Classic Game Postmortem: Maniac Mansion

[@franklinnash]

Ron Gilbert is definitely one of my game developer heroes.

[@Intoxicatedmeta]

SAME!

[@summerWTFE]

Some of these classic postmortems are really some of the most interesting to hear about. Especially the struggles with early hardware limitations. I'm also impressed that he was able to recall so much from the past. I have no clue what I was doing 25 years ago.

[@MetalHorrorGamer]

phero I was just telling my wife this same thing. The classic postmortems are much more interesting than the newer games. Small teams and working around limiting technology is just fascinating.

[@GuillaumeLT]

It was very cool hearing him say, 'We didn't have this and that,' but in the end, he still managed to create a masterpiece.

[@johnnycage3673]

I love KZbin for videos like this.

[@myeyeswentdeaf6213]

I was born in 1980. My mother bought a Comador64 when I was young and Maniac Mansion was my very first video game. I used to love it, still do. It’s an awesome game. I used to play that and Zach McKraken and the Alien Mind Benders t he most.

[@fredo3161]

Shame this has so few views! Interesting stuff.

[@lovzi9865]

One of my all time favorite games!

[@kamealex]

I can't wait to see this again for Monkey Island trilogy, now that Return has been announced.

[@superheavymetaldemon]

I played the nes version. It was so weird. I rented it because of the artwork on the cover and I knew of the tv show. took a while to get inside. once I got thrown in the dungeon I was hooked. Then after the hamster part I was shocked, shocked and stunned. music on nes was fantastic.

[@urzathehappy72]

tv show??? woa how was it?

[@mrfld]

Beating this game felt like such a big deal. Figuring out how to escape the basement was the tipping point.

[@spencersmith1087]

Maniac Mansion was one of the first games I ever played when I was a child and one of the few games I owned that I never managed to beat (nor Milon's Secret Castle) but the art, gameplay and general creepiness of it really stuck with me.

[@satiricgames2129]

Same

[@russellst.martin4255]

47:46 YES. MM is probably my #2 favorite game ever, and I came here after watching a tutorial simply for a nostalgia trip as I haven't played it in about 10 years, and afterwards it dawned on me what a soulless experience it would be as a new player watching that same tutorial simply to copy an order of operations someone else just walked you through. Maybe I'm just yelling at clouds here but I find the approach to games like this completely anathema to the entire spirit of adventure and exploration. To each their own I guess. It's just baffling to see people eagerly foregoing internal feelings of joy and magic in exchange for speed, convenience, and the obvious external motivations. 46:14 I'm sure Lucas also said "faster and more intense"

[@Ndlanding]

Thanks for this. I enjoyed it (having enjoyed the games), although it would have been nice to get a few close-ups of the speaker.

[@ollomulder]

Does anyone know where the fuel is for the chainsaw? Haven't found it yet...

[@johnnycage3673]

it's in Zac McKracken

[@Dom699]

On the Mars...

[@H34D5H07]

Nobody gets respect for screen scrolling in PowePoint but doing so in Assembly is Nobel Prize material.

[@Bratty-Bonnie]

If this isn’t already well documented my apologies, however I wanted to mention that the “DISCO SUCKS” poster that was removed from the green tentacle’s room is still in a screenshot on the back of the NES box.

[@MrFarnanonical]

Ron is such a good storyteller

[@darkb4light06]

I loved this game so much! I was kind of a twisted kid and killed the hamster often. Also made the kids kill themselves and played as their ghosts as much as I could. The only drawback was that you were very limited to what you could do after that. I played Day of the Tentacle on Windows back in the day as well. Thank you for the memories!

[@guybrushthreepwood2910]

what do you mean "play as ghosts"?? Have I missed or forgotten something?

[@Ereungafa]

49:36 HAHAHA! Only the ones who work in this industry know how deep this "Im sorry" is...

[@derklinge]

Everybody talks about the dangers of drugs etc., but I've never ever been told how addicting squeezing CPU cycles out of a mix of inline assembler code and pre-99 C code can be! Got hooked at the age of 10, still going hard 30 years later. Well, might as well be the German old-schooler inside me requiring utmost efficiency at all costs?!

[@geeksunny]

This is a great talk

[@browsertab]

That tester was totally Tim Schafer, right?

[@thedarksiderebel]

I was thinking this

[@Varg69420]

Remember to fill out those forms, everyone

[@mynameisroman]

did they ever regret not doing a Loom Sequel i wonder...

[@marksaidso]

THIS IS A THING? wow I need this

[@russellst.martin4255]

As someone with little video game knowledge post 1994 I thought he was completely serious when he said he didn't remember what Tim the tester's last name was.

[@XX-sp3tt]

"clock-state = not clock-state"... Okay. I'm an idiot. Please explain to me how that programming command makes sense.

[@guybrushthreepwood2910]

The clock has 2 tick positions and "clock-state" defines the position as a boolean value (true or false). Initially, the clock is in a given state (normally, "false"). When the tick event happens, you have: clock-state = not false, which is equal to true, and hence the clock will change position. On the next tick event... clock-state = not true, which is equal to false, going back to the original position.

[@MrHarbot]

Within a decade so much has changed. Toy'R'Us went to bankrupt. Disney bought LucasFilms and LucasArts was dismantled. :(

[@magicwordxyzzy]

I feel the best version of Maniac Mansion is the NES version (despite the censorship), but on SCUMMVM with the .NES file properly modified and renamed to a .PRG so it'll work. NES Maniac Mansion with mouse support is the absolute best!

[@xl000]

Much inspirationaler than any BS Ted Talk I've seen

[@KarstenLettow]

The cool thing is there is place for both

[@liamlime]

I have never SQUEE-ed this hard at a GDC talk before.

[@Psychlist1972]

I LOVED Death Spank :)

[@KingCrimson82]

they will earn a fortune if they reissued those original boxes (with proper emulation on the disc in it, and of course a floppy disc just for thhe touch of it, functional of course) but unless metallicas reissues it should be priced at around 60-70 bugs (because while watching it i allready want to rush to the one freak who made a unpacking of that game) You have to understand that in the 80s and 90s all c64, atari and amiga owners rarely EVER had the original copy of like any game !!! did not make them love the games less, the opposite was the case (i have at least a original monkey 1 and loom in the basement) And thats the opportunity to finally have a real copy now were you can and will pay 60 Bugs for a copy with all that gimmicks in it.

[@BRSL]

He got those resolutions wrong, didn't he? C64 in 16 colors was 160x200 pixels and the hi-res versions had 320x200. I can't remember a version in 640x480, a resolution that became common for games with more than a handful of colors in the mid 90s.

[@victornoagbodji]

thanks : )

[@VuotoPneumaNN]

I don't get it, did he throw shade at Tim Schafer?

[@andrewcamden]

55:14 It gets interesting.

[@Dukefazon]

25:20 - What is that on the lower-left corner?! I've never seen it!

[@senseicorey9979]

I think that's when you mail the manuscript in when you play as the writer girl (Wendy?)

[@Dukefazon]

@@senseicorey9979 Ahh, that makes sense. I didn't pay much attention to the various kid's side goal. That's probably some distributor guy's office. Thanks!

[@desoft8b]

Could someone subtitle this?

[@antiquebeast]

*whispers* It's crochet...

[@darkspectrum4772]

I played the NES version of this.

[@victornoagbodji]

never knew there was an NES version : )

[@desktorp]

the NES version is the best

[@Dresdenstl]

+david esktorp As a PC gamer it pains me to say this. The better graphics and cassette players were great.

[@desktorp]

I still have the DOS/PC CD-ROM versions of Mega Man X and Street Fighter 2 .. they are totally recognizable, but the gameplay is super goofy.

[@victornoagbodji]

i remember street fighter 2 on the PC. street fighter for all i know was, and is still a console game. never played megaman on the PC. it's amazing all these games were ported to different platforms

[@oooBASTIooo]

I'll play maniac mansion now :D Have never finished it, anyways!

[@WalkerRileyMC]

The one annoying thing is he flips slides before he's done talking about them......he'll be halfway done talking about a slide and he'll already have the next one loaded.

[@Intoxicatedmeta]

I don't think hes the one doing it, but I agree, annoying.

[@Faygris]

There's this new game that came out today, Thimbleweed Park. I need to play it right now! I have no time to listen to this guy. Who is that, anyway?

[@dezecr8or]

ron gilbert

[@bierundkippen720]

@@dezecr8or No shit

[@FusionDeveloper]

Laugh track or does this just have weird editing near the beginning?

[@friesofwisdom4399]

These days, good luck trying to use code you wrote for one company at another company... The only game you'll be working on Lawsuit Larry...

[@JustinSaneTube]

4 people are going to hell

[@tudorrad5933]

33:34 first corona

[@loraleijessick9581]

Creepshow *starred* Stephen King? Gary, don't be a tunahead.

[@ironcito1101]

He did, actually.

[@thatguybehindtheglass]

"METEOR SHIT!"

[@mattyjohnsson257]

He did. And he's on the picture there as well...

[@herbiehusker1889]

Text parser is better than point and click

[@JeanQPublique]

I don't know what a "better than point and click" is.

[@hariman7727]

Needing tutorials varies a lot. If you make an open world game? Stop handholding! I don't want tutorials and guides everywhere! And I want the option to go anywhere too! But in most games? I want to at least know how to do things, and a general idea of where to go. But NOT the super hand holdy BS designers think is necessary. Also, Full Throttle was a LOT of fun.

[@charles281]

Im ready for the day we can archive all this geriatric talk and start focusing on newer experiences, more specifically ready for bit art to retire. :)

[@desktorp]

You can't have higher resolution art without lower resolution art. "bit art" as you put it is the foundation of digital art and will never go away.

[@charles281]

Patrick Daniels, I dont mean to discount his experience, and sure there is always a chance to learn new things from old experiences and post mortem self reflection, just eager for the day where younger people lead the way and newer ideas dominate our collective consciousness.

[@charles281]

david esktorp sure pixel art was the foundation for all graphic art, but i believe a day exist in the future where pixel art is too retro to be relevant anymore

[@desktorp]

not was the foundation; is the foundation. Your belief is based upon a misunderstanding of technology and it will never happen.

[@charles281]

this is a comment on the aesthetics and relevance of pixel art.I wasn't making any technical references. I misspoke in that regard and it seems we are not on the same page in the first place.