timschafer
Latest
Tim Schafer to keynote GCDC 2007
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?
Joystiq not-so-live coverage of the IGF and GDCA awards
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.
Gears of War takes best game at GDCA, Aquaria wins IGF best game prize
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.
Not-so-secret projects probed
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!
Tim Schafer talks new-gen, suggests XBL MySpace features
Double Fine founder Tim Schafer told Gamasutra that while he's mostly a single-player kind of guy, he has really enjoyed the Xbox Live system that "facilitates ... playing with people you know," he said. Schafer, speaking in general about all the new generation consoles, also suggested that Xbox Live incorporate some of the features found in social networking sites. "You know how funny it is to go on MySpace or Friendster and write testimonials," he said. "I wish you could post those kinds of things about each other."Schafer also expressed glee with his Nintendo Wii, specifically the controller, Twilight Princess and the Mii channel. "As soon as I got it, just sitting there making Miis and sending them to all my friends was incredibly entertaining for about the first four days." That prompted the developer into suggesting XBL incorporate testimonials. We're imagining a Mii-like avatar creation tool for Xbox Live, and how enjoyably devious that would be.Double Fine is responsible for last generation's award-winning, scholarly media darling Psychonauts, which suffered from economic-centric maladies (read: poor sales). Before that, Schafer's work included Grim Fandango and contributions to the Monkey Island series. Double Fine is currently working on an unknown project for an unknown medium.
Psychonauts and Valve make steamy, Steam-y love
Last night, reading about RoboBlitz coming to Steam, we knew we weren't alone in wondering where our promised Psychonauts was. The BAFTA award winning (congrats, guys!) critics darling may not have been the belle of the retail ball, but she was always beautiful to us ... and now, Steam subscribers everywhere can take her out dancing for the digitally distributed price of $19.99 starting tonight!If you're hearing the sweet, sweet sound of romance in the air, you may wanna turn down the Barry White and listen up, cause Psychonauts developer Tim Schafer has something he wants to say you ... and only you ... in his low, deep, gravelly baritone:"So for the press release. uh. man, it's tough because every single 'steam' related play on words has already been done," said Schafer. "Double Fine and Valve: With a love this hot, you know there's gotta be STEAM! How about that?"Ooooh! We like that, and we know you do as well, dear reader. Just when you thought we'd already beaten that equine to death, sawed its head off, and tucked it gently into Doug Lombardi's comfy bed, here comes the ever dependable Schafer, pitching in with one. final. sawing. thrust! Phew!That's hawt. The comic Psychonauts art director Scott Campbell made commemorating the tryst is even hawter.
Psychonauts picks up Steam in October
This just in from the astral projection: Double Fine productions' masterpiece Psychonauts will arrive on Steam in early October. That's right: no longer will you have to trudge five miles in the snow to seek out this underrated overlooked gem -- huzzah!The price has yet to be revealed. Psychonauts publisher Majesco has also announced that Bloodrayne 1 & 2 and Advent Rising will be available for Steam starting today. The original Bloodrayne will be $10, while the other two titles are $20 apiece.Tim Schafer et al. are currently working on another project, as-of-yet unannounced, to be published by Sierra.[Thanks, 1up_clock]
Psychonauts still not guaranteed to be Xbox 360-compatible
Despite yesterday's promising development, Psychonauts is still not guaranteed to make Xbox 360's backwards compatibility list. Microsoft's Emulation Ninjas are indeed working on the next batch of BC titles, which includes Psychonauts, but Emulation Ninja Alan Stuart warns: "Even though we are working on Psychonauts, there is no guarantee we will ever be able to make the game backward compatible. We may run into technical limitations that will prevent us from ever shipping the game; we don't know yet."Ominous words from an official Ninja. But hope lives on ...
Psychonauts willing its way to BC List
Peter Moore may think backwards compatibility is for chumps (or does he?), but some of us would like to enjoy our Xbox classics. Psychonauts has been an especially vocal candidate for the back compat list lately. Tim Schafer, creator of Psychonauts, even launched an email campaign to get the game on Microsoft's sacred list. It looks like the petition got someone's attention over in Redmond, because a Microsoft back compat team member was compelled to post this on the IGN forums last week: "Rest assured, we are working on Psychonauts." Good news indeed. Now if they could just do something to make the game sell... [Via Xboxic]
