Tim Schafer

**Tim Schafer** is a computer game designer, the founder of Double Fine Productions, its creative director and the mind behind *Psychonauts*, *The Cave*, *Grim Fandango*, *Brütal Legend*, *Full Throttle* and several other game hits.

## History

In 1989, Schafer graduated from the University of California, Berkeley and went to work for LucasArts. Schafer was assigned to work on *The Secret of Monkey Island*, which released in 1990. In 1993, Schafer and fellow writer Dave Grossman (who helped Schafer with *Monkey Island*) began their first project, *Day of the Tentacle* (which had some voice actors who also voiced in *Psychonauts*). Schafer's first solo project was *Full Throttle*, a biker adventure game, released in 1995. In 1998, Schafer released *Grim Fandango*, an adventure game that drew inspiration from legends of the Aztec afterlife and films such as *Casablanca* and *The Maltese Falcon*.

In January 2000, Schafer left LucasArts to found Double Fine Productions. Double Fine had their first release, *Psychonauts* (Xbox), on April 19, 2005. They would later release various games such as *The Cave*, *Broken Age*, and future *Psychonauts* games.

## Games Released

### LucasArts

* *The Secret of Monkey Island]]* (1990)
* *Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge* (1991)
* *Day of the Tentacle* (1993)
* *Full Throttle* (1995)
* *Grim Fandango* (1998)

### Double Fine Productions

* *Psychonauts* (2005)
* *Brütal Legend* (2009)
* *Costume Quest* (2011)
* *Iron Brigade* (2011)
* *Stacking* (2012)
* *Iron Brigade* (2012)
* *The Cave* (2013)
* *Broken Age* (2014)
* *Hack 'n' Slash* (2014)
* *Spacebase DF-9* (2014)
* *GangBeasts* (2014)
* *Massive Chalice* (2015)
* *Headlander* (2016)
* *Psychonauts: In the Rhombus of Ruin* (2017)
* *Everything* (2017)
* *Gnog* (2017)
* *Full Throttle Remastered (2017)*

*(Please note that this list may not be complete.)*

## Trivia

* Schafer, being a prolific and sometimes even controversial figure in the gaming industry, has been referenced, mentioned and even lampooned in video games by other developers.
	+ The game *Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire* jokingly lists Tim Schafer in its credits as "Never actively tried to sabotage the project". According to Tim, this was a light-hearted jab in reference to the hectic production cycle of *Grim Fandango*, another LucasArts game.
	+ A much less friendly parody came from developer *Running With Scissors*. In *Paradise Lost*, an expansion DLC for their game *Postal 2*, Tim Schafer and Double Fine are viciously parodied as a corrupt, money-grubbing company that releases buggy, unfinished games and profits off microtransactions. The player may even kill a Schafer lookalike, but has the option to leave him alone. Even *Psychonauts* is parodied as *Psychonuts: The Seminal Adventure That'll Squeeze Out Trusting Fans For Years to Come*, a reference to the fact that many of Tim's detractors believe Double Fine hasn't made any games that raised to the level of quality Psychonauts reached.
* In October 2006, Tim Schafer received a BAFTA video game Best Screenplay award for *Psychonauts*.

## External links

* Tim Schafer's company weblog
* What does the game industry have against innovation? (a news feature centered on Psychonauts, with comments from Schafer)
* "Tim Schafer on Taking Risks" (D.I.C.E. Summit 2005)
* "Tim Schafer on Memorable Character Design" (GDC 2004, audio recording)
* Tim Schafer on the *Monkey Island* Wiki
* Trip to Double Fine from The International House of Mojo
* Return to Double Fine from The International House of Mojo
* Tim Schafer at Wikipedia
* Tim Schafer at IMDB
* Tim Schafer at RAWG
* Tim Schafer at Mobygames