From Lucasarts to Double Fine productions, the cult game maker tells all
From the comedic swashbuckling adventures of Guybrush Threepwood in The Secret of Monkey Island to the critically acclaimed noir stylings of Grim Fandango, Tim Schafer has made his mark on the games industry by creating adventure games featuring witty narratives and mind-bending puzzles.
In this interview, Schafer discusses his career spanning from the AAA publisher and developer Lucasarts (formed by George Lucas) to his own company Double Fine productions.
Dialogue has always played a huge role is Schafer’s games, and here he explores how finding the right voice actor has as much of an impact on an audience’s reaction to a character as their visual design.
He also reminisces about the huge impact 3D graphics had on adventure gaming, and how while creating Grim Fandango he looked to traditional Mexican sculptures from ‘Day of the Dead’ festivities to help him to overcome the graphical limitations of the emerging technology.