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The Alt.Games.Lucas-Arts.Monkey-Island Frequently Asked Questions Document by Michael Ball, the Aglami Vigilante (ballmy(at)lineone(dot)net) (ICQ 87049487) Version 1 Contents -Introduction -PART 1: STUFF RELATING TO THE GROUP IN GENERAL *What is alt.games.lucas-arts.monkey-island? What is Aglami? -PART 2: MONKEY ISLAND STUFF *How many MI games have there been? Introduction and History of the FAQ This document is a guide to the newsgroup alt.games.lucas-arts.monkey-island and the Monkey Island adventure games. Who should read it? Newbies, lurkers, and anyone who wants to see what sort of rubbish I can come up with... This is actually not the first document of its kind, or the second or third...but the fifth. The first FAQ was created by Huz in early 1999, and the second one, a combination FAQ for this newsgroup and the #monkey-island chat channel, appeared shortly after, written by Michael Smith. After a lapse of several months where - shock horror - no such document was posted, yet another FAQ was created by Simon Reid, in September 1999. And the story doesn't end here. Oh no. All these people disappeared, and the fourth holy document appeared, also the longest-used one, the mighty FAQAA, penned by one Sean Geggie. So where does this fifth FAQ come into the grand scheme of things? Well, if I would just stop asking myself stupid questions, I might be able to finish. Due to various problems, Sean has been unable to post for a long time. And much had happened which might warrant the authorship of a new FAQ. This task has fallen into my hands. (Note: Sean was going to kill me for taking over his job, but I told him I was writing an FAQ, not an FAQAA. His response? "Oh, okay then. Never saw the point in one of those.") So there you have it. Interesting...all the previous FAQ authors have disappeared...could it be that there is a curse on us? Well, we can only hope. Now, on with the questions! (Old FAQs can be found on www.aglami.com) --THE QUESTIONS-- PART 1: STUFF RELATING TO THE GROUP IN GENERAL -What is alt.games.lucas-arts.monkey-island? What is Aglami?- alt.games.lucas-arts.monkey-island is a newsgroup dedicated to the popular series of adventure games, Monkey Island. Aglami is an acronym which stands for the aforementioned newsgroup name, and is how the group is usually referred to. Hence, the word "Aglamian" is applied to someone who frequents the group, or something relating to the group. The group was created in February 1998 along with a bunch of other alt.games.lucas-arts groups, and we are one of the last ones standing. We make up one side of what I like to call "Monkey World" - the Monkey Island fan community, the other side being the people who frequent the #monkey-island chat channel and those involved with www.thescummbar.com and www.mixnmojo.com. We're the less serious guys. Interestingly, several of Aglami's earlier regulars have defected to the other side, because they didn't like theofftopicness. Wusses. -Who are the regulars?- We're a multinational melee of madmen and women, hailing from all around the globe, from Europe to Australia to the USA. Most of us are Monkey Island fans, as you might expect. We're a pretty friendly bunch, and any violence you may encounter is usually all in good fun. For more information about regulars past and present, you should read the RRRRR, Reinder's Regular list of Regular Regulars who post to Aglami Regularly, created by Reinder Hummel, and now carried on by Pixel. The latest version and all the old ones can be found at the official Aglami site, www.aglami.com. (More about that later). -How do I become a regular?- Well, that's easy. Announce your presence and get posting! You might be set some creative trials to do, if anyone bothers to set them. This used to be an Aglami tradition, but has not taken place in a while. -What's wrong with this newsgroup? I demand you post more about Monkey Island! I hate you!- Shh. Peace. Calm. First of
all, have a sit down and pour yourself a nice cool glass of commonsense
juice. -What's this about an Aglami website?- Yes, we do indeed have our very own place on the World Wide Web. The first ever
Aglami-related website was made by Pixel, and can be found here:
http://www.crapstack.50megs.com/aglami/website/index.htm Oh, and for a truly frightening experience go here: -What other Aglamian goodness is available?- Ooh, I'm glad you asked that. Well, actually I'm not, because I have to write more. Not only that, but you didn't ask it. I did. Outside of the group itself, the most popular form of communication is the real-time messaging program ICQ (www.icq.com). Almost all of the group members use it, and their contact numbers can be found at www.aglami.com/data.html We also have our own IRC channel, #aglami, on the Starchat server. This can either be accessed through a program such as mIRC (www.mirc.com), or through the Java chat facility on the sidebar at www.aglami.com . The chatroom is usually populated from about 19:00 or 20:00 GMT onwards, but it can differ from day to day. -Are there any rules I should follow when posting to the group?- I think it goes without saying that you shouldn't flame people on the group. Doing so may cause you to find yourself flamed in return by the rest of the regulars. Don't top-post. By this I mean put your replies to posts underneath the quoted text
rather than above it. This makes the conversation easier to read and follow. Don't post in HTML, as some people's newsreaders might not support HTML and thus will download a message full of crap. Also, it takes longer to download and isn't really necessary anyway. HTML can be turned off in Outlook Express by going to Tools -> Options -> Send and setting News Sending Format to Plain Text. Trim your quotes! It makes it easier to read conversations and makes message sizes smaller. Don't make your signatures too long. At the start of your signature, include a sig separator. This is simply two dashes followed by a space, like so: --(space) Doing this enables some newsreaders to automatically detect signatures and cut them out so they are not included in reply. Don't post binary file attachments. If there is a file you want to share with everyone, upload it somewhere and post the URL, or post it to a group such as alt.binaries.games.lucas-arts, if relevant. When posting about something that is not Monkey Island-related, please include [OT] in the subject line (including the square brackets). This stands for Off-Topic, and the purpose of it is so that people who are only interested in Monkey Island-related posts (why? why? why?) can killfile anything else. PART 2: MONKEY ISLAND STUFF -How many MI games have there been?- There have been four games in the series. In chronological order: Secret of Monkey Island (also shortened to SoMI or MI1) The first three are 2D point n' click graphical adventures. Escape from Monkey Island is different in that you do not use the mouse at all, and everything is 3D a la Grim Fandango. The games have been released for different formats: all four are available on the PC, the first two on the Macintosh and Amiga, and EMI has just been released for the Playstation 2. -Where can I obtain the MI games?- "Never pay more than 20 bucks for a computer game." - Guybrush Threepwood If you live in the USA or Canada, all four games can be bought from www.lucasarts.com/companystore www.cnetgameshopper.com And I'm sure Ebay is bound to have a copy. Eh? What's that? You're a scabby bandit and you don't *want* to pay money for these games? Well, if it's the last two games you want, we can't help you. Go buy them. But as for the first two...after some trouble with a man called Bruni, at Activision, we decided to stick them up on aglami.com for download. -Is there going to be a Monkey Island 5?- No-one knows for sure yet. There is some evidence, though -
the Voodoo Lady says she has a five-game contract. And bear in mind also that
LucasArts originally denied that there was ever going to be a number three or
four... -Is there going to be a Monkey Island movie?- Apparently, a long time ago, there were plans for one, but nothing ever came of it. However, in the future, you never know...especially as the Star Wars franchise is supposedly finished after Episode 3. -I'm having technical problems with EMI! Help me!- Kasper Aae has written a tech support FAQ, which is not very long and so has been reproduced here, with the added bonus that you don't have to leave the comfort of this text file to go check out the website.
-I'm stuck in one of the games!- The best thing to do would be to post your
question to the group. That way we can give you subtle hints and you don't risk
spoiling other parts of the game by looking at a walkthru. That's if you trust
us. If you don't (wise person), then solutions are available from the most
excellent www.islandx.co.uk, run by BishopX. These walkthrus even include
savegames you can download. Another alternative would be to use a Universal
Hints System (UHS) hints file. This gives you progressive hints for particular
puzzles you are stuck on. -Are there any decent Monkey Island fan sites?- www.islandx.co.uk - IslandX - run by one-time Aglamian BishopX. Is devoted to other Lucasarts games as well as MI, and has some excellent walkthrus.www.escapemi.com - Escape Monkey Island .Com - Some interesting stuff relating to the fourth MI game. www.thescummbar.com - The SCUMM Bar - Quite probably the best Monkey Island fan site on the 'Net. An extensive site with games, fan stuff, interviews, and all the latest MI news. Other sites of interest include: www.worldofmi.com |