Double Fine

• 1. Introduction

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  In February 2012, the San Francisco studio Double Fine Productions asked strangers on Kickstarter to pay for a new adventure game. The full funding goal arrived in under nine hours of a month-long drive. Within a day the project had passed a million dollars, and for a short while it was the most funded and most backed campaign the site had ever hosted.

  Yet Double Fine's first two games had both fallen short of what publishers hoped for, even as critics praised them. So how did a studio with that record become a reference point for crowdfunding in games? What kept it alive in the lean years before the crowd arrived? And what happens to an independent spirit when one of the largest companies in the business buys the studio? The answers begin with a former clog shop, a sign on a famous bridge, and a two-week exercise in deliberate forgetting.

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• 2. Clogs and Camp

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  In January 2000, Tim Schafer left LucasArts, the company where he had just finished producing the adventure game Grim Fandango. The game earned critical praise but disappointed at the till. LucasArts was steering away from adventures toward action titles, as much of the industry was doing. Colleagues were drifting out the door, and Schafer was unsure of his own place there. Some of them suggested starting a studio together.

  Double Fine was founded in July 2000. Schafer began with two programmers, David Dixon and Jonathan Menzies, in a San Francisco space that had once been a clog shop. Several months went into a demo of what would become Psychonauts. Only then did a mix of Grim Fandango veterans and new hires arrive in a slow trickle to start full production.

  The name is a joke about the Golden Gate Bridge. A sign there once warned motorists they were entering a double fine zone, where traffic penalties were twice the normal rate. The studio's logo and mascot is the Two-Headed Baby, usually shortened to 2HB.

  Psychonauts starred Raz, a psychically gifted boy who sneaks into a summer camp for psychic children. He wants to join an elite group of psychic heroes, the Psychonauts. Raz was named after the studio's animator, Razmig Mavlian. The game reached Windows, PlayStation 2 and Xbox. Reviewers loved it, but sales were slow at first. Even so, the Game Developers Conference named Double Fine its Best New Studio in 2006.

  The second project was Brütal Legend. Its hero, Eddie Riggs, is a heavy metal roadie thrown into a fantasy world where demons have enslaved humanity. His name nods to Eddie the Head, the Iron Maiden mascot, and to Derek Riggs, the artist who drew it. Schafer has said the game drew on the lore, fantasy themes and Norse mythology that run through metal lyrics and album art.

  Electronic Arts published it in North America on the 13th of October 2009, on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, with a Windows version following later. But the road to that release was rough. Activision had gained the rights through its merger with Vivendi Games, and it decided to drop the project, leaving Schafer to find a new publisher.

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• 3. Amnesia Fortnight

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  Around 2007, with Brütal Legend still in production and its future uncertain, Schafer tried to lift morale. He split the staff into four groups for two weeks. Each group was told to forget the main game, which explains the word amnesia, and to build a playable prototype for the others to judge. The four results were Custodians Of The Clock, Happy Song, Love Puzzle and Tiny Personal Ninja. Near the end of the main project the exercise ran again and produced Costume Quest and Stacking.

  Schafer credits the idea to the Hong Kong director Wong Kar-Wai. During the three-year shoot of Ashes of Time, Wong took some actors and crew away to film footage for fun. That footage became Chungking Express and Fallen Angels, which Schafer pointed out are among the director's better-known films. Schafer eventually signed a publishing deal with Electronic Arts for Brütal Legend.

  Then the deal soured. After Brütal Legend shipped, Double Fine started on a sequel, but Electronic Arts decided against publishing it and development stopped. With no other publisher waiting, Schafer returned to the eight prototypes. He believed they could grow into short, complete games. He had also watched small, focused titles like Geometry Wars do well on download services, and saw a market there. The team picked the best four and shopped them around.

  THQ took Costume Quest and Stacking, and both were released digitally on Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network. Both did well, and THQ wanted more like them. Iron Brigade began as the Custodians Of The Clock prototype in 2008-2009. It first appeared as Trenched, and a trademark problem forced the rename. Built as an Xbox Live Arcade game with Microsoft Game Studios, it drew praise from journalists. Sesame Street: Once Upon a Monster grew out of Happy Song. Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment published it with Sesame Workshop for Xbox 360 and Kinect. The prototype had not started as a licensed game, but the team found it an ideal fit for one. Official Xbox Magazine named Double Fine its Developer of the Year in 2011.

  Each team was led by a former Brütal Legend lead. Tasha Harris took Costume Quest, Lee Petty took Stacking, Brad Muir took Iron Brigade and Nathan Martz took Once Upon a Monster. This put experienced people in charge and helped promote them. The rest of the staff were spread across the four teams. Nobody was laid off. Instead, Double Fine hired Ron Gilbert, Schafer's former collaborator at LucasArts.

  The last private fortnight came in 2011. It produced Middle Manager Of Justice, a superhero simulation, Whispering Rock Psychic Summer Camp, a camp-building game based on Psychonauts, and Brazen, a four-player online co-op game in the style of Monster Hunter. The studio then settled into teams of about 15 people, each able to make a small game alone. For a big project like Psychonauts 2, two or more teams merge for a while, and can split apart again afterward.

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• 4. Votes and Prototypes

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  In November 2012, Double Fine and Humble Bundle announced Amnesia Fortnight 2012, a charity drive that opened the process to the public. Anyone paying at least US$1 could vote on 23 concept ideas. The five most popular became prototypes, and buyers of the bundle received them. In order of votes, they were Hack 'n' Slash, Spacebase DF-9, The White Birch, Autonomous and Black Lake. Hack 'n' Slash was a puzzle game inspired by The Legend of Zelda, where players hack at the world to solve problems. Spacebase DF-9 was a space simulation. Buyers also got early versions of Costume Quest, Happy Song and Brazen. The 2 Player Productions team filmed the work.

  The Indie Fund said at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in 2013 that it was backing two Double Fine titles. The first, revealed on the 15th of October 2013, was Spacebase DF-9. It reached Steam Early Access as an alpha and was shaped by player feedback. Development was then abruptly canceled at version Alpha 6e, and the next patch became the finished game, source code included. The sudden end caused a backlash, and the game now has more negative reviews than positive ones on Steam. The second Indie Fund title, revealed on the 10th of December 2013, was Hack 'n' Slash, which reached Early Access in the first half of 2014. Autonomous took a different route. It was released free for the Leap Motion controller on the 18th of November 2013.

  Amnesia Fortnight 2014 began in February with another Humble Bundle drive, this time with 29 concept ideas. Donors who paid more than the average also voted on a prototype led by Pendleton Ward, the creator of Adventure Time. Four pitches were built: Dear Leader, an emergent narrative game led by Anna Kipnis, Little Pink Best Buds, led by Ward, Mnemonic, a surreal first-person noir led by Derek Brand, and Steed, a storybook game led by John Bernhelm. Buyers who paid at least US$35 also got a Blu-ray of the filming. One idea, Bad Golf 2, missed the cut. Fans took it up themselves with the blessing of its originator, Patrick Hackett, and the studio's permission.

  The third public round came in April 2017. Voters picked two of 25 prototype videos, The Gods Must Be Hungry and Darwin's Dinner. Schafer chose a virtual reality party game called I Have No Idea What I'm Doing. The team chose Kiln, a four-player competitive game, to keep some control away from the vote. Three fan pitches also became prototypes: Pongball, The Lost Dev Team and Amnesia Adventure. The fans behind the top pick, Pongball, were mentored by Double Fine developers.

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• 5. Crowd Money

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  In March 2011, a Twitter exchange between Tim Schafer and the investor Steven Dengler opened a new funding door. Schafer had remarked that bringing Double Fine's games to personal computers would cost a lot. Dengler asked for a figure. Schafer thought he was joking and offered about US$300,000. Real talks followed, and Dengler's company, Dracogen, signed a first deal to bring Psychonauts to macOS and Costume Quest and Stacking to Windows.

  A second deal covered three iOS games. The first was Middle Manager of Justice, the superhero-management idea from an earlier Amnesia Fortnight. Some of its superhero drawings came from Dengler's own children. It reached iOS in December 2012, and the Android version followed on the 14th of August 2013. Dracogen also financed Dropchord, a motion-based rhythm puzzle game. It was a launch title for the Leap Motion Airspace store when the controller went on sale on the 22nd of July 2013. By 2012, Dengler had put in about one million dollars. Schafer said the arrangement had paid off for both sides, and that it let the studio imagine self-publishing a top-budget game.

  The Kickstarter campaign came in February 2012, announced with 2 Player Productions under the codename Double Fine Adventure. Nathan Stapley, a Double Fine artist, was to create the art. The studio turned to the crowd because adventure games were seen as a niche and a commercial risk. It sought US$300,000 for development and US$100,000 for filming the process. In April 2012, the Pebble watch passed its backer record.

  The game was built with Moai, Double Fine's own development environment, and became Broken Age. Act 1 came out in early 2014 and Act 2 in April 2015. A second campaign began on the 30th of May 2013 for Massive Chalice, a strategy game for Windows, macOS and Linux directed by Brad Muir. Years later, Psychonauts 2 also raised more than US$3 million from backers, matching the total for Broken Age.

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• 6. Publishing Both Ways

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  "We've changed our relationship with publishers," Schafer told the news site Polygon. He said publishers used to be the studio's only source of income. After self-publishing, he explained, Double Fine could pick partners who shared its goals. The crowd money gave Double Fine leverage in choosing whom to work with, but it did not end publisher deals.

  In February 2012, Microsoft Game Studios published Double Fine Happy Action Theater on Xbox 360 Kinect. It was more an interactive toy than a game, putting players into scenes like walking through lava or playing in a giant ball pit. It was Schafer's first directing job since Brütal Legend in 2009. The idea came while he worked on Once Upon a Monster, when his young daughter struggled with the Kinect's precision. Its sequel, Kinect Party, arrived in December 2012.

  On the 22nd of February 2012, Double Fine filed a trademark for The Cave. The studio confirmed it was unrelated to the Kickstarter project. In May the studio revealed that The Cave was an adventure and platform game by Ron Gilbert, made during his time at Double Fine. Sega published it in January 2013. Gilbert left on good terms to pursue other work.

  At PAX Prime 2013, Double Fine revealed My Alien Buddy, free content for The Playroom on PlayStation 4. The player plays with a deformable alien toy, and the game drew on the studio's Kinect experience. It came out on the 24th of December 2013. The year's end brought harder news. On the 21st of November 2014, a publishing deal fell through. Double Fine had to cancel an unannounced project and let 12 staff go. Meanwhile, after the THQ bankruptcy, Nordic Games gained rights to Costume Quest and Stacking, plus distribution rights to Psychonauts. In a deal, Double Fine took over all publishing rights, while Nordic Games restarted retail copies of all three in early 2014.

  In March 2014, Double Fine started publishing other studios' games under the name Double Fine Presents. The idea grew out of Amnesia Fortnight 2014, when local independent developers worked alongside the studio while cameras rolled. Double Fine offered funding, publishing, promotion and office space. Chief operating officer Justin Bailey said the aim was to help indies "build their own community and empower them with the knowledge and tools they need to succeed on their own."

  The first title was Escape Goat 2 by MagicalTimeBean, introduced with a humorous video shot during the 2014 Game Developers Conference week. Next came Last Life by Rocket Science Amusements, for which Double Fine helped prepare a Kickstarter campaign. Third was Mountain by David OReilly, a procedural terrarium with a minimalist, zen-like feel. The fourth was the multiplayer brawler Gang Beasts by Boneloaf, which launched into Steam Early Access on the 29th of August 2014. GNOG, a puzzle-adventure, followed in 2016.

  The studio also won back old favorites. It obtained rights to remaster the LucasArts adventures Grim Fandango, Day of the Tentacle and Full Throttle. Since 2012, Double Fine and iam8bit have hosted an annual free festival in San Francisco. It offers food, drink and playable demos of unreleased indie games.

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• 7. The Microsoft Years

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  On the 9th of June 2019, during Microsoft's press conference at E3 2019, it was announced that Double Fine had become part of Xbox Game Studios. Microsoft had already taken over publishing Psychonauts 2. Schafer said the studio would keep its independent nature without hunting for publishers, a problem it had faced before. He also praised Xbox Game Pass, the subscription service. Psychonauts and its sequel, he felt, did not look like games people would pay full price for. A subscription lowers that barrier.

  A month before Psychonauts 2 launched in July 2021, Schafer said he was happy with how Microsoft was handling things. He called the arrangement a "limited integration." Double Fine kept control of creative decisions, while Microsoft managed the finances. The team could finish the game without feeling a budget squeeze. In February 2023, Double Fine and 2 Player Productions released PsychOdyssey, a 22-hour documentary on the making of Psychonauts 2.

  In September 2019, Schafer said the future of Double Fine Presents was unclear. It would likely stop publishing, though the studio would probably keep supporting independent developers through Day of the Devs events. The outcomes varied. Ooblets chose to self-publish, and Knights and Bikes stayed under the label. By June 2020, Gang Beasts had also turned to self-publishing, noting that Double Fine's publishing was "winding down."

  In August 2025, Schafer said the studio was working on original properties, among them Keeper, with Lee Petty as lead developer. He said there were no current plans for Psychonauts 3 or Brutal Legend 2, despite requests from players. On the 7th of May 2026, Double Fine submitted its application to unionize within the Communications Workers of America.

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• 8. The Comics Corner

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  For years, the Double Fine website hosted a collective of webcomics, made by members of the art team and published in Adobe Flash. Each had its own tone, but all echoed the eclectic humor of Psychonauts. The longest-running was Double Fine Action Comics by Scott Campbell, known as Scott C. It follows the Two-Headed Baby, a strongman and a knight. Two astronauts named Captain and Thompson joined later, and a mummy, a frogman and a naked ogre drifted through. Each strip carries a small unrelated drawing at the top, sometimes titled "Mysterious Happiness!"

  The strip reached its 400th comic in December 2006. In August 2011, Campbell hinted at an ending by deflating the Two-Headed Baby. The comic was revived in May 2012, then went back on hiatus a few months later. The first 300 strips became a paperback in 2008 with a foreword by Schafer. Another 200 followed in 2013, with a foreword by Erik Wolpaw.

  Razmig Mavlian, the animator Raz was named after, made two comics. Epic Saga is styled like an adventure game such as King's Quest or The Secret of Monkey Island. Its last two strips were arcade-style countdown screens, suggesting cancellation or a pause. His other comic, Happy Funnies, is wordless, with smiling characters in absurd situations. Epic Saga became the first of the comics to be turned into a free Flash game, Epic Saga: Extreme Fighter, by Klint Honeychurch.

  Nathan Stapley drew My Comic About Me, a semi-biographical strip. It sets jokes about his hair and clothes beside adventures with Indiana Jones, Chewbacca from Star Wars and O-Ren Ishii from the Kill Bill films. It became the second comic made into a Honeychurch game, My Game About Me: Olympic Challenge. In that game, events such as eating and sleeping sit alongside surfing, with obstacles to dodge.

  Mark Hamer made Snapshots, formerly Polaroids. He paints realistic pictures resembling Polaroid photographs, each with a joke along the bottom. The strips were compiled in 2013 into a book with a foreword by Schafer and an introduction by Scott Campbell.

  The fifth comic, by Tasha Harris, was added in January 2008. It is a semi-autobiographical serial about the author, her boyfriend and two cats. After she left Double Fine in September 2011, it moved to her personal blog, Tasha's Quest Log, and updates continued until 2013. It was the third comic made into a Honeychurch game. In Tasha's Game, a puzzle-platformer, her cat Snoopy acts as a cursor that places platforms so she can reach her rescued family and co-workers.

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