The Secret of Monkey Island
"The Secret of Monkey Island" ultimately cost $200,000 to produce, and was developed over nine months.
Tales of Monkey Island
As with Telltale's other products, "Tales of Monkey Island" was developed and released in five episodic segments; Grossman explained that Telltale prefers to tell stories this way, rather than as continuous narratives that are too long for people to play comfortably. However, unlike their previous games, each episode is not a standalone tale; it is a single chapter in a larger plot. This allowed Telltale to advance the story like that of a television series, in which character relationships develop in the minds of the audience over several months. Each episode is designed to be gratifying on its own, with a satisfying conclusion; however, it then provides a cliffhanger to "tantalize the player a little more". According to Grossman, "Tales of Monkey Island" is set after an "imaginary" "Monkey Island 5", which he views as "a blockbuster, epic 40-hour gigantic experience like the earlier games". Its story would have followed Guybrush's actions in the time between "Escape from Monkey Island" and "Tales of Monkey Island"; the beginning of "Tales of Monkey Island" would have marked its conclusion. Grossman maintained that both the story and gameplay of "Tales of Monkey Island" were designed to be accessible for newcomers to the series, and commented that "knowledge of the characters and their history will add a nostalgic layer to the sly references, but is by no means necessary".