Double Fine Wants to Change the Game

I love when you see something so simple yet so brilliant that it kind of blows your mind. Tim Schafer has been in the spotlight quite a bit this week, what with his Psychonauts 2 shenanigans with Notch and all. But this actually goes a step further:

Tim Schafer is letting you (meaning us) finance Double Fine’s next game, a classic point-and-click adventure. Normally, a game like this would have little chance of being put into production by a publisher, so he’s taking the game straight to fans on Kickstarter. Rather than blather on about it, I’ll let Tim tell you about it himself.

And there you have it. For $400,000, Double Fine will make an old school adventure game, and the fans get to be a part of the process. Meanwhile, all of it will be documented by 2 Player Productions, the dudes behind the Minecraft/Mojang documentary.

It’s hard for me to express just how excited I am about this. While I don’t think it’ll necessarily change gaming as we know it, it certainly opens the door to start developers down that path. They would answer to fans and cut out the middle man completely. At the same time, what we’re seeing of the game isn’t being dictated by marketing, but rather an in-depth documentary crew. It’s just a little bit rad.

So what do you guys think of this? I’ve already donated some money. The numbers are already past 100k in the first day of the campaign, so I don’t think they’ll have any problems hitting it. Do any of you think you’ll join?

Edit: At the time I published this, the Kickstarter was at 122k, up from 90k when I started writing/donating.

Source – Kickstarter

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I write about samurai girls and space marines. Writer for Smooth Few Films. Rooster Teeth Freelancer. Author of Red vs. Blue, The Ultimate Fan Guide, out NOW!

8 thoughts on “Double Fine Wants to Change the Game”

  1. Tim Schafer will have 800k by the end of next week. If you love your fans, they’ll love you back. I’m excited to see more cult classics get sequels by raising money directly like this. I don’t think this kind of fan-publishing will be common, but I’d like to see more of it.

  2. Ah, Point and Click, just like my game of choice on the last post The Longest Journey (First one at least). I’m transferring money to PayPal as we speak, I’d love to see the documentary alone, never mind play the game.

    And yes, this kind of thing will become much more common. Gotta love what Notch did but you also can’t deny how Call of Duty continues to do so incredibly well. The “lower” and “upper” class will continue to grow, and grow apart, while the middle class disappears!

    P.S. Spy Party =D.

  3. Ridiculously crazy excited about this. I had a half-written comment on the Dream Game Funding post wishing for a Grim Fandango sequel when this got posted – this might be just as good! And the documentary bit is a pretty sweet bonus. I can’t afford lunch with Tim, but I’m damn sure going to be in those credits. $275k and counting…

  4. Within a day its already hit the $400k target and then some.

    But publishers know exactly what we want, don’t they.

  5. Already donated, so excited to have my name in the credits of a Tim Schafer game. I’m sure this will boost the morale incredibly at Double Fine, the underdog of the industry, and show to publisher that yes, people want to play his games. Thrilled to be a part of this.

    1. Hot damn, this is currently sitting at 660k. Totally mind-blowing.

      This was my favorite bit of the entire shpiel on Kickstarter: “Secondly, since they’re only accountable to themselves, there’s an unprecedented opportunity to show the public what game development of this caliber looks like from the inside. Not the sanitized commercials-posing-as-interviews that marketing teams only value for their ability to boost sales, but an honest, in-depth insight into a modern art form that will both entertain and educate gamers and non-gamers alike.”

      I think this is the biggest thing to come out of it, honestly. Actual, valuable video content.

  6. Right now, its over $700k. I love kickstarter. SOme projects go so far beyond what they need, its amazing. To me, whats so amazing about that business, is it allows products that are a good idea, but may not have the needed market to go with major investors, the chance to make their products a reality. So far, theres are a few companies I followed off kickstarter. This is amazing though. If this becomes a trend for development companies, I am totally game for it. I hope that they are able to show that games can get their funding and be successful through fan donations and support. Cant wait to see what happens here.

    The video content will be amazing. The idea of this in general is amazing, I cant wait to see what happens.

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