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Ron Gilbert
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===LucasArts=== Gilbert began his professional career in 1983 while he was still a student at Eastern Oregon State College by writing a program named Graphics BASIC with Tom McFarlane. They sold the program to a [[San Francisco Bay Area]] company named [[HESware]], which later offered Gilbert a job. He spent about half a year at HESware, programming [[Platform game|action game]]s for the [[Commodore 64]] (C64).<ref name="ign">{{cite web |url=https://www.ign.com/top/game-creators/81.html |title=81. Ron Gilbert |website=[[IGN]] |access-date=May 24, 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140420070954/https://www.ign.com/top/game-creators/81.html |archive-date=April 20, 2014}}</ref> None of them were ever released; the company went out of business. Shortly thereafter, Gilbert joined [[Lucasfilm]] Games, which later became [[LucasArts]]. There he earned his living by doing C64 ports of Lucasfilm [[Atari 800]] games. In 1985, he got the opportunity to co-develop his own game for LucasArts together with [[Game art design|graphics artist]] [[Gary Winnick (game developer)|Gary Winnick]]. ''[[Maniac Mansion]]'' was about a dark [[Victorian era|Victorian]] [[mansion]] populated by a [[mad scientist]], his family and strange [[extraterrestrial life|alien]]s.<ref name="youbioit" /> ''Maniac Mansion'' features [[cutscene]]s, a word coined by Gilbert,<ref name="GrumpyIn9">{{cite web |last=Gilbert |first=Ron |author-link=Ron Gilbert |title=''Maniac Mansion'' in 9 |url=http://grumpygamer.com/8139425 |website=Grumpy Gamer |date=April 12, 2007 |access-date=March 3, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070415021118/http://grumpygamer.com/8139425 |archive-date=April 15, 2007}}</ref><ref name="GS-Fame">{{cite news |last1=Buecheler |first1=Christopher |title=The GameSpy Hall of Fame |url=http://archive.gamespy.com/legacy/halloffame/mm.shtm |work=GameSpy |access-date=February 2, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110311072453/http://archive.gamespy.com/legacy/halloffame/mm.shtm |archive-date=March 11, 2011}}</ref> that interrupt gameplay to advance the story and inform the player about offscreen events.<ref name="zzap">{{cite journal |last1=Summer |first1=Paul |last2=Rignall |first2=Julian |last3=Jarratt |first3=Steve |author-link2=Julian Rignall |author-link3=Steve Jarratt |date=December 1987 |title=''Maniac Mansion'' |journal=[[Zzap!64]] |publisher=Newsfield Publications |location=Ludlow |issue=32 |pages=12β13 |issn=0954-867X |oclc=470391346}}</ref><ref name="mmmanual">{{cite book |last=Laurel |first=Brenda |title=Maniac Mansion ''manual'' |publisher=[[LucasArts|Lucasfilm Games]] |pages = 1β5 |year=1987 |location=[[San Rafael, CA]]}}</ref> Gilbert created a scripting language that was named after the project it had been written for, the Script Creation Utility for ''Maniac Mansion'', better known as [[SCUMM|S.C.U.M.M.]]<ref name="Edge">{{cite magazine |author=Edge Staff |magazine=[[Edge (magazine)|Edge]] |publisher=[[Future plc|Future Publishing]] |location=[[Bath, Somerset]] |title=The Making Of: ''Maniac Mansion'' |url=http://www.next-gen.biz/features/the-making-of-maniac-mansion |page=1 |date=August 6, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100806183054/http://www.next-gen.biz/features/the-making-of-maniac-mansion |archive-date=August 6, 2010}}</ref> The technology was used in all subsequent LucasArts adventure games,<ref name="GamesTm-Retro">{{cite journal |journal=[[GamesTM]] |publisher=Imagine Publishing |location=Bournemouth |title=Behind the Scenes: ''Maniac Mansion'' + ''Day of the Tentacle'' |year=2010 |issue=3 |pages=22β27 |series=The Ultimate Retro Companion |issn=1448-2606 |oclc=173412381}}</ref> with the exception of ''[[Grim Fandango]]'' and ''[[Escape From Monkey Island]]''.<ref>{{cite web |title=SCUMM makes a comeback in Indie Indy Game |url=http://kotaku.com/176756/scumm-makes-a-comeback-in-indie-indy-game |publisher=[[Kotaku]] |access-date=March 25, 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100213162505/http://kotaku.com/176756/scumm-makes-a-comeback-in-indie-indy-game |archive-date=February 13, 2010}}</ref> Despite being an internal production tool, the S.C.U.M.M. acronym became well known to gamers since a location in ''[[The Secret of Monkey Island]]'', the SCUMM Bar, was named after it. Gilbert created many successful [[adventure game]]s at LucasArts, including the classic ''The Secret of Monkey Island'' and ''Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge''.<ref>{{cite web |title=If I Made Another Monkey Island |url=https://grumpygamer.com/if_i_made_another_monkeyisland |date=April 13, 2013 |website=Grumpy Gamer |access-date=January 24, 2018 |language=en |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171209003900/https://grumpygamer.com/if_i_made_another_monkeyisland |archive-date=December 9, 2017 |quote=It would be called Monkey Island 3a. All the games after Monkey Island 2 don't exist in my Monkey Island universe. My apologies to the all talented people who worked on them and the people who loved them, but I'd want to pick up where I left off. Free of baggage. In a carnival. That doesn't mean I won't steal some good ideas or characters from other games. I'm not above that.}}</ref> In 1992, he left the company to start [[Humongous Entertainment]] with LucasArts producer [[Shelley Day]]. While at Humongous Entertainment, Gilbert was responsible for games such as ''[[Putt-Putt (series)|Putt-Putt]]'', ''[[Fatty Bear]]'', ''[[Freddi Fish]]'', ''[[Pajama Sam]]'',<ref name="usgamer interview" /> and the ''[[Backyard Sports]]'' series.<ref name="ign" /> Many of these games continued to use an offshoot of the S.C.U.M.M. engine.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.gamedeveloper.com/game-platforms/majesco-to-bring-humongous-point-and-click-adventures-to-wii |title=Majesco To Bring Humongous Point And Click Adventures To Wii |last1=Alexander |first1=Leigh |last2=Boyer |first2=Brandon |date=March 25, 2008 |website=[[Gamasutra]] |access-date=May 24, 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120511012156/https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/108943/Majesco_To_Bring_Humongous_Point_And_Click_Adventures_To_Wii.php |archive-date=May 11, 2012}}</ref>
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