The Secret of Monkey Island: My Love Letter to Ron Gilbert, Tim Shafer, and Dave Grossman

Ignoring for now some great children’s games that I grew up on, the Monkey Island series is one of the first series of games that I was introduced to. I could really make this post into a book by talking about all the similar games surrounding Monkey Island. The Secret of Monkey Island, the first in the series, was released in 1990. This makes me 4-5 years old when I first played it, and am continuing to replay it annually. The game was published by LucasArts (yep, the Star Wars people) on an engine called SCUMM (Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion). A game engine is like the basic framework that a game is built around. Engines are generally reused due to the time it takes to develop a new one. As the name suggests, Maniac Mansion was the first game to be released using SCUMM in 1987. A good deal of games were released with the engine, a lot of older gems have come from LucasArts during this period. Some of these included Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), Loom (1990), Day of the Tentacle (1993), Sam and Max Hit the Road (1993), Full Throttle (1995), The Dig (1995). Beyond LucasArts, Sierra was also putting out memorable games in the form of their Kings Quest (1984-1998) and Space Quest (1986-1995) series.

These games, including the whole Monkey Island series, are considered to be part of the adventure game genre. You use a mouse pointer to indicate where you want to move, what you want to interact with, and what items you want to use with other items. With the exception of Full Throttle, you cannot lose these games. They are puzzles with a story attached. Sometimes the puzzles were quite tricky, while others were silly in their simplicity. There are only so many uses for a rubber chicken with a pulley in the middle, for example.

Adventure games rely on their story and writing to become enjoyable. A good puzzle can only take you so far if you’re missing the motivation to move forward [I’m looking at you, Myst!]. An interview with Tim Schafer that I wish I could find brought up a very good point on why this is so difficult. The people who make video games are generally not writers, or very creative at all. These are guys who spent their education learning computer languages to make programs. Early in the life of video games as a whole, these people might not have even known they were going to be making games. In modern times, larger game budgets are letting companies hire professional writers to flesh out a story and character interaction. But in the beginning, we had to rely on the few who really had a knack for writing and the even fewer who could make it funny.

The Secret of Monkey Island is a blessing in this sense. The heads of the project, as mentioned in the title, are responsible for the creation of a great, hilarious experience. I want to tell you about it without spoiling too much. Money Island puts you in the shoes of Guybrush Threepwood, a wannabe pirate whose name nobody can ever remember. The first game sets the story: Guybrush goes through three trials to become a pirate (treasure hunting, thievery, and sword fighting). As he progresses through the trials, he falls in love with the local governor. When the trials end things go wrong at the hands of Lechuck, a ghost pirate who seems to have a problem with Guybrush. The rest of the game involves a trip to Monkey Island to take the fight to Lechuck. Chaos Ensues.

I want to highlight one particular gem in the game: Insult Sword Fighting. As a satire on pirating stories, Monkey Island suggests that sword fighting has absolutely nothing to do with actually swinging a sword. The best pirate sword fighters out there fight with words, insulting their opponents into defeat. I could go through all of the insults but figuring them out is part of the fun. I’ll leave you with the first given out: “You fight like a dairy farmer!”

What are the creaters of this gem doing now? Tim Shafer is heading a company called Double Fine which just finished a game called Brütal Legend. Ron Gilbert has been working on a game called Deathspank, and helping the Penny Arcade boys with their game. Dave Grossman works with Telltale Games, who are recently responsible for reviving the Monkey island series with Grossman as their Design Director.

The accessibility is what made this game such a great starting point for a budding gamer. The Secret of Monkey Island in particular was not a difficult game, the fun came from the experience. Last year it even get itself a remake, you can buy it now for 10 bucks off of the Steam distribution service.