Telltale design director Dave Grossman, the creative mind who worked on the original Secret Of Monkey Island at LucasArts in 1990, shared his vision about the future of adventure games in general, and Monkey Island particularly.
"Where we've been trying to go with adventures games -- maybe someday we won't even call them that anymore, but this style of game storytelling that we do -- is towards something that is a more casual experience," Grossman said.
"The 'sofa experience' is the way I like to think of it," he added. "You're going to be sitting on your couch or with your browser, browsing through stuff. You go, "Oh, look. The new Monkey Island is out. I'm going to play that right now."
"You download it, play it right away. You might even finish it right in one sitting. And then you move on to something else. You probably have your family there with you. It's a little bit different from the old experience."
Grossman then explained that an entertaining adventure game can be hard, but not cruel.
"I remember my own childhood playing these kinds of games -- you know, I'm alone, stuck up in my bedroom, and I'm just thinking a lot and banging my head against the wall. "Curse those designers! What do they mean by this puzzle?"
"Whereas with this, there are some puzzles in the episodes that I think are hard, but they're not cruel. I think that lack of cruelty is an important feature if adventure games are going to be palatable to large audience."
"You just can't be that mean. I'm trying to give people a little fun and let them do some things to make them feel clever, but let them get through the game so that they will be ready for the next one when it comes down."
