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.
Double Fine is currently hard at work on the Heavy Metal Masterwork Brütal Legend, starring Jack Black and featuring the music and voice of the greatest names in the world of metal.
For employment enquiries, please check out our jobs page. For all other questions, please give our sometimes-monitored info line a try! (Don't take it personally if there is no response for a long time, because if you do take it personally, that will just make us defensive, and we'll just blame it on our spam filter anyway and then what are you going to do? Call us liars? That's no way to start a friendship.
Frequently Asked Questions
I love Psychonauts 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.
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?
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 to Psychonauts, please let us know!
What are you working on then?
We are working on a brand-new game, and it's name is Brütal Legend. The game stars the awesome Jack Black and features the music and voices of the greatest names in the world of metal. You will love this game because we are making it, specifically, for you.
OMG! Upon which platforms will I be able I play this amazing game Brütal Legend?
The currently-announced platforms for Brütal Legend are the XBOX 360, and the PlayStation 3.
What? No PC version? I've always hated you, Double Fine! Now I know why.
Please, no hate. No one ever said there WASN'T going to be a PC version.
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 didn’t you make Psychonauts for the GameCube? Do you hate Nintendo? And if that’s true, what’s your address, because I’m coming over to kill you right now. I’m going to show you my Pokemans, and it will be the last thing you ever see.
Settle down, fanboy. No one loves Nintendo more than me (well, maybe this guy). Most of my all time favorite games are Nintendo games. I have touched Shigeru Miyamoto with my bare hands!!! (He was very soft and pleasant.) Double Fine would love to make something for Nintendo’s fine machine, but it’s not up to us. It’s the publisher’s money, so they get to decide what platform to invest in. In other words, IT’S NOT OUR FAULT! I personally would have loved to make Psychonauts for the Game Cube. (Well, not literally me personally. I would have loved to tell someone else to make it, and I would have loved to watch them do it, and I would have loved yelling, “Faster! Faster!” as they worked.) I really hope we get a chance to make a game for the Wii some day. Why don’t you spam your favorite publisher with mail right now and ask them to send us money to make a Wii game? (And a little extra money for a pool table?)
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’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!)
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, just mail it in to the Double Fine Info Line, and I promise you, within the next ten years or so, one of our grumpy, unpaid interns might read it or delete it. But steps will be taken, rest assured.
