Double Fine Productions
Double Fine Productions is an award-winning, independent game development studio founded in 2000 by games industry veteran Tim Schafer. Located in San Francisco’s South of Market district, Double Fine is committed to making high-quality games with an emphasis on originality, story, characters, and fun.
In 2005, Double Fine released the critically-acclaimed Psychonauts, which won several awards including “Best Action / Adventure Game” from Official XBOX Magazine and “Game of the Year” from Eurogamer. G4TV and X-PLAY recently declared Psychonauts to be the #6 XBOX game of all time.
In 2009, Double Fine released the Heavy Metal Masterwork Brütal Legend, starring Spike VGA winner Jack Black and featuring the music and voice of the greatest names in the world of metal. Brütal Legend was the recipient of AIAS awards for both "Best Strategy/Simulation Game" and "Outstanding Achievement in Soundtrack."
After the release of Brütal Legend, Double Fine began simultaneous development on several smaller games. The first of these, the Halloween-themed RPG Costume Quest, was released in October of 2010 and was named Best Downloadable Game of the Year by the Spike TV VGAs as well as PSN Game of the Year by Playstation: The Official Magazine. It is available for download on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC (Steam).
Soon after that came Stacking, an adventure game set in a world of living Russian nesting dolls. Stacking was included in IGN's round-up of the Top 25 PSN games. It is available for download on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC (Steam).
In June 2011, Double Fine shipped the incredibly manly 3rd-person tower defense shooter Iron Brigade, (back then it was called Trenched) which scored a 9/10 review from Official Xbox Magazine. It is available for download on Xbox 360 and PC (Steam).
Double Fine has also released multiple titles using Kinect motion-sensing technology on Xbox 360. Released in October 2011, Sesame Street: Once Upon a Monster is set in a living storybook full of monster friends to meet and play with. It stars Elmo, Cookie Monster, Grover, Oscar the Grouch, and a whole cast of new, furry friends.
The studio's next Kinect game was Double Fine Happy Action Theater, which solves those annoying life problems like not being able to shoot magic from your fingertips and not having enough lava in your living room. A sequel is being developed and will be released soon!
In March 2012, Double Fine completed a successful Kickstarter campaign that set a record for the highest-earning video game project on Kickstarter. The studio is now developing the game that will directly result from that Kickstarter, with the team at 2 Player Productions filming the entire process for all to see! If you missed out on the Kickstarter, you can still become a slacker backer and get ongoing access to documentary episodes and development updates as they are released.
Double Fine is currently also developing The Cave, a new adventure game led by legendary designer Ron Gilbert (he makes us introduce him that way). It will ship in early 2013 as a downloadable game for PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3. I have to be completely honest here: All of those games are 100% A-MAZING.
For employment enquiries, please check out our jobs page. For press enquiries, email us! For all your other questions, keep reading!
Frequently Asked Questions
I love Psychonauts and Brütal Legend so much! Double Fine is the greatest company of all time!
That is not a question, but something about the way you talk tells me that you are a person of exceptional intelligence and good looks. I kind of understand why everyone likes you so much now. I predict an excellent year ahead for you and your family.
No really, I love Double Fine. How can I get more of your awesomeness?
Well you could always follow me on Twitter at TimOfLegend, or you could follow Double Fine, and there's always our Double Fine Productions Facebook page. Oh man, we're everywhere!
Where does the name “Double Fine” come from?
It comes from a sign on the Golden Gate Bridge that, until recently, said “Slow to 45 mph – Double Fine Zone.” I ingeniously selected the name Double Fine so that when people drove over the bridge they would see the name “Double Fine” and think, not just that we had purchased ad space on what must be the most expensive billboard in California, but that we owned the city and all of San Francisco had been declared to be a “Double Fine Zone.” I believe it did work for many years, confounding and intimidating our many, many foes. But for absolutely no good reason, the old sign is now flashing the less awe-inspiring message, “Speed limit 45 mph – Auto toll $5.” I mean, how are you supposed to name a game company after that? Don’t people even think these things through?
Are you guys making a sequel to Psychonauts or Brütal Legend?
Not right now, but we’d love to someday. If anyone out there has a few million dollars burning a hole in their pocket, and would like to help us make an excellent sequel, please let us know!
Didn’t that Notch guy say he would pay for Psychonauts 2? Why aren’t you making it yet? Where’s Psychonauts 2?
Hey. We would love to make Psychonauts 2. Love to. And yes, Notch implied he might be willing to help out. But funding a game as big as Psychonauts involves a lot of complexity and millions of dollars, so it’s going to take some figuring out. And maybe a couple other friendly investors. Plus, Tim is kind of busy with that whole Kickstarter thing right now. But I'm sure he's thinking about it every day.
How about a sequel to Grim Fandango, or Full Throttle, or Day of the Tentacle?
That would be fun, but we don’t own the rights to any of those games, so we can’t. Instead, we have to make up our own new stuff. Which is awesome.
Why no PC versions of Brütal Legend, Costume Quest, Stacking, or Iron Brigade?
We're working on it! We’re big fans of the PC and the freedom it allows for both players and developers. In the past, we haven’t always been able to put our games on all the platforms we’d like, but we’re doing our best to address that now. Psychonauts, Costume Quest, Stacking, Iron Brigade, and The Cave, and Brütal Legend are all now available for PC, and Double Fine Adventure has been announced for PC. You can't stop that train! The computer train! Beep beep!
Can I publish videos of your games on the internet?
Yes! You may even monetize them if you wish! Have fun with your walkthroughs and your Let's Plays and your blogs and vlogs and clogs. That's "cyber-logs", it's gonna be the next big thing.
What’s up with Meat Circus?
What’s up with Meat Circus is that you’re a sissy. Sure, sure, invisibility is very important when Raz’s dad is trying to knock you off those tight ropes. And your shield will bounce the knife thrower’s blades right into those spinning target wheels. And also you can throw a confusion grenade at that bunny and then just go pick it up, instead of trying to grab it with Telekinesis. Those things are also true. But the main point I’m trying to make here is that first one, about you being a sissy.
Why is there so much collecting in Psychonauts?
All good people like to collect things in games. I might be a little biased right now as I am currently re-obsessed with Animal Crossing and if I don’t complete my fish collection soon I’m going to kill myself. Seriously—when I caught my first Coelacanth I started screaming. It’s a mother effing living fossil my friend, and it lives in my house now. And you know, anyone who is incapable of feeling that sort of happiness, the pure joy of collecting, is not just dead inside, but rotting and putrid and crawling with maggots inside, except the maggots aren’t really crawling, they’re just swaying slightly in the wind, because even your maggots are dead.
But that’s just my opinion as a player. As a professional game designer, there is one thing that I have always believed: The player is always right.
But that doesn’t mean they are likeable, or smart. Oh sorry. Where was I? I’m still kind of wound up from that whole Coelacanth thing. I don’t know what I’m saying. Anyway, the point is, in summary, that I am right.
Hey, why did you never answer my mail where I asked for advice about getting into the games industry?
Because I’m a jerk, that’s why. I have a ton of mail just like yours piled up in my inbox and I am deeply ashamed and more sorry than you could imagine. I don't even want to talk about the old info line. We had a mail account that we tricked interns into reading for us but then they left and I forgot the password and so no one has opened the info line in YEARS. It's all full of viagra spam and amazing offers from publishers to fund games I'm sure.
Anyway, about you and your totally reasonable plea for advice: I’ve put off responding because I’ve been working on this one, big, all-encompassing “how to get into the games industry” article for years. I just can’t seem to finish it. But it’s going to be awesome. In the mean time, here’s some advice: Don’t be a fool, stay in school!
Can I send you my idea for a game?
You should hang on to that idea until you’re ready to make it yourself. Because if you send it to us, our lawyers will jump on it like a hand grenade and not ever let us see it, for reasons only they understand. I’m sure your idea is great, though, and you should really try to make it some day. So stop showing it to people or else it’s going to get ripped off (by someone far less scrupulous than us).
Are adventure games dead? If yes, then what killed adventure games?
Next person to ask me this gets a punch in the mouth.
Are games art?
Zzzzzz. Oh, sorry, could you repeat the question? I fell asleep.
Are you guys hiring?
Holy sh** we are hiring. Dude, why don’t you work here? Double Fine is, I can objectively say, the greatest place to work in the universe. We have a small team, everybody gets to contribute to the design, the sodas are free, and no one has ever been permanently killed on one of our ski trips. We have health care, vision, dental, and sometimes pie. We don’t care what you do, if you are awesome, we want you. Pick the job that best applies, and apply!
Do you guys have an internship program?
Not officially, but somehow interns keep sneaking in the door. And then, a few months later, they run out again screaming. But what the heck, if you love Double Fine, but you hate money, why not mail our internship hotline. (Shhh! It’s really just our regular jobs mail address. Don’t tell them. Interns are easily fooled!)
Can I write a glowing feature, review, or preview about Double Fine or its games?
You sure can! Email our press contact address for any requests!
What is the Secret of Monkey Island?
You know who you should ask about that is this guy. He loves that question. He’ll pretend not to answer the first few times, but keep asking! Don’t give up!
Wait, you didn’t answer my question!
If you have a question not already answered here, why not try contacting me, Tim, on Twitter? I'm @TimOfLegend and Double Fine is @DoubleFine. I sometimes reply. Unless you ask about Psychonauts 2 or Brütal 2, etc, in which case I will just send you back to this FAQ page. Hopefully you will only go through three or four loops before you figure out what is happening and not get stuck in some horrible/wonderful Twitter/Double Fine feedback loop. If you are, then you've probably read this sentence 1,000,000 times.
Contact Us!
Game or site support: support@doublefine.com
Double Fine store issues: shop@doublefine.com
Press/media enquiries: pr@doublefine.com
Business enquiries: bizdev@doublefine.com
Other stuff: info@doublefine.com
