Back in July, Double Fine President Tim Schafer revealed that his company--which was responsible for Psychonauts and Brütal Legend--was altering its development focus; rather than making bigger-budget games for a competitive retail market, Double Fine would instead focus on developing multiple downloadable games at once, with four projects currently in various stages of completion. To handle the increased number of projects in development, Tim Schafer appointed individuals other than himself to serve as project leads on each of these games. The first fruit of Double Fine’s new downloadable-focused labor, the delightful-looking Halloween-themed RPG Costume Quest, for example, is being headed up by Double Fine lead animator Tasha Harris.
With Costume Quest’s well-timed Halloween release date approaching, Schafer and the folks at Double Fine have begun planning what will eventually be the company’s newest project, due to come out following the release of the four titles already in development. To lead this newest project, Schafer is bringing in an old friend for the position: Ron Gilbert, according to a Kotaku interview.
== TEASER ==Gilbert originally worked with Schafer back in the late 80’s and early 90’s at LucasArts, where the two helped create many of the most critically-acclaimed and beloved adventure games in the genre, including The Secret of Monkey Island and Maniac Mansion . Though the two eventually went their separate ways, the former coworkers remained in close contact, with Gilbert using the desks at the Double Fine offices to write his most recent title, the action-RPG DeathSpank developed by Hothead.
Now, Gilbert has joined the Double Fine team in earnest, where he’s started planning the company’s newest downloadable game. What will that game eventually be? According to the Kotaku interview, Gilbert and Schafer aren’t saying just yet, though Gilbert teases that, while the new game won’t be an adventure game, fans of the genre will still be pleased by the new project.
Regardless of what they’re working on, it’s cool to see these two designers reunited under the same roof again. I like to imagine they’ve spent these first few days sticking hamsters in the microwave and making SCUMM jokes.
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