Costume Quest

'Tis Halloween, when ghosts and ghouls come out to play, and when Epic Games shoves a new batch of freebies onto its store because it's also Thursday. But what's this! Today's releases - SOMA and Costume Quest - are a spooky lot, as befitting of the season.

SOMA, of course, is developer Frictional Games sci-fi-hued follow-up to acclaimed horror, Amnesia: The Dark Descent. This time around, Lovecraft-inspired scares make way for something rather more philosophical, but no less unsettling, with SOMA ruminating on the nature of identity as it lurches deep beneath the waves.

Mostly its journey is one of richly atmospheric, and frequently claustrophobic exploration, although SOMA's impeccably handled narrative is occasionally interrupted by shambling terrors, almost always wishing to give chase. These tend to be SOMA's weakest moments, as frustrating as they are uninspired. Thankfully though, Frictional has added an optional Safe Mode since launch, easing the pain of these encounters.

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Psychonauts

Double Fine Studios - developer of Psychonauts, Costume Quest and Brutal Legend - has been snapped up by Microsoft. The annoucement was just made here in LA at Xbox's E3 2019 press conference.

It's the latest huge acquisition for Xbox Game Studios after last year's purchase of Ninja Theory, Playground Games, Undead Labs and Compulsion Games.

Double Fine's next game is the long-awaited Psychonauts 2, which received a glorious new gameplay trailer during the show. Not a new Windows Excel, as Schafer joked on stage.

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Costume Quest

Amazon's animated TV adaptation of Double Fine's much-loved Costume Quest series will premiere on March 8th - and there's a first proper trailer to celebrate.

Costume Quest's television adaptation was first announced back in 2017, and is the work of Frederator Studios, the team responsible for the likes of Adventure Time and Netflix's animated Castlevania series.

Based on the promo material shared so far, Costume Quest's TV adaptation looks to remain pretty faithful to Double Fine's duo of Costume Quest games. It follows the adventures of four young friends - Wren, Reynold, Everett, and Lucy - as they attempt to fend off dark forces on Hallowe'en in order to save Auburn Hollow, their sleepy hometown. As you might imagine, costumes imbued with amazing magical powers are very much involved.

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Costume Quest

As you might recall, last year brought the news that Costume Quest, developer Double Fine's delightful trick-or-treaty Halloween RPG, was to be turned into an animated TV series. That's still a thing that's happening - and if you need further proof, it now has an opening title sequence!

Costume Quest's TV adaptation is the work of Frederator Studios (also responsible for Adventure Time and Netflix's Castlevania), and is scheduled to air on Amazon Video next year.

Unsurprisingly, it doesn't sound like the show will doggedly adhere to the (very slight) stories told in Double Fine's original Costume Quest or its 2014 sequel, but the fundamentals are more or less the same. According to Cartoon Hangover, the TV series "stars four kids facing off against the dark forces lurking in the shadows of their sleepy town of Auburn Hollow."

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Psychonauts

Twitch has revealed the line-up of games that Twitch Prime members will receive as part of their subscription in May, including Psychonauts and Gone Home.

Neither of those headliners likely need much introduction but, as a refresher, Psychonauts is Double Fine's inimitable brain-probing 3D action platformer - a classic that still hasn't lost its power to amuse and delight, some 13 years after it first released.

Gone Home, meanwhile, is developer Fullbright's fiercely atmospheric, but unquestionably divisive, exploration of family life and family strife - as told in walking simulator form. That one didn't resonate with Eurogamer editor Oli Welsh back in 2013 as much as it did for others.

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Psychonauts


Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin, the PlayStation VR-exclusive new chapter of Double Fine's adventure game series, is now available for other virtual reality devices.

Launched for PSVR in February 2017, Rhombus of Ruin is now available for PC to play on Oculus Rift and HTC Vive.

A sort-of sequel to the original Psychonauts, Rhombus of Ruin can also be played as a standalone story. It's a decent return for the series, though, before the launch of the full Psychonauts 2 for PC and consoles - expected sometime next year.

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Psychonauts

Tim Schafer will receive this year's prestigious BAFTA Fellowship prize, following in the footsteps of John Carmack, Gabe Newell and Shigeru Miyamoto.

The Monkey Island writer/programmer and Double Fine founder will pick up his gong at 2018's British Academy Games Awards, held this year on Thursday, 12th April.

"I am surprised, humbled, and honored to be receiving the BAFTA Fellowship this year," Schafer said. "BAFTA's long-standing support of video games and championing of creativity and strong storytelling in that medium have had an extremely positive impact and I'm very grateful to be recognised."

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16 март 2012
Psychonauts


Longevity is a rare commodity in the gaming business. A title comes out, it takes up a two-month residency on a store's chart rack or splash page - if it's lucky - and is then put out to pasture in the used section. To the casual consumer, it's often easy to forget a game ever existed within six months of its launch.


While times are changing thanks to the galloping onset of the digital revolution, this was never more true than it was back in 2005 when Double Fine's eccentric debut Psychonauts arrived on shelves. Despite a rapturous welcome from critics and Schafer fans alike, it famously flopped at retail, nearly dragging both developer and publisher Majesco down with it.


However, since then its cult has slowly grown and grown, fed by word of mouth and the careful custodianship of its creators. Today, the game is arguably more visible than it has ever been, with its followers devouring the merest hint that a sequel might one day get a green-light. That clamour reached fever pitch last month when deep-pocketed indie talisman Markus 'Notch' Persson popped up on Twitter with an offer to bankroll a follow-up.


As we found out when we met up with creator Tim Schafer at Double Fine's San Francisco HQ earlier this month, the story of the game's troubled development and subsequent trek into cult classic territory is almost as engaging and unexpected as the off-the-wall brain-surfing adventures of psychic sprog Raz that the game itself depicts.

'The Cult of Psychonauts' Screenshot 1

Tim Schafer.


The germ of the idea that would one day blossom into Psychonauts was first sown while Schafer was still working at LucasArts, where he was partly responsible for the studio's purple patch of classic adventure games - from Maniac Mansion and Monkey Island, to Full Throttle and Grim Fandango.


Schafer recalls speculatively pitching a concept for a spy game to LucasArt's top brass. "You were going to meditate on objects and that meditation was going to be this vision quest that you went on in your head to figure out clues, and that's how you're going to solve puzzles," he recalls.


Its subsequent transformation into the game we know today was actually a result of a water-cooler misunderstanding with a colleague.


"I remember talking to someone in the hallway - they were like, 'I heard about that game where you go into other people's heads. Tell me more about that'. I was like, 'No, you don't go into other people's heads, you go into... wait a second'.


"It was him misunderstanding my pitch, but it actually sounded like a much better idea."


The concept was then put on ice for a few years while Schafer wound up his stint at Lucas. Frustrated that he had no ownership of the games that he felt creatively entwined with and tiring of the company's conservative corporate culture, Schafer upped sticks and set up Double Fine back in 2000.

Psychonauts


Minecraft maker Notch has downplayed his potential funding of Psychonauts 2.


Notch set the internet alight after offered to fund the game in a tweet to Double Fine boss Tim Schafer.

Schafer later said it would cost at least $13 million to make the game, to which Notch apparently replied: "I can do that."


But now it appears as if Notch isn't sure the game's a goer.


In a blog post titled "Hype" the Mojang chief said Schafer's development budget estimation was three times higher than he expected.


"Tim and I haven't spoken much at all other than a couple of emails," he said. "We mentioned meeting at GDC, I hope that will happen. I assume Double Fine will be very busy for many months with the Kickstarter project.


"The budget for doing a Psychonauts 2 is three times higher than my initial impression. A couple of other parties have mentioned also being interested in investing in it. I would not be investing in this as a charity. It would be because I think the game would be profitable. And naturally, I wouldn't want to have any creative input in the game. It would be purely a high risk investment in a project I believe in."


Notch's mention of the Kickstarter project is in reference to Double Fine's hugely successful crowd-sourcing of funding for an adventure game.


Schafer raised $1 million in a day after setting a $400,000 target on Kickstarter. The total raised is now approaching $2 million.


This game, Notch believes, is of higher priority than any Psychonauts sequel.


"I have NO idea if this is actually going to happen," he said. "The Kickstarter stuff obviously changes the playing field a lot. Investing that incredibly high amount of money also requires a lot of planning and discussion, and I've never done anything like that before, but I do have contacts and advisors to help me out.


"All I know is that IF the numbers work out and IF they still want to do it and IF they don't decide to self-fund a sequel by doing more crowd-funding (which is honestly what I would've done if I were them), I would be most interested in doing this type of investment."


Notch called for calm: "Point is, stop hyping over this, internet! You're going to scare me into doing things secretly instead of being open and transparent via Twitter. I am incredibly scared of the very real risk of people feeling let down just because I took a chance at something that doesn't end up panning out.


"Also, I realize you won't stop hyping, so I'll just go into hiding for a few years if it falls through."

Psychonauts


Minecraft creator Markus "Notch" Persson is able to match Tim Schafer's $13 million Psychonauts 2 development budget valuation.


"I can do that," he told the Double Fine boss.


"I was like, 'I don't think you can make [it] for a million dollars'," Schafer told Kotaku.


"The original game was, I think, $13 million, I think you have to match the original game.


"As soon as I mentioned the amount of money he said, 'Yeah, I can do that.'"


It's unclear whether Notch is willing to invest the $13 million from his own bulging bank account or contribute a certain amount before helping raise investment from elsewhere.


Notch's millions were made off the back of the phenomenal success of sandbox creation game Minecraft.


At the time of publication, over 22 million people had registered to play and just shy of five million people bought the game.


Last week Notch shocked the gaming world and Schafer himself when he said on his Twitter page that he was willing to personally fund a sequel to Double Fine's cult classic Psychonauts.


Double Fine head Tim Schafer has continually stated he would like to develop a second Psychonauts game, but has been unable to secure publisher-funding to back the project.


"Let's make Psychonauts 2 happen," Notch tweeted to Schafer.


"Also, I'm serious."


Psychonauts was first released in 2005 to positive reviews but disappointing sales. Double Fine recovered the rights to the game's publishing proceeds last year. Since then, the digital PC version has been seen a substantial update via Steam, and a new Mac version has been launched.

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