The Making of Monkey Island (30th Anniversary Documentary)
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- čas přidán 27. 07. 2024
- I'm finally proud to show you this little documentary I've been making for the past two or three months for the 30th anniversary of the release of The Secret of Monkey Island - The Making of Monkey Island.
I hope you all enjoy this as much as I enjoyed making it. What an honour!
Thank you to everyone who made this possible...
RON GILBERT
/ grumpygamer
grumpygamer.com/
DAVE GROSSMAN
/ phrenopolis
MARK FERRARI
/ mawkyman
www.markferrari.com/
www.twice-the-serial.com/
STEVE PURCELL
spudvisionblog.blogspot.com/
ORSON SCOTT CARD
KRISTINE CARD
www.hatrack.com/
ADDITIONAL PIXEL ART BY - PENNEY PIXELS
/ @penneypixels
STEVE PURCELL VOICED BY - SUNSET HOTLINE
/ minihalo
ORSON SCOTT CARD VOICED BY - JENOVI
/ uniject
FAN CLIPS PROVIDED BY
Neil at RMC - The Cave
/ retromancave
Matt at The Game Show UK
/ thegameshowuk
Dave Perry - GamesAnimal TV
/ @gamesanimaltv
QUALITY ASSURANCE
Matropolis
/ matropolis86
The Game Show
/ thegameshowuk
GAMEPLAY FOOTAGE PROVIDED BY
World of Longplays
/ cubex55
MrWhitman
/ mrwhitman
Kim Justice
/ elmyrdehory
Mr Eight-Three-One
/ legoking831
Mike Shade
/ @mikeshadegaming
Major Thriftwood
/ thriftweeds
French subtitles by UFR Langues et Communication:
Veronika Becker
Pierre-Antoine Egret
Fabian Foucault
Arantxa Pourtau
Elise Fernandez
Renaissance by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative
Commons Attribution license
(creativecommons.org/licenses/...)
Artist: audionautix.com/
0:00 Intro
0:53 History of genre
5:25 Lucasfilm and team
9:12 Birth of concept
17:17 Assembling team
19:25 Skywalker Ranch
21:30 Lucasfilm Games ethos
28:20 Interface & references
31:28 Artwork
47:30 Animation
48:57 EGA vs VGA vs Amiga
50:56 Characters
56:39 Insult sword fights
1:01:43 Music
1:02:40 Fans
1:07:12 Success
1:17:40 Legacy
1:20:40 Credits
#MonkeyIsland #Lucasarts #Lucasfilm - Hry
I realise the 30th anniversary of the initial release is the 15th, so I'm a few days early.
Really hope you all enjoy this one as it's been a real labour of love for me to put together, and an absolute pleasure.
Thank you to all involved, and please do head to the video description and check everyone out.
Full interviews here:
RON GILBERT - czcams.com/video/qzorEPK6khk/video.html
DAVE GROSSMAN - czcams.com/video/GABrEdG8Ez4/video.html
MARK FERRARI - czcams.com/video/ri4_3P2Oh14/video.html
I am already looking forward to the documentary that covers Monkey Island 2 next year. A game that surpasses the original in every way.
@@dudujencarelli Ha! I'd love to, but we'll see.
5 days after that, I was born! This game found me a few years later and I've loved it my whole life.
Great work. Was recommended this video from my brother who's in graphic design. I don't normally watch CZcams videos over 1 hour but I watched this in two sittings. Looking forward to more.
@@fauzirahman3285 Thanks!
I still feel like i am on a tropical island while hearing that intro 😍 That was not a game, it was like a vacation.
Haha it certainly was.
That's the same thing I always said!
Michael Lands score is beyond captivating. When the music started playing in Sea of Thieves it was a complete vibe change, such transformative music.
Ha I feel the same way
What a beautiful way of putting it. Yes it felt like a true journey and escapism.
My uncle was a Scotsman living in silicon Valley working for IBM. He came to visit us back in the UK and brought with him a gift of Monkey Island EGA for the PC for me. I played it to death but some of the puzzles boggled my 13 year old mind. I never worked out to follow the shop keeper to the sword master so I found her myself by luck/trial and error in the swamp maze area. I just replayed monkey island 1 and 2 a few months ago and still enjoyed them very much. Thanks to my uncle for bringing such a cool gift. Definitely added to my life and interest in adventure games.
That's a great memory, thanks for sharing.
I have a Monkey Island Tshirt thats a pic of most of the Characters all in the Bar. A lot of people look at me weird as I assume they dont even know what Monkey Island is...but when someone DOES know, an instant conversation starts: "That was one of my favorite games growing up" and we both walk away smiling :)
Nice.
That was one of my favorite games growing up as well. Still is.
yeah most of the people are just really dumb, we have to learn to live with that
nah, some of it is age. I'm in my mid 40s so anyone around my or older got to experience the evolution of gaming. My first PC was an already date Vic20 and I was really young. Then I got my hands on a C64 at the end of its life and just as the x86 were coming out with Monochrome screens. My actual first x86 was a 286 with 4mb ram and a VGA screen! The first time I played Monkey Island was at a friend's house on a CGA 4 color screen lol :)
Same goes for my “Stan’s previously owned coffins” t-shirt
One fun thing I do is when I put my 4 year old to bed i tell him stories from movies or games i love. I adapt them and turn them into kid stories. One of them (his favorite) is the Secret of Monkey Island. It’s so cool to see this 4 year old talk about Guybrush Threepwood and the Pirate Lechuck
That's brilliant!
I actually picked up my copy of curse solely based on the box art, and managed to con my parents into getting it by plugging the ‘learn valuable trade in lighthouse and VCR repair’ as ‘see, its educational!’ Great times. Looking forward to Return, wasn’t even aware it had been announced until yesterday.
In the big box PC days I think we all bought some of our games based on the box art alone. Great times!
Nothing beats this soundtrack and lovely atmosphere to this day
100%
Maybe the Monkey Island 2 soundtrack do. 😁
Monkey Island touched my heart as a child and still touches it. I don't know whats the point, the secret, the pirates, the monkeys, the music, the grahics, the adventure, the atmosphere, the being inside that role. I still love it.
Every constituent part was excellent, and it all came together perfectly. What a game!
This was so fun to watch. Thank you so much for putting it together.
Thank you! It was my pleasure.
@@onaretrotip You did a good job sir.
Really amazing video. Most enjoyable CZcams video I’ve watched in years. Better than what’s on Netflix too tbh!
52:34 - As cheesy as it may sound, but this image of Guybrush and Elaine standing there and watching the fireworks engraved itself into my memory as my personal start of puberty (or at least the perceived start).
I had played MI several times before, but this time I was watching this scene and I was thinking - "aaw...this must be so lovely standing there with such a cute girl in my arm and watching the fireworks...ehm...huh? What?!" - And so I added a completely new, unknown, confusing, yet wonderful feeling to my library. 😊
😂😂😂
Haha, that's great!
If your first crush wasn't Elaine Marley, you missed out on something lol
@@JimmiWazEre Yeah, definitely! And as long as your first crush isn't Nurse Edna, that's totally fine 😆
It's interesting to think that Ron was almost certainly already working on the next Monkey Island game when he did the interviews for this.
Yes, really interesting in hindsight. His interview was July 2020 so he must have known!
"30 years ago..."
"Oh, you mean, the seventies"
"NO"
Yes, we are old :(
52 now and played it when I was 18
@@herenkapsalon 44 myself and think I was around 10 or 11.
34 here,Monkey Island, LeChucks Revenge, is how I learned to read lol
videos Wait... so 1986?
I’m the Ghost Pirate LeChuck, and this is my favourite game in the Tri-Island Area!
Ah, the man himself!
Really? Ask me about Loom.
@@greenman3464 jajaja.. i remember that ad on the game . Remember the badge
Nice dr. Doofenshmirtz reference
@@greenman3464 That was a magical age.... computer games that touched a whole generation.
MS DOS is DEAD.. long life to MS DOS and Lucasarts.!!!
"Your entire existence is storytelling" -Mark Ferrari. Very deep way to end this excellent documentary! Great work, thank you very much for this.
Thank you! Glad you liked it. I thought Mark's sentiments there were the perfect way to wrap this up. His full interview is absolutely fascinating; I'll upload it in the next few weeks.
@@onaretrotip Awesome! I look forward to it. Thanks again!
damn spoiler
"The sense of humor was light years ahead of anything that came before" .... and after.
You're not wrong!
thimbleweed did good tho
My first point and click, afterwards always been searching for that initial high. Not yet found. Though I have played a lot of pretty good ones.
Day of the tentacle is a good number 2 on the list, btw.
True, although the Space Quest series was pretty good in that department too, especially the latter games
The soundtrack of this game is one of my absolute favorites. I didn't even play this game when it was new. I wasn't even born when this game came out. But listening to the soundtrack on an MT 32 is amazing. I always feel like music from this period was somehow always trying to clumsily fight through the limitations of the sound cards of the day. Monkey Island seems to own every sound those cards made and sounds all the better for it.
Yes, it's just magical. Never fails to bring a smile to my face.
I remember it like it was yesterday. My friends and I wracking our tiny little brains around those puzzles and laughing at the outrageous dialogue.
Good times.
It says a lot about this game when, as I'm watching the gameplay, my mind is saying the lines before they appear on screen.
To me, this is the ultimate point and click adventure. There are many excellent ones, especially from this era but for me none reach the height of this one.
Also, best ever theme music for a game.
Agreed! :)
aye, and PPOT has a really good cover of the theme: czcams.com/video/c0W0--CCBQ0/video.html
My parents bought me this for my Amiga 500 when it came out and loved it instantly. The sense of scale, adventure and humor had me hooked from the start...and so my gaming life began
Same here!
I remember playing it for four hours straight on the Amiga. Just as I got to Monkey Island, the game crashed and I lost all my progress.
I was a 8 year old Irish kid when my cool aunt brought us the first monkey island game. I still treasure the memories of me and my sister puzzling it out and laughing at the great characters and jokes. Nothing better than the thrill of trying something out and it finally cracking a puzzle!
Good times :)
What nationality are you now?
After listening to the story of the name 'Guybrush' for a thousand times, finally the relation to the name of the first pirate our hero meets in the game occurred to me: GUY-BRUSH MAN-COMB ... MIND-BLOWN :)
🤯
Threepwood - Seepgood :)
Threepo, the golden boy. 😄
@@Dowlphin Seeing a notification from someone with a pony pic commenting on a MI video just when I discovered there's a MI reference in the Gameloft MLP game... coincidence? :D
@@CakePrincessCelestia Discovering there's a MI reference in the Gameloft MLP game just when I saw a notification from someone with a pony pic commenting on a MI video... ponincidence? 🤨 ... Copinkiedance? 🤔
man these were such magical special times, just seeing that Lucasfilm logo was beyond exciting because you knew it was a seal of absolute unrivalled quality, and you were not only going to experience something truly unique and technically ground breaking, but it was like the apex of storytelling and imagination that you could get lost in, it was like being in a movie and you were swept away into these worlds, filled with interesting and often funny memorable characters. To this day the adventure game is my favorite genre by far, I was deeply saddened by their decline in favour of the mindless first person shooters that became so ubiquitous, not that they can't be fun but they can never replace or scratch that itch I have for these type of narrative driven games. My only hope is that we will see a resurgence of these types of experiences and that there will be a continuation of the golden age of adventure games, just thinking of what could have been achieved and created given the sort of time and monetary investment that we saw in shooter type games put into adventure games and where the genre could have gone or could still go as its never too late, I think story telling and the human race have so much to gain if we could make this dream a reality.
You're so right; the early '90s was such a golden age for Lucasfilm Games / LucasArts. They excelled in so many genres.
Sadly those days are gone, but I'm hoping the new Monkey Island rekindles some of that. The original Monkey Island was really the birth of my love for narrative-driven games.
I had many long and late nights in the summer of '92 playing The secret of Monkey Island on my Amiga 500 Plus as a teenager. The music and playing the game is always a huge nostalgia trip for me.
Good times! :)
This documentary is so good, I wish you guys would do more. I've watched this 2 or 3 times, it's so good
Thank you! I'll definitely do more in the future, but it's difficult as I am just one person and also work full time.
@@onaretrotip Yeah! I can imagine this was a gigantic project. Well done!
Loved listening to Mark Ferrari, specially the last part where he talks about why 3D gmes suplanted and the sadness of it. Great documentary overall, i would have loved it if Michael Land had it´s share of attention, the music is as important to the succes of MI.
Yes, Mark really took the documentary up a notch. Absolutely fascinating stuff. Michael Land I had trouble contacting sadly. He did add me on LinkedIn but then never responded to my messages. A shame, because I agree that the music is a huge part of the game and its atmosphere. I couldn't find much else to say without speaking to him. Oh well.
@@onaretrotip hey you can save Michael for the 2nd part ;)
Mark Ferrari is next to god for me. Just like Chris Crawford.
BTW, I recommend to take a look for Mark Ferrari's lecture in GDC about game graphics. Mind blowing. czcams.com/video/aMcJ1Jvtef0/video.html
@@MrHarbot Ooh, will definitely watch that. Thanks!
@@onaretrotip And I know for sure Dominic Armato would be happy to have a chat for part 2 :)
This is one of those games that's worth getting amnesia for. Just so you can play it all over again for the 1st time!
If only!
What's the best way to inflict sufficient brain trauma?
Ask'n for a friend......
I got the PC version where you can switch from new to VGA graphics. Recommended it to my daughter. And for the first time she actually picked up a game I told her was great.
After a week I asked her wether she had taken a look into it. She had played it to the end. Graphics in classic mode...
@@SuAlfons ❤❤❤
I remember playing this on my Amiga back in the 90s. Monkey Island was the first adventure game ever for me and I was blown away - especially after solving the 3 trials and realising that this was just the beginning of the journey! (I was 12 or 13 back then ('91 or '92)). It immediately was my favorite game and I can not count how many times I played it through.
(and today one of my phone ring sounds is one of the LeChuck themes)
Many thanks for this video - there were so many things I didn't know about the development of the game and the artists!
It blew me away on Amiga too, which is where I first discovered it. Great memories. Thanks, glad you enjoyed it!
I was 8 when I played this. The music and everything always hits me on another level. I replay every 6 years or so.
Nice. I've replayed it every few years since 1990. Never gets old.
Absolutely awesome documentary. Lots of really fond memories playing Monkey Island. I'm 41yo and all Lucasfilms adventure games marked most of my childhood. Had the honor to meet Ron Gilbert in person a few years ago. I'm working as a gamedev now, and this game is a big part of how I would love to make games. The humor and the puzzles are simple excellent.
Thank you onaretrotip for doing this amazing job!
Thank you very much! I'm 40 in a few weeks so they were my childhood too. Love their adventure games so much (and if course their Star Wars games like Dark Forces and the X-Wing series).
Very jealous you met Ron!
41 year old geezer here too! Fond memories of playing this beautiful game on the Amiga. This and other 90s games bring me back to my youth. I feel some of the magic has been kept by indie developers that are more free from constraints and can put out more experimental games, perhaps smaller in scope and production values but closer to the magic of those games. I find most of the AAA gaming industry more intent in creating a virtual casino (mtx and all) and skinner box than really providing an experience akin to a great movie.
Im sorry but beg to differ. There is no actual making of monkey island here. Its just an interview with the people whom made it. Theres no art work, no code examples, no storyline boards or written out story etc. Theres nothing here other than the words of the people working on the game that shows any making of a game. If you watched the making of a movie, you'd expect to see clips of the actors getting dressed in to their costumes or the director yelling cut and the likes. But theres nothing in this video.
@@Channel-iu6de czcams.com/video/EL8e2ujXe8g/video.html
@@Channel-iu6de yes, that's true. But I find hearing the people that made it even more interesting. Maybe if you wanted to learn about the technical side of game development, this falls short. But it is great fan service to come back to this game and the people that worked in it
It always blows my mind how little Ron Gilbert gets discussed these days compared to Tim Schafer (though Thimbleweed Park helped with that certainly). Just goes to show how much self-promotion can aid your public profile. Not that I have anything against Tim Schafer, but Ron Gilbert definitely deserves to be celebrated just as much or more.
Couldn't agree more.
I really got disappointed when Tim Schafer did his Kickstarted. I was one of the disappointed backers, expecting something like the Thimbleweed Park, a callback to adventure classics like Monkey Island. He blow a few million and delivered a kids game, totally unplayable, and crucially sold under false pretense. Ron did amazing job with Thimbleweed Park park on a dramatically smaller budget and smaller team, exactly to what I was expecting from Tim's Kickstarter. Such a disappointed, many fans will no longer support any of Tim's Kickstarter projects and in fact the whole experience left a bitter taste. It shows you that it is modest Ron who is the true Big League here, Tim is a lightweight out of his depth on his own.
@@johns4651 I'll admit, it wasn't what I was expecting either. Thimbleweed Park was spot on.
Tim went on to do quite a few fairly high profile games (at the time and/or as cult classics), so obviously he ends up a much larger public profile.
To be fair, Tim is popular for being more successful than Ron after Monkey Island. Almost every game Tim worked on after is a an absolute classic. Day of the Tentacle, Full Throttle, Grim Fandango, and eventually, Psychonauts, and Brutal Legend. After Monkey Island Ron didn't really have a game I would consider a classic again until Thimbleweed Park. Which I agree is far better than Broken Age.
George Lucas be watching like "So THAT'S who broke my fence 30 years ago!!" :-D
😂😂😂
The announcement of a new Monkey Island game got me revising the momeries of the epic and unique adventure
Great news! I played through the first game yesterday on my DOS PC.
wait, when did they announce this new game????????
@@SuperHns Ron announced it on the 1st of April, trailer dropped on the 4th.
@@onaretrotip What??!!!??!!? Is it FINALLY the 5th of the 5 game game deal that the Voodoo Lady signed with Lucas Arts (RIP). So 'cited!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I’m just gonna sit and stare for the next two days til it starts.
LMAO
Having mostly heard Ron Gilbert's, Tim Schafer's and Dave Grossman's stories about Monkey Island, it was very interesting to get all these anecdotes by Mark Ferrari.
Yes, Mark really took this video up a notch. His full interview is just fascinating, I'll upload it in the next few weeks.
@@onaretrotip Awesome! And great job on this video.
@@santishorts Thank you!
I can remember wet and windy days growing up in the 90's in Britain where when i couldn't physically go out but was able to transport myself to the days of pirates, the music, the sounds ,the endless puzzle solving while it pelted down against my bedroom window.
We were such a lucky generation
We really were :)
The philosophical ideas of Mr. Ferrari for the ending is perfect.
Yes, I thought that was a really nice way to round it off. Mark's full interview is fascinating; I will upload it in the next few weeks.
Such a great guy. I want more of this.
Can't help but rewatch this masterpiece after the biggest news ever.
Such great news!
The music got me right from the beginning. 🤩
Best Adventure Game ever! Loved it back when I was a child and still do now that i'm 37. Am still replaying it every once in a while. To me it's unreached.
Thank you so much for this documentary. What a great work you did 😀
Me too - I'm 40 and still play through it every year or two. Thank you, really pleased that you liked it.
This was exactly what I was hoping for and more. So many fantastic contributions and memories from those who were there. Great job
Thank you so much!
I agree. I've seen many well made gaming documentaries over the years, this one is top notch!
The one thing that always struck me about TSOMI was that, even in the days before voice actors, the comic timing in the dialogue was awesome.
You're so right.
One of my favorite games ever. Every now and then I play the music soundtrack just to bring back all those good memories.
Mine too! Haha yes, I love listening to the soundtrack too.
That game had atmosphere like no other game I have ever experienced, before or after.
Definitely.
This is an amazing documentary. I love the developers describing their work environment, technical limitations, mindsets and everything that went into making this unique and timeless game. Everyone's given the time and space to describe their experiences, which makes for a fresh perspective on a game so long after its inception. Your efforts to make this happen are very much appreciated, thank you!
Thank you so much, that's very kind. Really glad you enjoyed it.
1990-1991. I was an eleven year old Swedish boy with an Amiga 2000 as my family's home computer. I immediately fell in love with Monkey Island, it was the best game I'd ever played and still today one of my favorites. I grew up with subtitled movies (no audio dub) and games was in English. LTFL for real and I'm thankful for that. Although I understood most of the game and its wonderful humor I had to have an English-Swedish dictionary right next to me when playing this game to look up words I didn't know. Staple remover was one of them!
Thanks for making this documentary and thanks to the old Lucas Arts team for their great work.
Good times! Thank you, glad you enjoyed it.
I was given a box of floppy discs when I was about 8 and this was in it amongst other classics. I remember looking at the floppy (monkey island 1 of...) and being so intrigued. It changed my life.
Nice. Changed mine too!
Great video man, remember those 90's evenings with 4 disks of Monkey Island. Bought hard drive for my Amiga 1200 for MI2.
Thank you! Ah, very wise. I wasn't so lucky, I had to swap the 11 disks on MI2 on my A500 LOL
I was fortunate to have an older brother with an A1200, didn't have to go through the swapping 11 disk pain ☺️
Just an incredible amount of work, brilliantly researched and executed, thanks so much for this, great tribute to an amazing game.
Thank you very much, Mark. All the work was worth it as fans seem to be enjoying it, and of course I got to talk to some of the team that made my all-time favourite game! :)
I still pray we get a movie based off monkey island, it’s such a fun world and is perfect for animation
🤞
Or atleast give us a remake / port of the games on current gen consoles/ handhelds!
@@kaizer3000jp
But there’s already a remake? Can’t say it needs to be done again but a reboot would be nice. You can download it on Xbox one
Pirates of the Caribbean 1 looks kinda inspired by Monkey Island, but I hope they make an actual comedy movie in that quality about Monkey Island! But which actor could play Guybrush?
@@KoD83 Ryan Gosling? He might be too old now though, but I can see him being a believable Guybrush.
I Rate This Documentary: *9/10 Rubber Chickens with pulleys in the middle*
What an absolutely wonderful dive in to one of my favorite games of all time!
Just wish there could have been more meat about Michael Lands contribution and the phenomenal soundtrack and it's myriad intricate variations/leitmotifs.
Great job overall though and thank you so much for sharing this with all us 'cult' fans'.
Thank you! Yes, I wanted input from Michael Land too, as the music is such a big part of the game, but sadly he did not respond to my invitation.
That was wonderful, thank you! Got me super eager to play through the EGA version of SMI (only played parts of it in that format). There's a peculiar beauty in the art of not letting the limitations of a format limit your vision, where the work is being put into overcoming those limits instead of accomodating to them.
Thank you! Yes, couldn't agree more. Making this video really made me appreciate the beauty of the original EGA artwork.
I played this hours and hours on my Amiga 500 and later Amiga 1200. Loved it . I still have a A1200 and Monkey Island as well as many other big box games
Me too! Have my A1200 set up pride of place, and a decent big box collection (including the Monkey Islands of course) :)
That was incredible! Thank you so much for putting that together! Love hearing all the stories! So good!
Thank you very much, Brian. I loved hearing the stories too; they gave me some fascinating info. Glad you enjoyed it!
What a ride, thank you so much for this.
Can't imagine all the work and research that went into this documentary. Congrats!
Thank you, really glad you liked it. It was an enormous amount of work for one person, but it was so worth it because it was a thrill making this.
I think a testament to the quality of the Monkey Island series is when I said out loud (with complete sincerity) "Of course I have to use the rubber chicken with the pulley in the middle. Its so obvious now!"
Haha yes, indeed.
Of all those adventure games from back in the day... this one is probably the best- and I played practically all of them
Agreed!
I just hope I wont die before Ron Gilbert finally reveals what the actual "Secret" of Monkey Island is...
And that we see another game! COME ON DISNEY, GIVE IT TO HIM!
The issue is that Ron wouldn't make another one unless he owned it, and Disney aren't in the habit of selling anything.
@@onaretrotip Do you see a scenario where they just pay him a truck load of money instead? I would love to see a new one
Itˋs obvious: The secret is that there are monkeys who can drive a ship...
@@onaretrotip until now... 2022 monkey island 3 is coming, it's back
@@onaretrotip oh is this what they were referencing in the trailer? I've been wondering
Playing this game for the first time was a truly magical time in my life and the nostalgic feeling I get when I remember it is like a very potent feel-good drug. It created a bonding love for the PC that still exists today and is the basis of my livelihood now. Thank you for the great insights into the making of it and for finally answering the question of what the Secret of Monkey Island is.
Oh, me too. It really made a huge impression on me. My pleasure! Glad you liked it.
I still tear up a little everytime I listen to the theme music.
Thanks for those insides. The biggest surprise to me was that the developers themselves needed 15 years to discover what they created.
I played it age 9 in the early 90s on every other sunday with my father in Germany. And even back then it blew my little mind instantly. This game introduced me to pount and click adventure games as my favorite genre and set the bar high from the very beginning.
Marks story was wholesome af to me. I would have been one of those "kids".
I know, right! I couldn't believe that it took them so long to realise.
Pound and click, thats what Leisure Suit Larry would like ;)
Great documentary on one of my all time favorites! I still play it from time to time randomly. You can never hear Mark Ferrari speak without hearing him say 'Dither' or 'Color Cycling'. :) LOVE his art! Wish there was more about the music creation because it is iconic. And are we EVER going to find out what the actual SECRET of monkey island is?
Thank you! Yes, you can tell that Mark loves to talk about the art, which was ideal for me. I would've loved to cover more about the music but sadly Michael Land didn't respond to my messages. Oh well.
30 years!!!!! Whaaaat... I remember playing it like it was yesterday.. The golden age for adventure quest games.
It sure was.
The best game ever made. I miss those times when it still was fun to use a computer.
Absolutely! Me too mate.
Its still fun to use a computer. Ridiculous things you can do on them now.
@@Balloonbot It is still fun to a degree, but it's of course not as new and exciting thing as it was then. The hardware and software were progressing so rapidly, that every year there was something totally new and awesome coming out!
@@jannevaatainen That does happen on a more individual software level - depending on your specialties. People are always developing new things with Unity and Unreal - in both games and film, machine learning, deepfakes, VR - all these things progressing very rapidly
Yeah, I think it’s actually the other way round. New things are coming out at a much faster pace actually. Only thing is, we are so used to technology that it’s not that amazing anymore. We expect these innovations now, and take them for granted. Back then it was still a novelty
When I first played monkey Island on my windows 95, I didn't have speakers. You can imagine how scared I was when I heard the computer playing music from inside. Lol
🙉
The 'secret'of monkey island is wonderfully funny story telling. There are tentpole moments in all art forms, monkey island is one of those moments when it comes to the computer game genre. It's a classic for a reason, it's just that good and boy is it good.
Agreed!
This is a fantastic behind-the-scenes look at one of the best games ever made. Thanks for making the video!
Thank you, John. It really was my pleasure.
Such fond memories of this time and this sounds like the best project to have been involved on. Such a wonderful work environment.
Yes, those early Lucasfilm days sounded really free and a great place to work.
This is literally the only game series that my family will sit down together and play happily despite not getting along normally. That’s why I love this so much. So many happy memories.
Great memories :)
I am so happy that I got this video among my suggestions! It is a comprehensive documentary done amazingly well. I will still say thank you for the nostalgia, despite replaying the series every couple of years. Yes, all 5 of them and soon to be 6. Keep up the good work, nostalgic retro games content will always be special!
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it. Very exciting time for us Monkey Island fans 😀
I was one of this kids in Europe that was captivated and still are to these two wonderful games.
Thank you for such an amazing documentary. Listening to the voices of these creators is incredibly insightful of what made this game and story so relatable and special.
Too bad the industry thrives now on AAA developments, I wish there was the same room for creativity as they had back in the day without the strain of a budget of tens or hundreds of millions of dollars.
Thank you, glad you liked it. Yes, but thankfully some indie studios have been making innovative and interesting games recently.
@Jim The Raspberry Ha, sounds like me - I bought if for Amiga, iOS, PC, PS3, and then Amiga again.
One of the craziest facts I heard, not mentioned in this doc, is that George Lucas specifically told them NOT to do something Star Wars related, he ordered them to come up with something new. That always blows my mind, that rather than cashing in on Star Wars, at a time when Star Wars ruled the world, he pushed them to create a new thing and from that we got this whole other amazing world of Monkey Island.
But it also makes you wonder why they never made ANY Star Wars game in this style, when they did do Indiana Jones. And I'm kind of amazed that they never made a Monkey Island movie, although supposedly the Pirates of the Caribbean movies are influenced by Monkey Island, and Monkey Island itself was originally inspired by the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland.
@@system-error Yes, Lucasfilm Games were told at inception that Star Wars was off the table, and I think that was a huge benefit for them creatively.
Sure, they made some amazing Star Wars games in the 90s with the X-Wing series and Dark Forces, etc, but maybe we wouldn't have had gems like Monkey Island.
There's a good talk somewhere on CZcams with the early team (David Fox, etc) where they talk about the Star Wars ban.
Thank you for all the work that you've put into this project. It was a wonderful experience.
Thank you very much! It really was a pleasure.
It's amazing listening to these artists and how annoying back then it was to work with these limited colors, and yet today the challenge brings artists joy.
Funny isn't it. Nice to see the old school artists getting respect for achieving so much with the limited resources.
What a wonderful documentary done with such love. Thank you so much for all your hard work on this! Thoroughly enjoyable and fascinating.
Thank you! It was my pleasure putting it together.
Thank you for making this. This game is the reason as a 14 year old, I fell in love with video games for the rest of my life.
My pleasure. Me too (except I was ten)!
Brilliant film this, thanks for doing it.
Outstanding to hear from the creators and learn so much more about how it was created and the tricks they had to employ, to get it looking so good.
Literally the best game ever - this and Monkey 2 are still *the* games I go back to play, after all these years, nothing else comes close.
Thank you very much! Definitely two of the all-time greatest games.
I'm pretty sure this was the first point n click game I completed. Took me ages too, this was before the internet and easy to find walkthroughs.
Ha, yes. I remember getting stuck for weeks sometimes, especially on the second game.
I got stuck when on the ship. I used a hex editor to look through the save game and found remains of sentences. It was enough to for me to figure out the encryption on the data file (every byte was XOR’ed with a constant) and decode ALL the strings. Never needed any more hints but it was there if I needed it.
Thank you very, very much by bringing this! I love this game (and franchise), and it's a beautiful work of art on all aspects!
You're welcome :)
I have no idea why your channel isn't bigger. Your content is always spectacular! Thanks for another great video! I love documentaries like this.
Ah, thank you very much. Too kind.
It's a rubber chicken with a pulley on it
LOL
*in the middle
Did you ever watch the movie Transylvania Twist, from 1989? "Ahhhaa! What's that?" "It's a rubber bat, we keep them down here for atmosphere." I miss the late 1980's early 1990's humor.
Insert disk #77 to continue the documentary.
I only got to play it when the VGA version was available and among all the other games, I didn't realise how much work was put into the dithering artwork though it was really beautiful for what it was. I have to respect development in those days for really considering and working within a limited storage space and the technological limitations. There are quite a number of games out there which didn't seem to care about this and I've seen update patches alone lately that would have blown my internet data plan from a few years ago.
Yes, it really makes one appreciate the EGA artwork after hearing Mark's stories.
Lol my girlfriend got talked into a wirleless internet plan didnt know the limit. Log on and update WOW 5g size. Limit was 4gigs lol
Thankyou for putting this together, it's much appreciated. I find it weirdly amusing that Ron and the team didnt realise just how much their talent and Monkey island is loved. I've followed Ron's blog etc for eons, throughly entertaining and thought provoking at times.
Mark nails it, its excellent story telling by exceptional story tellers.
You're welcome! Yes, I was so shocked that they had no idea what a big deal it is.
@@onaretrotip I do hope you'll consider a similar making of LeChuck's Revenge, that's 30 years old next year. Where did all that time go?
Loved the documentary. Lots of great memories. Thanks for pulling all the pieces together!
Thank you, glad you liked it. My pleasure.
I'm loving the recent adventure game renaissance, as the kids who grew up playing classics, like Monkey Island, start making their own games based on their fond memories of the genre. Röki is an excellent modern example and it was one of that games developers who recommended your documentary. So glad I watched it - so insightful and thank you for pulling it together.
Awesome, I'll have to check that game out! Thank you, it was my pleasure.
Amazing episode Pete!! Thanks for letting me be a part of it. 👏
Thanks, Marcus! And thank you for your help. You nailed it man 😀
I very much appreciated the behind the scenes interviews and research. I was honestly just expecting a long recap of all the game's events but this was interesting
Thank you very much!
Thanks for this! it's still on my favourite games ever, watching this was pure nostalgia fuel and can't believe I still remember all of the dialogues, music, jokes and animations pretty well. Great work putting this together, I was totally unaware of lots of awesome tech and artistic things behind the creators and their story. It's a great documentary worth watching it a 3rd time, congrats! :)
Thank you so much. Glad you enjoyed it.
Thanks for this entertaining trip down memory lane. Can't wait for your 30th anniversary documentary about Monkey Island 2 to come out :-)
Thanks, glad you enjoyed it! I'd love to do one next year for Monkey 2, but might be difficult getting another round of interviews.
Amazing that although the graphics were obviously limited we were all so immersed in this game. Shows you how much more kids used to have to use their imaginations. A great story filled with humour and puzzles combined with some of the most memorable music in video gaming. Monkey 1 and 2 were simply brilliant.
Absolutely!
What an awesome documentary, about one of the best games in existence. Played it so many times on Amiga, and later on iPad and PS3. The writing, graphics, music and not mention the comedy was all so amazing. I knew immediately that I wanted to make something similar, and with a small group of friends we started drawing, composing and coding. We never finished our own adventure game by any stretch, but it set us on a path that most of us are still on today, and for that I am truly grateful for Monkey Island (tm) and it’s silly inhabitants. Thanks for giving us a deeper insight into it’s making.
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it. Monkey Island clearly made an impression on a lot of us.
This video is absolutely amazing! Thank you so much. That last bit by Mark Ferrari, that our whole life is story telling is awesome!
And the fact that the team didnt know how much their game is loved so many years after it was released is amazing as well.
Thank you! Mark's sentiments really rounded off the video so well. Amazing that they didn't realise how much of a following Monkey Island had until years later!
Brilliant! Amazing video, probably the best thing I've ever watched about the game. MI has always been my favourite and it's great to hear stories from behind the scenes. Thanks so much for this!
Thank you very much!
Agreed, this felt like a labour of love! My heartfelt thanks.
This was a lovely trip down memory lane. Thanks!
Thank you very much!
Been wanting to listen to this for a week now. Finally found the time. Didn't disappoint. Thank you for making this! Greets from South Africa.
Thank you very much!
I knew some of these stories, facts and details but I didn't know about the Mark Ferrari angle. I saw his dithered color shifting waterfall art and I showed it to my colleagues to tell them this is how animation was done in some of the old games. I didn't know that website was made by him, that's awesome! And I love the story about the 25 years old "kids" looking up at him at this new job "THE Mark Ferrari?". I'm 36 now, born in 1985 and I too played and loved the Monkey Island games long after it was released. Such an amazing game, congratulations to the team that is behind it.
The Secret of Monkey Island is the friends we made along the way :)
Mark's stories about the artwork really lifted the video to a new level. Loved talking with him. Definitely recommend watching the full interview with him.
09:25 the voice of ron gilbert seems to be recorded with an old mic and a soundblaster. The voice in that era had something magic in they low res standards. Like graphics. The low resolutions where compensated with proportional amounts of imagination, may be this is what make the games work so deep on us. No just the eyes nor the ears. You. Beautiful work, onaretrotip. Worth every second.
LOL Thank you!
Man I must have been about 6 or 7 when I got to play this! Can’t believe it’s been 30 years, god I am old!
I know, right.
Awesome doc. I love how there's so many people who are dedicated to keeping the history of these classics alive. Well done.
Thank you very much! Great hobby to have.
Thanks for the road trip down memory lane 🙏 Monkey Island is a complete package - art, characters, music, humor, ui-ux revolution, and as mentioned - a timeless storytelling! Evergreen 🙊🙉🙈
Glad you enjoyed it! Evergreen indeed.
I still love the humor and creativity of these classic Monkey Island games!
Me too. Timeless.
It's great to hear they wanted to go against convention with everything that you would typically see. I personally love action games so never CLICKED with games like this but even when making this they didn't want to make a unique adventure. Great work on this video.
Yeah, they really wanted to avoid the frustrating elements that were common to 80s adventure games. This really changed things. Thank you!
wow, i played this on my m8's pc in australia, it was great... he shoewd my the PC world back then, thanks Bro
Danielle Le Vailannt... nice to know you Auzzy Bro lol// you still exist out here bro?
This was really well made and I learned a lot from the dev accounts. Well done and thanks for putting this together!
Thank you very much! It was a pleasure.
I had the luxury of not understanding all the jokes as a kid playing this, due to English not being my native language & as a kid your understanding of wordplay, comedy etc is limited. And so playing them again when older things like "monkey wrench" finally made some sense & made me snicker at even more things. As a kid I got a few jokes, but I mostly played it for the sense of adventure in itself, and the whole package with the music, colors, scenery! This, 2 & 3 were such joys on so many levels! They just keep giving even as you grow with them ☺️
They sure do. I'm sure even as a native English speaker some of the jokes went over my head, being ten years old.