Grim Fandango
In his first lead role on a game project, Schafer co-designed (with Dave Grossman) "Day of the Tentacle", a time-travel comedy adventure and the sequel to Ron Gilbert's "Maniac Mansion". Schafer's first solo project, the biker adventure "Full Throttle", was released in 1995. He went on to design the highly acclaimed "Grim Fandango", a noir adventure game set in the Aztec afterlife featuring characters similar to the papier-mâché skeleton decorations from the Mexican holiday Dia De Los Muertos. "Grim Fandango" won many awards, including GameSpot's Game of the Year award of 1998.