Ron Gilbert talks up his new game, a lite RPG
by Christopher Grant 
{ Jul 3rd 2006 at 9:55AM }
When he isn't busy dressing us down for bullying up on student plays, Ron Gilbert -- the lead designer behind adventure-game classics like Maniac Mansion and The Secret of Monkey Island -- apparently has lengthy chats with outlets like Gamasutra on what's missing in gaming today (the stories, stupid) and how to fix it (make his game). Yup, he talks a bit about that secret project he keeps going on about ... but, first the stories!"I think there are a lot of people out there who are just not willing to play games that involve a lot of twitching and a lot of action. But if there was more of a slower-paced game like an adventure game, or a kind of light role-playing game, I think these people would be a lot more interested ..."
A light role-playing game, eh? Wonder what he meant by that ... we may never know. Or maybe he'll spill the beans on the next page.
"The thing I'm trying to do with the game right now is kind of meld it with an RPG. So what you've got is the kind of large world exploration that you have in an RPG that you don't really have with an adventure game. You've got the action, some light combat, you know, Diablo-style combat going on with it, but it is also infused with really good adventure-game-style puzzles and adventure-style sensibilities to the storytelling."
Diablo Lite with a funny adventure-game story and goofy adventure-game puzzles? We are so there.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Mark @ Jul 3rd 2006 10:14AM
Sounds like Ocarina of Time and the Wind Waker to me.
zer0her0 @ Jul 3rd 2006 10:50AM
for the love of God, will someone make a lite RPG or even fullfledged RPG that's neither MMO or Single Player only. Diablo II is getting long in the tooth for fun multiplayer dungeon crawls. And making it console as well as PC get you extra points :)
Akbar @ Jul 3rd 2006 10:59AM
@2, zer0her0:
What about the Dungeon Siege games? They may not be perfect, but they fit the bill
zer0her0 @ Jul 3rd 2006 12:32PM
Akbar,
Actually, you know i've had a couple people mention dungeon siege and i keep forgetting to pick it up and give it a try. thanks.
Sean @ Jul 3rd 2006 1:16PM
Sounds like The Bard's Tale remake... which was great.
Garold @ Jul 3rd 2006 3:02PM
I read that article a few days ago and I thought it was pretty good but I felt he was as usual a bit too harsh with the game industry. When they asked him what games ARE doing good stories, he couldn't name a single one.
rockintom99 @ Jul 3rd 2006 4:29PM
A game like that, from the creator of Monkey Island? Sounds gold! Sign me up.
Merus @ Jul 4th 2006 8:04AM
I've been thinking for a while now that adventure games could do really well with a physics engine, some puzzles that are more actiony but not so time-critical or twitch, something more like Chip's Challenge (but slower - Chip's got damn twitch in places).
#6: Can you? There's competent stories aplenty, but nothing that's good if you hold it up to other media. We don't yet have our Citizen Kane.