Page 18 - GAMES
P. 18
THE TIMES ®
AUSTRALIA
Independent Media Inspiring Minds
Photo: tom mclean Photo: tom mclean
was quite simple; through the modern wonders After queuing up for an hour and a half, the frst thing
of the internet, they were able to see that a very we went to see was a keynote speech by ron gilbert
large number of people in Australia supported (creator of the monkey island series), which was a
their website and they wanted to repay the love. pretty big deal for me. he was the creator of doz-
So in July, they came to visit! i m going to be tak- ens of games that defned my childhood. he took us
ing you through the show, as experienced by my through his journey, which began with him program-
friends and me. ming text-based Star Wars games on a ti-59 calcula-
tor that his father brought home, and progressed to
games on the Commodore 64. After going through
a few dead-end jobs, he eventually received a call
from lucas flm asking him to join their ranks. unfor-
tunately for him and the staff that worked there, they
were unable to produce Star Wars games due to the
license being sold to other companies several years
prior. this forced them to think outside of the box and
come up with original ideas.
had we been able to make Star Wars games,
im sure thats all we would have made. not be-
ing able to make those games creatively freed us
in ways i dont think we understood at the time.
Without that freedom, there would be no maniac
mansion, or grim fandango, or monkey island,
or loom, gilbert stated. Constraints or limitations
can sometimes be a driving force to innovation
and creating inspiration. When your brain cant
do what it wants, it has this amazing capacity to
fgure out something else, and often something bet-
ter, he continued. We should always embrace
limitations and fgure out ways for them to become
Photo: tom mclean
a strength. Continues on page 21
18 Independent Media Inspiring Minds
AUSTRALIA
Independent Media Inspiring Minds
Photo: tom mclean Photo: tom mclean
was quite simple; through the modern wonders After queuing up for an hour and a half, the frst thing
of the internet, they were able to see that a very we went to see was a keynote speech by ron gilbert
large number of people in Australia supported (creator of the monkey island series), which was a
their website and they wanted to repay the love. pretty big deal for me. he was the creator of doz-
So in July, they came to visit! i m going to be tak- ens of games that defned my childhood. he took us
ing you through the show, as experienced by my through his journey, which began with him program-
friends and me. ming text-based Star Wars games on a ti-59 calcula-
tor that his father brought home, and progressed to
games on the Commodore 64. After going through
a few dead-end jobs, he eventually received a call
from lucas flm asking him to join their ranks. unfor-
tunately for him and the staff that worked there, they
were unable to produce Star Wars games due to the
license being sold to other companies several years
prior. this forced them to think outside of the box and
come up with original ideas.
had we been able to make Star Wars games,
im sure thats all we would have made. not be-
ing able to make those games creatively freed us
in ways i dont think we understood at the time.
Without that freedom, there would be no maniac
mansion, or grim fandango, or monkey island,
or loom, gilbert stated. Constraints or limitations
can sometimes be a driving force to innovation
and creating inspiration. When your brain cant
do what it wants, it has this amazing capacity to
fgure out something else, and often something bet-
ter, he continued. We should always embrace
limitations and fgure out ways for them to become
Photo: tom mclean
a strength. Continues on page 21
18 Independent Media Inspiring Minds
