkey Island is back and the world is a better place for it. We took the opportunity to talk to Tellaltes Dave Grossman, Mike Stemmle and Dominic Armato, the voice of Guybrush Threepwood. This is what they told us...

Thomas: When we last saw Guybrush, Pirates weren't immensely popular in the media. Since then however, the situation has changed quite significantly. Film franchises like Pirates of the Carribean, which is ironically based on a ride quoted by Ron Gilbert as a large influence on Monkey Island, have managed to reanimate the cultural perception of swashbuckling heroes. Will Tales of Monkey Island deal with this new status quo in any way?

Dave Grossman: The funny thing is, others have asked whether the recent actions of real life pirates haven't tainted the magic of imaginary piracy and ruined the fun for everybody (I don’t believe they have). But whether pirates in general are riding the wave of media adulation or sinking due to an absence of irony, Guybrush Threepwood remains his usual cavalier self. Still a legend in his own mind, of course.

Thomas: You were there at the very beginning, when Guybrush, LeChuck and co. were just a twinkle in Ron Gilbert?s eye. How is it, to return to the franchise after all this time.

Dave Grossman: Different. I’ve likened it to running into someone at a supermarket and suddenly realizing it’s an old, dear friend I lost track of years ago. And then we go have coffee and catch up. The magic is still there, but we’re on different footing now, with new life experiences to bring to bear and new things to learn from each other.

Thomas: How did the collaboration with Lucasarts come about? Did Telltale initiate it, or did the idea to bring back Monkey Island come from Skywalker Ranch.

Dave Grossman: A little of each. We were interested in doing Tales of Monkey Island as an episodic series, and at the same time, the new honchos at LucasArts got interested in revitalizing their adventure franchises. So there was a pleasant harmony of goals at both studios.

Thomas: Everyone will be asking this, and so will we: If TMI is a success, would you consider bringing back other classic Adventure franchises like Leisure Suit Larry, Gabriel Knight, Space Quest or Tex Murphy? Is there any chance for them to find a new home at Telltale Games?

Dave Grossman: What, no Simon the Sorcerer?

Thomas: It’s been quite a while since the last Monkey Island. Was there ever a time, where you had given up hope of ever returning to the part of Guybrush Threepwood?

Dominic Armato: Oh, definitely. After Escape from Monkey Island, I had hope for a while. Which turned to impatience. Which turned to frustration. Which turned to despondency. I finally had to just mentally let go and assume there’d never be another Monkey Island game again, which probably happened 3-4 years ago. Of course, this made its resurrection that much sweeter

Thomas: How would you describe your reunion with Guybrush? Was it awkward at first, or did you reacquaint yourselves with the mighty pirate pretty quickly?

Dominic Armato: Oh, it’s like we never broke up. I was a little nervous getting back into the studio, of course. It’s been almost ten years, and as before, I knew the cost of failure was a mob of Monkey Island fans (myself included!) with pitchforks and torches at my door. But just two or three lines in, it was like we never stopped recording. It all came back instantly.

Thomas: So, after such a long hiatus you have managed on two different, indepent Monkey Island projects in the same year now. How would you compare working on the special edition to working on Tales? Did you approach the part of Guybrush differently in the two games, considering he is at very different stages of his life in both games?

Dominic Armato: I tried to. With the remake of Secret of Monkey Island, I tried to keep everything very young, light and fresh. With Tales of Monkey Island, I wasn’t afraid to let a little more snark show when appropriate. But we’re talking about very subtle changes on my part. Most of that growth is really in the writing, which makes my job easy.

Thomas: Mike, whereas Dave represents the old guard of Monkey Island, you took reign of the series much later. What happens, when two generations of Monkey Island developers work together?

Mike Stemmle: I tried to come up with several funny answers to this question, each one casting me as a sullen teenager and Dave as a elderly fuddy-duddy, but I just can't do it. The uninteresting truth is that Grossman and I are remarkably sympatico in our design philosophy.

Thomas: Tales of Monkey Island is the first game in the series since Le Chuck'?s Revenge to feature any (albeit minor) involvement from Ron Gilbert. Now, it's publically known that Ron Gilbert doesn't quite agree with the direction the series took in parts 3 and 4 (although he has been rather complimentary on the actual games). Did his opinion have any impact on the development of the new storyline? Were there any arguments in the story-breaking process?

Dave Grossman: No arguments. Ron did say a thing or two about how we intended to handle the characters, and we did make a few changes based on that. And the series is better as a result. There’s been no acrimony, either - naturally, the third and fourth games are not exactly what Ron would have done, nor indeed is Tales, but nobody is particularly bothered by that. Sometimes other people continue something that you started, and they take it in their own direction, and I think we’re all pretty used to that by now. For me personally, Curse of Monkey Island was a good experience in large part because it’s NOT what I would have done, and was therefore surprising and fun - I got to be part of the audience instead of the development team, and just between you, me, and the fencepost, the whole idea is to entertain the audience rather than the developers.

Thomas: Could you explain in what capacity Ron Gilbert is involved? Was he just there during the story-breaking-process, or do you regularly consult with him?

Dave Grossman: Ron was around briefly to dispense wisdom and brainstorm with us about story elements and even some puzzles, but eventually he had to go back home. He’s got a steady job as the creative director at Hothead, where he’s got a game of his own, Deathspank, coming out soon. We keep a picture of him on the desk so it will seem like he’s here.

Thomas: Monkey Island 2 opened with the ultimate dancing monkey scene. Do you plan for something even better? Like, three threeheaded dancing monkeys?

Dave Grossman: We opened Tales with ships on the high seas at night in the rain, with peril and voodoo and a big explosion. Guybrush does eventually dance a bit in the first episode, but, like me, he’s not really much of a dancer.

Thomas: Mike, how would you compare your experience on Tales of Monkey Island to your experience on Escape from Monkey Island?

Mike Stemmle: Escape from Monkey Island was a marathon. Tales is more like a relay race.

Thomas: Why do you think Monkey Island is considered such a timeless classic?
Is it in any way daunting to live up to the legacy (even though you are already a major part of it)?

Dave Grossman: It is a little bit terrifying, but a good step on the way to live up to something like that is to remember what was compelling about it in the first place. For Monkey Island, there’s the moment-to-moment humor combined with broad story strokes that are actually more serious, so you wind up with a world and characters that are fun to be around but that also have some depth to them. Also important is the conscientious design of the story and puzzles to provide the player with an experience that is dramatic and challenging while avoiding unnecessary frustration, and which rewards curiosity rather than punishing it as so many games have tended to do. (Hm... good game design is hard work....)

Thomas: For many adventure-fans Monkey Island is one of the quintessential games they grew up with. One of the games, that really made them care about the medium. Are you making the game for a broad audience, or are you making it mainly for players, who have been there since the EGA-era?

Dave Grossman: Tales of Monkey Island is definitely intended to make the fun of Monkey Island available to a whole new generation of players. It’s designed to work as an entry point to the series, and would be perfectly enjoyable whether or not you’ve ever seen any adventure game before. Of course, those fans who have been following Guybrush since the EGA era will also find it intimately familiar and as entertaining as ever.

Thomas: Dominic, you have been on the record about your Monkey Island fandom, so it must have been quite satisfying, to finally voice all those immortal lines from the first game. But what was more satisfying? Going back to the beginning, or finally continuing the adventures of Guybrush Threepwood?

Dominic Armato: Gosh, I don’t know. After a decade-long break, suddenly there’s this abundance of monkeys and it still hasn’t quite hit home. There’s something really special about going back to voice the original, because it’s so beloved and so revered. Plus, even though I had worked on two of the games, the series existed long before I was involved, and to some degree I still felt like an outsider (though I know some will tell me that’s insane). Going back to do the original, it just kind of drives home that, yeah, I really am a part of this thing and that means a lot to me.

Thomas: Are you in any way involved in the actual writing process? Have you ever changed lines or given the writers notes on Guybrush?

Dominic Armato: In the writing? No, not at all. And even if it were my place, there’s been no need. The series has been blessed with some spectacular writing. The extent of my input might come down to a read – is this line more naïve, or sarcastic? Is Guybrush self-aware here or blissfully ignorant? The kind of choices you make – working within the script – to take the character off the page (if I may use a tired cliché). It’s rare, but I’ve gotten into a few friendly battles with the voice directors over the best way to handle a line. I think I’ve won most of them...

Thomas: Apart from Monkey Island you have also done voice work on several other games. What distinguishes your work on Monkey Island from the rest?

Dominic Armato: Monkey Island is very, very personal for me. All of the other work is fun, to be sure, and I throw myself into it just as I do every game I work on, but I grew up with MI. I spent hours with Guybrush, hearing those lines in my voice. And independent of my participation in the series, Guybrush and I are a little closer character-wise than I usually care to admit. Guybrush is the one character that doesn’t feel like a role – he feels like an extension of myself.

Thomas: Mike, in what way do you structure the story for a 5-part episodic game? Is everything broken down in advance, or do you make the storyline up as you go along?

Mike Stemmle: We spent a long time (a long time in Telltale terms means "3 or so months") coming up with the big story beats for Tales of Monkey Island before doing any detailed design work. Even so, when we get around to the individual episodes, we usually end up massaging some of those beats a bit.

Thomas: Monkey Island has always been well regarded for its ability to balance great storytelling and great humour. How difficult is it, to strike the right balance? Has one element ever gotten in the way of the other one?

Mike Stemmle: It can be difficult, but a simple way to stay on track is to make sure the characters don't undercut the seriousness of the main story. The details of the story are funny, silly, and even absurdly metatextual at times, but it's still a story about pirates, voodoo, love, death and betrayal, after all.

Thomas: Why did you decide, to develop Tales of Monkey Island not only for PC, but also for the Wii? A majority of the extended audience may not actually be aware of the series? legacy, and some may argue, that 360 or PS3 with their hardcore-centric audiences would be safer choices to publish a new MI. However, there are a lot of advantages to the Wii too. Can you tell us, what made you decide on the platform?

Mike Stemmle: There were a number of reasons we went with the Wii for our initial rollout. For one thing, we already had a cool game on the 360 releasing in the same time frame (Wallace and Gromit). For another, fans were really receptive to Telltale's Strong Bad game on the Wii, so we wanted to continue giving Wii owners something nifty to play. I'm sure there were other financial considerations, but I'm just a dumb designer, so I'm not privy to the accounting mysteries.

Thomas: Many fans didn't like the change from 2D to 3D with the fourth game. Why did you decide to keep it this way? Was it a guideline by LucasArts?

Dave Grossman: At Telltale we do all of our games in full, real-time rendered 3D. We like the way that it lets us approach the animations and cinematography, and we can also produce a larger, more complex experience that way than we would be able to do in 2D. Our engine and our entire art pipeline are built around the advantages that 3D provides. Fortunately, that also means we have a whole studio full of artists who are talented and experienced at working in 3D and making it look amazing. Ultimately, I think what the audience responds to is not the number of Ds used in the presentation, but whether that presentation looks great. Which, in the case of Tales, it does.

Thomas: How come almost all adventures nowadays need to have some sort of help-function for puzzles? Do you think that’s because the approach to playing adventure games has changed? And if so, why?

Mike Stemmle: When we were younger, a lot of designers (myself included) felt it was our job to "stump the player." As we've gotten older and mellower, we've come to realize that it's a LOT better to make the players feel smart. That means we've got to figure out how to drop hints when players are stuck. A stuck player eventually becomes an unhappy player. An unhappy player doesn't buy the next episode.

Thomas: For the second time now, the series is leaving behind the classic point and click interface in lieu of a different control scheme. Have you learned any lessons from the control scheme of "Escape from Monkey Island"? What distinguishes Tales control-wise from its predecessor?

Mike Stemmle: We're not precisely leaving behind the classic point-n-click scheme... it's more of an evolution. Under our new scheme, you can point and clik at objects to your heart's content, it's just the "driving" to arbitray locations that's different and, in my opinion, much smoother than the previous "point somewhere on the floor and hope the character goes to the right place" approach.

Thomas: Did the control scheme have any way impact on your storytelling?

Mike Stemmle: In Chapter One, which was designed largely in a "control agnostic" manner, not so much. In future episodes you'll be seeing more puzzles that take advtantage of the direct control scheme.

Thomas: In each new game Guybrush changes his look. Does that have any impact on his performance? And even more importantly: Who is his barber?

Dominic Armato: On his performance? Not so much. Just on his awesomeness. As for his barber, your guess is as good as mine, but it’s clearly somebody with a penchant for the flamboyant. Perhaps that should be the plot for the next MI game! Guybrush goes off in search of his old acquaintance, Haggis McMutton, and a more stately haircut.

Text Copyright Thomas Nickel 2009

Pictures Copyright Telltale Games