Posts with tag TimSchafer
by Ludwig Kietzmann Mar 7th 2008 8:30PM
Filed under: Culture, Adventure
Alright, Tim Schafer, you win. After targeting various industry folks with a typically contrived adventure game puzzle and then assembling their responses in our
GDC Quest Quiz feature, we simply weren't prepared for your relentless response to our silly challenge. Not only did you trick us into doing all the hard work, but you successfully navigated through our made-up-as-we-went-along chicane of bizarre logic. But don't grow complacent in your victory -- we'll get you next time.
The Player
Double Fine's Tim Schafer, designer of
Full Throttle,
Grim Fandango,
Psychonauts and upcoming god of gwar epic,
Brütal Legend. Prior to the release of those games, he worked on
The Secret of Monkey Island,
Monkey Island 2 and
Maniac Mansion: Day of the Tentacle.
The Puzzle
You're standing in front of a cave. The goal is to get inside the cave, taking care to foil the
ferocious robot bear guarding the entrance first.
The Inventory
- (1) perforated parasol
- (1) rubber chicken with a pulley in the middle
- (1) sealed manila envelope
- (1) miniature macaroni Tim Schafer statue
Make your way past the break to read our adventurous e-mail exchange.
Continue reading Return to Quest Quiz: Tim Schafer
by Justin McElroy Nov 13th 2007 12:25PM
Filed under: Culture, Microsoft Xbox 360
We, like all good and wise people, love
Tim Schafer. What we don't love is having to wait years between fresh infusions of Double Fine goodness. So it gave us no small amount of pleasure to hear that
while speaking at the 2007 IGDA Leadership Forum, Schafer said he'd love to make a small XBLA game, even though he didn't have one in the works.
"We talk about making Xbox Live Arcade games all the time. Who doesn't want to make Xbox Live Arcade games?" he said. "It's like when you see a Great Dane taking a giant shit and then you see a poodle taking a little Tootsie Roll shit. The poodle is so cute, but at the end of the day you're still picking up shit. Seriously though, we'd love to make Xbox Live Arcade games, but we're really busy now." ... We're not exactly sure what you meant by that, Tim. But we're fairly sure we couldn't have said it better ourselves.
by Scott Jon Siegel Nov 6th 2007 5:27PM
Filed under: Sony PlayStation 2, Microsoft Xbox
Don't worry: the designer and/or writer behind
Psychonauts,
Day of the Tentacle, and
Secret of Monkey Island doesn't
take his clothes off, but
Tim Schafer does share some
other interesting tidbits with Playboy, specifically concerning his entrance into the game industry, thoughts on sequelitis, and how getting turned down by Atari was one of the best things to ever happen to him.
The interview with Schafer is part of a series of talks with game designers, which also includes
Dave Jaffe,
Alex Rigoupolos of Harmonix, and Sony Europe EVP
Phil Harrison (who isn't actually a game designer, but we'll forgive
Playboy for the lapse because they're trying so damn hard).
by Justin McElroy Oct 24th 2007 8:00AM
Filed under: Culture
Alright, the internet, you can officially stop dreaming about a sequel to
Psychonauts and go back to dreaming about
Brutal Legend. After a darkened version of the game's logo with the words "Coming Soon" on it appeared on the Double Fine site and
started the rumor train, chief Tim Schafer had to be the one to put the penny on the track. He
told Next-Gen, "the truth is we are just putting together a new page about 'The Excellent Game
Psychonauts.' We're not announcing any new games or anything. Sorry if we confused anybody! We lightened up the image to hopefully make things clearer."
Why do you build us up (build us up), buttercup? ... And why did we just call a man who could squish us between his meaty palms "buttercup"?
by Scott Jon Siegel Oct 23rd 2007 8:00AM
Hot off the heels of Double Fine's announcement of
Brütal Legend, we get this tasty little morsel of potential excellence. On
Double Fine's projects page, beneath the link for
Brütal Legend, we have the teaser image pictured above. No great mystery regarding its contents -- that's clearly Raz, and the logo for the first
Psychonauts.
Is
Tim Schafer trying to not-so-subtly tell us that a sequel is in the works? Or is this some sort of twisted joke? (Schafer does, after all, have a "twisted mind," as many a press release have said). Not much else to speculate here. We'll keep our eyes peeled for any further announcements or information.
[Update: Sadly, it seems that the "coming soon" image was merely intended to indicate an eventual info page for the original Psychonauts. Double Fine has recognized the confusion, and quietly un-darkened the image to make it more apparent. So no Psychonauts 2 after all. Color us disappointed.][Via
Rock Paper Shotgun]
by Christopher Grant Oct 22nd 2007 1:15PM
Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360, Action
Sure, we
spotted the cover story on Game Informer over a week ago but up until now, Sierra has been mum on Tim Schafer's latest,
Brütal Legend. That means Tim's been mum. Which was
funny. On Friday, Sierra made the announcement and Schafer took to Double Fine's blog with the news. Sure, you may be inclined to laugh at Sierra but know that their intentions are pure. Read Tim's account of a mama bear, an eviscerated hunter, and Ronnie James Dio. We think Sierra is supposed to be the mama bear. Either way, Lemmy from Motorhead and Tim offer the above photographed message (
Johnny Cash-style) to the publishers who didn't feel the metal.
Want to let the world – and the establishment – know you love
Brütal Legend? If you
pre-order the game at GameStop you get a free t-shirt; alternatively, you can order
a different t-shirt directly from the Double Fine store which ensures Tim Schafer can continue to live in the manner of comfort all great game designers have grown accustomed to. Peep the tees after the break.
Brütal Legend is due out on Xbox 360 and PS3 in 2008 (the never reliable Gamestop lists 11/03/08).
Continue reading Brütal Legend is finally announced (officially)
by Ross Miller Sep 11th 2007 2:55PM
Filed under: Microsoft Xbox 360
At 11:00 p.m. ET, the brutally fun countdown on
Xbox.com will reach zero, thus signaling a time when Satan and His Minions will ride out from the Gates of the Underworld on flaming steeds of bone and hatred to conquer the world. Probably.
In the event his conquest gets delayed, we're wagering a guess that the countdown will coincide with a new announcement from Tim Schafer's Double Fine studios, who recently registered a trademark for the title
Brutal Legend. Of course, with all the work put into
Epic Saga: Extreme Fighter, we really don't know how the developer would have had time to work on two projects at once.
Double Fine's previous title,
Psychonauts, was a critical darling whose lackluster sales can only be attributed to an unfortunately-timed pan-dimensional rift. Fortunately, we don't have long to wait and see what the countdown means (though its speculated connection to a
Ninja Gaiden 2 announcement now appears
unlikely).
Update: And
Brutal Legend eludes us yet again. The countdown was for
Ninja Gaiden 2 after all -- we're disappointed and overjoyed at the same time.
by Justin McElroy Sep 10th 2007 10:00AM
Filed under: PC, Fighting
As any video game journalist with a few free minutes will tell you,
Psychonauts is a brilliant classic that never got the attention it so richly deserved. Thankfully for all of us tired of game journalists yammering on about his last stroke of brilliance, Tim Schafer and Double Fine studios have returned with a new stroke, a title perfectly poised for mass market success:
Epic Saga: Extreme Fighter.
We all love dark wizards and gnome kings, right? But what if a gnome king fought a dark wizard? That's the sort of question that
ES: EF dares to simultaneously ask and answer. If your puny desktop rig can manage pushing all the pixels, you need to start playing this game
today. Oh, didn't we mention? It's free!
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in.]
by Justin McElroy Aug 2nd 2007 3:55PM
Filed under: Culture, Business
When Double Fine's
Tim Schafer isn't
doing battle with birds or crafting
incredible, overlooked games, he's got to fill the hours somehow. Later this month, he'll be idling away the days in Leipzig, keynoting the GC Developers Conference. Even if you don't recognize Schafer from
Psychonauts (and the sales figures would suggest that you don't), you may be familiar with his work on
Monkey Island 1 and
2,
Grim Fandango and
Full Throttle.
He'll be speaking on the "challenges and methods of interjecting creativity into modern game design," and we can't think of a better candidate for the job ... well, there might be one or two, but none with his
button-selling skills. On a more personal note, Tim, could you please use the opportunity to tell us what you're working on next? Pretty please?
by Ross Miller Mar 8th 2007 4:15AM
Filed under: Culture, Features, PC, Sony PlayStation 2, Sony PSP, Microsoft Xbox 360, GDC
6:20 p.m.: The Joystiq crew walks the red carpet, because we're just that important.
6:33 p.m.: Gnarls Barkley's cover of the Violent Femmes' "Gone Daddy Gone" is blasting as we find seats in the press section. Cushy seats with recline-able chairs.
6:42 pm: Sam and Max introduce the start for the independent games festival. The mention of projectile vomiting is disturbing, but welcoming somehow.
6:43 pm: Jamil Moledina and Simon Carless march onto stage, noting that the show is being broadcast to the entire world. We sense somewhat sinister undertones.
Continue reading Joystiq not-so-live coverage of the IGF and GDCA awards
by Ross Miller Mar 8th 2007 2:12AM
Filed under: PC, Sony PlayStation 2, Microsoft Xbox 360, GDC
At tonight's Game Developers Choice Awards, Epic Games'
Gears of War took home three awards: best technology, visual arts, and the coveted Game of the Year award. On the independent side of things,
Bit Blot's Aquaria won the Seumas McNally Grand Prize from the Independent Games Festival.
Okami picked up a win in one of the four categories it was nominated in (take that,
AIAS). Unfortunately,
Loco Roco did not pick up any awards despite two nominations (character design and audio). Independent game
Everyday Shooter won two awards and a distribution deal from GameTap.
View the full list winners and
nominees from both events below.
Continue reading Gears of War takes best game at GDCA, Aquaria wins IGF best game prize
by James Ransom-Wiley Jan 25th 2007 2:58PM
Filed under: Nintendo DS, PC, Sony PlayStation 3, Sony PSP, Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox 360, Action, Adventure, First Person Shooters, Online, RPGs, Simulations, Strategy, MMO
FiringSquad has done its best to out 18 high-profile "black ops" projects currently in development. While the site's sleuthing skills might not be up to par with Mr. Holmes', the report does a good job of rounding up under-the-radar titles that are begging for some attention.
We'd like to direct the spotlight on two studios in particular: Tim Schafer's DoubleFine and Bungie expats Wideload, which are responsible for
Psychonauts and
Stubbs the Zombie, respectively (both titles landed in our
top 10 'gems' of last generation). The two developers are hard at work on new projects; and with DoubleFine striking a publishing deal with Vivendi, its next game is sure to stir up more buzz (when it's time) than Majesco managed to generate for
Psychonauts. Also, we can't wait to see what Warren Spector and Junction Point have under lock and key. Keep those ears (and eyes) glued to the street!
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