Day of the Tentacle Remastered | Hacker News Reader

Day of the Tentacle Remastered

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The memories!

Back in 1995, in Russia, where nearly nobody even seen any legal software, there were countless CDs with titles like "Best 100 adventure games ever", thoroughly repacked by your friendly Russian pirates, with launchers. On one of those CDs, I encountered "Day of the Tentacle". I was 12 years old, and I didn't speak English.

Few months later, when I got to this ending screen with tentacle-shaped US flag, I understood some English, and knew a thing or two about US founding fathers, the Constitution (probably not mentioning any vacuum cleaners), quarter-taking laundry machines and so on. Everyday life in the US seemed no less strange to me than mad scientist's lab with sapient tentacles and toilets converted to time machines.

Will definitely play it again.

A few months ago I ate kumquats for the first time in my life (weird, but delicious). Before that I only knew the fruit from playing this game when I was young! (not a very common fruit in the Netherlands).

I had not expected them to be like tiny oranges/tangerines you can eat with peel and all. From the graphics in the game (IIRC basically yellow circles) I always assumed they might some kind of small peaches or you know, yellow cherries ... :)

This is the perfect moment to mention that Ron Gilbert's new game Thimbleweed Park is coming out this summer.

https://thimbleweedpark.com/

The dev blog is a treasure trove.

https://blog.thimbleweedpark.com/

Cool! Does it use SCUMMVM?

[Edit] Yes I am aware of the irony.

No, they use a custom engine (Ron Gilbert's pre-existing engine with the Squirrel language for scripting, augmented with custom sugar around coroutines to more or less emulate the way SCUMM did threading).

Well, their lead tester is Robert Megone who used to work on ScummVM (and for Revolution Software), but that's not really using ScummVM.

ScummVM is used by Disney (who bought the copyright of most of Georges Lucas' stuff) for their GOG re-releases (10 years after LucasArts sent out the lawyers to try to shut down the project), and by others for non-Scumm games as well.

Also, the guy who wrote the point and click interface for Grim Fandango on ResidualVM was hired by DoubleFine as a consultant so that they could adapt his code for the remastered version.

That's all the ScummVM-related trivia I could remember from the top of my head.

2PP (the guys that made the Broken Age doc) have also made a "making of" featurette for the DOTT remaster: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjF4eMrYfG0

It's pretty great - showing everything from how all the artwork was redrawn, to the remastered audio (pulled from the original DAT recordings), to Peter Chan's remarkable concept art. (which is included in the game!)

I have the original game packed away somewhere, and I'm sure that I could run a copy on scummvm, but for me, paying $15 to support the kind of care and attention that went into this remaster is a no-brainer.

Also, Grim Fandango http://www.grimremastered.com/ and Full Throttle "Coming Soon" http://www.doublefine.com/games

Grim Fandango is deservedly loved, but Full Throttle has a special place in my heart.

First, because it was one of the first "talkie" adventure games I legally owned -- I think it came as a demo game with the Soundblaster card? -- and also because of the cartoon art style and post-apocalyptic biker gangs theme. And the voice-overs. I really, really would love to see a sequel done in glorious 2D. 3D would ruin it for me; the style was everything in this game.

And the soundtrack!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doP8gF2rais

Ah yes, The Gone Jackals. After finishing Full Throttle and being so smitten by that tune I resolved to find a copy of their album 'Bone to Pick'. As a 12 year old kid it took me some time to figure out where to buy it but definitely worth the time and pocket money spent!

An underrated album and still very much worth a listen.

I utterly adored Full Throttle. As a kid, it was the first adventure game I was able to complete without a guide.

Grim Fandango is 75% off on Steam right now too. http://store.steampowered.com/app/316790/

Grim Fandango Remastered is in the current mobile bundle too.

TBH Grim Fandango Remastered does not differ much from the original one. Often you couldn't even tell the difference.

The intent behind the remakes of Grim Fandango, Day of the Tentacle, and Full Throttle comes from a spirit of preservationism more than anything. The idea was to make these games easily purchasable and playable by modern audiences while keeping as much of the original games intact as possible. So you get things like cleaner audio, uprezzed graphics, simplified controls, and so-on, but nothing that radically changes the games.

As someone who has the original game CDs and played through each of those games at least 10 times over the years, the BEST part of these remasters, IMO, is the added developer commentary. I really, really enjoyed playing through the Monkey Island and Grim Fandango remakes and hearing Tim and crew's thoughts, remembrances, jokes, etc around the development and production of the games, the music, the characters, etc. Really added something new and special to the playthroughs of games that I know like the back of my hand, like old friends.

Graphics aside, the revamped input options alone justify the remaster IMO. They got a lot of things right with the original but tank controls were not one of them.

eh... after a while you get used to it :)

I still wish the graphics were better, it looks like Grim Fandango and Day of the Tentacle don't have much improvement in graphics department, so I'm afraid Full Throttle will be similar disappointment to me.

Comparing that to remakes of Secret of the Monkey Island[1] or Bionic Commando Rearmed[2] (different genre) it looks poor. It feels like LucasArt (and actually Disney) are simply going for making easy money on people who are nostalgic about these games with as little investment as they can.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hb_FaGcmTPM

[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dj8HzKJZEV4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fY3OczxXBks

The Monkey Island remakes destroyed the original art style. I like the more cautious path they took for Day of the Tentacle.

It was certainly different, but I wouldn't say the original art style was 'destroyed' due to the fact the at any time in the game you can switch back to the original style. It's not exactly destroyed if its RIGHT THERE.

I think with DotT there is less room for that kind of art upheaval though, because, frankly, the art already looks good. It still holds up very well today, expecially if you run in SCUMMVM in turn on some graphics filters.

Oh, that's not what I meant by `destroyed'. (And I think you knew.)

Also DRM-free on GOG(Good Old Games): https://www.gog.com/game/day_of_the_tentacle_remastered

It's DRM-free in the Humble Store as well. Look for the DRM-free icon on the right. I'm pretty sure it's also without DRM on Steam.

Including Steam itself?

I.e. you don't have to run Steam to run DOTT, if you bought it from there.

Steam can be run in offline mode.

Unless it decides that it can't and then you either go online or can't play.

Friendly DRM systems like the AppStore or Steam might seem a good idea until one gets burned by them.

I should know, still haven't learned my lesson.

Many old games like this that are optionally available through Steam don't actually integrate the DRM, so you can run them outside of Steam as well.

The old UFO/XCOM games for example are sold through steam, but ship as a DOSBOX.

Fond (but painful) memories of playing through Maniac Mansion and I remember seeing DOTT for the first time at a CompUSA display showing off this fancy new CD-ROM thing. That and Tie-Fighter were jaw dropping for the time. It's funny because VR is supposed to be this incredible new thing but even the most impressive demos haven't given me that same amazement as seeing games like this for the first time.

This looks much better than the Monkey Island "Remasters" but looks like they broke "lipsyncing"? What a step backwards.

I'm surprised this game even needs a remaster. Played it a few years back and it still holds up -- timeless style more than makes up for a little bit of pixelation.

> even the most impressive demos haven't given me that same amazement as seeing games like this for the first time.

You have probably matured out of the easy amazement age.

I wonder if there's any way to get it back as an adult.

Have kids. Stand back and watch.

LSD

I realize they can't always control this, but it's a bummer to see no Linux option.

"Mac and Linux versions of Day of the Tentacle Remastered will arrive fashionably late, but they are still coming…"

https://mobile.twitter.com/DoubleFine/status/707279700972822...

Why didn't they wait to release everything at once instead of making Mac and Linux look like fourth class citizens?

And artificially delay the release of a finished product? Why should that be a good idea?

Additionally, according to Steam and GoG the Mac version is available already.

Because Linux and Mac are tiny, tiny niches in the gaming market

Because they'll make a lot of money on the other platforms really fast. Mac and Linux aren't big game platforms.

Thanks!

You can always use ScummVM to play the original ( http://scummvm.org/ ) on any Linux OS. To be honest, the game is so good in of itself that increased resolution doesn't play a role.

but they probably should be able to control it in this instance. I was playing the original dott with scummvm on my linux laptop yesterday. It's a great game. One of the first i ever bought.

It's in the works!

Now for a Zak McKracken remake or reboot, please. :)

Also a sequel, even if just in spirit, to The Dig would be amazing.

it exists - through space and time

relevant: http://www.theverge.com/2016/3/22/11284908/everybody-loves-j...

> "Universally beloved character Jar Jar Binks makes surprise appearance in new video game"

https://twitter.com/TronKnotts/status/712317099092398080?ref...

It occurs to me that DotT, along with Full Throttle, Grim Fandango, Curse of Monkey Island, The Dig, Sam and Max, and a whole bunch of other IPs are now owned by Disney.

Oh those names bring memories.

Grim Fandango, Curse of MI and Sam and max especially. Also Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis.

I know a lot of that is pure nostalgia, but I sometimes fire them again and even finish them up yet again and wow. It's just art. It's like re-reading a book I guess.

Hmm... Grim Fandango would make an epic Pixar movie

>Players are able to switch back and forth between classic and remastered modes, and mix and match audio, graphics and user interface to their heart’s desire.

NICE!

There are also some new easter eggs that appear in the new graphics, like a jar jar binks portrait in the past that was very pixelated in the original and some other "hidden" graphical stuff in previously unintelligible pixelated text

Is there a way for me to play maniac mansion legally on a modern computer?

There are two ways that I know of:

Method 1: Purchase a copy of Maniac Mansion on eBay or such. Download a single copy of the data files. Load and play them in ScummVM.

Method 2: So, funny story. See how Day of the Tentacle Remastered is for sale above? It just so happens that the original Day of the Tentacle contained a computer that allowed one to play Maniac Mansion. The Remastered edition above ALSO contains that same computer with that same copy of Maniac Mansion. So if you buy Day of the Tentacle Remastered, then play up to the point where you reach that computer, you can play the original Maniac Mansion.

Yes --- there's a copy built in to Day of the Tentacle.

Go to Weird Ed Edison's room and use his computer, and it'll start up. Or, well, it used to. I've only ever played it on ScummVM, which didn't support that opcode, but it was trivial to haul out the data files and run them separately.

I have no idea whether the remastered version still contains this. I hope so (I've never finished Maniac Mansion).

> I have no idea whether the remastered version still contains this.

It does.

Source: Kotaku http://kotaku.com/day-of-the-tentacle-remastered-the-kotaku-....

Awesome.

Maniac Mansion is actually playable inside of Day of the Tentacle (including the remastered version [1])

[1] http://www.shacknews.com/article/91888/maniac-mansion-will-s...

Yes, buy this. Maniac Mansion is included as an extra inside the game.

Probably not legal, but somebody actually made a faithful fan remake of Maniac Mansion called Maniac Mansion Deluxe. http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/site/games/game/401/

I wonder how much of it was automatically processed vs manually redrawn/corrected.

I have played the game for about two hours and it looks like most of it was automated. It's blatantly obvious at some points.

Yeah, when I saw the screenshots I immediately thought that it looked like the HQx filter.

It seems to do a pretty good job btw.

"Hey, Laverne. How'd you get upstairs?"

"Am I upstairs? I got lost."

I loved so much this game that I stopped games! I could see myself spending days and days playing games like this and doing nothing in my life.

Does it have a version in other languages? I'd love to play it with my kids.

Serious remark: I am Dutch and when I was very young and computers and games were rare I played text adventures and they were English only: I do not think I can imagine a more efficient way of learning reading and writing as a young child. Why not let them play the games in English? I live in Spain now and the major complaint the youth makes about learning English is that everything is available and usually forced (dubbing in movies and tv shows included) in Spanish so even if they write/speak English I cannot really understand it; too little real case practice.

Edit: also I see in daily life how my Portuguese colleagues struggle finding answers because they read docs/learn and have errors/feedback in PT and so search answers in Google in PT as well which often works but in some cases does not and usually I have to figure out what the problem is in English which will usually provide the answer. I see that the better coders in our team and switch their computers to EN and follow the English tutorials so why not do that straight away... For maintenance, even in small companies, comments need to be in English so why use PT/ES in the first place for codoing. Not saying you should teach your kids programming (although, why not) :)

A thousand times this! I learned English by playing games by LucasArts and Sierra! (Ok, and also taking classes, but you get the point). Text adventures were particularly good for learning, since the parser encouraged me to find synonyms for verbs it didn't understand... I still remember I learned the word "rub" in Space Quest 2, for the part where you need to rub berries over Roger Wilco's body so that he wouldn't get eaten by a monster.

Games seem like a particularly good way of encouraging young people to learn other languages.

Glad you've brought up the dubbing/translating issue in Spain, because as I was reading the start of your comment I could remember how I played DOTT in perfect Spanish... And a lot of other LucasArts games (Indy Last Crusade & Indy Fate of Atlantis, Monkey Island, etc).

Now my computer doesn't even have a Spanish keyboard, let alone OS or any software running on it. Life is much easier now :)

Such wishful thinking on you part. You really thought all other games would be at the same level ? :P

After so many years and DOTT is still the best graphic adventure game ever made.

I remember first playing Monkey Island and DotT in German way back when.

I played it a lot as a child and replaying it now made me realized just how much I missed. Since I don't live in america I had zero knowledge of their history so the whole past section was about some vaguely famous guys I didn't know. Now as an adult Hoagie's dialogue just cracks me up every time and so much more stuff is funny that I didn't notice back in the day. Basically growing up made this game 100% better

A classic adventures - i miss them, hope someone is doing Toonstruck too :) Would like to play this again, without my eyes bleeding.

I've been searching for this game on and off for years and could never find it! I've always been searching it as DOT or D.O.T. !!

Not enough bang for the buck when you can get a similar enough result with scummvm and super sampling. I'm sorry, but I'm not giving any money to Mr. Schafer again, I already made that mistake with Double Fine and oh God how I regret it.

Are you talking about Broken Age? What was the problem? You got an excellent documentary about the realities of game development, the full game, and whatever additional rewards you pledged for.

If the issue is that the game was split into two parts, I have very little sympathy for that, since you still got the documentary, and got the full game. You also received both halves of the game for your original pledge amount. Games take time and effort to develop and sometimes there are delays.

I was a backer and although I didn't get into the game, it was easily worth it for the documentary alone.

The kickstarter campaign was a mess. The product was delayed a lot, it was way over budget, and this was not the first time Schafer pulled one of this stunts only to finally produce a game that many backers disliked (myself included). There are many articles that explain the kickstarter fiasco better than me, if you need more details.

Spot on. I was waiting for years for this game. To be honest I didn't back it on kickstarter, but I bought it when the first chapter got out.

It was soooo bad, that I didn't even bother to play the second chapter.

2nd experience: I bought Grim Fandango remastered version. Oh my god, what a smart money-grab move from Mr. Schafer. The game still had a notorious bug, present even in the original version, where you could lose an inventory item(your scythe basically) and you couldn't move forward. Only solution was to load from a previous point. I had to replay 1-2 hours work of game, so I gave up.

As I'm saying all this... I'm gonna buy this remastered game also. Simply because Tim Schafer knows that he can manipulate me via my childhood memories and get away with it.

Oh well.

Documentary was pretty unique. And now it's free!

Ignoring the Schafer comments... it's 15 dollars. Depending on your locale, this is probably roughly the price of a movie ticket.

It's odd to me that people value games so little. A quick look suggests this is at least 6 hours of game play. Seems like a fine price for 6 hours of entertainment, especially if you've never played the original.

The only double fine game I ever regretted buying was brutal legend and even then I got a few laughs out of it and appreciated it for what it was. Psychonauts, happy action theater, the cave, and broken age were all wonderful.

Pardon my ignorance, but what was the matter? I loved Broken Age. I wasn't in the kickstarter, but I just bought it in the App Store (well, actually my wife did) and loved it.

I really wish they'd taken the style into consideration instead of just redrawing the characters - the colored outlines worked really well at a small resolution, but they look really weird when you scale them up.

I wonder if the Maniac Mansion you can play inside DoTT is also remastered :D Great game, one of the best outros in any game (won't spoil it). I think it is the perfect sweet spot of an adventure game for me.

Sadly, it is not. But there was a fan remake called Maniac Mansion Deluxe released a few years ago that has upgraded graphics. Not tried it yet, but it looks great: http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/site/games/game/401/.

I'm not American, so Day Of The Tentacle is how I learnt about the background to the Declaration of Independence.

I've since met several Americans who claim this is also how they learnt about it...

I love this! Loved this game back in the day, love that Elite has been remade and frogger as CrossyRoad now I'm just waiting for ChaseHQ to be the next tablet blockbuster.

Linux version is delayed. I'll wait for it to come out.

I wish they'd focus on sequels rather than on remakes though. For instance Full Throttle 2?

It was in the works after Full Throttle's success, but was cancelled. I don't know the reasons.

There was actually more than one attempt at a sequel (Payback, Hell on Wheels) which were mostly "cash ins" outsourced by LucasArts and focused on more of the action-y stuff (FPS were just becoming the overriding rage in games) rather than the story telling. Tim Schafer, of course, moved on to Grim Fandango was not involved in the sequel attempts.

New rumors are that Tim himself is considering ideas for a Full Throttle 2 once they finishing remastering Full Throttle, but take those rumors with a giant grain of salt.

One entry way into the giant rabbit hole of old Full Throttle 2 news:

http://www.bing.com/search?q=full+throttle+2+site%3Amixnmojo...

Here is a good article: https://quarterly.camposanto.com/the-art-of-fiction-3-tim-sc...

I'd love to see a new Full Throttle, but it would be sad to hear a new voice for Ben, who died not long after the original was released.

First PC game I ever owned.

i love DoTT, and this looks nice, but I'm disappointed that they don't seem to have given the same attention to the music they did to the visuals.

Not sure what I'd get out of this over playing the original in ScummVM.

Why not make a new game in the same style, with a new story?

Not having to play it in ScummVM, for starters. Second, an updated and much improved UI, better resolution, improved sound, and in general improved visuals without losing the charm (though a few scenes come off with a little less life).

Developer commentary, too.

If you don't already own a copy, you can now buy one legally. It has sharper graphics, cleaner audio and a new interface.

Day of the Tentacle is one of the best adventure games.

On the one side it's great that a slightly improved is now available. On the otherside, the new "remastered" version uses the SCUMM (open source Lucasarts game engine virtual machine) that was made by fans and can be used to run the old games on modern systems. And those "remastered" versions are only very slightly improved due the lack of original game art graphic files. It was certainly easy to vectorize the vector-art style of DoT, but the "remastered" Grim Fandango basically featured blown up background pictures out of Photoshop. A low point of the "remastered"/"HD" versions is certainly Age of Empires 2 HD where Microsoft closed their former studio and lost all its game arts and therefor the HD re-release featured the same graphics and just provided higher screen resolution as single feature that come from a fan patch years ago. Or Age of Mythology which hasn't been improved graphical wise at all, was already used as base for Age of Empire Online and later re-released as HD edition again. Or the Turok remastered release, which still looks like the 1998 3D game even with all the fog that was needed with early 3D cards but not in 2016. Beside all these cheap rehashes, the Monkey Island 2 re-release was great, one could switch between the old and the new graphics art on the fly by pressing a key. (Sure the new art wasn't that lovely done and could have been a lot better.) What I want from HD re-releases are more polished improved games, not just cheap rip-offs often based on fan patches and mods.

SCUMM is actually the name of the original LucasArts engine. ScummVM is the open source interpreter for SCUMM games.

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