GrogVM

A from-scratch TypeScript reimplementation of the SCUMM v5 engine, currently focused on the classic CD VGA version of The Secret of Monkey Island, running in the browser with no app backend and no emulator.

GrogVM ships no game data. It is an engine, not the game: you point it at compatible files from your own lawful copy of The Secret of Monkey Island on disk, and those files never leave your browser. Nothing here bundles or distributes any LucasArts content — see the game files & legality for where to get the game and the full legal picture.

Why

The Secret of Monkey Island is one of the first things I remember about PC gaming, the first graphic adventure I ever played. I have an extremely vivid memory of being at a friend's place in the mid-90s, watching him play as this weird pirate sprinting across Mêlée Island with a mug of grog, the stuff so corrosive it eats straight through the metal, pouring it from mug to mug all the way to the prison before the grog eats through and there's nothing left to melt Otis' cell lock. I was in shock, mind totally blown.

This time, replaying it one more time didn't feel "enough" — so I decided I'd try rebuilding the engine that ran it all, to see how the magic actually worked. This is my love letter to Monkey Island, LucasArts, and Ron Gilbert — read the full story.

Discover GrogVM

Status: in active development. The Secret of Monkey Island plays from boot all the way to the end credits in a Chromium-based desktop browser — all four parts — with verbs, inventory, dialogue, cutscenes, saves, sound effects and CD-audio music, and every resource in its files is browsable in the explorer. A few AdLib-only audio effects and some visual polish are still in progress; Monkey Island 2 is planned but not supported in the current build. See the documentation for the full picture.

• Library — install The Secret of Monkey Island from a local folder, then play it or explore its resources. (Everything starts here — you pick a game first.)
• Documentation — the reverse-engineering notes behind the engine: resource formats, opcodes, graphics, timing, and more.
• Legal & game files — what GrogVM does and doesn't ship, where to legally get The Secret of Monkey Island, and the no-piracy policy.