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Tim Schafer Talks Psychonauts Originality, Dialog, Release

Posted by simoniker on from the sarcasmatron dept.

Thanks to GameSpot for its interview with Double Fine founder and Psychonauts creator Tim Schafer, following the game's split with Microsoft and subsequent re-signing with Majesco. Schafer, best known for "work on Day of The Tentacle, Full Throttle, and Grim Fandango" at LucasArts, discusses originality ("One of the good things about the state of the games industry right now is that it's incredibly easy to be original. I mean, if you released a game these days that didn't have any army guys in it people would freak out. 'Omg. Where did they get the idea to not use army guys? Are they taking drugs?'"), shaping Psychonauts' story ("I still write most of the dialog. I had some help this time around from Erik Wolpaw from Old Man Murray."), and the state of the game ("We've got a few levels at beta right now, some others at alpha, others somewhere in between, and a new level that we're doing now. We're looking at an early- to mid-2005 release.")

2 of 15 comments (clear)

  1. Army guys? by Turn-X+Alphonse · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Guess he's not seen the sales figures for original games lately.

    Anyone remember Bill Hatcher? Made by Sonic team, pushed eggs around, fight evil crows dressed in a chicken suit... yea thought now..

    No one wants to take a risk any more because the industry is no longer about the games. It's about the money, if you get a format (FF, FPS games) you can make endeless sequals and be 99% sure of getting your money and a bit more back.

    Just look at this year. Top two most wanted games are, Half-life 2, FFX whatever it is now and Doom 3. All three will sell millions and be called classic even if they suck.

    Why risk money when you can have another sure fire "open my legs and ride me till dawn" sequal?

    --
    I like muppets.
    1. Re:Army guys? by startled · · Score: 2, Interesting

      if you get a format (FF, FPS games) you can make endeless sequals and be 99% sure of getting your money and a bit more back.

      Actually, that's the irony of this reactionary shift to clones-- most games still lose money. Unless you're a sequel to a big IP, making a clone is often a sure-fire way to tank.

      If you look at a lot of the sure-fire big hits this season, a lot of them are at least sequels to games that broke ground: Half-Life 2, Doom 3, GTA San Andreas. The Sims is EA's huge money maker; though it's all expansions now, at one point it was stunningly original.

      Failure to realize that many of their cash cows are the ones that were groundbreaking is going to spell financial trouble (well, hopefully) for some of these companies. Eventually people get sick of IP x (well, except Star Wars), and if you don't have something new lined up, you're going to pull an Eidos.