THE RETRO GAMER GUIDE TO TIM SCHAFER & DOUBLE FINE
Tim Schafer has had an incredible career in videogames and his company, Double Fine, recently celebrated its 20th anniversary, which is an exceptional achievement that deserves to be celebrated in its own right (look out for a more in-depth feature later this year).
The following eight pages will look at many of the games that Tim has worked on throughout his tenure in videogame development, from his early work as a (sort of) tester, to the titles he now creatively oversees at Double Fine.
The Secret Of Monkey Island, Full Throttle, Grim Fandango and Psychonauts are just a few of the critically acclaimed games that helped cement Tim’s reputation in and beyond LucasArts, and highlighted just how diverse (and hilariously funny) videogames could be.
So join Tim in this classic feature as he talks about the challenges of making videogames across 30 years. You’ll discover that beyond simply designing and writing games he’s worn all sorts of different hats, including directing, voice acting and more. It’s a legacy to be proud of.
INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE: THE ACTION GAME 1989
TESTER (SORT OF)
I studied creative writing and computer science in college, and then I just happened to get that job at Lucas looking for programmers who could write, but they hired us, and they weren’t quite ready for us to work yet. They hired four, what they called, SCUMMlets, which are people who can use the language SCUMM, which is the internal house scripting tool.
So I started as a tester, I had a time sheet and I would be there all night. I remember I found a crash bug if you jumped off the tiles that spelled ‘Jehovah’, and I walked into the room to tell them all, and they looked at me like, “Jerk.” So saying that I worked on that game is a stretch, because it was only a few nights. But I was hired as a programmer. It would be dishonest to say that I started as a tester.
THE SECRET OF MONKEY ISLAND 1990
WRITER, DESIGNER
We first had SCUMM university, which was where we learned how to use SCUMM. People like Steve Purcell worked there doing art and would give us some art that he’d made, long before he made a game. We were just playing with that and learning how it works and Ron [Gilbert] would come up and teach us every day something new, they would come and check on our progress, and I think he was observing us and seeing what our styles were, because he then chose Dave Grossman and I to work with him on . He pitched the game to us, and we got to brainstorm with him and try to help with the puzzles. He had a kind of puzzle flow diagram, he had the story and stuff for the game, and then I started writing dialogue for it. It was always going to be a comedy, it was always a funny game,
