Double Fine’s Tim Schafer & Lauren Scott on Psychonauts 2 & more Stevivor's Friendly Fire Show

Psychonauts 2 is right around the corner, and Stevivor was given a once in a lifetime opportunity to speak with industry legend Tim Schafer alongside Senior Systems Designer Lauren Scott about the project, 20 years of Double Fine, accessibility, Achievements and much, much more.



You can listen to the full interview as part of a special Friendly Fire Show podcast episode, or simply refer to the handy transcript that follows below.







Steve Wright, Stevivor: First off, congratulations to 20 years of Double Fine – either 20 years of Double Fine proper, or working at a company that has 20 years of history behind it. How are you enjoying this moment?



Tim Schafer, Double Fine: Well, I mean, anyone who's been in the indie studio knows it's like a rollercoaster, and so just surviving is a huge thing. Like just, you know, 'cause we made some tough choices along the line to be not just surviving but intact with what we think is our culture -- our special culture -- intact and still making fun creative games and always doing it like, Frank Sinatra, Double Fine does it their way.



But, you know, [we’re] still really proud of our games. We don't feel like we've had to compromise anything like that to stick around. But we're very fortunate and we had a great team -- a series of teams - over the years that have led to that success.



Stevivor: Lauren, is there a bit of comfort or safety going into a company that has such a long history instead of a startup or like a new indie studio that you know may or may not be here in a year or two?



Lauren Scott, Double Fine: I mean, it's pretty cool. It's pretty nice. The two places I’ve worked before this were established, as well. But it's sort of a different feel when you have you know, people that literally worked on the first game like so many years ago and have been here since the studio’s inception and are still like really excited about being here.



It's a different feeling than a studio that's been around forever, but maybe churn through a lot of people.



Stevivor: Tim this is more to you: how important was it to get the old gang back together, or was it equally important to find some sort of new blood balance for Psychonauts 2?



Schafer: We both want to appeal to new gamers and also really, it’s very important with a game like Psychonauts -- with a very devoted following -- to be very true to what fans of the first game expect, what they loved about the first game.



There's a certain trust when you start a game, you can almost tell right away if you feel like you can trust the developer. So we have to earn that right away with Psychonauts, and the part of that is so important is it starts with the first initial concept art; being able to get our original concept artist[s] back, Scott Campbell and Peter Chan. And the music will set the mood right away that feels very familiar, from Peter McConnell. And… some of the same programmers and the same modelers obviously lend a lot to it feeling like, “ah. This is the Psychonauts world,” and the actors -- getting Richard Horvitz back -- and all the actors.



And then, to bring in new fans, what can we do to make things better and what can we expand upon? And that's where we have new people like Lauren who are working on the design and bringing new ideas for combat and exploration and economy.







Stevivor: Now it's still kind of insane to me that if we think about Psychonauts 2 six or seven years ago, this kind of got off the ground because of Fig. Now flash forward to today, and if Psychonauts 2 wasn't a thing I'm sure you could maybe walk up to Phil [Spencer] now and just be like, “I want to make Psychonauts.”