“While Insult Sword Fighting is one of the first things people think of when they hear Monkey Island, I thought it seemed little tedious (but fun) as I played though it again.  There is a point where you say ‘I get it’, but you’re still forced to go though the motions again and again.  If I was going to do Insult Sword Fighting in a future game, I’d make it more free form allowing the player to be clever and construct their own sentences.”

To commemorate the upcoming re-release of Secret of Monkey Island, Ron Gilbert offers his commentary on Secret of Monkey Island, 19 years after he designed it. It’s a really amazing glimpse of what went through one designer’s mind as he worked on one of the seminal games of the graphic adventure genre.