 Ron Gilbert conceived the idea of a pirate adventure game in 1988 , after completing <unk> <unk> and the Alien <unk> . He first wrote story ideas about pirates while spending the weekend at a friend 's house . Gilbert experimented with introductory paragraphs to find a satisfactory idea . His initial story featured unnamed villains that would eventually become LeChuck and Elaine ; Guybrush was absent at this point . He pitched it to Lucasfilm Games 's staff as a series of short stories . Gilbert 's idea was warmly received , but production was postponed because Lucasfilm Games assigned its designers , including Gilbert , to Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade : The Graphic Adventure . Development of The Last Crusade was finished in 1989 , which allowed Gilbert to begin production of The Secret of Monkey Island , then known internally under the working title <unk> on Monkey Island . 
