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Leisure Suit Larry: Wet Dreams Dry Twice
First one was surprisingly fresh, so I’m looking forward to the sequel!
Indeed. Not in this case though, as the skull has a tophat, so clearly it is supposed to have some kind of persona. Now, how many detached skulls with personality there are in the genre, and how many of them have been intentional references to Murray?
Top hat skull is a pretty common Voodoo trope that has been around far longer than Murray. It refers to Baron Samedi, I believe. Besides, it might be a reference to Baba Yaga’s Skull from Quest For Glory. You do have to get him a spiffy hat on Shadows of Darkness.
Breaking news: Lawyers representing Bill Tiller launch lawsuit against latest LSL game for breaching copyright on “skull with tophat” theme. Tiller’s 2009 game Ghost Pirates of Vooju Island famously featured a “verb coin” with a skull wearing a tophat.
When Tiller was asked about the case, he stated:
“I’m furious - this is my invention and they blatantly stole it from me. I am doing this for cranial justice, for all the disembodied top-hat wearing skulls that feel cheated, and who don’t have a voice. Don’t worry little guys, we’ll avenge you!”
It’s a travesty, I tells ya.
Breaking news: Lawyers representing Bill Tiller launch lawsuit against latest LSL game for breaching copyright on “skull with tophat” theme. Tiller’s 2009 game Ghost Pirates of Vooju Island famously featured a “verb coin” with a skull wearing a tophat.
Haha…
But, are we talking about that Bill Tiller who was the lead background artist of The Curse of Monkey Island?
Was there something mentioned in this discussion about adventure game skulls referring back to Monkey Island? So (in the unlikely case that) even if LSL is copying (the relatively unknown) Tiller game, it all goes back to the Monkey source eventually.
Actually, that skull has been in so many games that I can’t keep count anymore. One of the latest games that I finished was James Peris: No Licence Nor Control, and look what we have on that painting on the wall!
Also note the painting with phallic fruits which looks as if it could be from these latest Larry games (in other words, these new Larry games don’t have much original ideas).
Was there something mentioned in this discussion about adventure game skulls referring back to Monkey Island? So (in the unlikely case that) even if LSL is copying (the relatively unknown) Tiller game, it all goes back to the Monkey source eventually.
I’m thinking he could get a class action going. There’s a ton of skulls in Shadowgate from 1989. Although that means that Murray was… a rip off?
by the way, sometimes a skull is just a skull
Indeed. Not in this case though, as the skull has a tophat, so clearly it is supposed to have some kind of persona. Now, how many detached skulls with personality there are in the genre, and how many of them have been intentional references to Murray?
HOW DARE YOU. There is only one Murray.
YouTube: Weird Gaming Adventure
IG: weird_gaming_adventure
Breaking news: Lawyers representing Bill Tiller launch lawsuit against latest LSL game for breaching copyright on “skull with tophat” theme. Tiller’s 2009 game Ghost Pirates of Vooju Island famously featured a “verb coin” with a skull wearing a tophat.
Haha…
But, are we talking about that Bill Tiller who was the lead background artist of The Curse of Monkey Island?
Was there something mentioned in this discussion about adventure game skulls referring back to Monkey Island? So (in the unlikely case that) even if LSL is copying (the relatively unknown) Tiller game, it all goes back to the Monkey source eventually.
Actually, that skull has been in so many games that I can’t keep count anymore. One of the latest games that I finished was James Peris: No Licence Nor Control, and look what we have on that painting on the wall!Also note the painting with phallic fruits which looks as if it could be from these latest Larry games (in other words, these new Larry games don’t have much original ideas).
Was this skull homage to Shakespear? They all stole it from Bill.
YouTube: Weird Gaming Adventure
IG: weird_gaming_adventure
Was this skull homage to Shakespear? They all stole it from Bill.
In the game you can among other things try to check into a hotel as “George Stobbart”, and you can choose “I’m selling these fine…” and “...belongs in a museum” as dialogue options in some places, so I would dare guess that it’s a Monkey Island tribute, but not having had discussions with the creators, it can be an homage to Skeletor or whatever for all we know.
Which opens a whole new discussion, was Murray based on Skeletor?
From Bill Tiller’s interview:
How’d you land the job as Lead Artist on the game?
I lobbied Larry pretty heavily and I think I ended up doing the best art test. I even tried to bribe Larry and Jonathan with gifts I had bought at the Pirates of the Caribbean souvenir shop at Disney World, where I had just gone on vacation - a talking skull, some pirate swords, a few plastic toys to decorate their office. But I think it was my obvious love for the franchise and my knowledge of the art styles both Larry and Jonathan wanted that made me the strongest candidate. Larry liked more avant-garde art like Dean Taylor’s work on Nightmare Before Christmas and he liked the look of the Duckman TV show, and Jonathan liked NC Wyeth and Howard Pyle…
...I brought in some pirate stuff I had bought at Disney World when I was on vacation (the same vacation that inspired A Vampyre Story), and one was skull that screamed whenever anyone would walk by. It scared the crap out of most people. I thought it was hilarious. So I put it outside the door of our meeting room just for fun and I laughed every time it went off. After a while Jonathan and Larry got annoyed by it and made me turn it off. I think that skull eventually became the inspiration for Murray the talking skull.
And that’s probably the skull itself.
PC means personal computer
The skull from Quest for Glory though is just as cool
PC means personal computer
Was this skull homage to Shakespear? They all stole it from Bill.
In the game you can among other things try to check into a hotel as “George Stobbart”, and you can choose “I’m selling these fine…” and “...belongs in a museum” as dialogue options in some places, so I would dare guess that it’s a Monkey Island tribute, but not having had discussions with the creators, it can be an homage to Skeletor or whatever for all we know.
Which opens a whole new discussion, was Murray based on Skeletor?
Holy Moly. I’d never seen both of those pictures side by side until now. Funny stuff.
YouTube: Weird Gaming Adventure
IG: weird_gaming_adventure
Making unique looking skull design is pretty hard. In the end, skulls look like skulls.
Making unique looking skull design is pretty hard. In the end, skulls look like skulls.
This. There are only so many ways to draw a skull, so not surprising they look alike.
The skull from Quest for Glory though is just as cool
Reminds me of the game over image from Deja Vu II:
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