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The development groups for these games were headed by the former leads from ''Brütal Legend'': lead animator [[Tasha Harris]] for ''Costume Quest'', lead art director Lee Petty for ''Stacking'', lead designer Brad Muir for ''Iron Brigade'', and lead programmer Nathan Martz for ''Once Upon a Monster''. This was to not only put these teams under people who had been in the industry for a long time, but as a means to help promote these leads.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.digitalspy.com/gaming/levelup/a363303/double-fine-interview-off-cuts-tim-schafer-on-studio-creativity.html | title = Double Fine interview off-cuts: Tim Schafer on studio creativity | first = Matthew | last = Reynolds | date = 2012-02-03 | accessdate = 2012-02-03 | publisher = [[Digital Spy]] }}</ref> The remaining staff were split among the four teams, with some later swapping to make sure each team has appropriate resources when needed, such as artists and programmers.<ref name="gamasutra schafer">{{cite web | url = http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/6691/happy_action_happy_developer_tim_.php | title = Happy Action, Happy Developer: Tim Schafer on Reimagining Double Fine | first = Frank | last = Cifaldi | date = 2012-02-03 | accessdate = 2012-02-03 | publisher = [[Gamasutra]] }}</ref> Double Fine did not have to lay off any of the staff during this time,<ref name="gamasutra schafer"/> and instead were able to hire [[Ron Gilbert]], Schafer's former collaborator at LucasArts, to work on the new titles, as well as a future title that Gilbert has envisioned.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/30631/Gilbert_Rejoins_Schafer_At_Double_Fine_For_New_Title.php | title = Gilbert Rejoins Schafer At Double Fine For New Title | first = Leigh | last = Alexander | date = 2010-09-27 | accessdate = 2010-09-27 | publisher = [[Gamasutra]] }}</ref> Schafer stated that though they could likely make another large game akin to ''Psychonauts'' or ''Brütal Legend'', they would likely keep the smaller teams to continue to work on these smaller titles, due to the gained experience shared by the company.<ref name="gamasutra schafer"/>
The development groups for these games were headed by the former leads from ''Brütal Legend'': lead animator [[Tasha Harris]] for ''Costume Quest'', lead art director Lee Petty for ''Stacking'', lead designer Brad Muir for ''Iron Brigade'', and lead programmer Nathan Martz for ''Once Upon a Monster''. This was to not only put these teams under people who had been in the industry for a long time, but as a means to help promote these leads.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.digitalspy.com/gaming/levelup/a363303/double-fine-interview-off-cuts-tim-schafer-on-studio-creativity.html | title = Double Fine interview off-cuts: Tim Schafer on studio creativity | first = Matthew | last = Reynolds | date = 2012-02-03 | accessdate = 2012-02-03 | publisher = [[Digital Spy]] }}</ref> The remaining staff were split among the four teams, with some later swapping to make sure each team has appropriate resources when needed, such as artists and programmers.<ref name="gamasutra schafer">{{cite web | url = http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/6691/happy_action_happy_developer_tim_.php | title = Happy Action, Happy Developer: Tim Schafer on Reimagining Double Fine | first = Frank | last = Cifaldi | date = 2012-02-03 | accessdate = 2012-02-03 | publisher = [[Gamasutra]] }}</ref> Double Fine did not have to lay off any of the staff during this time,<ref name="gamasutra schafer"/> and instead were able to hire [[Ron Gilbert]], Schafer's former collaborator at LucasArts, to work on the new titles, as well as a future title that Gilbert has envisioned.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/30631/Gilbert_Rejoins_Schafer_At_Double_Fine_For_New_Title.php | title = Gilbert Rejoins Schafer At Double Fine For New Title | first = Leigh | last = Alexander | date = 2010-09-27 | accessdate = 2010-09-27 | publisher = [[Gamasutra]] }}</ref> Schafer stated that though they could likely make another large game akin to ''Psychonauts'' or ''Brütal Legend'', they would likely keep the smaller teams to continue to work on these smaller titles, due to the gained experience shared by the company.<ref name="gamasutra schafer"/>


In November 2012, Double Fine, along with the [[Humble Indie Bundle|Humble Bundle group]], announced an "Amnesia Fortnight" charity drive based on the previous Amnesia Fortnight. During this, those that paid a minimum of $1 had the opportunity to vote on 23 concept ideas. After the completion of the voting period, Double Fine developed the top five voted ideas into game prototypes that were available for those that purchased the bundle. The prototypes were (in order of receiving the most votes): ''Hack n' Slash'', a [[Legend_of_zelda|legend of Zelda]] inspired action/adventure, where players need to hack to solve puzzles, lead by senior programmer Brandon Dillon, ''Spacebase DF-9'', a [[Sim_game| sim game]] set in space, lead by designer-programmer JP LeBreton, ''The White Birch'', an ambient platform game (inspired by ''[[Ico]]'' and ''[[Journey_(2012_video_game)|Journey]]''), lead by art director Andy Wood, ''Autonomous'', a [[Retro-futurism|retro-futuristic]] [[Sandbox_(video_games)|sandbox]] robot game, lead by by art director Lee Petty, and ''Black Lake'', a fairytale exploration game lead by senior artist Levi Ryken. In addition, the purchaser received the initial prototypes of ''Costume Quest'', ''Happy Song'' (what would become ''Once Upon a Monster''), and ''Brazen'', a [[Monster_hunter|Monster Hunter]]-style four-player online [[Co-op_gameplay|co-op]] homage to [[Ray_Harryhausen|Ray Harryhausen]], which was lead by Brad Muir, who was also project lead of ''[[Iron Brigade (video game)|Iron Brigade]]''. The development of the prototypes was documented by [[2 Player Productions]].<ref>{{Cite web | url = http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-11-19-vote-on-double-fines-next-game-prototypes | title = Vote on Double Fine's next game ideas | publisher = [[Eurogamer]] | first = Jeffrey | last = Matulef | date = 2012-11-19 | accessdate = 2012-11-19 }}</ref>
In November 2012, Double Fine, along with the [[Humble Indie Bundle|Humble Bundle group]], announced an "Amnesia Fortnight" charity drive based on the previous Amnesia Fortnight. During this, those that paid a minimum of $1 had the opportunity to vote on 23 concept ideas. After the completion of the voting period, Double Fine developed the top five voted ideas into game prototypes that were available for those that purchased the bundle. The prototypes were (in order of receiving the most votes): ''Hack n' Slash'', a [[Legend_of_zelda|legend of Zelda]] inspired action/adventure, where players need to hack to solve puzzles, led by senior programmer Brandon Dillon, ''Spacebase DF-9'', a [[Sim_game| sim game]] set in space, led by designer-programmer JP LeBreton, ''The White Birch'', an ambient platform game (inspired by ''[[Ico]]'' and ''[[Journey_(2012_video_game)|Journey]]''), led by art director Andy Wood, ''Autonomous'', a [[Retro-futurism|retro-futuristic]] [[Sandbox_(video_games)|sandbox]] robot game, led by by art director Lee Petty, and ''Black Lake'', a fairytale exploration game led by senior artist Levi Ryken. In addition, the purchaser received the initial prototypes of ''Costume Quest'', ''Happy Song'' (what would become ''Once Upon a Monster''), and ''Brazen'', a [[Monster_hunter|Monster Hunter]]-style four-player online [[Co-op_gameplay|co-op]] homage to [[Ray_Harryhausen|Ray Harryhausen]], which was led by Brad Muir, who was also project led of ''[[Iron Brigade (video game)|Iron Brigade]]''. The development of the prototypes was documented by [[2 Player Productions]].<ref>{{Cite web | url = http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-11-19-vote-on-double-fines-next-game-prototypes | title = Vote on Double Fine's next game ideas | publisher = [[Eurogamer]] | first = Jeffrey | last = Matulef | date = 2012-11-19 | accessdate = 2012-11-19 }}</ref>


===Dracogen funding===
===Dracogen funding===

Revision as of 21:32, 27 December 2012

Double Fine Productions
Company typePrivate
IndustrySoftware & Programming
FoundedJuly 2000
FounderTim Schafer
HeadquartersSan Francisco, California, USA
Key people
Tim Schafer, founder and game designer
ProductsPsychonauts, Brütal Legend
OwnerTim Schafer
Number of employees
65
Websitewww.doublefine.com

Double Fine Productions is an American video game developer founded in July 2000 by Tim Schafer after his departure from LucasArts. He started Double Fine with programmers David Dixon (Ocean of America, Capcom, LucasArts) and Jonathan Menzies (LucasArts) in what was once a clog shop in San Francisco. After several months of working on the demo for what would become Psychonauts, a mixture of personnel from the Grim Fandango development team and other new employees were slowly added to begin production.[1]

The name "Double Fine" is a play on a sign on the Golden Gate Bridge that used to display "double fine zone" to warn motorists that fines on that stretch of road were double normal rates. The company is based in San Francisco.[2] The official Double Fine website is also host to seven webcomics, which are created by members of Double Fine's art team and are collectively referred as the Double Fine Comics.[3]

Projects

Double Fine's first completed project was Psychonauts, a multi-platform platform game following a gifted psychic boy named Raz (named after Double Fine's animator Razmig Mavlian[4]) who breaks into a psychic summer camp to try to become part of an elite group of Psychic superheroes called Psychonauts. Critically praised, it was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2 and Xbox. However, despite its acclaim, it did not sell well initially. It was later re-released on Xbox 360 under the Xbox Originals banner, as well as for Microsoft Windows via GameTap and Steam.

Double Fine's second project was Brütal Legend, a hybrid real time strategy, action-adventure game following roadie Eddie Riggs as he is transported to a fantasy world in which demons have enslaved humanity. The game appears to have been inspired by Nordic mythology and heavy metal music. Brütal Legend was published by Electronic Arts and was released in North America on October 13, 2009 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

Amnesia Fortnight

During the development of Brütal Legend, publishing issue arose as Activision, having acquired the rights to the title through its merger with Vivendi Games, decided to drop it and forced Schafer to locate another publisher, eventually signing a deal with Electronic Arts. During this period, around 2007 to 2008, Schafer boosted the company's morale by engaging the team in an "Amnesia Fortnight". For a two-week period, the employees were split into four groups, told to forget their current work on Brütal Legend (hence the "Amnesia"), and tasked to develop a game prototype for review by the other groups.[5] Each of the four ideas were successfully created and praised by the whole company. The process was repeated later near the end of Brütal Legend, providing an additional four prototypes. Schafer credits the concept of the Amnesia Fortnights to film director Wong Kar-Wai; during the long, three-year filming of Ashes of Time, Wong had taken some of his actors and film crew to Hong Kong to shoot footage for fun, but ultimately resulting in the films Chungking Express and Fallen Angels, which Schafer noted were some of the director's more famous films.[6]

Double Fine Productions owner Tim Schafer and Cookie Monster during a promotional video for Sesame Street: Once Upon a Monster
Double Fine Productions owner Tim Schafer and Cookie Monster during a promotional video for Sesame Street: Once Upon a Monster

These Amnesia Fortnight periods proved fortuitous, as Schafer considers these to have kept the company viable.[6] Upon completion of Brütal Legend, Double Fine had started work towards its sequel, but was told to stop development shortly after as Electronic Arts decided against publishing the sequel. With no other publishing deals lined up at the time, Schafer turned back to the eight game ideas developed from Amnesia Fortnight, believing they could be developed further into short complete games. Schafer also looked at the success of smaller focused games like Geometry Wars on the various download services, realizing the potential market for similar titles.[6] Schafer and his team selected the best four, and began shopping the games to various publishers, and successfully worked publishing details with these.[7] Two of these games, Costume Quest and Stacking, were picked up by THQ and released digitally on the Xbox Live and PlayStation Network storefronts; both games were considered successful and THQ has expressed interest in helping Double Fine produce similar titles in the future.[8] Iron Brigade (originally titled Trenched but changed due to trademark issues) was developed as an Xbox Live Arcade with association with Microsoft Game Studios, and similarly received positive praise from journalists.[9] A fourth game, Sesame Street: Once Upon a Monster, is to be published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment in association with the Sesame Workshop for the Xbox 360 using the Kinect controller; though initially not a licensed title, Schafer and his team found it to be an ideal fit for their first licensed-property game.[10] The four unused ideas may be used for a game in the future, according to Schafer, but believes some of them may be unsellable to a publisher.[5]

The development groups for these games were headed by the former leads from Brütal Legend: lead animator Tasha Harris for Costume Quest, lead art director Lee Petty for Stacking, lead designer Brad Muir for Iron Brigade, and lead programmer Nathan Martz for Once Upon a Monster. This was to not only put these teams under people who had been in the industry for a long time, but as a means to help promote these leads.[11] The remaining staff were split among the four teams, with some later swapping to make sure each team has appropriate resources when needed, such as artists and programmers.[5] Double Fine did not have to lay off any of the staff during this time,[5] and instead were able to hire Ron Gilbert, Schafer's former collaborator at LucasArts, to work on the new titles, as well as a future title that Gilbert has envisioned.[12] Schafer stated that though they could likely make another large game akin to Psychonauts or Brütal Legend, they would likely keep the smaller teams to continue to work on these smaller titles, due to the gained experience shared by the company.[5]

In November 2012, Double Fine, along with the Humble Bundle group, announced an "Amnesia Fortnight" charity drive based on the previous Amnesia Fortnight. During this, those that paid a minimum of $1 had the opportunity to vote on 23 concept ideas. After the completion of the voting period, Double Fine developed the top five voted ideas into game prototypes that were available for those that purchased the bundle. The prototypes were (in order of receiving the most votes): Hack n' Slash, a legend of Zelda inspired action/adventure, where players need to hack to solve puzzles, led by senior programmer Brandon Dillon, Spacebase DF-9, a sim game set in space, led by designer-programmer JP LeBreton, The White Birch, an ambient platform game (inspired by Ico and Journey), led by art director Andy Wood, Autonomous, a retro-futuristic sandbox robot game, led by by art director Lee Petty, and Black Lake, a fairytale exploration game led by senior artist Levi Ryken. In addition, the purchaser received the initial prototypes of Costume Quest, Happy Song (what would become Once Upon a Monster), and Brazen, a Monster Hunter-style four-player online co-op homage to Ray Harryhausen, which was led by Brad Muir, who was also project led of Iron Brigade. The development of the prototypes was documented by 2 Player Productions.[13]

Dracogen funding

Double Fine has received financial investiment from Steven Dengler through Dengler's investiment company, Dracogen Strategic Investments. The investment started as a result of a Twitter conversion between Dengler and Schafer in March 2011, where Schafer commented that the cost of bringing Double Fine's games to personal computers would be high. Dengler asked Schafer for a monetary value, though at the time Schafer believed Dengler was joking around and offered a value of around $300,000. However, as more formal conversations ensued, the company worked with Dengler to set an amount, signing an initial deal to bring Pyschonauts to the Mac OS X and to bring Costume Quest and Stacking to Microsoft Windows.[14]

Following this initial agreement, a subsequent deal was made with Dracogen for three iOS mobile games, the first which is Middle Manager of Justice released in December 2012.[14] The game itself is based on another idea from the Amnesia Fortnights, a simulation game with RPG elements that involves managing teams of superheroes and then fighting as those heroes in battles.[15] Dengler's children helped to provide some of the drawings of superheroes for the game.[14]

To date, Dengler has invested about one million dollars into Double Fine, which Schafer said has been "paid off for both sides".[14] Schafer has said that Dengler's funding has allowed the company to realize the ability of self-publishing, and believes they would be able to self-publisher a triple-A title with Dracogen's financial assistance.[14]

Double Fine Adventure

Main article: Double Fine Adventure

In February 2012, Double Fine along with 2 Player Productions, announced a Kickstarter project (codenamed Double Fine Adventure) aimed to create a new 2D adventure game featuring art by Double Fine's in-house artist Nathan Stapley.[16] The kickstarter effort was started because the adventure genre has been perceived as niche and commercially risky. The project aimed to collect $300,000 for the game's development and $100,000 for the filming of the game's development by 2 Player to be released alongside the game.[17] The project reached its $400,000 funding goal in under nine hours of the month-long drive.[18][19] Within 24 hours, Double Fine Adventure had raised more than a million dollars, becoming the most funded and most backed project ever on Kickstarter until it was surpassed by the Pebble E-Ink Watch in April 2012.[20] The game is being developed with the Lua-based Moai platform, and is scheduled for release in Q2/Q3 2013.[21]

Additional projects through publishers

Despite the success of the Double Fine Adventure Kickstarter, the company continues to seek publishers for future titles.[22]

In February 2012, the casual video game, Double Fine Happy Action Theater, was published for the Xbox 360 Kinect through the Xbox Live Arcade, with help from Microsoft Game Studios. The title is less a game and more a interactive toy, in which the Kinect is used to create augmented video on the players' screen, putting the players into scenarios such as walking through lava or playing in a giant ball pit. Happy Action Theater was the first game to be directed by Tim Schafer since Brütal Legend in 2009, and came about during Once Upon a Monster, finding that his young daughter had difficulty with the Kinect precision and aimed to make a game that was far less precision but still enjoyable.[23] Its sequel, Kinect Party featuring even more augmented reality scenarios, was released in December 2012.[24][25]

On February 22, 2012, Double Fine filed a trademark for the name "The Cave",[26] later confirming that this was not related to the Double Fine Adventure project.[27] In May 2012, it was revealed that The Cave was the title of Ron Gilbert's new downloadable game that will be developed by Double Fine and published by Sega in January 2013.[28]

Other projects

Double Fine's website features several free minigames. The most recent of these, Host Master and the Conquest of Humor, is a pastiche of Schafer's LucasArts games, and features Schafer himself as the protagonist.

Games developed

Double Fine has also produced a few flash games, developed by Klint Honeychurch and showcased on its website.

Awards

  • 2006 Game Developers Conference: Best New Studio
  • 2011 Official Xbox Magazine: Developer of the Year[29]

Psychonauts Awards

  • British Academy Video Games Awards 2006: Best Screenplay
  • GameSpot Best and Worst of 2005: Best Voice Acting, Best Graphics Artistic, Funniest Game, Best Game No One Played, Best Platformer
  • IGN 2005 Awards: Best Platformer, Best Game No One Played
  • EuroGamer: Overall Game of the Year 2005
  • PSM: Buy or Die award in issue #100, #5 on Top 10 Games of 2005 list, Best Characters
  • Electronic Gaming Monthly 2005 Awards: Best Game No One Played
  • 6th annual Game Developers Choice Awards: Best Writing
  • PC Gamer magazine 2005 Awards: Best Game You Didn't Play, Editor's Choice Award
  • E3 2002 Game Critics Awards: Best Original Game
  • GameShadow Innovation in Games Awards nominee (Best Game, Innovative Visual Effects, Best Narrative)

References

  1. ^ Schafer, Tim; Mantz, Lee; Muir, Brad (2012-03-07). Creative Panic: How Agility Turned Terror into Triumph (Flash). Los Angeles, CA: Game Developers Conference. Retrieved 2012-05-29. {{cite AV media}}: |first4= missing |last4= (help)
  2. ^ "Double Fine™ - Action News". Doublefine.com. Retrieved 2012-02-09.
  3. ^ "Double Fine™ - Action News". Doublefine.com. Retrieved 2012-02-09.
  4. ^ "Looking Back Commentary: Psychonauts". PC Zone. 2006. {{cite magazine}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  5. ^ a b c d e Cifaldi, Frank (2012-02-03). "Happy Action, Happy Developer: Tim Schafer on Reimagining Double Fine". Gamasutra. Retrieved 2012-02-03.
  6. ^ a b c "Tim Schafer: Amnesia Fortnights saved Double Fine". Edge. 2011-08-26. Retrieved 2011-08-26.
  7. ^ Parkin, Simon (2010-07-15). "Develop: Double Fine's Schafer On 'Amnesia Fortnights' And The Pitfalls Of AAA". Gamasutra. Retrieved 2010-07-15.
  8. ^ Robinson, Andy (2011-02-14). "THQ wants more from Stacking dev". Computer and Video Games. Retrieved 2011-02-28.
  9. ^ Langley, Ryan (2011-07-19). "In-Depth: Xbox Live Arcade Sales Analysis, July 2011". Gamasutra. Retrieved 2011-08-26.
  10. ^ Graft, Kris (2011-02-23). "Capturing The Spirit Of Sesame Street". Gamasutra. Retrieved 2011-02-23.
  11. ^ Reynolds, Matthew (2012-02-03). "Double Fine interview off-cuts: Tim Schafer on studio creativity". Digital Spy. Retrieved 2012-02-03.
  12. ^ Alexander, Leigh (2010-09-27). "Gilbert Rejoins Schafer At Double Fine For New Title". Gamasutra. Retrieved 2010-09-27.
  13. ^ Matulef, Jeffrey (2012-11-19). "Vote on Double Fine's next game ideas". Eurogamer. Retrieved 2012-11-19.
  14. ^ a b c d e "Double Fine Double Feature". Polygon. 2012-12-13. Retrieved 2012-12-14.
  15. ^ "Double Fine's Next Game Is For iOS and It's All About Superheroes". Kotaku. 2012-08-30. Retrieved 2012-09-10.
  16. ^ Dutton, Fred (2012-02-24). "Double Fine Adventure will likely be "old school" 2D". Eurogamer. Retrieved 2012-02-24.
  17. ^ Snider, Mike (2012-02-08). "Tim Schafer and Double Fine launch crowd-sourced game plan". USA Today. Retrieved 2012-02-08.
  18. ^ Yin-Poole, Wesley (2012-02-09). "Psychonauts developer Double Fine making fan-funded adventure game". Eurogamer. Retrieved 2012-02-09.
  19. ^ Walker, John. "Thought: Double Fine's Kickstarter Asks Big Questions". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. {{cite web}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Missing or empty |url= (help)
  20. ^ Whitwam, Ryan (2012-05-02). "$7 million Pebble watch shatters Kickstarter records". CNNMoney.com. Retrieved 2012-05-03.
  21. ^ Curtis, Tom. "Double Fine's Kickstarter-funded adventure game to use the Lua-based Moai platform". Gamasutra. Retrieved 2012-05-03.
  22. ^ Hillier, Brenna (2012-02-28). "Double Fine is still pitching games to publishers". VG247. Retrieved 2012-02-28.
  23. ^ Palacios, Tina (2012-01-24). "Talking Happy Action Theater with Double Fine". IGN. Retrieved 2012-01-31.
  24. ^ "PAX Prime 2012 Round-Up". The International House of Mojo. 2012-09-01. Retrieved 2012-09-10.
  25. ^ "Free Game on XBLA: Double Fine's Kinect Party". IGN. 2012-12-11. Retrieved 2012-12-11.
  26. ^ North, Dale (2012-02-28). "Double Fine files trademark for 'The Cave'". Destructoid. Retrieved 2012-02-28.
  27. ^ Nunneley, Stephany (2012-03-01). "The Cave is not Double Fine's Kickstarter project". VG247. Retrieved 2012-03-01.
  28. ^ http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-05-24-the-cave-preview-double-fines-new-game-for-sega
  29. ^ "OXM Game of the Year 2011 Awards: Developer and Technical Awards". Official Xbox Magazine. 2011-12-19. Retrieved 2012-02-15.
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