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The Making of Maniac Mansion

Posted by Zonk on from the i-heart-purple-tentacle dept.

Edge Magazine Online has a piece up discussing the making of the classic title Maniac Mansion. From the article: "Maniac Mansion, then, is a tale of two achievements: one of the engine that would go on, in true Purple Tentacle style, to take on and momentarily conquer the gaming world, the other being an onscreen escapade that would fire the imaginations of all who embraced it, later inspiring a TV sitcom and proving the perfect application, unsurprisingly, for its tailor-made technology."

21 comments

  1. Yay! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    This is still my favorite adventure game. Good to see it getting publicity again. :)

  2. TV Program by FrontalLobe · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    Ugh, what a peice of garbage that TV show was. Despite the fact I loved Joe Flahherty(sp?) in SCTV, this show was such a pain to watch.

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    -FL
  3. Strangely the Japaneese version... by rubberbando · · Score: 4, Funny

    had a lot more tenticles, they were shaped slightly differently and tended to chase after the female characters (and sometimes Bernard)relentlessly....

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    DEAD DEAD DEAD DELETE ME
    1. Re:Strangely the Japaneese version... by Dwedit · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Seriously though, Japan got the far worse end of the deal on the Famicom version of Mainiac Mansion. 104 character passwords! In a tiny Japanese font! With some characters looking extremely similar! And you thought Metroid or Castlevania 2 was bad...

  4. DOTT by 1967mustangman · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Dott and Maniac Masion were two of the first PC Games I ever played (we had Amigas for most of my young childhood). I still think that that game holds some of the best video game quotes ever. Damn that Doctor Fred........Hey She knows our family motto This must be that Woodstock place my parents are always talking about..........Bernard float over here so I can punch you. And the part about getting vacuum cleaners written into the constitution!!!!

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    Madre de Dios! Es El Pollo Diablo! -- Captain Blondebeard
  5. It's alive! (Unlike Dead Cousin Ted) by Tom+Veil · · Score: 5, Informative

    I still love the SCUMM games like Maniac Mansion, Day of the Tentacle, and Sam & Max Hit the Road. The multiple-endings idea in particular in particular was brilliant (even though that aspect was limited to Maniac Mansion). It ticked me off when I couldn't get them to play on XP... (Even with 98, I had to "reboot in DOS mode" and pull a few other tricks to get them to play.)

    The great thing is, with ScummVM, you can play them on Linux, Windows, Mac, BeOS, and even a Palm or Pocket PC! I just recently re-played Day of the Tentacle on my Treo. Worked great, except for some sound problems. It does take a bit of configuration to get it going on some systems, but it's well worth it.

    You do have to have the original CD or floppies that the games came on, so make sure that you dig those out before you bother with the install... but once you dig those out, you'll be microwaving hamsters in no time!

    --

    There's nothing you have that they can't take away: Absolute zero, Gentle Jack, bottom line.

    1. Re:It's alive! (Unlike Dead Cousin Ted) by Hobbitgh0d42 · · Score: 3, Informative

      DosBox is actually a bit heartier when it comes to SCUMM games. SCUMMVM has problems with games like Full Throttle(only 75 percent according to their website) but DosBox played it 100 percent perfectally.

    2. Re:It's alive! (Unlike Dead Cousin Ted) by The+Evil+Cub · · Score: 1

      I missed out on Manic mansion - although I'm thinking now I should see if I can dig it up somewhere - But I thought 'Sam and Max" was one of the funniest things I'd ever seen for many years. We need more absurdist cartoon humor in video games today!

  6. Lucas arts adventure games are the best by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    I don't think that I have seen any adventure games that come to the same degree of fun and humor that lucas arts (used to make) I was going to buy my first game in years (the new Sam and Max). But they canceled it. Its sad to see such a good thing like adventure games disapear. I probably won't be a customer of the videogame industry any time soon. I just wish that someone would make something that seemed interesting like they used to.

    1. Re:Lucas arts adventure games are the best by LKM · · Score: 3, Informative
      I just wish that someone would make something that seemed interesting like they used to.

      Get a DS and buy Another Code (may be called "Trace Memory" or something in the US). It's clearly too short (I finished it in under 5 hours), but it's still worth it. The story is amazing, and some of the puzzles are nothing short of astonishing. Also, it has no weird Gabriel Knight style puzzles. The puzzles are all logical and can be solved by thinking rather than randomly trying to apply items.

    2. Re:Lucas arts adventure games are the best by Hakubi_Washu · · Score: 1

      Check the games done by hobbyists at AGS and other "homemade adventure systems"... There's a huge pile of garbage there, but some are real gems :-)

    3. Re:Lucas arts adventure games are the best by fwitness · · Score: 1

      I just googled up this "Trace Memory" of which you speak and it looks pretty nifty. I never thought that the DS could bring retro where it hasn't gone before. The "adventure game" zone. Now I want a devkit so I can be the first to implement SCUMMVM for the DS.

      Well, you can get the GBA Sierra game interpreter (main site is down?) but I'd prefer something that I can use the touchscreen with.

      I don't know who you are, LKM, but you need to post these useful nuggets of gaming goodness more often.

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      -- I have fans? Wow.
    4. Re:Lucas arts adventure games are the best by cabra771 · · Score: 1

      Here's another big sigh to no Sam and Max 2.
      "SIGH". Damn you Lucasarts!!

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      -my other sig is your mom
    5. Re:Lucas arts adventure games are the best by Carnil · · Score: 1

      Man, the parent poster longed for old Lucasart adventures, do you think he wants logical puzzles which can be solved by thinking rather than randomly trying to apply items??
      For god's sake, you had to use the steps of a dance as a map, and a chicken with a pulley inside to cross a bridge! How's that logical??

    6. Re:Lucas arts adventure games are the best by LKM · · Score: 1
      Man, the parent poster longed for old Lucasart adventures, do you think he wants logical puzzles which can be solved by thinking rather than randomly trying to apply items??

      Good point :-)

      However, I played through Monkey Island again a few months ago when I got ScummVM running on my P800, and I was actually surprised at how logical most puzzles were. They aren't anywhere near Another Code's, but still, it's possible to figure out most problems by listening to what people say and thinking about them.

      There are a few puzzles which seem to be somewhat random (okay, totally random), but even so, they can usually be figured out without consulting gamefaqs. The two things you mention don't seem to be particularly bad to me. Using the steps of the dance as a map seemed pretty obvious to me, and it's not like you had to assemble the chicken and the pulley yourself, right? It already had a pulley attached to it, so its use was somewhat obvious, despite the fact that it was a freaking chicken :-)

      However, there were parts in Monkey Island where I was stuck for quite a bit before figuring it out. Same applies to Monkey Island 2 and Indy 4. Even Full Throttle had me stumped a few times, although that was mostly during the "action sequences".

      I think the problem with those games is that the solutions to the puzzles themselves are often quite weird, but if you talk to people, they'll give you hints how to solve them. Another Code is different: The puzzles are logical themselves, you don't need to talk to people to figure them out.

      Don't get me started on Maniac Mansion, though. Now there are some really random puzzles!

    7. Re:Lucas arts adventure games are the best by LKM · · Score: 1
      I don't know who you are, LKM, but you need to post these useful nuggets of gaming goodness more often.

      The only other recently released adventure game which comes to mind is Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars which was released for the PC and consoles, among them the GBA.

      However, there are rumors that Cinq and Nintendo are already working on a sequel to Another Code, which hopefully will be a bit longer :-)

      And given the success of Another Code, it's quite possible that we'll see more adventures on the DS.

    8. Re:Lucas arts adventure games are the best by Jonny_eh · · Score: 2, Informative

      The creator of DoTT, Full Throttle and the like (I forget his name) just released the platformer Psychonauts. And I can personally vouch for the new game's hilarity. It's totally twisted and funny, if you liked those old lucasarts games, I highly recommend this one.

  7. Re:DOTT Quotes by Tom+Veil · · Score: 4, Informative

    (All of these are paraphrased:)
    "And there was this horrible sound like... DING!"
    "Dr. Fred is all tied up in red tape... Literally!"
    "The hundred-dollar guy... I like the sound of that!"
    "Who's Mike Cords and why does he need to be tied down?"
    "Oh, yeah, I forgot... He's incredibly evil, isn't he?"
    "How does a tentacle use a bowling ball?"
    "You must be the homeliest homo-sapien I've ever seen!"
    "Isn't it hard for a tentacle to get into that bean bag?" "Getting in is easy... It's getting out that's the hard part."
    "I could use [the hamster] in the band. You know, we could, like, bite its head off or something..."
    "I've never tested it on people before!"
    "I only chop down cherry trees. Family tradition, you know."
    "I guess I should just kill myself then!"
    "Yoo-hoo... Mister tentacle guy!"
    "'George says everyone should have a vacuum cleaner in the basement.'" (Hancock reading what he believes to be a suggestion for the Constitution.)
    "Excuse, me mister..." "Mister Hammer of the Gods?" "Hey, I've read that book!"
    "1976. 1985. Oooh... 1967!"
    "How about we make [the U.S. flag] just like the British flag, but upside down to cheese 'em off?"
    "And then what?"
    "And then what?"
    "And then what?"

    BTW, why was the parent modded "Troll"? Did he offend someone who dislikes these games?

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    There's nothing you have that they can't take away: Absolute zero, Gentle Jack, bottom line.

  8. Hear hear! by Rob+T+Firefly · · Score: 1

    Count Floyd deserved hella better. Great game, but the TV show was an insu;t to anyone with eyes and/or ears.

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    Slashdot Burying Stories About Slashdot Media Owned
  9. Maniac Mansion Deluxe by LucasFan Games by porksoda · · Score: 1

    I missed out on Manic mansion - although I'm thinking now I should see if I can dig it up somewhere

    I think this is what you're looking for.