Ron Gilbert, best known for his work on classic LucasArts adventure games including Maniac Mansion and the Monkey Island series, has left Double Fine.

Gilbert joined Tim Schafer’s Double Fine in 2010, reuniting the designers who’d previously worked together at LucasArts, but he said in a blog post that the time was right to move on after completing The Cave.

“Now that The Cave is done and unleashed on an unsuspecting world (ok, we did do a bunch of PR, so it wasn't exactly unsuspecting), it's time for me to move on from Double Fine and plot my next move. So many games left to be designed.

“I want to thank all the amazing people at Double Fine for all their hard work on The Cave. It was a true pleasure to work with every one of them over the past two years. So much fun. I will miss them all. And of course to Tim for creating the opportunity to come there and make The Cave.

“For the short term, [DeathSpank co-creator] Clayton Kauzlaric and I have been toiling away on another iOS side project that I'm going to focus on over the next few months. It's called Scurvy Scallywags in The Voyage to Discover the Ultimate Sea Shanty: A Musical Match-3 Pirate RPG. I'll post some screen shots in the next few days.”

In an interview conducted earlier this year, we spoke to Gilbert about a range of topics including The Cave, the secret of balancing horror and laughs, how he wants to make the real Monkey Island 3, and why gaming is currently in its best health in years.