 Gilbert , Schafer and Grossman 's primary goal was to create a simpler and more accessible gameplay model than those presented in previous Lucasfilm titles . Gilbert had conceived the main designs and puzzles before production began , which resulted in the bulk of the designers ' work to flesh out his ideas . He was frustrated by the adventure games that Sierra On @-@ Line was releasing at the time , and later said that " you died any time you did anything wrong " . Gilbert considered such gameplay as " a cheap way out for the designer " . He had previously applied his design ideas to the 1987 graphic adventure title Maniac Mansion , but committed a number of mistakes during development , such as dead @-@ end situations that prevented the player from completing the game and poorly implemented <unk> for cutscenes . Gilbert aimed to avoid such errors in The Secret of Monkey Island . The team decided to make it impossible for the player character to die , which focused gameplay primarily on world exploration . The Sierra game @-@ over screen was parodied , when Guybrush falls off a cliff only to be bounced back up by a " rubber tree " . 
