Ron Gilbert’s New Game: A Race Against Death
▼ Summary
– Ron Gilbert, known for classic adventure games, released the action-survival game “Death by Scrolling,” which may surprise some fans.
– Gilbert notes he has previously designed reflex-based games and was inspired by modern rogue-lite classics for this new project.
– His initial post-Monkey Island project was a large, open-world RPG concept inspired by The Legend of Zelda.
– Gilbert abandoned the RPG idea because his small team lacked the necessary time and financial resources to develop it.
– He found publishers’ offers for funding the RPG were unsatisfactory, partly due to the challenges of the genre.
For fans of classic adventure gaming, the name Ron Gilbert is synonymous with iconic titles like Maniac Mansion and Monkey Island. His latest project, however, takes a sharp turn into fast-paced action. Death by Scrolling is a rogue-lite survival shooter, a genre departure that might raise eyebrows but reflects Gilbert’s broader gaming passions and the practical realities of modern game development.
Gilbert acknowledges his reputation is built on narrative-driven point-and-click adventures, but his career includes reflex-based titles like the Backyard Sports series and Deathspank. The inspiration for Death by Scrolling came not from his own past work, but from his enjoyment of contemporary hits such as The Binding of Isaac and Dead Cells. He describes the initial concept as a whim, an experiment in a genre he personally enjoys playing. This shift highlights a designer following his current interests rather than being confined by audience expectations.
The path to this action game was not direct. After concluding work on Return to Monkey Island, Gilbert initially pursued a very different dream project: a large, open-world RPG inspired by classics like The Legend of Zelda. He assembled a small team and spent nearly a year developing the idea. However, the scale of the ambition quickly collided with practical limitations. Gilbert realized his studio lacked the substantial financial resources and manpower required to build such a vast game within a reasonable timeframe.
Seeking external funding became the next logical step, but it led to disappointment. Gilbert pitched the RPG concept to various publishers, only to find the proposed deals were, in his words, “horrible.” He attributes this poor reception largely to the genre itself, suggesting that the market for a top-down action-RPG from a smaller studio presented a significant risk that publishers were unwilling to take. This experience forced a strategic pivot, steering him away from the grand RPG vision and toward a project more feasible for his independent team.
(Source: Ars Technica)