Architects And Designers Codexery

Tim Schafer

American fashion stylist, self proclaimed image architect, and television personality.

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Schafer is known for his storytelling and comedic writing style, and has received a Lifetime Achievement Award and a BAFTA Fellowship.[1] Double Fine Productions was established by Schafer in July 2000, following more than ten years of employment at LucasArts.[1]

Key facts and history

Schafer was born in Sonoma, California, the youngest of five children, to a doctor father and a nurse mother.[2] He was hired by LucasArts in 1989 as a "scummlet" programmer for the SCUMM engine.[3] Schafer co-designed Day of the Tentacle with Dave Grossman and later designed Full Throttle and Grim Fandango.[4] Psychonauts won a Game of the Year award from Eurogamer but sold poorly initially.[5]

Schafer launched a Kickstarter for "Double Fine Adventure" in February 2012, which became the first project on the site to reach $2 million.[6] During his computer science studies at UC Berkeley, Schafer developed an interest in writing, drawing inspiration from Kurt Vonnegut.[2] Schafer departed LucasArts in January 2000 to establish Double Fine Productions, and under that studio he developed Psychonauts.[7] Broken Age, the final product of that project, was issued in two separate parts across 2014 and 2015.[6]

Microsoft's announcement that Double Fine would be acquired and become part of Xbox Game Studios occurred in June 2019.[8]

What the cited sources add

In a 2003 interview, Schafer stated he strives to integrate story into gameplay and sets a creative goal of making a game without cutscenes.[9][10] He was harassed online after mocking the #notyourshield hashtag at the 2015 Game Developer's Choice Awards.[11] Schafer noted that crowdfunding moved into a "second generation" where backers better understood the system was voluntary.[11] Schafer recounted that tales about a biker bar in Alaska inspired the setting for Full Throttle.[9][10]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Tim Schafer" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Let the Games Begin", Sunday Herald Sun, June 24, 2012, p. 12 – "Play" section (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Tim Schafer" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Warren, "Tim Schafer", Kill Screen, June 14, 2011 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Tim Schafer" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Ringell, ""I Don't Know if a Duck is Going to Swallow me Whole." The Tim Schafer Interview.", USgamer, June 22, 2015 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Tim Schafer" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Behind the Scenes: Maniac Mansion + Day of the Tentacle", GamesTM, 2010, p. 22–27; Suellentrop, "Full Throttle's Tim Schafer on Mark Hamill and Being Asked Not to Touch George Lucas", April 15, 2017 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Tim Schafer" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Adkins, "Life After Shelf Death", The Escapist, November 12, 2007; "Double Fine Double Feature", Polygon, December 13, 2012 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Tim Schafer" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "When making a game is a game in itself", cnn.com, February 10, 2012; "Double Fine Adventure", Kickstarter; "Double Fine Day", Kickstarter, March 14, 2012; "Double Fine™ – Action News", doublefine.com; "PAX: Double Fine's adventure game is called Broken Age", Destructoid, November 5, 2014 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Tim Schafer" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "10 years of Psychonauts – In conversation with Tim Schafer", GamesTM, June 2, 2015; Mullen, "Tim Schafer Leaves LucasArts", GameSpot, January 7, 2000; "Let the Games Begin", Sunday Herald Sun, June 24, 2012, p. 12 – "Play" section (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "Tim Schafer" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Favis, "Tim Schafer On Microsoft Acquisition And The Future Of Double Fine", June 23, 2019; Dring, "How Minecraft and Mojang taught Xbox how to buy studios", GamesIndustry.biz, July 9, 2020; "Psychonauts 2 is vintage Double Fine in strengths and flaws | Critical Consensus", August 24, 2021 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  9. Celia Pearce, "A Conversation with Tim Schafer", Game Studies, March 7, 2003. facts only, no text reused. gamestudies.org
  10. Wikipedia, "Tim Schafer" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Celia Pearce, "A Conversation with Tim Schafer", Game Studies, March 7, 2003 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  11. Gera, "Tim Schafer on his Broken Age Kickstarter adventure: 'I'd do it again'", The Guardian, April 28, 2015. facts only, no text reused. theguardian.com

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Tim Schafer (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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Sources

Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

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