Posts Tagged ‘Double-Fine’
By Nathan Grayson on December 14th, 2012.
Wanna know what you usually find in caves? Bats. Awful, shrieky little things with webbed wings, beady eyes, and a thirst for that red stuff that sloshes around under your precious neckflesh. Also spiky ceiling rocks that could fall and cave in your head, and lots of unpleasantly cold water. But sometimes – every once in an eerily blue moon – you also find yourself. Or at least, that’s what Ron Gilbert’s talking cave argues in a new trailer, and who are we to disagree? Not caves, that’s for sure – so probably not particularly qualified. But this cave also seems to know people, so what do I know? Probably nothing. Hear about the Adventurer, Knight, Time Traveler, and Twins in The Cave‘s learned, slightly sultry baritone after the break.
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Double-Fine, ron-gilbert, Sega, The Cave.
Looking Back, Moving Forward
By Nathan Grayson on December 4th, 2012.
The Cave is right around the corner. Well, not literally – unless you live inside a rocky outcropping in the frigid wildness or are being stalked by some kind of sentient, not-completely-immobile cave. But Ron Gilbert’s Cave is rapidly nearing its January 2013 release date, and naturally, that raises questions. Fortunately, I was standing right next to the very same Ron Gilbert when those questions came up, so I decided to ask him. Find out after the break why – in spite of its platform-y looks – The Cave’s a PC game at heart and how that ties into Gilbert’s plans for whatever he ends up making next.
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Double-Fine, feature, ron-gilbert, Sega, The Cave.
By Nathan Grayson on December 1st, 2012.
I visited a cave once. It was very dark and echo-y. Also, it made lots of drip-dropping sounds – perhaps in an effort to communicate its stalagmite-heavy cave agenda to the world at large. But it never spoke to me. Not in firm, authoritative English, anyway. And it definitely didn’t contain any carnivals, spooky murder houses, or secret science labs. I guess what I’m trying to say is that Ron Gilbert and I haven’t been to the same caves. I think I like his – aptly titled The Cave – better, though. I mean, it gives hillbillies with the apparently common hillability to breathe under water a chance to reunite with their lost loves. (Incidentally, Ron and I have also not met the same hillbillies.) Dig into the break’s rich, earthy soils to see a new trailer of the Maniac Mansion spiritual successor in action.
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Double-Fine, Sega, The Cave.
By Alec Meer on November 26th, 2012.
Double Fine’s crowd-funding / PWYW bundle / rapid prototyping / community voting idea-cocktail Amnesia Fornight has just proceeded to its next stage – choosing, via public vote, the four concepts that will be turned into working, playable games. I want to play all of them so I’m happy, but see if they’re Your Sort Of Thing below.
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Amnesia Fortnight, Double-Fine, Humble Bundle.
The Kickstarter Starter
By John Walker on November 20th, 2012.
Yesterday you’ll likely have noticed that Tim Schafer and Double Fine launched a new approach to a Humble Bundle, encouraging people to pay what they want for the chance to vote on what four prototypes the team would develop during their next Amnesia Fortnight. We then brought you his thoughts on why they were doing this, and what impact such things have on the studio. In the second part of our chat, we discuss how Schafer’s time is split between the Double Fine Adventure and running such a busy studio, the effect his project had on the Kickstarter phenomenon, why he thinks you make more money without DRM, and Schafer’s belief in what he calls the “good faith” of gamers.
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Amnesia Fortnight, Double-Fine, feature, Humble Bundle, interview, Tim-Schafer, tsi.
Unprototypical
By John Walker on November 19th, 2012.
As we just mentioned, Double Fine have launched a unique Humble Bundle to let people vote from 23 game pitches to decide four that will go on to be made into prototypes. I spoke to Tim Schafer earlier this evening to ask how this came about, and how such a thing will influence the company. In this first half of the interview we talk about the Bundle, what makes a Double Fine game, and why they’re so keen to show these early stages of game development.
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Amnesia Fortnight, Double-Fine, feature, Humble Bundle, interview, Tim-Schafer, tsi.
By John Walker on November 19th, 2012.
Double Fine’s Amnesia Fortnight has become a fairly well known event by the developer. For two weeks every year, everyone at the company stops what they’re working on, and get together in small teams to create prototypes for new game ideas. And since 2009, all the games the studio have released have been born from these creative weeks. The likes of Costume Quest and Stacking came out of this elaborate brainstorm. This year they’re doing it differently. “We’re letting the world in on it,” explained studio head Tim Schafer to me this evening, in an interview to appear later tonight. Via Humble Bundle, we get to vote on the 23 pitches to pick the four that will be created as prototypes. And then the whole process of developing will be live-streamed, with the finished projects available to everyone who paid.
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Amnesia Fortnight, Double-Fine, Humble Bundle, Tim-Schafer.
By Nathan Grayson on September 11th, 2012.
I have been – to put it lightly – bothered by the fact that Ron Gilbert’s The Cave only has seven playable characters. Six or nine, you see, would make each playthrough nice and clean – no character overlap. But seven? That’s messy. I’ll get juicy character development and thick, fibrous hunks of plot thread all over my shoes as I wade through The Cave’s murky depths. It’ll be gross. But why? What diabolical plan could Gilbert possibly have in store that would warrant such numerical absurdity? During PAX, I asked him about it, and he explained to me the grisly fates of two characters that didn’t make the cut – as well as why he kind of really doesn’t like DLC.
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Double-Fine, ron-gilbert, Sega, The Cave.
By Andrew Smee on September 10th, 2012.
I suppose we all knew this deep down, but it’s startling to see it laid out in pretty graphs: 2012 has seen a massive, massive increase on games funding through Kickstarter. Eye wateringly huge. In six short months they have exploded from the eighth most-funded category in Kickstarter history to the second most-funded, and the first-most funded category of the year, having raised a staggering $50,330,275 in 2012 alone. I mean, just look at that graph. JUST LOOK AT IT.
And I do mean in 2012 alone. Look at 2011! Nothing! Pittance! Pennies compared to this year.
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Double Fine Adventure, Double-Fine, Kickstarter, kickstarter katchup, Planetary Annihilation.
Of Tim Schafer And Turret Wives
By Nathan Grayson on September 8th, 2012.
Yesterday, you probably read the first part of my chat with Valve’s Erik Wolpaw and Double Fine’s Anna Kipnis. If not, it’s right here- but FOR A LIMITED TIME ONLY. By which I mean until the Internet ceases to exist, which, you know, could happen someday. Anyway, in today’s installment, we branch out a bit from yesterday’s story-centric beat. Valve’s newfound love of wearable computing, virtual reality, heaps behind-the-scenes info on Portal, crowd-sourcing, and more are all on the docket. OK, there wasn’t actually any sort of docket involved. I’m not entirely sure why I said that.
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Double-Fine, erik-wolpaw, feature, Left 4 Dead, Portal 2, Psychonauts, Valve.
With A Special Double Fine Guest!
By Nathan Grayson on September 7th, 2012.
It all began one sunny, seemingly inauspicious afternoon in a Starbucks. It also ended there – but, you know, later. Ragged and bone-weary from three days of wading through PAX’s diseased hordes, Valve’s Erik Wolpaw, Double Fine’s Anna Kipnis, and I huddled around one last vestige of civilized humanity: a table. Then we spent nearly an hour talking about this year’s sudden upsurge in crazy-interesting videogame stories, because it seemed like the thing to do at the time. It isn’t anymore, but – if you’ll believe it – it was considered cool back then. Those were the days. Anyway, here’s part one. If you behave yourself, you might get part two tomorrow. And maybe a cookie. But probably not.
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Double-Fine, erik-wolpaw, feature, Left 4 Dead, Portal 2, Valve.
