Psychonauts

In-depth review on a Double Fine classic

Psychonauts was the first title released by Tim Schafer’s company, Double Fine. Schafer is a popular computer game designer, and was the head designer for Psychonauts. Tim Schafer was previously a designer at LucasArts, and explained in an interview that he was persuaded by his friends that he should leave to start Double Fine (Gordon). He decided to create his company Double Fine, and then started on their first title, Psychonauts. Double Fine was a new independent company during the production of Psychonauts, so that they had many internal struggles regarding publishing deals, deadlines, and money. Schafer scored a publishing deal with Microsoft, but they asked for parts of the game to be changed, which created disagreements between the publisher and Schafer’s team (Rignall, McElroy). Schafer’s primary contact at Microsoft eventually left the company, which was shortly followed by Microsoft pulling their deal with Double Fine (Esmurdoc). The company’s finances dwindled and they risked closure, so that Tim Schafer resorted to calling upon Will Wright, previous owner of Maxis, for financial help (Orland). Wright’s aid allotted enough time for Double Fine to score the publishing deal with Majesco (Becker). They finally released the title in April 2005 with a budget of 11.8 million, after four and a half years of development (Esmurdoc). Despite positive critic reviews, Psychonauts would only sell 100,000 copies, making it a commercial failure (Staff). The title made more financial progress after Double Fine regained the publishing rights and released the game on Steam, so that today the title has gained a cult following in the gaming industry (Cifaldi). Double Fine has still struggled with financial instability as an independent company with other titles that, although have critical acclaim, do only average in sales (Staff). They have since begun utilizing Kickstarter as a way of funding their titles with such success that the long awaited sequel of Psychonauts 2 is in development (n.d). Psychonauts 2 was originally said to be released this year, but as expected with Double Fine, the game has been pushed back so that it will not release in 2018 (McWhertor).

The demographic around Psychonauts was formed mostly by Schafer’s following from his previous work at LucasArts, like the game titles Monkey Island and Grim Fandango. The majority of people that love Psychonauts, are mostly people that were already fans of Tim Schafer’s previous work and distinct writing style. On Double Fine’s forums for Psychonauts, these dedicated players talk about Schafer’s future projects and about which of his titles they think are the best (Fool 2007). Those that are fond of Psychonauts are players that are invested in titles with humorous, complex storylines. These characteristics are often found in adventure games which is not actually the genre of Psychonauts, but Schafer added these aspects to the title. Psychonauts is within the genre of platform game, also known as a platformer. In terms of game genres, a platform game is a type of genre in which the player moves their character over obstacles and across platforms to advance in the game (Willard). Many parts of games can overlap into multiple genres to make a complex and interesting title and that overlap seen within Psychonauts is a main aspect of why it is a cult classic today.

Psychonauts is a game title about a circus boy, Raz, that sneaks into a summer camp for kids with psychic abilities to become a Psychonaut before his dad comes to pick him up. Raz runs away from his former life as a member of his circus acrobat family so that he can gain the psychic abilities necessary to become a psychonaut agent. When he arrives, strange things start to occur so that he must not only become a psychonaut to become an agent, but also to save all the kids in the summer camp (Double Fine Productions 2005). The core way to progress in most levels is to get around obstacles and jump onto platforms. Raz is a former circus performer so that jumping, grabbing, and climbing are his most utilized moves. The geography is an important aspect of the game as each different level sets the rules for where Raz can or cannot go. In the “real world” Raz utilizes the trees and rocks to climb to high places. In each mind, the level’s terrain can differ, but the main mechanic of jumping and climbing is used throughout as a necessary way to progress. Most of the levels that Raz moves through are actually worlds he enters by traveling into people’s minds. Considering the character minds he delves into are so different, the world environment allows for a lot of uniqueness between levels. Despite the vast differences between the levels, all but a small few are platform driven. The game utilizes the terrain and environment a lot to influence how to advance in the levels, but ranking up and completing levels are still secondary to the storyline and characters.

Raz is the only playable character in the game, but there are many other characters within the game that guide Raz throughout his journey of saving everyone in the camp. The camper kids within the game are very basic functional characters that the player can interact with. The kids have extensive dialogue that can be followed through out the game. Even though nearly all the dialogue between these characters and Raz are purely optional and have no functional purpose to the game, the backstories on each of the children were worked on extensively by the creator, Tim Schafer. Schafer worked on the backstories and personalities of each camper to the extent that he created Friendster profiles for each camper to determine how each character would associate with other campers and represent themselves in the game (Gordon 2015). Another set of characters Raz must interact with are those that he enters the mind of. All these characters served as a way for Raz to exercise and learn psychic abilities and as a way to advance on his journey. Once Raz completes his task within a mind, there is usually a cut scene to tie up the loose ends, and then that character’s small story arc is completed.

The game title follows an embedded narrative game design, meaning that the narrative of the game is predetermined prior to player interaction (Egenfeldt-Nielsen). It has a long drawn out narrative with lots of backstory and cut scenes. The structure of the game is linear, but allows for some branching as there are side quests that can be explored before the main storyline. Linear structure usually does not allow for the player to feel as though they have freedom in the game, but the title creates the illusion of freedom through the extensive amount of platforming that is possible. Most of this seemingly free platforming is for the many side quests within the game revolve around collecting. Unfortunately, for some, these quests do not tie in well with the main storyline so that the collecting can feel forced and tedious to the player. Other players are quite fond of the large amounts of collecting in the game and believe finding all the collectables is rewarding. Another aspect of the game that some may be opposed to is the large amount of cut scenes. Cut scenes are an important aspect of Psychonauts. There is over 3 hours of cut scene material available within the title, but not all cut scenes are necessary or automatic to advance in the main story. Story is so important for this game, that Raz can collect vaults spread throughout levels that contain even more background story. Some believe that cut scenes take away from player freedom, but others believe these scenes are a reward from progressing though the game. Either way, the game’s rich story line guides the player’s understanding of why they are doing the things that they do, because they do not have much choice as to what they can do.

Psychonauts has varying game dynamics from fast paced fighting, to casual collecting. The variety is mostly segmented by world, so that the change in the gameplay is not too confusing to the player, but still can intermingle between stages of the game. Each world’s visuals aid the player in discerning what the dynamic of each level is; the tranquility of the jolly neighborhood in the milkman conspiracy level matches its’ slower paced trek to find the right puzzle objects, and Mila’s dance party level in which the upbeat disco theme creates a faster pace to match the racing and rolling on top of the levitation ball (Double Fine, 2005). Psychonauts is balanced throughout most of the game in increasing difficulty at the same rate of adding more psychic abilities to Raz so that he is more equipped to move past new obstacles. Each level usually correlates in some way to a new psychic power that Raz acquired, and the boss at the end of the level will have a weakness related to that same ability. This balance followed throughout almost the entire game, with the exception of the last level. By the last level, Raz has already accumulated all of the powers possible, so that the player is expected to use an amalgamation of all that they’ve learned. Unfortunately, the level was deemed far too difficult by many because of its overwhelming combination of platforming, evading a vast amount of unrelenting enemies, jumps that required perfect timing, all while making sure Oleander and his bunny were not harmed in the process. The balance was so off that in later release, Double Fine made the meat circus level less difficult (Battjes).

The game title, Psychonauts, would not generally be considered a serious game, but may still have some underlying edutainment aspects. The main storyline unfolds so that the main character, Raz, and the unsuspecting villain, Coach Oleander, accidentally meld minds to reveal a level shaped around their deepest fears. Within the level, Oleander is reverted back to his former kid-self, struggling to hid his pet bunny from his father, the butcher(Double Fine Productions). By completing the level, Oleander faces his fears and oppressed feelings to regain his normal personality and loses his villainous intentions. The level unpacks the dramatic results of a traumatic experience that can occur when left ignored. Psychonauts delves into the mind of many and depicts the events that affect the personality of each character. Many levels revolve around life altering events for each focus character, which show the player the fragility and complexity of the human mind. Psychonauts would probably not be perceived to be as villainous of a game as compared to FPS[first person shooter] game titles, because of its cartoonish appearance, but still depicts acts of violence against others. The title may be perceived as a risk because of its glorification of utilizing psychic powers to harm others within the game. Although psychic powers are not scientifically accredited in the real world, the implications of creating things to harm other people may be cause for concern.

Psychonauts is a cult classic for a reason. The obstacles Double Fine had to endure in order to produce Psychonauts were well worth the final payoff. Despite the amount of copies sold, there is a dedicated community that follows the game and that is a testament to the personal success of the title. The humorous dialogue and quirky characters that are weaved into the plot make for a platformer that peaks your interest as a player and maintains that interest throughout unravelling the mystery of Whispering Rock Summer Camp. The linear narrative sets the player on a narrow path through the story, but the expansive places to climb help counteract the limiting direction of the game. The dynamics of the game are nicely matched with each level and there is a nice balance between player ability and level difficulty. The use of psychic powers to harm others may be a perceived risk of playing the game, but I believe that playing the game would overall be more beneficial than the possibility of any adverse effects that stem from the concepts of the game.

Citations

(n.d.). Retrieved from http://psychonauts.com/psychonauts2/

Battjes, N. H., Poole, C., & Anderson, C. J. (2011, October 02). Double Fine Improves the Psychonauts Meat Circus! Retrieved from https://indie-games-ichiban.wonderhowto.com/news/double-fine-improves-psychonauts-meat-circus-0130270/

Becker, J. (n.d.). Majesco Entertainment. Retrieved from https://web.archive.org/web/20080802221058/http://www.majescoentertainment.com/news/display_news.php?id=90

Cifaldi, F. (n.d.). Psychonauts Publishing Rights Revert To Creator Double Fine. Retrieved from http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/35242/Psychonauts_Publishing_Rights_Revert_To_Creator_Double_Fine.php

Double Fine Productions. (2005). Psychonauts[Video Game]. San Franscisco: Majesco

Egenfeldt-Nielsen, S., Smith, J. H., & Tosca, S. P. (2013). Understanding video games: The essential introduction. Routledge.

Chicago

Esmurdoc, C. (n.d.). Classic Postmortem: Double Fine's Psychonauts. Retrieved from http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/251220/Classic_Postmortem_Double_Fines_Psychonauts.php

Fool, B. (2007, August 26). Shafer's best game poll. Retrieved from https://forums.doublefine.com/topic/17-shafers-best-game-poll/

Gordon, Jonathan. “10 Years of Psychonauts – In Conversation with Tim Schafer.” GamesTM - Official Website, 2 June 2015, www.gamestm.co.uk/interviews/10-years-of-psychonauts-in-conversation-with-tim-schafer/.

McElroy, J. (2015, May 21). Watch the terrifying market research that would have killed Psychonauts. Retrieved from https://www.polygon.com/2015/5/21/8637961/psychonauts-tim-schafer-marketing

McWhertor, M. (2017, December 21). Psychonauts 2 delayed past 2018. Retrieved from https://www.polygon.com/2017/12/21/16807572/psychonauts-2-delayed-2019-release-date-double-fine

Orland, K. (2018, March 22). How the creator of SimCity helped save Psychonauts. Retrieved from https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2018/03/how-the-creator-of-simcity-helped-save-psychonauts/

Psychonauts 2 Crowdfunding Campaign. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.fig.co/campaigns/psychonauts-2

Psychonauts ? r/PsychonautsGame. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.reddit.com/r/PsychonautsGame/

Rignall, J. ”I Don't Know if a Duck is Going to Swallow me Whole." The Tim Schafer Interview. (2015, December 30). Retrieved from https://www.usgamer.net/articles/Tim_Schafer_Interview

Staff, P. (2012, December 13). Double Fine Double Feature. Retrieved from https://www.polygon.com/features/2012/12/13/3726930/double-fine-double-feature-tim-schafer-dracogen-kickstarter

Willard, J. (n.d.). History of Platform Games. Retrieved from http://joshwillard.com/platformgames/