Ron Gilbert, the director of beloved adventure games like Maniac Mansion, The Secret of Monkey Island, and DeathSpank, has revealed the first concept art (shown above) from his first game that will be published by Tim Schafer's Double Fine Productions. Posted on Gilbert's "Grumpy Gamer" blog, the characters will be part of a game that Gilbert says "has been in my head for a long long long time. It predates Maniac Mansion and Monkey Island. It's a game that needed to be made."

Drawn in a cartoony style that fits the bodies of work of Gilbert and Double Fine, the two (confirmed as playable) characters are listed as "The Scientist" and "The Mobster." If you can't tell which is which, you probably weren't planning on playing a Ron Gilbert adventure game any time soon anyway. No release date has been set for Gilbert's mystery game, and when it comes to further information, he's offered up a vague "more will follow later." But 2012 is looking wide open for Double Fine after their extremely busy 2011. Here's hoping Gilbert's vision comes to light sooner rather than later.