tim schafer

Gamasutra recently had the chance to sit down with Masaya Matsuura of NanaOn-Sha, developers of the upcoming Kinect enabled adventure Haunt for Xbox Live Arcade. During the interview Matsuura-san …
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XBLA Primer is an on-going feature in which we delve into the history of a given developer, catalog their XBLA releases, and look at why they make great games.

Way back in the 1980’s, a game designer named Tim Schafer started to make a name for himself at LucasArts. Working on and later leading development on cult classics such as Maniac Mansion, Monkey Island and Grim Fandango, Mr. Schafer quickly garnered a reputation around the industry as one of the most creative minds in the business. At the turn of the century, Schafer left LucasArts and started his own development studio which came to be known as Double Fine Productions.

Double Fine blew out of the gates with a platformer named Psychonauts, a game that literally put you inside the minds of others. You can only imagine the crazy things you’d find in the depths of people’s minds. Next up, Double Fine released Brutal Legend, an action/real-time strategy hybrid centered around the fantasy world of heavy metal. While both Psychonauts and Brutal Legend were received very well by critics and gamers alike, neither game managed to create the bucket loads of cash that publishers now look for.

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Once upon a time many eons ago, two men teamed up at LucasArts and created classic games such as Grim Fandango, Monkey Island, and Maniac Mansion. One of those …
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Costume Quest: Grubbins on Ice was developed by Double Fine Productions and published by THQ. It was released on December 21st, 2010 and retails at 400 Microsoft Points.

When Double Fine Productions launched Costume Quest, their Halloween themed RPG last fall, it became an instant classic. With simple yet satisfying gameplay, superb writing, and the charm of a
children’s book, Costume Quest won the hearts of gamers around the world. A few months later, Double Fine followed up by releasing the Grubbins on Ice add-on. This time set during the winter season, Grubbins on Ice takes our group of heroes and puts them far away from home, in the monster’s world of Repugia. The result is a mixture of a very solid offering, and missed opportunities that left us wanting more.

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Costume Quest was developed by Double Fine Productions, and published by THQ. The game was released on October 19th, 2010.

In October of 2010, Double Fine Productions introduced the world to a colorful classic in the making known as Costume Quest. Players are introduced to the brother-sister duo of Reynold and Wren on the night of Halloween. The pair head out trick or treating but the night quickly spins out of control as monsters kidnap one of the two, and reveal a plot to steal all of the neighborhood’s candy. What is a kid to do when monsters take your sibling away and plan to ruin every youngster’s Halloween? Take on a quest to free your family member and stop the monsters from ruining everyone’s holiday that’s what!

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Double Fine Productions has announced Happy Action Theater, an all new collection of Kinect enabled mini-games coming to Xbox Live Arcade this holiday via Microsoft Gaming Studios. Happy Action …
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Stacking was developed by Double Fine and published by THQ. It was released on XBLA on February 9th for 1200MS points.

Stacking is an adventure/puzzle game that places you in control of Charlie Blackmore, who is the smallest member in a family of Russian stacking dolls. The Blackmore family is being forced to work for a rich industrialists know as “The Baron” and it is up to Charlie to free them. Charlie must stack inside other dolls and use their special abilities in order to make his way through 4 areas and defeat the evil Baron.

Riding high on their October release of Costume Quest, Double Fine has found room for success on the XBLA platform. With that said, expectations for Stacking were extremely high considering it was from the minds of Tim Schafer and the team of hit-makers at Double Fine.  Luckily, Stacking surpassed most expectations and stands out as an early favorite for 2011 XBLA Game of the Year. Read More

THQ has announced that the second Double Fine downloadable title, Stacking, will be coming to XBLA on February 9th. They also announced that it will cost 1200 Microsoft Points. …
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