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Games Entertainment

Ron Gilbert Working on Penny Arcade Game 37

Posted by Zonk from the i-am-a-pirate dept.
Yesterday at the Penny Arcade site Gabe shared the news that Ron Gilbert is working with them on Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness. The well known designer, veteran of several LucasArts adventure titles as well as the creator of the SCUMM engine, has apparently been assisting the duo in planning out their first commercial game title. Says Gabe, "We had our first meeting with Ron pretty early in the design process. Tycho and I were getting the story fleshed out and we had some ideas about the design and over all pace of the game. We laid it all out for Ron and then he picked up a whiteboard marker and started teaching class. I'm not sure how many people can say they got a game design 101 course taught by Ron Gilbert, but that's exactly what Tycho and I got that day. His insights into the way you move the player through an interactive story so that they get to explore the world but don't loose the narrative were incredible." 1up also has commentary from Gilbert, who says, "I have been a fan of Penny Arcade because I have always found their comic so funny and biting. When I first heard they were making a game and that they had chosen to weave adventure game elements into it, I knew immediately I wanted to be involved. Working with the Penny Arcade guys and the team at Hothead has been an absolute riot."
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Ron Gilbert Working on Penny Arcade Game More

Ron Gilbert Working on Penny Arcade Game

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  • Great to see that just maybe this game might not suck so bad that the PA guys May have to take a step back and mock themselves. Im truly hoping that the game critics chance to make a game doesnt backfire.

  • Throwing this one out there... (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    You fight like a dairy farmer!
  • The penny boys hold gaming corps to a fairly high standards, it will be interesting to see if there game can live up to their own standards

    • Re:one to watch (Score:5, Insightful)

      by abaddononion ( 1004472 ) on Thursday May 10, 2007 @10:26AM (#19068177)
      The penny boys hold gaming corps to a fairly high standards, it will be interesting to see if there game can live up to their own standards

      With the Rain-Slicked Precipice of Darkness, Tycho and Gabe have already said they're trying to make something simple, and fun. Something they can sell to their fans for 10 or 20 bucks a pop, and that people who love the comics can really appreciate, and people who dont love the comics might can still find some entertainment value in. I dont really think they can or should be expected to live up to their own expectations of game companies who drop millions of dollars, and thousands of hours of man-time into games, to turn around and sell at premium 50+ dollar prices, possibly with extra for peripherals.
  • I strangely had a dream about this game last night. It was a bit surreal and difficult to explain.

    On a more serious note, I'm excited to see the creator of one of my favorite adventure games playing a role in the creation of this game. My only regret is that I probably can't let my eight year-old play it. Trying to explain why masturbating fruit fuckers are funny would probably challenge my parenting skills more than they can handle.
    • "Trying to explain why masturbating fruit fuckers are funny[...]"

      Just say "it's funny, laugh" *evil grin*

  • Ron who? (Score:1, Redundant)

    by ProppaT ( 557551 )

    It might help to point out that Ron Gilbert is the guy behind a bunch of those classic Lucas Arts adventure games. I've played them all, but Ron Gilbert isn't necessarily a household name, even in the gaming community. I won't lie, I had to look him up on wikipedia.
  • Produce Panic was a game a few years back that was about Penny Arcade's character fruit fucker 2000, link: http://www.garagegames.com/products/35/ [garagegames.com]
    Not sure if it was the first game ever made about/related to penny arcade though.

  • "as well as the creator of the SCUMM engine" (Score:5, Informative)

    by VGPowerlord ( 621254 ) on Thursday May 10, 2007 @11:02AM (#19068869)

    as well as the creator of the SCUMM engine

    If I was Aric Wilmunder, I'd be incensed by this statement.

    Oh, you don't know who Aric Wilmunder is? He's the other creator of the SCUMM engine; the guy who actually programmed it.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Aladrin ( 926209 )
      Oh man, this is gonna be a bad karma day for me...

      Take a car for example. There's the guy that designed the car, and there's the hundreds or thousands who put it together. Which one would you say 'created' it? Most people would choose the designer.

      It's probably just that people are lazy and it's easier to say 'the creator of' than 'one of the 2 creators of', though. I wasn't able to find out what the roles of each person were, just that they worked on it together.

      • Take a car for example. There's the guy that designed the car, and there's the hundreds or thousands who put it together. Which one would you say 'created' it? Most people would choose the designer.
        Bang on, writing software is so the same as working on a production line.

    • According to the following article, Chip Morningstar wrote the first SCUMM compiler and came up with the name. But he gives credit to only Ron Gilbert for designing the scripting engine.

      http://gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?stor y=11232

  • This is the end (Score:3, Interesting)

    by nokilli ( 759129 ) on Thursday May 10, 2007 @11:03AM (#19068881)
    How can you be objective (or even funny) in reporting about an industry that you are now part of?

    I love this strip. If they want to go and do video games from now on, that's great. But they shouldn't for a moment think they can do both. A lot of what makes Penny Arcade so great is that these guys have demonstrated their integrity... a big part of why people tune in to the site is because they know Gabe and Tycho say it like it is. Once that's lost, it's over.

    I understand why it may seem like it's a good idea. Gabe draws great. Tycho talks pretty. The two have talents that naturally form the foundation for no doubt many a great game.

    But the market is constantly taking people who excel at X and convincing them they can succeed at Y, and while financially that may sometimes work out, invariably X is lost, and Y ends up sucking.

    I hope I'm wrong.

    • Re:This is the end (Score:5, Informative)

      by furball ( 2853 ) on Thursday May 10, 2007 @11:22AM (#19069255) Journal
      I don't think I ever read Penny-Arcade because they were objective. I read Penny-Arcade like I read Playboy: for the goddamn motherfucking pictures.

    • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Song for the Deaf ( 608030 )

      I would hazard a guess that this game wouldn't so much be an entity unto itself, as an extension of their critiques and insight into the gaming world. Look for them to take the piss out of themselves and the games business and culture and its attendant cliches, sacred cows, and (hopefully) personalities.

      I don't see how making this game will affect their status as outsiders. The fact that they're making an adventure game (a genre that appeals mainly to longtime and hardcore gamers, and that has been dead

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Jarjarthejedi ( 996957 )
      "How can you be objective (or even funny) in reporting about an industry that you are now part of?"

      Very easily, you don't talk about your work. Or are you claiming that a Computer Programmer can't be witty and objective about a programming issue (and if you're saying that you're gonna have to answer to most /.ers :P). What about a farmer talking about some farming practices in another country? So long as you're not discussing your work or a competitor's work or being payed to say certain things it's easy to
    • I don't see why they couldn't continue with their observations on the game industry while developing games themselves. In fact, it might give them additional insight that we wouldn't normally be exposed to. I don't think they were every objective anyway, so it's not like we're losing anything.

      I do agree, however, that it could become an issue. If they become too popular for their own good, particularly as developers, they may be more reluctant to step on toes and burn bridges. Either that or the game doesn'
  • Please no cardboard tube ninjas. Am I the only one who hates those comics. I love Penny Arcade, but I'm always disappointed when they get into one of those cardboard ninja routines, and there's no good comics for 3 or 4 days.

    • Re: (Score:1, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Luckily, I haven't seen any cardboard tube ninjas. However, the Cardboard Tube Samurai has evolved froma cartoon with Gabe whacking Tycho with a cardboard tube into a samurai epic. I personally like them. It allows Gabe and Tycho to deviate from their usual satiric, humorous style and write stories with an original character.
    • Try reading the classic manga, Lone Wolf and Cub. You might just change your mind about Cardboard Tube Samurai.
  • Maybe the Aphex Twin can drop by for soundtrack duties.....

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