Tim Schafer

Infobox Person
name = Tim Schafer

---

image_size = 200px
caption = Tim Schafer in 2001.
birth_date = Birth date and age|1967|7|26|mf=y
birth_place = Sonoma, California
death_date =
death_place =
occupation = Game designer
spouse = Rachael Schafer

Tim Schafer (born July 26 1967) is an American computer game designer. He founded Double Fine Productions in January 2000, having spent over a decade at LucasArts.

Schafer is currently designing a game for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 called "Brütal Legend". Schafer is best known in the video game industry for his story-telling and comedy writing abilities.

Career

After graduating from UC Berkeley with a computer science major in 1989, Tim Schafer went to work at George Lucas' game production company LucasArts (then called Lucasfilm Games and located at Skywalker Ranch).

After play testing the "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" action game and assisting with the NES version of "Maniac Mansion", Schafer was assigned as a writer and programmer to the production of the pirate-themed adventure game "The Secret of Monkey Island".

According to series creator Ron Gilbert, Schafer and fellow writer-programmer Dave Grossman were responsible for about two thirds of the game's dialogs. cite news|url=http://www.scummbar.com/resources/articles/index.php?newssniffer=readarticle&article=1033|title=The Secret of Creating Monkey Island - An Interview With Ron Gilbert|year=1990 |accessdate=2006-12-24|work=LucasFilm Adventurer vol. 1, number 1 (online transcript)] "Monkey Island" is noted for its humorous story, though was originally conceived as having a more serious tone; Schafer and Grossman wrote much more humorous placeholder dialog, which persuaded Gilbert to turn it into a comedy. "The Secret of Monkey Island" became one of the most acclaimed games of its kind. The same team created the sequel, "".

In his first lead role on a game project, Schafer co-designed (with Dave Grossman) "Day of the Tentacle", a time-travel comedy adventure loosely based on "Maniac Mansion". Schafer's first solo project, the biker adventure "Full Throttle", was released in 1995. He went on to design the highly acclaimed "Grim Fandango", a noir adventure game set in the Aztec afterlife featuring characters similar to the papier-mâché skeleton decorations from the Mexican holiday Dia De Los Muertos. "Grim Fandango" won many awards, most notably GameSpot's Game of the Year award of 1998. [cite web | url = http://www.gamespot.com/features/awards1998/gameofyear2.html | title = Best and Worst of 1998: Game of the Year | publisher = GameSpot | accessdate = 2008-03-27 | year = 1999]

Schafer worked on an unannounced PlayStation 2 action-adventure game at LucasArts, but it never entered production. He left the company in January 2000 to found Double Fine Productions, where he created the platform game "Psychonauts". The game was first released on Xbox in North America on April 19 2005. It, too, won much critical acclaim, including a Game of the Year award from Eurogamer.

In a message posted on his company blog on June 13 2006, Schafer asked fans to e-mail Microsoft in an attempt to get "Psychonauts" added to the list of Xbox 360-compatible Xbox games.cite web
author = Tim Schafer
title = PSYCHONAUTS ON THE XBOX 360!!!
url = http://s23297.gridserver.com/news.php/site/comments/psychonauts_on_the_xbox_360/
publisher = Double Fine Productions, Inc.
date = 2006-06-13
accessdate = 2008-03-27 ] The story got picked up by many video game news sites. [cite news | author = Tim Surette
title = Double Fine demands 360-compatible Psychonauts
url = http://www.gamespot.com/xbox/action/psychonauts/news.html?sid=6152771
publisher = GameSpot
date = 2006-06-14
accessdate = 2008-03-27] [cite news
author = Ross Miller
title = Tim Schafer wants Psychonauts on Xbox 360. Now.
url = http://www.joystiq.com/2006/06/14/tim-schafer-wants-psychonauts-on-xbox-360-now/
publisher = Joystiq
date = 2006-06-14
accessdate = 2008-03-27] A Microsoft employee working on the Xbox 360's backwards compatibility soon posted on the IGN Insider forum that "rest assured, we are working on "Psychonauts" though gave no indication when the software emulation would be finished. Half a year later, on December 12 2006, the Xbox 360 became backwards compatible with "Psychonauts". And a year after that, on December 4 2007, Microsoft made "Psychonauts" one of the initial launch titles made available for direct download through their Xbox Originals program.

On March 7 2007, Tim Schafer hosted the annual Game Developers Choice Awards.

Recognition

*The press first previewed "Psychonauts" at the E3 trade show of 2002, where it won the Game Critics Award for Best Original Game. [cite web | title = Winners 2002
url = http://www.gamecriticsawards.com/2002winners.html
publisher = Game Critics Awards | accessdate = 2008-03-27]
*An hour-long episode of "Icons" on the G4 Network documented the last week of "Psychonauts"' production and explored Tim Schafer's career. (Original airdate: April 28, 2005).cite web
title = Icons: Tim Schafer Recap
publisher = TV.com
url = http://www.tv.com/icons/tim-schafer/episode/418951/recap.html
accessdate = 2008-03-30 ]
*At the 2006 Game Developers Choice Awards, Tim Schafer and Erik Wolpaw won the award for Best Writing for "Psychonauts". Tim Schafer and Double Fine Executive Producer & COO Caroline Esmurdoc also won the award for Best New Studio.
*In October 2006, Tim Schafer received a BAFTA videogame Best Screenplay award for "Psychonauts". [cite web
title = Games Nominations 2006
url = http://www.bafta.org/awards/video-games/nominations/?year=2006
publisher = BAFTA
accessdate = 2008-03-27]

Future

Schafer is currently working on a new game called "Brütal Legend". The game is slated for a 2008 release on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.cite pressrelease
title = SIERRA ENTERTAINMENT AND DOUBLE FINE PRODUCTIONS UNEARTH ANCIENT TOME AND DECRYPT BRÜTAL LEGEND™
publisher = Double Fine Productions, Inc.
url = http://www.doublefine.com/news.php/projects/brutallegend
date = 2007-10-19
accessdate = 2008-03-30]

Gameography

*vgy|1990 "The Secret of Monkey Island", co-writer (JVC, LucasArts)
*vgy|1991 "", co-designer (LucasArts)
*vgy|1993 "Day of the Tentacle", co-designer, co-producer, co-director, co-writer (LucasArts)
*vgy|1995 "Full Throttle", writer, designer, project leader (LucasArts)
*vgy|1998 "Grim Fandango", project leader (LucasArts)
*vgy|2005 "Psychonauts", creative director, co-writer (Double Fine, Majesco)
*vgy|2008 "Brütal Legend", (Double Fine, Sierra)

References

External links

*
* [http://www.doublefine.com/ Tim Schafer's company weblog]
* [http://www.gamespot.com/news/6141519.html What does the game industry have against innovation?] (a news feature centered on Psychonauts, with comments from Schafer)
* [http://www.gamespy.com/articles/585/585524p1.html "Tim Schafer on Taking Risks"] (D.I.C.E. Summit 2005)
* [http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=10216 "Tim Schafer on Memorable Character Design"] (GDC 2004, audio recording)
* [http://www.mixnmojo.com/features/read.php?article=doublefine2001 Trip to Double Fine] from [http://www.mixnmojo.com/ The International House of Mojo]
* [http://www.mixnmojo.com/features/read.php?article=psychonautspreview Return to Double Fine] from [http://www.mixnmojo.com/ The International House of Mojo]

Interviews

* [http://www.gamespot.com/features/btg_y2k/p17_01.html Millennium Gaming: 20 Gaming Visionaries Usher In The Next Millennium of Gaming] at GameSpot (1999)
* [http://www.gamestudies.org/0301/pearce/ A Conversation with Tim Schafer by Celia Pearce] at GameStudies (2003)
* [http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3149196 Rebel With a Cause: Traveling through the mind of Tim Schafer] at 1UP.com (2006)