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Double Fine's radioactive adventure 'Rad' arrives this summer
Tim Schafer and Lee Petty of Double Fine Productions made a short appearance on Nintendo's Nindies Showcase today to help introduce a new rock-flavored action game. And no, it's not Brutal Legend 2. Instead, it's a new property titled Rad, which follows a young man as he swings a baseball bat through an irradiated wasteland.
Double Fine bringing Broken Age, Day of the Tentacle to PS4, Vita
Double Fine's Broken Age will launch on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita on the same "day and date" that the second half of Broken Age's PC version launches, studio founder Tim Schafer announced during the PlayStation Experience keynote. Additionally, Double Fine will be bringing its classic adventure game, Day of the Tentacle, to PS4 and Vita at some unannounced point in the future. There's no additional information on Day of the Tentacle: Special Edition just yet, but we imagine that's secondary to the excitement all the '90s kids in the audience feel right now. If you're in the mindset for something a little more modern, Double Fine will also be bringing Gang Beasts to PlayStation 4. Similar to games like Surgeon Simulator, Gang Beasts is a purposefully-difficult-to-control brawler that recently rose to prominence thanks to popular YouTube celebrities. If you want to see it in action, we've got a trailer after the break.
Men detail male gamers' privilege on new Feminist Frequency
Hoping to hear from the other side of the gender aisle, Anita Sarkeesian has turned over the latest episode of her controversial Feminist Frequency video blog to a few dozen men who explain all the little, unspoken positives that come along with having a pronounced Y chromosome in the world of video games. [Image: Feminist Frequency]
Broken Age's second act slips to early 2015
Double Fine's Broken Age raised $3.3 million on Kickstarter back in 2012, but creator and studio founder Tim Schafer admitted last year that he wrote a game "so big that it would need even more money." Thus, Broken Age was split in twain, and the funds raised from sales of the first act helped fund the creation of the second act, which was due to arrive before year's end. Now, the release date for the conclusion of Broken Age has shifted to early 2015, according to producer Greg Rice. "The goal now is to get all the finale work done so we can hit Alpha on all of Act 2 by the end of the year. That means, as you may have guessed based on recent updates and documentary episodes, the Act 2 ship that will deliver the complete adventure is now looking like it will be early next year," Rice wrote on the Double Fine forums. "The game is looking really good and the team is working super fast, but we just gotta give the game the time it needs to really deliver on everything we're hoping it will be." Double Fine had to let go of 12 of its employees last week, when an unannounced project with an unnamed publisher fell through. Schafer told Gamasutra at the time that despite the setback in staffing, the development of Broken Age would not be impacted. [Image: Double Fine]
Unannounced Double Fine game canceled, 12 staff let go
Double Fine, the development studio behind games like Broken Age and Costume Quest 2, has been hit with a wave of layoffs. Gamasutra reports that 12 staff were let go after an unannounced project fell through with a publisher, though the studio will continue its work on other games unimpeded. "Our remaining projects - Broken Age, Massive Chalice, and Grim Fandango Remastered, were unaffected," studio founder Tim Schafer told Gamasutra. Neither the publisher in question nor the reason for the unannounced game's cancellation were disclosed. [Image: Double Fine]
Costume Quest 2 goes trick-or-treating with bigger worlds, goofier costumes
Double Fine's catalog is defined by eclectic variety, with its previous efforts ranging from alternate-history tower defense games to RTS-infused brawlers. To date, however, none of the studio's games has seen a sequel. What, then, made the Halloween-themed RPG Costume Quest a standout candidate for a follow-up?
Girls Make Games winners dig into The Hole Story
Top-down RPG The Hole Story landed on Kickstarter this week as the result of the Girls Make Games development camp and competition. The game stars Wendy, an archaeologist that digs into a portal in her backyard and warps through time to an ancient world and must save a princess to find a way back home, all the while armed with her wits and a trusty shovel. The Hole Story is in development by San Jose, California-based independent developer and creators of the Girls Make Games summer camp program, LearnDistrict. The game was concocted by a team of seven young girls aged 10 to 16 known as The Negatives. The young designers won the inaugural Girls Make Games Demo Day hosted in Mountain View, California this past weekend following a three-week camp that included workshops, game jams and teaching sessions geared toward the cultivating the growth of aspiring female game designers.
Tim Schafer revisits Day of the Tentacle
Development studio Double Fine made a lot of money back in 2012 when it ran a Kickstarter campaign to fund a traditional point-and-click adventure game which would go on to be called Broken Age - but then, you already knew that, right? What you may not have known is that, as part of that Kickstarter campaign, 2 Player Productions filmed a documentary focused on the company and legendary adventure game designer, Tim Schafer. On Friday, the company made part of that documentary free and public on YouTube. The footage in question follows Schafer as he revisits one of his classic games: Day of the Tentacle. If you've ever wanted to hear it straight from the creator's mouth as to why this game starred an anthropomorphic tentacle, buckle in for this 40-minute trip down Nostalgia Avenue. There's plenty of other information and interesting soundbites to enjoy as Schafer plays through the game. For instance, did you know that Schafer once acted as a tip line for the son of famed film director and producer, Steven Spielberg? "When most people need a hint they call the hint line, when Steven Spielberg needs a hint he calls Lucas directly and - 'I wanna talk to the guy who made this game!'" Schafer says in the video. As Schafer recalled, Spielberg's son Max needed help getting through a particular portion of the game, so Schafer instructed him how to beat the troublesome puzzles over the phone. "He said thanks and that was my brush with greatness from this game, was giving a hint to Max." [Image: Double Fine]
Schafer: Broken Age split release a success, second half now funded
Broken Age, the Double Fine adventure game too big for its $3.3 million Kickstarter campaign, released its first half last month. Now, studio founder Tim Schafer tells GamesIndustry International that the release has been a success, and that part two has been successfully funded. "We've made enough that we can make the second half of the game for sure," Schafer told GamesIndustry, before noting that he believes the first half isn't quite done yet, since it has yet to release on iPad like the studio promised it would. Still, Schafer seemed upbeat. "We've shipped enough that people can see we weren't kidding, and that's a big relief. Because I think there's a lot of pressure on Kickstarter projects, especially the really big Kickstarter projects, to just not screw it up for everybody else. It's such a great, positive thing for us, and being able to be funded by our fans opens so many doors for us to do original, creative things that we just wanted to live up to [expectations]." The decision to break Broken Age into two parts was not one met with overwhelming enthusiasm by some backers (just take a look at the comments). It would seem that the wallet speaks louder though, and the wallets want a conclusion to Broken Age. [Image: Double Fine]
Broken Age Act 1 now available, have a launch trailer
The first half of Broken Age, the latest adventure from Grim Fandango designer Tim Schafer and his crew at Double Fine Productions, is now available to the general public. As Ludwig points out in our review of Broken Age Act 1, the game is clearly the offspring of the classic point-and-click adventure games that Schafer had a big hand in popularizing, though the archaic elements of the genre are mated with more modern, user-friendly features, resulting in an enjoyable, if staid, adventure. "The lack of challenge and a dearth of branching dialogue (sorry – these dialogue trees resemble bamboo shafts) disappoint, yes, but Broken Age always elicits a smile and a desire to continue," our review states before awarding the game 4 of 5 stars. Whether you prefer the PC, Mac or Linux platforms, you'll find Broken Age Act 1 now available on Steam for $25. Broken Age Act 2 is slated for release "later this year" when it will become available to owners of Act 1 as a free downloadable addition.
Broken Age goes public on January 28, taking pre-orders now
The first act of Double Fine's graphic adventure game Broken Age will be available to the public on January 28 for PC, Mac and Linux. The game will launch two weeks after being made available to Kickstarter backers today. Broken Age is available for pre-order on Steam at a 10 percent discount ($22.49) until it launches. Double Fine earned over $3.3 million on Kickstarter in March 2012 for its "Double Fine Adventure" crowdfunding campaign, which was given the name Broken Age one year later. A backers-only update on the game's Kickstarter page revealed that the game will skip Steam's Early Access program and launch in full on Steam with season pass support. While Broken Age will land on iOS, Android and Ouya at an undisclosed date, the concluding second act of the game will launch as a free update to owners later this year.
Wil Wheaton lends vocals to Double Fine's Broken Age
Broken Age, the crowdfunded adventure game from Double Fine, has announced a few more key members of its vocal cast. Most notably former Wesley Crusher and current geek celebrity Wil Wheaton. When Broken Age eventually debuts, Wheaton's voice will be spilling from Curtis the Lumberjack, a character originally created to test animations, but who found such affection among fans that he earned a full-fledged spot in the game. This situation would seem odd, but Double Fine is headed by Tim Schafer of Secret of Monkey Island fame, a game whose main protagonist derives his name from a placeholder brush used to animate the piratical adventure-comedy. Rounding out the vocal cast are veteran actors Masasa Moyo, Nicki Rapp and Ginny Wescott. You'd best know Moyo as the voice of Lisa (aka "La Mariposa") in later Dead or Alive entries, while Rapp and Wescott have both previously worked with Schafer on classics like Psychonauts and Day of the Tentacle, respectively. Unexpectedly, Alex Rigopulos, co-founder of Harmonix, also appears in the game as some version of his own notoriously music-obsessed self. It's unclear why or how he fits into the story, but it probably doesn't hurt things that Rigopulos has donated a lot of money toward the funding of Broken Age.
Adventure Time creator contributing his voice to Broken Age
Oh, my, glob. Adventure Time creator Pendleton Ward will contribute his voice to Double Fine's adventure game Broken Age, Polygon reports. The partnership was shared during the studio's Day of the Devs event, a free-of-charge gathering that has allowed fans to play indie projects from Gaijin Games, Supergiant Games and more. The announcement concerning Ward's involvement was initially made on Broken Age's backer forums, a restricted-access space meant to host discussion between the game's development team and those who donated $15 or more to the project on Kickstarter. The reveal of Ward's involvement follows the September announcement that Jack Black and Jennifer Hale are contributing to the project. The first half of Broken Age is planned to launch on Steam Early Access in January, which is hoped to generate enough revenue to fund the rest of the project's completion. Backers will get access to the first half before those on Steam Early Access and will also get the full game once it's released.
Double Fine's Broken Age goes to Steam Early Access for additional funding
In order to make the version of Broken Age that it has planned, Double Fine needs more capital than the $3.3 million it crowdfunded in March of 2012 through its historic Kickstarter campaign, founder Tim Schafer has said in a backers-only update on Kickstarter. "Even though we received much more money from our Kickstarter than we, or anybody anticipated," Schafer said, "that didn't stop me from getting excited and designing a game so big that it would need even more money." Thus, a new plan was formed: Double Fine will release a refined version of the first half of the game through Early Access in January of 2014, which is expected to generate enough income to sustain production until the rest of the game is completed. Development costs will also be offset by the profits made from other Double Fine games. Folks that backed the original Kickstarter campaign will be given beta test access before the Early Access launch. They'll also get the first half of the game through Steam Early Access and a copy of the full game once it's completed.
Schafer would 'love' more Brutal Legend content on PC
If Brütal Legend takes off on Steam after its launch on February 26, Double Fine founder Tim Schafer would love to add more modes, tweaks and multiplayer content to the game, he told RPS."It's actually been fun to continue work on it," Schafer said. "I mean, we have a wishlist from when we made this version. But since we are a small developer publishing it ourselves, we have to go with the best version we can make and then hope it's successful so we can add more."Schafer mentioned a few specifics he would like to see in Brütal Legend, such as alternate game modes in multiplayer, new playable factions, updates to the current unit feedback system and an advanced mode featuring traditional RTS-style controls. He didn't see any singleplayer updates or sequels in Brütal Legend's future, since those tended to be more expensive and expansive.A sequel to Psychonauts, for example, would probably be cheaper than one for Brütal Legend, considering the cost of music licensing, Schafer said."I mean, it's been longer since Psychonauts and we wouldn't have to do any music licensing," he said. "So we could probably afford to do it more if we got some funding. I feel like a Brütal sequel would cost twice as much as Psychonauts. It's easier to imagine Double Fine doing a sequel to Psychonauts. But for creative reasons, there's no preference of one over the other."
Watch a live stream of Joystiq's PAX panel with Erik Wolpaw, Tim Schafer, Kotaku [Update: It's over!]
Joystiq's Ben Gilbert is sitting down with Valve's Erik Wolpaw (writer on the Portal series), Double Fine's Tim Schafer (company president and fundraising maven) and Kotaku's Jason Shreier at PAX Prime today, to talk "Plot vs. Play."This ragtag group will dissect the importance of narrative over gameplay, vice versa, inside-out and inverted, and it's all captured live for you to watch below via Twitch TV. The panel begins at 3 p.m. ET, or as the indoctrinated few call it, right now.Update: The panel and live stream are now finished. If you missed the action, keep an eye on the PAX Prime 2012 page on Twitch TV, which should update with the day's recording.
'Critical Path' trailer is loaded with games industry talent
A trailer for Critical Path, a "transmedia project exploring the art, philosophy, politics and psychology of video games" recently surfaced. The trailer, created by a Los Angeles-based studio named Artifact, shows dozens of game designers talking about their craft and the place games take in the history of expressive media. The project aims to "give game designers their due as innovators and influencers of culture."Critical Path is described as the culmination of "two years of filming and archiving" interviews, according to Artifact's site. "User feedback will influence future interviews, which will be added to the archive on an ongoing basis."Among the 37 names listed at the end of the trailer are Warren Spector, Jenova Chen, John Carmack, David Cage, Cliff Bleszinski, Ken Levine, Peter Molyneux, Tim Schafer and Hideo Kojima. You can watch the trailer here.
Rise of the Fund-it Pundits
You're reading Reaction Time, a new weekly column that claims to examine recent events, games and trends in the industry, but is really just looking for an excuse to use the word "zeitgeist." It debuts on Fridays in Engadget's digital magazine, Distro. In 1998, Tim Schafer asked the world to buy his darkest, funniest and greatest graphic adventure, Grim Fandango. Players planet-wide gave a big ol' shrug, despite the impassioned clamor of genre buffs and the constant yelling of critics, who could only find so many synonyms for "masterpiece."In 2012, Tim Schafer asked the world to give him $400,000 for a new point-and-click project, which had yet to be designed, documented or even described. This time, he got over $3.3 million.This stratospheric level of success on Kickstarter, a venue for crowd-sourced funding that's now being directed at unconventional games, is not the norm. Tim Schafer and his Double Fine studio are in the midst of a perfect storm of publicity. The designer's cherished legacy, and his perceived role as the charming genius who just can't catch a break in a harsh industry, are the components of a great underdog story. And maybe lifelong Grim Fandango guilt is the glue that holds it all together.
Schafer: 'It's not that stressful to get a whole bunch of money all of a sudden'
You might be surprised to hear it, but Double Fine head Tim Schafer isn't feeling too much pressure after receiving over $3 million from fans for his upcoming adventure game. "I don't know if I could describe it ... it's kind of relaxing," he told a crowd of attendees at a New York University-hosted forum last evening, much to the crowd's delight. Answering seriously, Schafer said, "It hasn't really felt that way," referring to the stress. "It just felt like, the whole thing, all the backing just felt like a big wave of goodwill and support. It was very emotionally ... it was a big happy moment for the company." Beyond his jokes about stress and receiving enormous piles of cash, Schafer said that he was "actually terrified of making a game for just $200,000." (The final Kickstarter aimed to raise $400,000.) He questioned whether he was still capable of producing a project for such scant resources, having spent the last decade making successively larger projects – at least until Brutal Legend launched. Thankfully, fans raised well over the original target, meaning Schafer, Ron Gilbert, and Double Fine "can actually put a real team on it now and have a whole year to make it." So there you have it, folks: expect that adventure game at some point in early 2013. As for Kickstarter itself, Schafer spoke highly of the new avenue it provides game creators who want to self-publish. He stopped himself short of calling it anything beyond that, however. "I think it's a great new way to make things happen that couldn't happen before," he said. More specifically, he thinks of it – symbolically – like the Sundance Film Festival. "That changed the [movie] business a lot, but it didn't destroy all of it," he said. "It made Hollywood better. It made more diversity in the kind of movies getting made, what kind of actors were in them – it made the whole art form richer I think. I think a similar thing could happen in gaming."
Double Fine made this bizarre and hilarious prototype for a Kinect adventure game
Double Fine's Tim Schafer was the guest of honor last evening at New York University's Game Center, joining Zynga New York's creative director (and NYU professor) Frank Lantz for an "Inside the Gamer's Studio" conversation. Schafer, however, brought more than just good conversation. He showed off two separate versions of a prototyped game that Double Fine ended up shelving. The prototype, for no reason at all, is dubbed "*Specs."In the first video (seen above), rudimentary concepts for the game are introduced. Two convicts sit in a prison cell, a shiv on the floor between them. The player character isn't one of the two convicts, or even the shiv, but instead a possessed amulet that's using its power of influence to guide the actions of those around it (inanimate objects included). As it turns out, one of the two convicts has said amulet in his hand when the prototype kicks off.The two emotions that the amulet can produce – love and hate – are represented by blue and red cursors on-screen, each mapped to one of your hands. With just two emotions, a handful of set pieces to interact with, and a Kinect, a variety of potential outcomes with varying levels of hilarity ensued.*Double Fine senior gameplay programmer Anna Kipnis explained the name via Twitter. "We name prototypes after Chinatown bars at DF (running out of bars now)," Kipnis said, in reference to San Francisco's Chinatown. "Psychonauts was Li Po. Brütal Legend was my favorite bar in Chinatown, Buddha Bar." So there's that! This is "Specs."
