Ron Gilbert, the developer responsible for classic adventure games like Maniac Mansion and The Secret of Monkey Island, has left longtime collaborator Tim Schafer's Double Fine Productions, Gilbert revealed tonight in a post at his personal blog.
Gilbert writes:
Now that The Cave is done and unleashed on an unsuspecting world (ok, we did do a bunch of PR, so it wasn't exactly unsuspecting), it's time for me to move on from Double Fine and plot my next move.
So many games left to be designed.
I want to thank all the amazing people at Double Fine for all their hard work on The Cave. It was a true pleasure to work with every one of them over the past two years. So much fun. I will miss them all. And of course to Tim for creating the opportunity to come there and make The Cave.
Gilbert then shares a design-side map from his recently released game The Cave, and goes on to give an idea of what he'll be up to next:
For the short term, Clayton Kauzlaric and I have been toiling away on another iOS side project that I'm going to focus on over the next few months. It's called Scurvy Scallywags in The Voyage to Discover the Ultimate Sea Shanty: A Musical Match-3 Pirate RPG. I'll post some screen shots in the next few days.
I also have that PAX Australia keynote to write. How did I ever let them talk me into doing that. So much fun. So much pain. Maybe I'll just do a 45 minute Q and A session.
So, with The Cave finished—a game that Tina rather liked—looks like its on to new projects for Mr. Gilbert.