Double Fine turns to fans for funding
By
Brendan Sinclair, Senior Editor
[UPDATE] Psychonauts studio sets up Kickstarter project to raise $400,000 for an old-school adventure game; backers to receive early access to game, documentary from team behind Minecraft: The Story of Mojang.
Double Fine Productions is exploring some alternate means of getting games funded. Earlier this week, Minecraft creator Markus "Notch" Persson offered to help the studio jumpstart a Psychonauts sequel, and today the studio set up a Kickstarter project to raise $400,000 to make an old-school adventure game.
The project, dubbed Double Fine Adventure, is set to be an old-school point-and-click PC adventure game, much like the kind Double Fine founder Tim Schafer and designer Ron Gilbert made in their days at LucasArts. Gilbert made his name with titles like The Secret of Monkey Island and Maniac Mansion, while Schafer left his own mark with Maniac Mansion 2: Day of the Tentacle and Grim Fandango.
The development of the new game will be documented at every turn by 2 Player Productions, which created the Kickstarter-funded documentary Minecraft: The Story of Mojang. All backers who contribute $15 or more will get access to the serialized documentary, as well as early access to a PC beta and a copy of the finished game (both through Steam). Signed posters, original art, and lunch with Schafer and Gilbert are among the perks backers can get at higher tiers.
"Keeping the scale of the project this small accomplishes two things," Double Fine's Kickstarter page explains. "First and foremost, Double Fine gets to make the game they want to make, promote it in whatever manner they deem appropriate, and release the finished product on their own terms. Secondly, since they're only accountable to themselves, there's an unprecedented opportunity to show the public what game development of this caliber looks like from the inside. Not the sanitized commercials-posing-as-interviews that marketing teams only value for their ability to boost sales, but an honest, in-depth insight into a modern art form that will both entertain and educate gamers and non-gamers alike."
The game is expected to be ready in October, although Double Fine notes that "making games is hard" and the developers will give the project as much time as it needs to live up to the studio's standards. As for what happens should they surpass their funding goal, Double Fine will put additional funds first toward Mac and iOS versions of the game.
Double Fine is not the first established developer to turn to Kickstarter for funding. Tony Hawk: Ride developer Robomodo did the same last year for a Kinect game called Bodoink. That project was unsuccessful, with an aim to raise $35,000, but just over $5,500 pledged.
[UPDATE] Just hours after launching the Kickstarter campaign, Double Fine has amassed over $500,000 from over 11,000 backers, well exceeding the targeted $400,000 goal.
By
Brendan Sinclair, Senior Editor
Brendan Sinclair has been a games journalist since 1999. His tastes are eclectic, though he has a definite affinity for games with arcade roots. He's Canadian, but has also been at home in Atlanta, Austin, Chicago, and San Francisco.
42 comments
Let's hope they use this money to make something better than Brutal Legend. BL was trash. I lost a ton of respect for Double Fine after playing that game.
$1,236,913 at the time of this comment. Wooow. Thats incredible and kind of inspiring, I love DoubleFine.. Another Grim Fandango please, that game has never left me. Still.. So I just happily gave 15 bucks to a great video game developer without any coaxing needed, but I won't as happily give away 15 bucks to fund food for third world places or charities and so forth.. I wonder why the connection isn't there
Count me in, if it means less mediocre sequels then I'm all for it. Plus Schafer makes awesome stuff.
This may be a great new way of funding projects, get the early funding and make some form of playable prototype, then get a Publisher involved and the rest is easy.
Wooo, at this rate they can go from small titles right to being able to make all their own funding!
not good enough, i want some of the profits. People gotta be Psychonauts to do this. Give your money so they can get rich....WTF. GTFO !
I did like Brutal Legend, I wished I could see the end of that story someday. But I seriously am thinking to back them up. If this works out, it would be great. I dare say this is the only way to get creative now as publishers are only applying cookie cutter models that have been proven successful (there are a few exceptions, but very few).
What amazes me the most is the generosity among gamers. Or is that determination? A healthy chunk of both I presume. Either way, makes me proud to be a part of this community.
AWESOME!!!!!!! This is the way it ought to be!!! Screw evil bastards like EA, Square-Enix & Disney etc. Instead, funded by the gamers, for the gamers. Genius! Now if we can just use the same model in politics......if you're an American vote for Ron Paul i guess, he's probably the closest to this kind of movement "by the people, for the people".
Holy crap they are up to $570k! Go Double Fine! By the way, I would LOVE to see a Psychonauts sequel.
I would love to see a Psychonauts 2 game. Can we still donate even if they've already reached their goal? I want a copy of the game as well. I loved Grim Fandango and Maniac Mansion. If the extra money could go into Psychonauts 2, I'm down with that as well.
550,000 plus already .... they should this more often ... genius, and now we get a Double Fine point n click adventure game by the end of the year ... YES!
So i dont think Double fine makeing enough money for psn and xboxlive tiltles so they need help and if the 2nd game dont work double fine srew be the end for that company.
I guess with something like this, you can officially say, "I helped make a great video game."
TAKE. MY. MONEY. ALL. OF. IT. Hell they should take any extra money they get over $400k and start working on Psychonauts 2.
This is crazy. I wish I could afford more than $15 to help support them, but I truly believe they will raise more than enough for this project. I've been watching the site here and there today and if they keep it up, they will reach their goal overnight. I can only imagine what the extra 32 days will net them. I have mad respect for Double Fine and don't doubt that my money is going to a great cause.
When a company figures out a profitable way to do something like this on a console.............
TAKE MY MONEY TIM, TAKE AS MUCH AS YOU NEED. An old-school point and lick adventure game made by Tim Schafer or a sequel to psychonauts, one of the best games on the ps2? maybe with more funding double fine will stop being goaded by MS into making crappy kinect games. Maybe they could fit a Stacking 2 in there somewhere. One of the best storefront-only games of this gen.
This is a chance for players to put their money where their mouth is. They say that the corporate structure naturally lends itself to greed and safe game making with minimal risks. If the below comments are any indication, we're looking at some people enthusiastic enough to basically pay more than $60 for a game. So far so good. :)
I grew up on their point and click adventure games with LucasArts. To this day, some of the most memorable and replayable games I've ever played. I've never dealt with kickstarter before but I think this may be the cause that I can throw money at. Cheers, Double Fine!
I'm down for this. I just bought a copy of Psychonauts on Steam last night after reading about Notch possibly helping with a sequel.
From the Double Fine website: "Pledge $30,000 or more: Picture of Ron Gilbert smiling. Pledge $35,000 or more: Undoctored picture of Ron Gilbert smiling." Sounds worth it, lol. But in all seriousness, ever since Minecraft, a few devs seem willing to give early access plus a few perks to those who pay. Sounds good to me!
They're already standing at around ~55k and it's going up fast. Schafer and Gilbert working on a adventure game again, should be awesome. Really hoping that it gets successfully funded (and then some) and can't wait for the final product!
what this sounds sweet maybe it will work unfortunately mister schafer i don't know that you will make it to your goal but it's a great idea all the same
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Psychonauts
- Publisher(s): Majesco Games
- Developer(s): Double Fine Productions
- Genre: Action
- Release:
- Classification Board: M
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