Ron Gilbert Announces DeathSpank

So, Ron Gilbert is a famous creator of adventures like Monkey Island, right? What is he doing here? Well, what if he created an adventure/RPG described as "Monkey Island meet Diablo"? Beats the hell out of me what that would be like but it sounds worth discussing. Here's the official announcement of DeathSpank:

The Great White North, January 9, 2008 – In a move that may upset the balance of the universe (or at least that around the 49th parallel), Hothead Games announced plans to publish Ron Gilbert's long-awaited RPG-Adventure game, DeathSpank. Described as "Monkey Island meets Diablo", the game will be released in episodic format and feature Gilbert's unique style of humor and storytelling. In a related move, Ron Gilbert will be joining the company’s Vancouver-based studio as Creative Director, effective immediately.

Speaking from his secret game design cave, Ron Gilbert said, "I've spent over four years trying to find the right publisher for this strange little game. Now that I’ve done it, you just know that somewhere four horsemen are saddling up."

The episodic game follows the thong-tastic adventures of a misguided hero named DeathSpank, a character that first appeared on Gilbert's Grumpy Gamer website in a series of animated comics he penned with long-time creative collaborator, Clayton Kauzlaric.

Hothead prepared for Gilbert's arrival by ordering the finest morsels of jellied moose meat and lager brewed with water from the nearest available glacier. "We're all huge fans of Monkey Island and we love Ron's unique vision and sense of humor," said Joel DeYoung, COO of Hothead Games. "Ron shares Hothead’s goal of bringing much-needed humor and innovation into games, so having him here in Vancouver as our Creative Director is an excellent fit."

"I'm really excited to be working with Hothead Games not only on DeathSpank, but as their new Creative Director," said Gilbert. "I got to know everyone at Hothead while I was helping with On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness. They really understand humor and being creative like very few publishers do."

As Creative Director, Gilbert will work in the Vancouver-based studio on all of Hothead’s games. He is also expected to improve his hockey skills substantially during his stay.

More information.

Vancouver is a bustling metropolis. You'd have to go outside the city to find a cave. Somewhere other than New Westminster.

I've been there, my sister used to live there and one of my brothers currently does; I know where the caves are hidden!! I'm actually looking forward to hearing more about this game; I love the MI series!!

Never played anything by this guy. THe name "Deathspank"…. I'm not sure whether to chuckle or be very afraid.

Damn, missed the cave on the way to Whistler Blackcomb! It was a tough choice of Snowbunnies in the latest fashions or out of them (it was end of season party week) and Mad Scientist in a cave.

YAY!!! The Quest for Glory genre is reborn and will stay reborn this time. (hpefully) I can't wait and I hope he takes the Diablo part very loosly or the combat system will suck. Please check on Quest for Gloy to get a better idea on a combat system.

Jabbs, if you never played any of the Monkey Island games, you missed out on absolute classics of the adventure genre!!

Forget Diablo, just make something like Monkey Island!
I miss humor so much in adventura games recently. (Maybe Ankh and Sam&Max was quite a fun)

"He was spanking Pirates to death !"

Gotta love any game named deathspank. I loved Monkey Isle and if this is anything similiar to the old Quest for Glory series then I'll be one happy rat

The mocked-up (or not) box cover for Deathspank is my new desktop. Moving back to Vancouver is my RL dream!

That's all well and good, but he's not going to learn a thing about hockey watching the Nucks…

I agree, it's the Leafs or nothing!!

What I think is also interesting about this thing, Ron Gilbert already purchased the german domain deathspank.de, too.

I used to have respect for you Corwin…. The leafs! Psha. The Habs are the way to go. Thats all there is to it

Im curious about this one though, the name sounds a bit weird but Im a big fan of Guybrush Threepwood.