--- title: PsychOdyssey EP16 - “Written into a Corner” date: 2023-01-20T13:16:00-08:00 author: Harper Jay canonical_url: "https://www.doublefine.com/dftv/psychodyssey-ep16-written-into-a-corner" section: DFTV Videos --- [Watch on YouTube: Written into a Corner](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqozV9v_7Y8) [View transcript ](https://www.doublefine.com/dftv/psychodyssey-ep16-written-into-a-corner#transcript) # Written into a Corner A new art director is hired to help smooth out the relationship between the art and design teams. [ Download Video ](https://archive.org/details/Double_Fine_PsychOdyssey) Duration: 39 minutes and 25 seconds long Published: January 20th 2023 [psychodyssey](https://www.doublefine.com/search/tag/psychodyssey)[psychonauts 2](https://www.doublefine.com/search/tag/psychonauts-2)[making of psychonauts 2](https://www.doublefine.com/search/tag/making-of-psychonauts-2)[documentary](https://www.doublefine.com/search/tag/documentary) [ NEXT EPISODE ](#) [![](https://assets.doublefine.com/shared/news/2023/02/PsychOdyssey-Cover.jpg)**PsychOdyssey** 4KClosed Captions](https://www.doublefine.com/dftv/psychodyssey) ## Episode Stills Gallery - [![Double Fine PsychOdyssey - Episode 16 - Frog And Pidgey](https://assets.doublefine.com/shared/dftv/psychodyssey/stills/Double-Fine-PsychOdyssey-Episode-16-Stills-01.jpeg)](//assets.doublefine.com/shared/dftv/psychodyssey/stills/Double-Fine-PsychOdyssey-Episode-16-Stills-01.jpeg "Double Fine PsychOdyssey - Episode 16 - Frog And Pidgey") - [![Will mugs for the camera and Ben stares off to the left in the foreground, while Emily and Andy chat in the background.](https://assets.doublefine.com/shared/dftv/psychodyssey/stills/Double-Fine-PsychOdyssey-Episode-16-Stills-06.jpeg)](//assets.doublefine.com/shared/dftv/psychodyssey/stills/Double-Fine-PsychOdyssey-Episode-16-Stills-06.jpeg "Double Fine PsychOdyssey - Episode 16 - Will and Ben and Emily and Andy, oh my") - [![Andy attempts to maintain order while James Marion, dressed in a white uniform as Boyd the Milkman, threatens to burn the studio down.](https://assets.doublefine.com/shared/dftv/psychodyssey/stills/Double-Fine-PsychOdyssey-Episode-16-Stills-02.jpeg)](//assets.doublefine.com/shared/dftv/psychodyssey/stills/Double-Fine-PsychOdyssey-Episode-16-Stills-02.jpeg "Double Fine PsychOdyssey - Episode 16 - I Am The Milkman") - [![Double Fine PsychOdyssey - Episode 16 - Lisette](https://assets.doublefine.com/shared/dftv/psychodyssey/stills/Double-Fine-PsychOdyssey-Episode-16-Stills-07.jpeg)](//assets.doublefine.com/shared/dftv/psychodyssey/stills/Double-Fine-PsychOdyssey-Episode-16-Stills-07.jpeg "Double Fine PsychOdyssey - Episode 16 - Lisette") - [![Double Fine PsychOdyssey - Episode 16 - Andy And Ryan](https://assets.doublefine.com/shared/dftv/psychodyssey/stills/Double-Fine-PsychOdyssey-Episode-16-Stills-03.jpeg)](//assets.doublefine.com/shared/dftv/psychodyssey/stills/Double-Fine-PsychOdyssey-Episode-16-Stills-03.jpeg "Double Fine PsychOdyssey - Episode 16 - Andy And Ryan") - [![Double Fine PsychOdyssey - Episode 16 - Tim's not sure](https://assets.doublefine.com/shared/dftv/psychodyssey/stills/Double-Fine-PsychOdyssey-Episode-16-Stills-04.jpeg)](//assets.doublefine.com/shared/dftv/psychodyssey/stills/Double-Fine-PsychOdyssey-Episode-16-Stills-04.jpeg "Double Fine PsychOdyssey - Episode 16 - Tim's not sure") - [![Tim stands before a whiteboard with concept drawings of the super cool Psychonauts interns. Emily and Ryan observe in the foreground.](https://assets.doublefine.com/shared/dftv/psychodyssey/stills/Double-Fine-PsychOdyssey-Episode-16-Stills-05.jpeg)](//assets.doublefine.com/shared/dftv/psychodyssey/stills/Double-Fine-PsychOdyssey-Episode-16-Stills-05.jpeg "Double Fine PsychOdyssey - Episode 16 - Intern Board") ## Episode Transcript 11 secondsLISETTE: The stakes are higher, which is why the pressure is higher. 14 secondsAnd everybody is being pickier. 15 seconds-JEREMY: There is a lot of pressure. -LISETTE: It's sequelitis. 17 secondsLISETTE: It's all the things. 18 secondsGEOFF: If you get too into your own head... 22 secondsyou are just going to drive yourself crazy. 24 secondsBecause that absolutely happened to people on the first game. 27 secondsJAMES: Mm-hmm. 28 secondsYou know what else happened? 31 secondsAll the level designers got fired. 33 seconds\[GEOFF CHUCKLES\] 34 secondsThat's not going to happen. 35 secondsWe have this community of people who are expecting this amazing thing... 38 seconds-...that we all feel pressure to deliver. -To sell really well... 41 seconds-...so they make money. -And you are never gonna make them happy. 43 secondsSo, don't even think about it. 44 secondsLet's just accept we are not going to make a lot of money. 45 seconds\[GEOFF LAUGHS\] 46 secondsIf we can get, like, sixty percent, we are good. 49 secondsThat better not be our Metacritic. 51 seconds\[GEOFF EXPLODES IN LAUGHTER\] 52 seconds\[MUSIC\] 1 minute and 25 secondsWe don't have that yet. 1 minute and 26 secondsWe don't have a mental world 1 minute and 27 secondswhere you are feeling like you are having surreal fun yet. 1 minute and 29 secondsLike we don't have an Art Director yet. 1 minute and 31 secondsThat's really crazy to me. 1 minute and 32 seconds-JAMES: Octopus. -TIM: Spinning wheels. 1 minute and 34 secondsTIM: Octopus is spinning wheels. 1 minute and 35 secondsAll the dealers are octopuses. 1 minute and 37 secondsTurn them off. 1 minute and 38 seconds\[LAUGHTER\] 1 minute and 39 secondsBEN: We hit on some really cool gameplay stuff 1 minute and 41 secondsthat the book theming lent itself to. 1 minute and 43 secondsTIM: Like: "Oh, that was a surprising thing. That was cool." 1 minute and 46 secondsGAVIN: Uh, level stuff... 1 minute and 47 secondsWe are going through and implementing more stubs. 1 minute and 50 secondsUh, have that kind of complete. 1 minute and 52 secondsSo, that feels like something-- So, when we play through it, 1 minute and 54 secondswe actually have cutscene content in there. 1 minute and 56 secondsHollis is doing low-detail representative meshes, 1 minute and 59 secondsscripting action paths for tournament intersection, 2 minutes and 2 secondsfountain areas. 2 minutes and 3 secondsAnd a bunch of representative work on the casino brain. 2 minutes and 7 secondsUh... 2 minutes and 9 secondsCassie. Low-detail representative meshes. 2 minutes and 13 secondsUh, scripting action paths, library, Shanghai garden, and school, 2 minutes and 16 secondsand representative props for the library. 2 minutes and 18 secondsUh, HQ interior. Continued work on atrium. 2 minutes and 23 secondsAnd then, writing, which, uh... 2 minutes and 26 secondsZAK: That looks like all the ones from the last sprint 2 minutes and 27 secondsrolled over to this sprint, so... 2 minutes and 31 secondsYes. So, we have a big list, and we have to talk to him. 2 minutes and 34 secondsOkay, yeah, we need to narrow that down to something that is actually deliverable. 2 minutes and 38 secondsGAVIN: Any questions or anything else anybody wants to talk about? 2 minutes and 42 secondsIf not, then we are done. 2 minutes and 44 secondsCool! 2 minutes and 45 seconds-Yay! -\[CLAPPING\] 2 minutes and 47 secondsJAMES: Um, so, then... 2 minutes and 48 secondsThis is the other big path that I worked on this sprint, um... 2 minutes and 51 secondsRYAN: Oh, set it up for us before we start! 2 minutes and 53 secondsOkay. 2 minutes and 54 secondsWhere are we in the level? 2 minutes and 56 secondsJAMES: So, imagine the octopus is, like, attacking you and stuff. 2 minutes and 58 secondsIt's very cool! 2 minutes and 59 secondsChips are-- chips are falling over. 3 minutes and 2 seconds-GEOFF: Okay. -JAMES: And that's what this is. 3 minutes and 4 secondsDon't sound so skeptical! 3 minutes and 6 seconds-\[RYAN LAUGHS\] -Geoff does sound very skeptical. 3 minutes and 8 secondsNo, no, no, no. My only skepticism comes into: 3 minutes and 11 seconds"Do we have the time to build a giant, uh, Uncharted set piece action path?" 3 minutes and 17 secondsRYAN: I think there are some cheap ways to go about doing it 3 minutes and 19 secondsthat don't involve it being as expensive as an Uncharted set piece. 3 minutes and 24 secondsWhat matters here is seeing-- at pretty key points seeing, like, 3 minutes and 28 secondsa tentacle moving and doing something in front of you. 3 minutes and 30 secondsAnd then, you do more stuff. 3 minutes and 32 secondsAnd then, again, a tentacle moves and does something in front of you. 3 minutes and 34 secondsJEREMY: That would look really cool! 3 minutes and 36 secondsJAMES: But yeah, so, that's the action path. 3 minutes and 37 secondsAnd you get to the actual roulette wheel part. 3 minutes and 40 secondsIt doesn't have to be, like, this fully dynamic, like... 3 minutes and 43 seconds(But what if it was?) 3 minutes and 44 secondsBecause we can't... afford it. 3 minutes and 45 secondsAs much as I want that in there... 3 minutes and 47 secondsJAMES: No, I mean, the idea is really just that it should feel 3 minutes and 49 secondslike it has been an escalation with the octopus. 3 minutes and 51 secondsThat's the really important thing. 3 minutes and 52 secondsGEOFF: Well, I mean, she could actually be chucking things at you the entire time. 3 minutes and 55 secondsAnd that are not aimed at you at all, but they are just, like... 3 minutes and 58 seconds\[GEOFF VOCALIZES AN OBJECT FLYING BY\] 3 minutes and 59 seconds-RYAN: I think that's the idea. -Those are cheap. 4 minutes and 1 secondGEOFF: We thought about all of these things. 4 minutes and 3 secondsWe just have to make sure we don't go beyond them. 4 minutes and 4 secondsJAMES: Oh, it's going to happen. It's just whether-- I mean, it's just-- 4 minutes and 8 secondsI'd rather overdesign the exciting moments, 4 minutes and 10 secondsand then get told I need to cut back than make a bunch of boring areas. 4 minutes and 15 secondsUm, but the game needs, like, exciting moments. 4 minutes and 17 secondsLike, it can't all just be... areas you enter and explore. 4 minutes and 22 secondsWe have to at some point, like... do things. 4 minutes and 24 secondsANDY: Thank god! 4 minutes and 29 secondsWhat's everyone's plans for tonight? 4 minutes and 30 secondsRYAN: Cool, yep, that's-- that's it, then? 4 minutes and 32 secondsANDY: Typing up the notes from this meeting. 4 minutes and 34 seconds-Yeah, that's it. -Thank you, thank you. 4 minutes and 36 secondsPAUL: Tell us about how everything is going? 4 minutes and 37 seconds-Ugh... just in general? -PAUL: Yeah, sure. 4 minutes and 40 secondsWell, everything is going great! 4 minutes and 42 secondsNext question. 4 minutes and 43 secondsNo, it's... 4 minutes and 44 secondsEverything is, uh, moving along. 4 minutes and 46 secondsWe are at the point... 4 minutes and 48 secondsI mean, to be honest, I wish we were further along than we are. 4 minutes and 53 secondsI'd like to have a couple of levels in the bag. 4 minutes and 55 secondsAnd we don't. 4 minutes and 56 secondsANDY: I mean, the reason I'm getting fighty is because we've got-- 4 minutes and 59 secondsPaul is a great asset. 5 minutes and 1 secondAnd he is-- and he is-- he's got nothing to do! 5 minutes and 3 secondsHe is building, like, the hot tub, and the bar, and stuff. 5 minutes and 6 secondsSo, it's, like... I'm pushing, 5 minutes and 8 secondsand I think I'm making-- 5 minutes and 10 secondsSome people are like: "Well, we are not ready yet." 5 minutes and 11 secondsI'm like: "Can we get ready? What can we do? 5 minutes and 13 secondsAnything! I'll take anything!" 5 minutes and 14 secondsBut I'm pushing to try to-- Because I want to get-- 5 minutes and 17 seconds-ANDY: I want to start building-- -JEREMY: We need to give you stuff. 5 minutes and 19 secondsANDY: ...world bits! I want to start building metrics pieces. 5 minutes and 22 secondsI want to start building, like, actual stuff. 5 minutes and 24 secondsThe reason we put these levels together. 5 minutes and 26 secondsANDY: Um, sometimes it is frustrating to me, because I want-- 5 minutes and 29 secondsI just-- I'm me, and I want things done. 5 minutes and 32 secondsI want-- I want to check something off. 5 minutes and 33 secondsI have a list of checkboxes, I want to clear one. 5 minutes and 36 secondsAnd that drives me! 5 minutes and 38 secondsBut if the creative direction is... 5 minutes and 41 seconds"We-- we decided that this is what has to happen." 5 minutes and 44 secondsThen: "All right." That's: "You got it!" 5 minutes and 46 secondsYou know? 5 minutes and 47 secondsThere is a team of fifty-something people working on this game. 5 minutes and 50 secondsAnd the man-month is a value-- is a real thing. 5 minutes and 54 secondsAnd it's an awesome idea to think we can work on a game... 5 minutes and 58 secondsforever. 6 minutes and 0 secondsBut-- and people love making video games! It's so much fun! 6 minutes and 3 secondsPeople like getting paychecks. 6 minutes and 5 secondsEMILY: Uh, this was-- I was doing a master Cassie room. 6 minutes and 9 secondsZAK: So, this is not the scene where she is written into a corner? 6 minutes and 11 secondsUh, this is-- this is that room, yeah. 6 minutes and 14 secondsZAK: Okay. 6 minutes and 15 secondsTIM: Well, like, my counter argument to that is, like, 6 minutes and 17 secondsthis is supposed to be, like, the one picture that sets up her problem. 6 minutes and 21 secondsSo, the idea before was that she was in this room with, like... 6 minutes and 24 secondsThere is all this writing and scribbles around. 6 minutes and 26 secondsAnd she was literally written into this one little empty spot in the corner. 6 minutes and 29 secondsSurrounded by her words. 6 minutes and 32 secondsAnd she was stuck. Like, she had this paralysis. 6 minutes and 34 secondsAnd I don't know if that narratively has stayed 6 minutes and 35 secondswith the level as it is designed. 6 minutes and 38 secondsBut if you came in here and saw her just chilling in her living room. 6 minutes and 40 secondsI think you would just, you know: 6 minutes and 41 seconds"Ah, she's fine. Maybe this is what she looks like." 6 minutes and 42 secondsBEN: That's a good point. 6 minutes and 43 secondsBut that doesn't look like any problem. That looks like... 6 minutes and 46 secondsLike, I would love to chill out in that little corner and be happy. 6 minutes and 48 seconds-\[TIM CHUCKLES\] -BEN: Yeah, yeah. 6 minutes and 49 secondsZAK: Uh, and the thing I'm still most concerned about 6 minutes and 51 secondswith this area is the actual, like, on the ground structure. 6 minutes and 56 secondsLike, where are you exploring? 7 minutes and 0 secondsBecause this is all sort of just, like, loose dioramas and it is-- 7 minutes and 3 secondsI don't-- I still don't know what the area is. 7 minutes and 7 secondsIt needs to be made concrete in very short order. 7 minutes and 10 secondsUm, just because it's-- 7 minutes and 12 secondsIdeally, that was the kind of thing that we should've handled during whitebox one. 7 minutes and 15 secondsSo... 7 minutes and 16 secondsWILL: But, yeah, there is-- there is a little pressure to, uh... 7 minutes and 20 secondsto execute on what everyone was like: "Oh, yeah, that looks right!" 7 minutes and 24 secondsYeah, I think there is a lot of key stuff that's... 7 minutes and 28 secondsIt's not available to us yet. 7 minutes and 30 secondsIt's, like-- They have sort of proven it out 7 minutes and 32 secondsin a very isolated space. 7 minutes and 35 secondsBut then actually putting into levels, uh, we always sort of get stopped in a way. 7 minutes and 40 seconds"Oh, no, it's not good right now. Don't put this..." 7 minutes and 42 secondsSo, we are missing, like, very core stuff. 7 minutes and 45 secondsLike, clone combat, and portals, and 2D. 7 minutes and 48 secondsLike, actual 2D platforming. 7 minutes and 50 secondsI feel like a lot of the teams are still getting-- 7 minutes and 52 secondsare just on their first levels. 7 minutes and 54 secondsI think a lot of people are still kind of figuring out 7 minutes and 56 secondswhere they fit in on this thing. 7 minutes and 58 secondsWhich is also why, I think, things are taking a little longer. 8 minutes and 0 secondsI don't think everything is gelled yet. 8 minutes and 3 secondsZAK: Go, team! 8 minutes and 7 seconds-We have to leave. -\[LAUGHTER\] 8 minutes and 11 secondsZAK: James is forever frozen in that pose 8 minutes and 13 secondsuntil somebody picks it up. 8 minutes and 14 seconds\[MUSIC\] 8 minutes and 15 secondsANDY: And I think this is the first game that, like, Double Fine had designers on 8 minutes and 20 secondsfor quite some time. 8 minutes and 22 secondsLike, a full-on-- like, a Level Designer role. 8 minutes and 24 secondsSo, I think there is a little bit of: "What does that person do exactly? 8 minutes and 27 secondsAnd how do they interact with the World Builder? 8 minutes and 29 secondsAnd what's the delineation of work between those two people?" 8 minutes and 33 secondsAnd we are still-- we are still hiring people. 8 minutes and 35 secondsSo, we are still putting a team together. 8 minutes and 37 secondsWhich is interesting in a lot of ways. 8 minutes and 39 secondsANDY: So... what are we going to do? 8 minutes and 43 secondsANDY: Because we want-- we talked about-- 8 minutes and 44 secondswe want to make sure that we are not kicking these down the road. 8 minutes and 47 secondsWe want to be stern about what-- where it's at. 8 minutes and 49 secondsWe totally haven't hit representative on any of these levels at all. 8 minutes and 51 secondsIf we-- We know we are not there. 8 minutes and 53 secondsCan we take apart why we are not there? 8 minutes and 55 secondsAnd try to come up with, like: "All right. I think we need this much more time." 8 minutes and 58 secondsThe other thing I want to do, and I talked to Ryan about this, 9 minutes and 0 secondsis find a way to pull him off of levels. 9 minutes and 2 seconds-At least for the midterm. -Yeah, I agree. 9 minutes and 3 secondsAnd he is just going to do management. 9 minutes and 5 secondsManagement, review, feedback, direction, all of that. 9 minutes and 7 seconds-Because I need him focused on that. -I agree. 9 minutes and 9 secondsZAK: Level quality from the design stand point. 9 minutes and 11 secondsHe just needs to be doing that full-time for a while. 9 minutes and 15 secondsSo, we have to figure out another way to work around that. 9 minutes and 17 secondsWhat's going on? What's going on today? 9 minutes and 20 secondsUh, okay. 9 minutes and 21 secondsSo, yesterday I-- Really I just went back through 9 minutes and 24 secondsand was playing through the level, looking for broken paths, and stuff like that. 9 minutes and 27 secondsJust kind of cleaning up stuff. 9 minutes and 28 secondsThere is, um... 9 minutes and 29 seconds\[MUSIC\] 9 minutes and 30 secondsANDY: Here is my take on it. 9 minutes and 32 secondsI think the game's leads started 9 minutes and 36 secondsand have been on this game for, I mean, over a year now. 9 minutes and 40 secondsStarted the design process, and writing all the documentation, 9 minutes and 43 secondsand putting together the prototypes, and building the stuff, 9 minutes and 46 secondswith themselves. 9 minutes and 47 secondsFrom a full hands-on: "I am going to be the Lead, 9 minutes and 51 secondsbut I'm also going to be responsible for a certain amount of assets." 9 minutes and 54 secondsYou can't be a really good effective Lead 9 minutes and 56 secondswho is looking at all the work that's happening, from all the teams, 9 minutes and 58 secondsand giving feedback, 9 minutes and 59 secondsand be building your own level at the same time. 10 minutes and 1 secondAnd then, the bigger the game gets, 10 minutes and 3 secondsthe more people that come on to the team, 10 minutes and 5 secondsthe more voices you have pulling at you: 10 minutes and 8 seconds"Can you check this out? 10 minutes and 9 secondsI need to know what you think of this. 10 minutes and 11 secondsCan you read this document? 10 minutes and 12 secondsI have a question about this thing. 10 minutes and 14 secondsCan I have a meeting with you about this topic? 10 minutes and 16 secondsOr how this works, or how this-- 10 minutes and 18 secondsWhat's the plan for this element?" 10 minutes and 20 secondsIt just goes on, and on, and on. 10 minutes and 21 secondsAnd the more-- the bigger the team gets the more demand there is. 10 minutes and 25 secondsAnd I think that's what's happening. It's just, like, you have to be there 10 minutes and 28 secondsto kind of help everyone else with their goals. 10 minutes and 30 secondsAnd make sure-- and you have to know everything that is going on. 10 minutes and 32 secondsBecause your goal is to make sure that that plugs into that. 10 minutes and 34 secondsThat everything strings together and it works. 10 minutes and 36 secondsLike, Geoff is awesome. 10 minutes and 38 secondsGeoff is probably one of the fastest builders we have. 10 minutes and 41 secondsBut he is also one of the best people at eyeballing something, 10 minutes and 44 secondsand knowing what it takes to get it done, efficiently. 10 minutes and 46 secondsSo, his input on a lot of the other builders' work 10 minutes and 49 secondsis super important because of that reason. 10 minutes and 51 seconds\[MUSIC\] 10 minutes and 54 secondsWhatever Geoff has on his plate to make, 10 minutes and 57 secondswe have to make sure that it's not-- he is not overtasked, 10 minutes and 59 secondsbecause there is still a lot of stuff he needs to help other people with. 11 minutes and 4 secondsAnd it's super important. 11 minutes and 5 secondsPerhaps even more important. 11 minutes and 6 secondsAlso, push him a little harder. 11 minutes and 8 seconds-GAVIN: Yeah. -GEOFF: Yeah. 11 minutes and 9 secondsRYAN: Because we are going to have to come back to Bob Z. 11 minutes and 10 seconds\[GEOFF LAUGHS\] 11 minutes and 12 secondsI actually added that in into the schedule. 11 minutes and 15 secondsIt's really helpful to be able to talk to them. 11 minutes and 17 secondsAnd, uh, it kind of sucks that it comes at the cost 11 minutes and 20 secondsof them not being able to work on their own stuff. 11 minutes and 23 secondsBut, uh, if that's what they have decided, then I just have to trust them on that. 11 minutes and 28 secondsBut, yeah, it is very helpful to be able to talk to them on a regular basis. 11 minutes and 32 secondsYeah. 11 minutes and 33 secondsUh, I'm crossing my fingers that nobody dies. 11 minutes and 36 seconds-That's going to be terrible. -I hope no one dies. Mm-hmm. 11 minutes and 38 secondsANDY: How do we find the time we need? 11 minutes and 40 secondsBut in the short term, like, we are-- we are still making levels. 11 minutes and 44 secondsWe are still-- we are still making everything we intend to make. 11 minutes and 47 secondsAnd that's the plan. 11 minutes and 48 secondsPAUL: Now, to specifically think about, uh, Tim's role in this one, um... 11 minutes and 54 secondsHe is mostly just focused on writing. 11 minutes and 56 secondsAnd he helps the different teams when he can. 12 minutes and 0 secondsAnd that's been useful. 12 minutes and 1 secondBut, um, how has his pace been 12 minutes and 4 secondsin terms of being able to deliver those writings? 12 minutes and 7 secondsOutwardly, it seems like he's actually been 12 minutes and 9 secondssort of ahead of the curve on this project. 12 minutes and 11 secondsTim's pace is good. Tim's pace could be better. 12 minutes and 13 secondsThe limiting factor is the actual writing of the script. 12 minutes and 16 secondsOf course. 12 minutes and 17 secondsThere is no point where, I think, we are getting scripts delivered so fast 12 minutes and 20 secondsthat our ability to scratch and stub them falls off. 12 minutes and 24 secondsWell, theoretically, we should be. 12 minutes and 26 secondsTheoretically, we should be, but that's not the problem we have. 12 minutes and 29 secondsLike, so, we'll talk about that problem when that problem exists. 12 minutes and 31 secondsRight now, the problem is that there is not enough 12 minutes and 33 secondsat the beginning of the pipe. 12 minutes and 34 secondsWe don't have a jam at the end of the pipe. 12 minutes and 36 secondsTheoretically, we could. 12 minutes and 38 secondsIf we were getting eleven scripts this sprint. 12 minutes and 40 secondsYes, I think we'd have some issues with getting them all scratched. 12 minutes and 43 secondsWe are not getting eleven. 12 minutes and 45 secondsPAUL: Do you ever feel a sense of futility with what you are doing? 12 minutes and 49 secondsJust pushing that out there for you guys to digest 12 minutes and 52 secondsand do whatever you want to do with that information. 12 minutes and 55 secondsI'm out! 12 minutes and 56 seconds\[LAUGHTER\] 12 minutes and 58 secondsANDY: The level writing... 12 minutes and 59 secondsI mean, there is a lot-- there is a lot there. 13 minutes and 1 secondZAK: Yeah, because the goal for this milestone, 13 minutes and 3 secondsthe December milestone, 13 minutes and 4 secondsis to have not only the scripts written up until Cassie, 13 minutes and 8 secondsbut have them stubbed into the game. 13 minutes and 10 seconds-What's that date again? -ZAK: Huh? 13 minutes and 12 seconds-December... -ZAK: December 15th. 13 minutes and 14 secondsZAK: 2017. 13 minutes and 16 seconds-2017?! -ZAK: Yeah. 13 minutes and 18 secondsANDY: And-- and, uh... 13 minutes and 20 secondsInevitably there will be a big deadline, 13 minutes and 22 secondsand there will be a lot of crunching on writing. 13 minutes and 24 secondsIt's going to happen. 13 minutes and 25 secondsI think that's just the way it goes. 13 minutes and 26 secondsAnd when you are working with someone like Tim... 13 minutes and 28 secondsTim's got his creative process. 13 minutes and 29 secondsAnd it is what it is. 13 minutes and 31 secondsWhat are you going to do? Rush it? You can't. 13 minutes and 33 secondsTIM: She is really mad, but if I wanted to get her back in... 13 minutes and 37 seconds...feeling some closeness with Raz is that she-- 13 minutes and 40 secondsPossibly she has done this in the past, like she did-- 13 minutes and 42 secondsI really liked that about it. 13 minutes and 43 secondsI liked the idea that she did this to a professor that fucked with her. 13 minutes and 45 secondsOh, yeah. She did-- Oh, was that what it was going to be? 13 minutes and 47 secondsJAMES: So, the idea was that the professor was racist 13 minutes and 49 secondsand stole her work. 13 minutes and 51 secondsAnd she decided to just be like: "I'll just go fix his brain." 13 minutes and 54 secondsAnd he went crazy. 13 minutes and 56 secondsOh! We, uh... 13 minutes and 57 secondsAt some point we talked about the idea that the Psychonauts came in 14 minutes and 0 secondsand fixed his brain after she messed it up. 14 minutes and 2 secondsAnd that's how she got introduced to the Psychonauts in general. 14 minutes and 5 secondsWhich can be kind of cool. 14 minutes and 7 secondsYeah. 14 minutes and 9 secondsTIM: Um... or she... 14 minutes and 10 secondsI can't figure out what it is, but I feel like there's gotta be something 14 minutes and 12 secondswhere she at least learned something about-- 14 minutes and 16 secondsSomehow helps her let go of that old experience or something. 14 minutes and 19 secondsJAMES: Mm-hmm. 14 minutes and 21 secondsTIM: Um, doing writing I, um... 14 minutes and 24 secondsSome of the stuff has taken longer than I... planned. 14 minutes and 27 secondsBecause... there is a secret-- 14 minutes and 29 secondsthere is a secret task in writing that you don't-- 14 minutes and 31 secondsYou know, people know that when you do a character, 14 minutes and 33 secondsyou have to concept it, and then you have to get orthos, 14 minutes and 35 secondsand you have to model it, and you have to rig it, and you-- 14 minutes and 37 secondsThere is all these steps to getting it done. 14 minutes and 38 secondsBut to get a scene done, people... 14 minutes and 41 secondsEven me, if I just think: 14 minutes and 42 seconds"Oh, I gotta write-- sit down and write that scene." 14 minutes and 44 secondsBut there are all these preliminary steps. 14 minutes and 45 secondsLike, I have to kind of get the backstories together 14 minutes and 47 secondsfor every character that is in the scene. 14 minutes and 50 secondsIs this a Tim meeting? 14 minutes and 51 secondsOr are we watching Tim eating? 14 minutes and 53 seconds-ZAK: Tim eating meeting. -Just a Tim eating meeting? 14 minutes and 55 seconds-Careful, Tucker. -What? 14 minutes and 56 secondsYeah, yeah, thin ice. 14 minutes and 58 seconds-You were opening the chips. -\[CHUCKLING\] 15 minutes and 1 secondI don't want any of your fat shaming in here. 15 minutes and 4 secondsWith the next scenes that I'm doing, 15 minutes and 5 secondsit involves all these interns, and I realized, like: 15 minutes and 7 seconds"Ooo, I haven't figured out who these people are exactly." 15 minutes and 10 secondsSo, I'm going and writing backstories for all six interns. 15 minutes and 14 secondsUm, and not delivering any scenes the whole time I'm doing that. 15 minutes and 18 secondsHi, guys! 15 minutes and 19 secondsThank you for helping me out! 15 minutes and 21 secondsI have to kick out a whole bunch of backstory concepts for these characters. 15 minutes and 25 secondsBut it's really more about-- almost, like, free associating with these characters. 15 minutes and 29 secondsThings that could have happened to them, things they might be good at, 15 minutes and 31 secondsthings they might care about. 15 minutes and 32 secondsAnd then, I'm trying-- I'm trying to fit it all together later. 15 minutes and 35 secondsHere is the only thing I know about all of the interns. 15 minutes and 37 secondsHe likes Morrissey. We all know that, right? 15 minutes and 40 secondsSee, I was going to suggest Joy Division, but... 15 minutes and 43 secondsLook at him! Look at his pompadour, 15 minutes and 45 secondsand his little flannel, and his... wheelchair. 15 minutes and 48 secondsWe are talking about Aaron as being, like, the-- 15 minutes and 50 seconds-ZAK: Groomed. -Yeah, sort of being groomed... 15 minutes and 52 seconds...to be the next, like, big, cool, amazing Psychonaut. 15 minutes and 55 secondsTIM: That could be why. Because he is so talented. 15 minutes and 58 secondsRYAN: Maybe, yeah. Maybe they are trying to, like, get him 15 minutes and 59 secondsto actually engage with it. 16 minutes and 1 second-TIM: And he possibly is Lili's ex? -JAMES: Lili shouldn't have an ex. 16 minutes and 5 seconds-Shouldn't have an ex? -RYAN: She is too young. 16 minutes and 7 secondsJAMES: Yeah, and she also seems so innocent. 16 minutes and 8 secondsEMILY: It's like holding hands when you are in, like, elementary school. 16 minutes and 11 secondsWhy do you think it's not innocent to have an ex? 16 minutes and 13 secondsI have a phone call. 16 minutes and 14 seconds-Oh, Jesus fucking Christ! -Hello? 16 minutes and 16 secondsOkay, one bad thing that happened to all of them. 16 minutes and 18 secondsWell, her parents died. 16 minutes and 19 secondsWhat is-- was his psychic abilities that led him to an accident? 16 minutes and 24 secondsLike, he tried to fly before he really could control it. 16 minutes and 27 seconds-Yeah. -TIM: Psychic accident? 16 minutes and 29 secondsEvery time she stops someone's head from exploding, she shrinks a little bit. 16 minutes and 32 secondsOkay, that's about my time, you guys. 16 minutes and 33 secondsI think there is a lot of really good ideas here. 16 minutes and 35 secondsTIM: I have to, um... know who the characters are. 16 minutes and 38 secondsI have to maybe solve some logic problems about, like: 16 minutes and 41 seconds"How do they know this, and how do they know that?" 16 minutes and 43 secondsThere is a lot of, um, planning that you have to do before you are done. 16 minutes and 46 secondsAnd actually sitting down to write the scene can take, like, three hours. 16 minutes and 50 secondsOnce you have all that done. 16 minutes and 51 secondsBut you have to get all this stuff done beforehand. 16 minutes and 54 secondsAnd, I don't think that process of writing has been exposed a lot to, um, producers, 17 minutes and 1 secondor even that I'm aware of it myself sometimes. 17 minutes and 3 secondsYou are putting off writing the scene, 17 minutes and 4 secondsand you realize this-- you are putting it off, 17 minutes and 6 secondsbecause you don't know what you are doing yet. 17 minutes and 8 secondsUm... third, I just want to give a quick schedule update. 17 minutes and 12 secondsWe are still talking to Starbreeze about when the right time to ship this thing is. 17 minutes and 17 secondsUm, but Starbreeze is basically waiting to hear from us at this point. 17 minutes and 21 secondsThey are super supportive about it. 17 minutes and 22 secondsThey understand it. 17 minutes and 23 secondsUm... and, I think, they might be coming out 17 minutes and 26 secondstowards the end of this month to just talk through it. 17 minutes and 29 secondsUh, Starbreeze is coming. 17 minutes and 30 secondsI think, uh, they are all coming. I think Mikael, and, uh, Evan. 17 minutes and 35 secondsAnd talk about the schedule, which is in, uh... 17 minutes and 38 secondsUh... 17 minutes and 39 secondsinteresting state... of-- 17 minutes and 42 secondsYou know game development. 17 minutes and 44 secondsNot exactly sure where everything is going to land. 17 minutes and 46 secondsAnd they have been developers, so they know about that stuff too. 17 minutes and 50 secondsSo, I'm hoping we just have a friendly discussion 17 minutes and 53 secondsabout what we know and we don't know. 17 minutes and 54 secondsANDY: You know, you've got milestones. You deliver them. 17 minutes and 57 secondsIf you meet the goals crafted by the contract, 18 minutes and 0 secondsyou get a chunk of change. 18 minutes and 1 secondThere is definitely way more pressure at that end to go: 18 minutes and 4 seconds"Why are we cutting these checks to this developer, 18 minutes and 6 secondsbecause we are X many months behind?" 18 minutes and 10 secondsUm, but... 18 minutes and 12 secondsI don't think any one person is the one to save the day. 18 minutes and 15 secondsNo one is going to-- no one is going to be the one magic bullet that goes: 18 minutes and 18 seconds"A-ha! I've-- I've fixed everything!" 18 minutes and 22 secondsTIM: Please join me in welcoming to Double Fine Productions, 18 minutes and 24 secondsLisette Titre! 18 minutes and 25 seconds-Stand up, stand up, please! -\[CLAPPING\] 18 minutes and 27 seconds-So that we might look at you. Lisette! -\[CLAPPING\] 18 minutes and 30 secondsLISETTE: Yeah, actually, um... 18 minutes and 31 secondsI used to work with Jeremy Natividad at EA. 18 minutes and 34 secondsWe weren't on the same team, but you kind of-- 18 minutes and 36 secondsall the artists knew each other. 18 minutes and 38 secondsUm, so, it was nice that, you know, he kind of told me about the position, 18 minutes and 42 secondsand that I was able to-- to get in. 18 minutes and 44 seconds-Uh, I just left Ubisoft San Francisco. -TIM: Oh, Ubisoft. 18 minutes and 48 secondsDo you, uh, feel comfortable saying the entire name 18 minutes and 50 secondsof the project you were last working on? 18 minutes and 52 seconds-Yes. -\[LAUGHTER\] 18 minutes and 53 secondsIt is South Park: The Fractured but Whole. 18 minutes and 55 seconds\[LAUGHTER\] 18 minutes and 57 secondsYou make that sound so innocent! 18 minutes and 59 seconds\[LAUGHTER\] 19 minutes and 0 secondsAnd what will you be doing here at Double Fine Productions? 19 minutes and 3 secondsI am managing the art team. 19 minutes and 5 secondsSo, I will be making sure that the artists know 19 minutes and 7 secondswhat they are doing every day, 19 minutes and 8 secondsand that they have the tools they need to do the best work that they can. 19 minutes and 12 secondsTIM: Excellent! Awesome! That is a great thing to have done! 19 minutes and 15 secondsLISETTE: Sure. 19 minutes and 16 secondsArt Manager position is a unique position at studios. 19 minutes and 21 secondsIt's kind of a hybrid of being an Art Director and an Art Producer. 19 minutes and 25 secondsUm, so in addition to, like, overseeing the pipeline, 19 minutes and 28 secondsand, like, quality control, and production, 19 minutes and 31 secondsI also have to look at schedules and budgets, and, like: 19 minutes and 33 seconds"How we are going to get everything done in time?" 19 minutes and 36 secondsZAK: Uh, so, that's exciting. 19 minutes and 37 secondsThis is our camera crew right here, as you see. 19 minutes and 40 secondsThey really enjoy filming anything that seems like it might be good. 19 minutes and 43 seconds-Okay. -Uh... 19 minutes and 44 seconds-PAUL: Hey, what's up! -Hi! 19 minutes and 45 seconds\[ZAK LAUGHS\] 19 minutes and 46 seconds-I'm Paul. -Hi. Lisette. Nice to meet you. 19 minutes and 48 secondsLISETTE: Um, I think my assessment of the First Playable was that it-- 19 minutes and 53 secondsit was, like, really strong out of the gate. 19 minutes and 54 secondsLike, there was a really strong sense of space. 19 minutes and 57 secondsThere was a really strong sense of aesthetic. 19 minutes and 59 secondsUm, there were some visual issues. 20 minutes and 2 secondsMostly around just using a kit, you know? 20 minutes and 5 secondsUsing the same piece several times, 20 minutes and 6 secondsyou are just going to get a lot of repetitive shape. 20 minutes and 9 secondsUm, but that's normal 20 minutes and 11 secondswhen you are first using, you know, kitbashing as a technique. 20 minutes and 14 secondsUm, but, I think we had a really strong base to start with. 20 minutes and 17 secondsUm, what I was really surprised with was how well the gameplay was. 20 minutes and 22 secondsLike, how Raz moved, and how you navigated the space was... 20 minutes and 27 secondspretty-- it felt close to ship, even though I know it was nowhere near it. 20 minutes and 30 secondsUm, so that means that we nailed some things really well. 20 minutes and 33 secondsAnd visually, I think, we-- we definitely hit the aesthetic. 20 minutes and 37 secondsUm, but there were definitely processes that needed to be evaluated 20 minutes and 41 secondsto see what we can do to make things more efficient. 20 minutes and 43 secondsAnd talking about those techniques with the team, 20 minutes and 45 secondsand seeing what we could do to work smarter. 20 minutes and 48 secondsI think mostly getting this process down, and telegraphing that to the team. 20 minutes and 52 secondsYep. 20 minutes and 53 secondsAt least down by the end of this milestone, and telegraphed to-- 20 minutes and 55 secondsAbs-- absolutely. 20 minutes and 56 secondsGEOFF: And also, I've been talking to Ryan and, uh, Zak about, uh, 21 minutes and 1 secondsort of, like, decoupling, uh, art from design 21 minutes and 6 secondsin terms of the way we move forward. 21 minutes and 8 secondsUm, because, like, right now, especially on, like, Cassie, 21 minutes and 11 secondsand a bit on Hollis as well... 21 minutes and 13 secondsUh, you guys are ready to start putting representative assets into the world, 21 minutes and 16 secondsbut the level is not actually ready for representative assets yet. 21 minutes and 19 secondsUm... 21 minutes and 21 secondsSo, I want to make sure that that doesn't happen in the future. 21 minutes and 23 secondsGEOFF: We want-- and we want everybody who is involved in each of these steps 21 minutes and 26 secondsto understand the process, so they can be like: 21 minutes and 29 seconds"Oh, is this done yet? I can't do that yet." 21 minutes and 31 seconds-ZAK: Yeah, and the goals of each step. -GEOFF: Yep. 21 minutes and 33 secondsGEOFF: Anyway, yeah. 21 minutes and 34 secondsYou guys should feel empowered to do what you need to do. 21 minutes and 36 secondsAnd not-- not worry about, like, hurting anyone's feeling, 21 minutes and 39 secondsbecause that's not going to happen. 21 minutes and 41 secondsJEREMY: I will say... 21 minutes and 42 secondsI think I hear a lot in those meetings, like: 21 minutes and 44 seconds-"Don't worry about that now." -Yeah. 21 minutes and 46 secondsJEREMY: That is the thing that he had said a lot 21 minutes and 48 secondswhen we were bringing up, like... 21 minutes and 49 seconds-...concerns about levels... -WILL: I always have to push back on that. 21 minutes and 50 secondsThey're like: "Don't worry about that now. It's not the time to worry about that." 21 minutes and 53 secondsWILL: They bring up something, and I'll be like: "That's a kit." 21 minutes and 55 secondsAnd they'll be like: "Don't worry about it." 21 minutes and 56 secondsI'm like: "That's my job to worry about it." 21 minutes and 57 secondsThat's your job! And you should say: "That's my job to worry about it." 21 minutes and 59 secondsGEOFF: That's exactly what you should be doing. 22 minutes and 1 secondI would say that material test worlds for the artists have been very helpful. 22 minutes and 5 secondsUm, they forced them to come up with a look. 22 minutes and 10 secondsAnd, like, execute on that look in a very small scale. 22 minutes and 12 secondsRather than trying to solve that problem in a big level. 22 minutes and 15 secondsUm, so, I think that process works really well for the artists. 22 minutes and 18 secondsWILL: Kind of just to set the scene. 22 minutes and 19 secondsThere is not really a feel like I need to jump through that. 22 minutes and 23 secondsAnd, uh, this would be Cassie's house. 22 minutes and 26 secondsAnd that's more, like, you know, Pacific Northwest situation up here. 22 minutes and 32 secondsI haven't really put them in here yet, but I was talking to Lisette, like... 22 minutes and 35 secondsThose could be kind of honeycombs back there 22 minutes and 37 secondsthat you platform up, and... 22 minutes and 38 seconds-RYAN: Mm-hmm. -WILL: Yep, so it's... 22 minutes and 39 secondsIt's kind of a versatile piece. 22 minutes and 42 secondsWe can change whatever is on here. 22 minutes and 44 secondsLike, right now I only have the two. 22 minutes and 45 secondsThat's why this one is familiar, but... 22 minutes and 48 secondsUm, yeah. 22 minutes and 51 secondsThat's what I've been doing visuals-wise for this. 22 minutes and 53 seconds\[MUSIC\] 22 minutes and 54 secondsUm... 22 minutes and 55 secondsI just love the-- I love the look of the-- the contoured, like, hills and mountains 22 minutes and 59 secondsinside of those pages, and the foliage coming out. 23 minutes and 2 secondsThe shapes of that foliage work really, really well there as well by the way. 23 minutes and 5 secondsLike, those are just great! 23 minutes and 7 secondsBEN: The stuff that Will's been doing with, uh... 23 minutes and 10 secondswith the dioramas. 23 minutes and 11 secondsLike, really made, um, the-- the colony area come alive. 23 minutes and 16 secondsThat particular art direction there... 23 minutes and 18 secondsHopefully, we can put the energy into that to, like, really make that hit. 23 minutes and 21 secondsUh, because that is something that you can draw-- 23 minutes and 23 secondsthat you can, like, pull a meeting out of, if you do it right. 23 minutes and 26 secondsI think that's really cool, the stuff that Emily's been doing. 23 minutes and 28 secondsLike, the-- Her-- the-- 23 minutes and 31 secondsHer take on Shanghai with, like, you know, just flooding it, essentially. 23 minutes and 36 secondsEMILY: Ink is sort of like water falling down. 23 minutes and 40 secondsAnd there is, like, little fish coming up. 23 minutes and 41 secondsAnd the paper boats are sort of going around. 23 minutes and 44 secondsAnd that's what you are jumping on to get to these new islands. 23 minutes and 46 secondsBEN: Um, that was something that I hadn't really been thinking of. 23 minutes and 49 secondsBut, um... 23 minutes and 50 secondsUh, like, the more time that I have spent looking at... 23 minutes and 53 secondsat that concept piece, the more that I can kind of, like, see it as, like: 23 minutes and 56 seconds"Oh, yeah! That-- I could totally see that being, like, the version of that map 24 minutes and 2 secondsthat people ultimately walk away from, you know, playing. 24 minutes and 6 secondsAnd that is really cool. 24 minutes and 7 seconds\[MUSIC\] 24 minutes and 8 secondsShe does a lot of really good sketches. 24 minutes and 10 secondsAnd, like, kind of big, gestural things that really help me out 24 minutes and 16 secondsand give me a springboard to do stuff like this. 24 minutes and 18 secondsYep, that's nice. 24 minutes and 20 secondsI don't-- I don't know if this gets too papercrafty, 24 minutes and 22 secondsbut I was thinking, like, the trampolines could... 24 minutes and 25 seconds-...have something like that. -Yeah, that makes sense. 24 minutes and 27 seconds-EMILY: Here. -WILL: The super secret double spring. 24 minutes and 29 secondsThis is for you. 24 minutes and 31 secondsZAK: James isn't here to give me my 'Go, team!' 24 minutes and 33 secondsLEVI: We should do the best one while James isn't here. 24 minutes and 35 secondsEVERYONE: Go, team! 24 minutes and 38 seconds\[LAUGHTER\] 24 minutes and 39 secondsSend a freeze frame of that to James. 24 minutes and 43 secondsLISETTE: So, we are trying to get the artists to be more involved 24 minutes and 47 secondsin having a say in how the design is starting to play out. 24 minutes and 50 secondsBecause at the end of the day 24 minutes and 51 secondsthey are going to have to build the forms that fill the space. 24 minutes and 55 secondsSo, if they feel like they are getting signed up for a lot of work 24 minutes and 57 secondsthat they don't think is necessarily feasible, 25 minutes and 0 secondsthen I'm asking them to bring that up. 25 minutes and 2 secondsAnd during the design process, so that it can be addressed in the design. 25 minutes and 5 secondsAnd not after the fact, once we've-- we've said: 25 minutes and 8 seconds"Oh, this is all approved for representative whitebox." 25 minutes and 11 secondsBecause then we-- we-- we can't make any movement there. 25 minutes and 14 secondsWe can't. 25 minutes and 14 secondsYou know, that's just me going in and cutting things at that point. 25 minutes and 17 secondsAnd I don't necessarily want the design process to work that way. 25 minutes and 20 secondsIt needs to-- scope needs to be considered a little earlier. 25 minutes and 23 secondsJAMES: Uh... scope. 25 minutes and 24 secondsI already discussed it a little bit which is that it's just too big. 25 minutes and 27 secondsSo, we've cut two of the boss fights and, uh... 25 minutes and 30 secondsUh, kept it simple. 25 minutes and 34 secondsUm... 25 minutes and 35 secondsZAK: Uh, the-- the-- 25 minutes and 36 secondsSo, I'm a little-- I'm a little confused. 25 minutes and 38 secondsPart of this feels like you are presenting a solution to these problems? 25 minutes and 42 seconds-I'm presenting what we've talked about. -Okay, all right. 25 minutes and 44 secondsBecause I think there is more discussion on... whether these are... 25 minutes and 47 secondsYeah, I would like to discuss it as a group. 25 minutes and 48 secondsBut I just wanted to fill you all in on what we've been talking about thus far. 25 minutes and 51 secondsZAK: I'm just saying that there are more interesting usages than-- 25 minutes and 53 secondsSorry, you are just looking at me blankly. 25 minutes and 55 seconds-ZAK: So, I don't know what you are-- -JAMES: No, I'm just listening. 25 minutes and 56 seconds\[ZAK LAUGHS\] 25 minutes and 58 secondsJAMES: Uh, we've run into similar problems with two of our levels. 26 minutes and 2 secondsUh, regarding... both scope and conflicting visual themes. 26 minutes and 8 secondsSo, in addressing that issue, we are also trying to adjust the fact 26 minutes and 11 secondsthat it's pretty linear. Well, extremely linear. 26 minutes and 14 secondsAnd so we are trying to make it a more open level. 26 minutes and 19 secondsUh, and I was looking at Bob Z to kind of get a sense of, like: 26 minutes and 22 seconds"What we fucked up there versus what we fucked up in Hollis?" 26 minutes and 24 secondsUh, it was pretty edifying though, because, I think, Hollis is 26 minutes and 27 secondsa much better playing level than Bob Z was. 26 minutes and 30 secondsLISETTE: I've been working, particularly with the level teams, 26 minutes and 32 secondsjust sort of looking at how our level design process is, 26 minutes and 35 secondshow art fits within that, 26 minutes and 37 secondsand where we are seeing things kind of sputter along 26 minutes and 40 secondsand not necessarily gain traction. 26 minutes and 42 secondsAnd also, you know, what is working? 26 minutes and 45 secondsI gotta wash this plate, and then I have to go. 26 minutes and 53 secondsBut, I think this is responding to a lot of the feedback 26 minutes and 55 secondsthat you guys have gotten, in a good way. 26 minutes and 56 secondsSo, um, yeah, I think that it's-- 26 minutes and 59 secondsI-- I mean thank you for thinking about stuff seriously, 27 minutes and 1 secondand sort of gathering it all together, and trying to come up with a solution 27 minutes and 4 secondsthat fixes a lot of that stuff. 27 minutes and 8 secondsLISETTE: I have not been in a game 27 minutes and 9 secondswhere design and artists have not wanted to kill each other. 27 minutes and 11 seconds-JAMES: Sure. -\[LISETTE CHUCKLES\] 27 minutes and 12 secondsLISETTE: At some point they always do. 27 minutes and 14 secondsBecause there-- there is a conflict. 27 minutes and 15 secondsAnd-- and you are-- you are running into the exact same thing 27 minutes and 18 secondsthat we had during the original game. 27 minutes and 21 secondsThat's legitimately good to know, except for the five years part. 27 minutes and 23 seconds\[GEOFF CHUCKLES\] 27 minutes and 24 secondsAnd that's-- and that's-- I think, that's why... 27 minutes and 28 secondsUh, there is probably a little more pressure this time. 27 minutes and 31 secondsIs because we need to actually do it within-- 27 minutes and 33 secondsWe don't have a blank check from Microsoft. 27 minutes and 36 secondsAll of these problems are frustrating, but are made infinitely worse 27 minutes and 41 secondsby the fact that I'm, like, afraid to talk to... 27 minutes and 44 seconds...Zak. 27 minutes and 45 secondsAnd I find his energy so negative and frustrating. 27 minutes and 51 secondsI'm not surprised at all. 27 minutes and 54 secondsI'm not surprised at all. 27 minutes and 57 secondsLISETTE: He is not focused on your feelings, 27 minutes and 58 secondsbecause he is focused on the process. 28 minutes and 0 secondsAnd if he says he doesn't believe that this is going to be executed, 28 minutes and 2 secondsyou have to learn not to take it personally. 28 minutes and 5 seconds-JAMES: I know it's hard to believe me... -Zak is not an evil guy, he is just... 28 minutes and 8 secondsJAMES: I know it's hard to believe me, but I am not-- 28 minutes and 9 secondsI do not have a problem with harsh feedback. 28 minutes and 11 secondsJAMES: There are, like, a lot of times when I'm at my desk, 28 minutes and 13 secondsand I really have a question that I need to get answered, 28 minutes and 15 secondsand I will just be like: "I'm just not going to ask this." 28 minutes and 17 secondsGEOFF: No, no. You have to ask people! 28 minutes and 19 secondsJAMES: I know! That's-- That's why I know it's a problem. 28 minutes and 21 secondsBecause I'm, like-- 28 minutes and 22 secondsI'm making decisions not to get up and ask a question, 28 minutes and 24 secondsbecause I don't want to deal with it. 28 minutes and 26 secondsAnd that's not healthy! 28 minutes and 27 secondsI think there is-- No, it's not. 28 minutes and 28 secondsAnd I think that-- I've had this-- 28 minutes and 30 secondsYou know, I've had challenges 28 minutes and 31 secondswith certain people that I've had to work with. 28 minutes and 34 secondsAnd I try to find a common ground and figure out what exactly-- 28 minutes and 37 secondsLike, where we have goals in alignment? 28 minutes and 40 secondsWe all do want the game to be made though. 28 minutes and 42 seconds-Yeah, and good! -And we are all trying to work together... 28 minutes and 44 seconds...to do that. 28 minutes and 45 secondsAnd you should be able to use whoever you feel comfortable with 28 minutes and 50 secondsas a resource to help you do that. 28 minutes and 53 secondsAnd you should never feel that there is a roadblock. 28 minutes and 55 secondsBut, ideally, you still need to get to a place 28 minutes and 57 secondswhere you are comfortable talking to Zak. 29 minutes and 0 seconds-You just do. -(Sure.) 29 minutes and 2 secondsLike, ultimately, he is the Project Lead. 29 minutes and 4 secondsAnd you have to get to a place 29 minutes and 5 secondswhere you are comfortable sharing your ideas, 29 minutes and 6 secondsor you are not sharing the best of yourself. 29 minutes and 9 secondsSure, and most of the time I do what I need to do. 29 minutes and 12 secondsAnd I ask the questions I have to ask. 29 minutes and 14 secondsBut I don't feel that it should be such a negative experience. 29 minutes and 18 secondsLISETTE: I think you guys need some help with the brainstorming process 29 minutes and 20 secondsin order to surface better ideas faster, and have the space to feel 29 minutes and 24 secondslike you are not going to be criticized while you are doing it. 29 minutes and 27 secondsOkay. 29 minutes and 29 secondsGreat! Thanks! 29 minutes and 32 seconds-Go, team! -\[CHUCKLING\] 29 minutes and 34 seconds-Yay! -The best one we had... 29 minutes and 36 secondsYeah, thirty percent participation! 29 minutes and 38 secondsNo, it was when you weren't here. 29 minutes and 40 seconds-Really? -Yeah, everybody did it. 29 minutes and 42 secondsYeah, the good ones are always when you are gone. 29 minutes and 46 secondsWe'll do it someday. 29 minutes and 48 secondsIt's going to be my last day. 29 minutes and 49 secondsWhen I get fired you are guys are going to be, like... 29 minutes and 51 secondsGo, James! 29 minutes and 52 secondsOut of the office! 29 minutes and 54 secondsNah, we'll do it for ship. 29 minutes and 55 secondsBEN: You know, if-- if Hollis kind of discovers itself again, 30 minutes and 0 secondsthen maybe it will be our turn to be in the Eye of Sauron, but, uh... 30 minutes and 4 secondsYeah, hopefully, it doesn't come to that. 30 minutes and 5 secondsHopefully-- 30 minutes and 6 secondsHopefully, the progress that it feels like we've been making, um, is real. 30 minutes and 13 seconds-Whoa-ow! Whoa-ow! Whoa-ow-ow-ow! -\[WILL CHUCKLES\] 30 minutes and 17 secondsEMILY: It needs to get-- It needs to-- 30 minutes and 19 secondsYou need to have more of this dramatic thing. 30 minutes and 21 seconds-Yeah, so... -It needs to get even more... 30 minutes and 23 seconds-BEN: Oh, that's the colony... -ANDY: Oh, okay. 30 minutes and 25 secondsWILL: Geoff was saying that drips should go at this angle and, like... 30 minutes and 29 secondsEMILY: And then, start, like, getting black. 30 minutes and 31 secondsBEN: You are heading towards, like, the dark secret. 30 minutes and 33 secondsLike, this is the thing that Cassie is trying to not think about. 30 minutes and 36 secondsSo-- so, it should be, like, twice as long. 30 minutes and 38 seconds-There should be, like... -Well, this is already pretty long. 30 minutes and 40 seconds-Well, I don't care! -You know what players love? 30 minutes and 42 secondsLong hallways! 30 minutes and 43 secondsBut it's a-- it's a psychological sort of thing! 30 minutes and 47 secondsWhere it gets, like, darker and darker, 30 minutes and 49 secondsand there is more and more ink. 30 minutes and 50 secondsAnd then you'd get to the end. 30 minutes and 52 seconds\[EMILY VOCALIZES QUIET EXCITEMENT\] 30 minutes and 54 secondsDude, Emily is stoked! 30 minutes and 55 secondsYeah. 30 minutes and 56 seconds-\[WILL CHUCKLES\] -EMILY: So good. 30 minutes and 59 secondsBEN: Cassie is here. She is looking at it. She sees you. 31 minutes and 1 secondUm, and she agrees to go with you, 31 minutes and 3 secondsand you return to the library, which is here. 31 minutes and 7 secondsTIM: Huh-hm! 31 minutes and 9 secondsOkay, that's big. 31 minutes and 10 seconds-It's big, it's cool, it's very good. -Yes. 31 minutes and 12 secondsIt's also very... 31 minutes and 13 seconds-ZAK: ...big. -BEN: It is big. 31 minutes and 14 secondsBut it seems like a lot of it could just be arbitrary carved book space. 31 minutes and 17 secondsBut it's more like those... 31 minutes and 18 secondsZAK: I'm not advocating for cuts. 31 minutes and 20 secondsI'm advocating for you guys to figure out, like: 31 minutes and 22 seconds"How is this area going to be built? 31 minutes and 24 secondsDo we have the kit to build it with? 31 minutes and 26 secondsHow long would it take to decorate?" 31 minutes and 27 secondsThe things that are kind of, like, unique to each area are illustrated. 31 minutes and 31 secondsThey are flats with-- with illustrations on them. 31 minutes and 33 secondsYeah, and the rest of them is, like, the carved book aesthetic. 31 minutes and 35 secondsBEN: That's the hope. 31 minutes and 37 seconds-Yeah. -BEN: Yeah, but, hopefully... 31 minutes and 38 secondsAnd that's sort of, like, the next big action item for this phase. 31 minutes and 40 secondsLike, just making sure that it is a size 31 minutes and 42 secondsthat you guys are committed to being able to build. 31 minutes and 45 secondsOh, yeah, and then, getting first pass lighting, 31 minutes and 46 secondswhich should be part of the representative. 31 minutes and 48 seconds-WILL: Yeah, I'm working on that. -ZAK: Yeah, okay. 31 minutes and 50 secondsFor some reason all our-- all our levels end up 31 minutes and 53 secondswith incredibly crepuscular first pass lighting. 31 minutes and 56 secondsWILL: Oh, yeah. 31 minutes and 57 secondsWhich-- which we just need-- we just need some guidance 31 minutes and 59 secondsfrom a direction-- from an art direction point of view of, like, what-- 32 minutes and 3 secondsBEN: And, uh, and that we can keep pushing forward and, 32 minutes and 6 secondsand, you know, knocking out, um... 32 minutes and 9 secondsyou know, knocking out the next level, and the one after that. 32 minutes and 12 seconds\[MUSIC\] 32 minutes and 14 secondsZAK: Um, these are some early prototypes that we did for the Cassie level. 32 minutes and 17 secondsSo, that level is, you know, all made out of books. 32 minutes and 19 secondsYou've got this big giant library. 32 minutes and 21 secondsYou go into these carved books and carved tunnels. 32 minutes and 23 secondsUm, and then, as transition areas, you'll actually jump into 2D, 32 minutes and 28 secondsum, and walk through a book, and then sort of pop out the other side 32 minutes and 31 secondsinto a world carved out of books. 32 minutes and 32 secondsand then, also, there is other, backwards transitions, 32 minutes and 34 secondswhere you'll be playing a 3D scene, and then the camera will pull out, 32 minutes and 37 secondsand the book will close, and it's Raz holding the book. 32 minutes and 40 secondsAnd so, it's kind of a surreal transition. 32 minutes and 42 secondsI mean, there is a bunch more stuff that we are working on. 32 minutes and 44 secondsWe've got a million characters in development. 32 minutes and 45 secondsWe've got our early cinematics going in. 32 minutes and 47 secondsYeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, you don't-- 32 minutes and 49 secondsIf anyone, uh... 32 minutes and 51 secondsmaybe you need to-- maybe you need to convince him, 32 minutes and 52 secondsbut you don't need to convince me, because I'm already sold, you know. 32 minutes and 55 secondsI love the game, I love where you are taking it, 32 minutes and 57 secondsI love the realizations you are making, 33 minutes and 0 secondsyou know, when it comes to, like, level sizes and so on. 33 minutes and 2 secondsBecause those are super important. 33 minutes and 3 secondsGREG: Yeah. Well, I think, the thing 33 minutes and 4 secondsthat's kind of good about you guys being here is, I feel like, 33 minutes and 7 secondswe are about to kind of force a question with a few things. 33 minutes and 9 secondsAnd I know there's been a conversation, 33 minutes and 11 secondsI don't know how much you guys have been looped in 33 minutes and 12 secondsabout our schedule and changes that have been happening there recently. 33 minutes and 15 secondsUh, and I guess there was already kind of an assumption 33 minutes and 18 secondsthat we'd be needing to make a sort of delay announcement sometime. 33 minutes and 22 secondsWas the Fig-- the original Fig campaign had-- 33 minutes and 24 seconds-What was the date? -2018. 33 minutes and 26 secondsGREG: Yeah. Fall 2018. 33 minutes and 27 secondsSo, when we launched the campaign... 33 minutes and 29 secondsLike with all crowdfunding games, you have to kind of 33 minutes and 32 secondsput a stake in the ground of, like, where you anticipate that it is coming. 33 minutes and 34 secondsAs we know, development is always hard to kind of gauge like that. 33 minutes and 38 secondsEspecially when you are doing it before the game has even started development. 33 minutes and 40 secondsSo, uh, when we came to you guys, uh... 33 minutes and 43 secondsYeah, the Fig campaign had been live. 33 minutes and 45 secondsAnd it said next year, fall. 33 minutes and 47 secondsAnd we just know that that's not the case now. 33 minutes and 49 secondsSo, I think, we wanted to just go ahead 33 minutes and 50 secondsand get it out of the way with our next update, 33 minutes and 52 secondsbefore the end of this year, saying: "It's not 2018." 33 minutes and 54 secondsAnd leaving it vague, and kind of... 33 minutes and 57 secondsAnd when-- when is the next Fig update? 33 minutes and 59 secondsUh, so, we do them every quarter. And the next one would be in December. 34 minutes and 2 secondsSo, holiday timing. 34 minutes and 3 secondsI think that definitely it's important to make sure 34 minutes and 5 secondsthat we keep the players in the loop. 34 minutes and 7 secondsEspecially those that committed early. 34 minutes and 10 secondsThen-- But at the same time... 34 minutes and 12 secondsI'm not sure exactly how they would react to a delay. 34 minutes and 15 secondsBecause, I mean, we have delayed Walking Dead twice, right? 34 minutes and 17 secondsAnd-- and yeah, people-- people are weird like that. 34 minutes and 20 secondsSometimes it's like: "Yeah, no biggie. You know, we are happy to wait one year." 34 minutes and 23 secondsIt depends on how much, uh... 34 minutes and 25 secondsIt depends on how much, uh... 34 minutes and 28 secondsWhat's the word I'm looking for... 34 minutes and 29 secondsLike, emotional capital Tim has with the community. 34 minutes and 32 secondsLike, how much can he still do without them going like: 34 minutes and 36 seconds"Enough is enough, Tim! We want the game now!" 34 minutes and 37 secondsTIM: I'm not-- I'm not afraid of telling the backers. 34 minutes and 39 secondsBecause to the backers we are just saying: 34 minutes and 42 seconds"We want to make the game good enough for you. 34 minutes and 44 secondsAnd this is when it's going to come out to be good enough for you." 34 minutes and 47 secondsI've never-- I've never backed a project and wanted to tell the developers: 34 minutes and 51 seconds"Could you release that before it's done? Because I really want to play it now." 34 minutes and 54 secondsI mean, you get impatient, and you are like: 34 minutes and 56 seconds"Oh, I want that game right now!" 34 minutes and 57 secondsAnd you can get mad: "Come on! Finish that game!" 34 minutes and 59 secondsBut you really, you know, you want them to make the game good. 35 minutes and 3 secondsGAVIN: Script writing. 35 minutes and 5 seconds-GAVIN: Mr. Schafer. -Woo! 35 minutes and 6 seconds-ZAK: Yeah! -Yeah! 35 minutes and 8 seconds\[CLAPPING\] 35 minutes and 10 secondsGAVIN: Uh, the ones that we called out at the beginning of the sprint... 35 minutes and 13 secondsIntern hazing. 35 minutes and 14 seconds-ANDY: Done. -Done. 35 minutes and 15 seconds-Intern program intro. -ANDY: Done. 35 minutes and 17 seconds-GAVIN: Hollis' mind intro. -Done. 35 minutes and 19 seconds-TIM: Is this what we do in this meeting? -GAVIN: Hollis' mind outro. 35 minutes and 21 seconds-Done. -TIM: Yeah! Thank you. 35 minutes and 23 secondsWoo-hoo! 35 minutes and 24 seconds-GAVIN: Um, and so... -We had a table read. 35 minutes and 27 secondsGAVIN: At the table read today, we went through all those, uh, and so... 35 minutes and 31 seconds-ANDY: And even more! -GAVIN: And even more. 35 minutes and 33 secondsGAVIN: So, we'll scratch those, and all those will be in the game stubbed, 35 minutes and 36 secondsnext week. 35 minutes and 38 secondsZAK: James, you want to be Raz? 35 minutes and 39 seconds-Okay. -James is Raz. 35 minutes and 40 secondsWho wants to be the lead in this production? 35 minutes and 42 secondsI didn't say anything. 35 minutes and 42 secondsOh, James does! 35 minutes and 44 seconds\[JAMES MAKES SOUND EFFECTS\] 35 minutes and 45 secondsDon't-- Nope, nope, nope. 35 minutes and 47 seconds\[JAMES LAUGHS\] 35 minutes and 48 secondsTIM: Cut to the outside of the atrium storage closet. 35 minutes and 50 secondsAaron, Sam, Gisu, Lizzie, Morris, and Norma are all gathered by the door. 35 minutes and 54 secondsNorma knocks on the door. 35 minutes and 55 secondsCARYL: You okay in there, Rusty? What's the hold-up? 35 minutes and 58 secondsIt's Raz. I was just wondering... 36 minutes and 0 secondsTIM: Inside the closet Raz is looking nervous, 36 minutes and 2 secondstalking through the door. 36 minutes and 3 secondsIf there is an intern uniform, how come you guys aren't wearing it? 36 minutes and 5 secondsHe starts shivering. 36 minutes and 7 secondsZAK: And then you work your way through an exciting action path. 36 minutes and 10 secondsJAMES: Aaron is like: "When I did, I wasn't wearing underwear." 36 minutes and 12 seconds-\[CHUCKLING\] -GEOFF: Oh my god. 36 minutes and 15 seconds"That's why I'm in charge now." 36 minutes and 17 seconds\[JAMES LAUGHS\] 36 minutes and 18 seconds\[ZAK LAUGHS\] 36 minutes and 19 secondsDo you want to have any moment 36 minutes and 20 secondswhere Raz tries to explain that he is cool? 36 minutes and 22 secondsBecause he doesn't get a lot to say. 36 minutes and 24 secondsLike, Raz doesn't be like: 36 minutes and 25 seconds"The hero of Whispering Rock Cramp? 36 minutes and 26 secondsThat's me! 36 minutes and 27 secondsDid you guys hear about it?" 36 minutes and 29 seconds-You just said cramp. -Whispering Rock Cramp? 36 minutes and 30 seconds-That was funny. -That's right. 36 minutes and 31 secondsLike, they are just kind of mean to him for no reason. 36 minutes and 34 secondsLike any group of, like, on a construction site, 36 minutes and 35 secondsor nurses, or whatever, like... 36 minutes and 36 secondsYou join the group, there is always, like, one joke 36 minutes and 38 secondsthey always play on the new person. 36 minutes and 39 secondsIt's not necessarily out of cruelty. 36 minutes and 41 secondsIt's just now you've been-- 36 minutes and 42 secondsNow you are in on the joke. 36 minutes and 43 secondsAnd then, you'll pull a joke on the next person who comes, 36 minutes and 44 secondsso you are, like, in the group more. 36 minutes and 46 secondsJAMES: They always sacrifice themselves for you. 36 minutes and 47 seconds\[GEOFF LAUGHS\] 36 minutes and 49 secondsJAMES: There is just a pile of dead interns. 36 minutes and 50 seconds\[LAUGHTER\] 36 minutes and 52 secondsTIM: Yikes. 36 minutes and 54 secondsAll right. 36 minutes and 55 secondsThanks, everybody! So-- so, this needs to be written 36 minutes and 58 secondsalong with the two new cutscenes I'm doing. 37 minutes and 0 secondsSo, you won't be doing any scratch on this... 37 minutes and 2 secondsZAK: Until-- yeah, until rewrites. 37 minutes and 4 secondsI hope Monday, anyway. 37 minutes and 7 secondsUntil probably after the next-- Oh, god! Then I'll rewrite that stuff. 37 minutes and 12 seconds-It's a never-ending wheel of pain. -ANDY: And so on, and so on, and so on. 37 minutes and 15 secondsTIM: All right. 37 minutes and 16 secondsAs soon as I'll get these in. It's ASAP. 37 minutes and 18 secondsANDY: Cool, I'll send out an email with all the cutscenes-- 37 minutes and 21 seconds\[MUSIC\] 37 minutes and 29 secondsTIM: Okay, so how do we segue into... 37 minutes and 31 seconds-ZAK: Oh, you didn't like my... -TIM: ...schedules. 37 minutes and 33 seconds-Should we do that? -\[ZAK LAUGHS\] 37 minutes and 37 seconds-Uh... -Did you have a good lead into that? 37 minutes and 40 secondsNo, just sort of you going: 37 minutes and 41 seconds"So, how is the game? How is the game coming along?" 37 minutes and 43 seconds"So, we are going to talk about the game." 37 minutes and 44 secondsShould it be like: "Now, in the Fig campaign 37 minutes and 47 secondsit said it was coming out next year." 37 minutes and 48 secondsYeah. 37 minutes and 50 seconds\[ZAK LAUGHS\] 37 minutes and 52 secondsIs that a good lead in? 37 minutes and 53 seconds"I think people watching these updates can see that a lot of-- 37 minutes and 56 secondsa lot of great progress is being made. 37 minutes and 58 secondsBut, uh, I don't know if we are still on that exact same schedule." 38 minutes and 1 second\[TIM CHUCKLES\] 38 minutes and 2 secondsI mean, do you want to start right up? 38 minutes and 4 secondsLike: "Hey, we are not 2018. And here is an update." 38 minutes and 7 secondsI was going to say: "Hey, here is how things are going right now. 38 minutes and 10 secondsAnd what that means is it's not 2018." 38 minutes and 13 secondsOkay. 38 minutes and 14 secondsSo, now the game itself. How is the game itself going? 38 minutes and 17 secondsUh, really, really well. We showed off our First Playable... 38 minutes and 20 seconds\[MUSIC\] 38 minutes and 52 secondsZAK: ...uh, how long it's going take to make the game really, really great, 38 minutes and 55 secondsand something that lives up to the first Psychonauts. 38 minutes and 57 secondsUm, and so, the downside of that is 38 minutes and 59 secondsthat the game is no longer going to be out in 2018. 39 minutes and 5 secondsZAK: Uh, okay, all right, so... 39 minutes and 9 secondsResolve the octopus. 39 minutes and 11 seconds-ANDY: Resolve the octopus! -Resolve the octopus. 39 minutes and 13 seconds"Resolve the octopus!" 39 minutes and 14 secondswas the original line before "Release the kraken!" 39 minutes and 16 secondsYou know what's more dynamic? 39 minutes and 20 seconds-Bye, Tim. -Yay! -Bye, Tim. -Yay! Show transcript timestamps