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Double Fine Goes From One To Four

The San Fran-based developer is working on four games at the same time.

Tim Schafer, game designer of Monkey Island fame and now his own boss at Double Fine Productions, has left his mark on the Brighton-based Develop conference, revealing in his keynote some surprising news about what it is Double Fine is up to these days.

Brutal Legend 2 wasn't greenlit by the game's original publisher, Shafer said during his speech, and as a result, the studio had to gear up quickly and hit the road with its existing prototypes. Four of them, to be precise. Fascinatingly, all four of these "best of" pet projects have been signed by multiple publishers and are now set to become real games.


I really hope one of these games incorporates Ozzy somehow.      
I really hope one of these games incorporates Ozzy somehow.      

Shafer didn't go into specifics about the games during the keynote other than to say some of the games will be downloadable, and to identify each game's respective project leads, according to VideoGamer. Double Fine staffers Lee PettyNathan Martz, Bad Muir, and Tasha Harris, all of whom have experience with Brutal Legend, are heading up the projects. 
 
To keep this is a bit in focus: Double Fine has only released two games since its creation in 2000: Psychonauts and Brutal Legend. Now it has four games, all with publisher backing, at the same time. Talk about what must feel like overload over there. 
 
UPDATE: A couple of name corrections: it's Nathan Martz instead of Nathan Marks and Tasha Harris as opposed to Tascher Harris as we previously reported.
wapostyleon July 15, 2010 at 9 a.m.
 Cool.    
Aeternaon July 15, 2010 at 9:02 a.m.
I already read a lengthy interview over at Eurogamers. Worth checking out guys.
puchuupuncheron July 15, 2010 at 9:03 a.m.
this is awesome news for Double Fine.  Lets just hope they aren't spreading themselves too thin...
Tesla is online on July 15, 2010 at 9:05 a.m.
I hope one of those games is Brutal Legend Remix.  Remove the bad RTS gameplay and just make it an open world Zelda/GTA type joint.  I wanted to like that game so badly, what a shame.
bartokon July 15, 2010 at 9:05 a.m.
Hopefully they can start making games that not only have fun stories but are fun to play as well.
CoolDrMoneyon July 15, 2010 at 9:10 a.m.
Maybe one of them will actually end up being fun
SkullcrusherMountainon July 15, 2010 at 9:10 a.m.
Well, I guess instead of one conceptually amazing but eventually disappointing game every 5 years, they'll go to a conceptually amazing but eventually disappointing game every 12-18 months.
 
:|
zoneroveron July 15, 2010 at 9:12 a.m.
Does this mean they're going to rename themselves Double Double Fine?
lackeon July 15, 2010 at 9:15 a.m.
Maybe it's just me but I feel that "smaller" games fit DP more than big-budget games. I hope there's a spiritual successor to Full Throttle.
OmegaPirateon July 15, 2010 at 9:18 a.m.
Given how badly put together Brutal legend was, is this really a wise move?
EternalDarkWingon July 15, 2010 at 9:18 a.m.
@zonerover: Double² Fine
Zippedbinderson July 15, 2010 at 9:19 a.m.
I never cease to be amazed at the amount of people who disliked Brutal Legend, but to each their own. Tim and his talented studio making games is always great news, and I think a smaller, download based market might work better for them since their games have never been mass market. 
 
Lee Petty heading up anything is badass.
BigChiefon July 15, 2010 at 9:22 a.m.
I like the sound of this. Smaller games sound like they could work in Double Fine's favor, given the financial success of their last two games. Also glad to hear a lot more content is coming out, as over the last ten years they've only put out two games. Color me excited!
JackiJinxon July 15, 2010 at 9:24 a.m.
As long as they're good games, I'm all for it. I like Tim's humor.
Crono is online on July 15, 2010 at 9:41 a.m.
That is pretty intense.
anarchcorpon July 15, 2010 at 9:44 a.m.
More Double Fine is always good in my mind.
ribeyeon July 15, 2010 at 9:57 a.m.

QUADRUPLE FIIIIIINNNNNEEE!!!
MrKloroxon July 15, 2010 at 10 a.m.
Uh oh. I hope this works out for all of the games. But with two of them being downloadable, they're probably simpler projects to generate funding for the other two games.
ribeyeon July 15, 2010 at 10:03 a.m.
@Tesla said:
"I hope one of those games is Brutal Legend Remix.  Remove the bad RTS gameplay and just make it an open world Zelda/GTA type joint.  I wanted to like that game so badly, what a shame. "

i felt the same way about halfway thru that game, and i actually quit playing it for a month or two.  thought it kinda sucked, felt let down....then i fired it up again and had a blast finishing it off, once you really learn the controls for the RTS stuff it's not that bad.  i also think my mind was tainted by jeff's negatory comments about it on the bombcast.  if ur a fan of double fine in the least, you should give it another shot.  i wanted the same thing tho, just get rid of the RTS stuff entirely and it does still feel somewhat like they tried to cram too much in, but in the end i gave it a second chance and i'm glad i did
YoungFreyon July 15, 2010 at 10:04 a.m.
I'm very excited.  Ever since Brütal Legend tanked, I've been worried it would sink the studio.

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