Episode 6 - The Aquato Family
Festive Greetings Backers!
Welcome to another Psychonauts 2 project update! This update is best enjoyed with a hot cup of cocoa by an open fire, but a can of coke by the heating vent will suffice. At Double Fine we are just about ready to discard our wacom pens for the year and head on home to see our families -- we trust that you are similarly getting ready for the festive break!
Before we go though, we wanted to share some of the exciting things we’ve been up to of late, and as this is the two year anniversary of the campaign launching, we wanted to give more info on all these rewards we’ve been making too! Let’s dive on in!
Rewards!
Wait until this is blasted by blacklight, then it'll really shine.
When we put together the campaign for Psychonauts 2 we dreamed up a big pile of fun things we wanted to make to reward all you wonderful backers with. We’ve spent the last year or so designing all of those and we are very close to kicking off production on the first batch!
We’re planning on dropping these rewards into your laps in three phases;
1. Stuff that we can make now
2. Stuff that we can make now, but that takes a long time for manufacturing
3. Stuff that we need to wait for the game to be finished before we can make.
If you watched the update video above you'll have seen glimpses of some of the items that will be making up this first batch of rewards, including the art prints from Scott C and Peter Chan, and the Black Velvet Painting from Bagel!
Backer shirt design by Rex Crowle, creator of Knights and Bikes
For the backer shirt we asked Rex Crowle of Knights and Bikes, LittlebigPlanet, and Tearaway fame to create a design for us, and it's a beauty!
Rusty has been working closely with our pals at Fangamer to mock up the Raz minifig, and we've finalised that design too. This will most likely be part of Batch #2, as mini figs take quite a while to get through manufacturing. Here's a render though:
Blendered and Rendered
We’ve already sent out surveys to collect addresses and shirt sizes, so if you haven’t seen those please look for mail from Fangamer, and get in touch with them here if you don’t see one - orders@fangamer.com
We’ll be in touch in the new year with more concrete info on when batch #1 will be sent out!
Production update
We have now ramped up into full production mode! We have five full level teams working on the real world locations and brand new mental worlds, as well as our full gameplay team working on powers, platforming, puzzles, and combat.— all kinds of great stuff!
Now we are in full swing, we know a lot more about the size and scope of the game we are going to make, how long it will take us to make it, and the amount of time we need to make it be great. From those projections we know that Psychonauts 2 will not be shipping in 2018, like we originally estimated when we published the Fig campaign two years ago.
We love the game we're making and we want to make sure that Psychonauts 2 is something you’ll love too — a game that carries on the legacy of Psychonauts in a meaningful and special way. We’re making great progress, but we want to make sure the game has the time it needs to shine.
We’re sorry that you’ll have to wait a little longer than we first estimated, but we’re also hopeful that you’ll understand it will mean being able to deliver a better game. We’re really excited about the things we’re making, and we can’t wait to share them with you!
The Aquato Family
In the update video we trace the creation of Raz's family from sketches to in-game characters. I say creation, but of course they were all in the first game inside Raz's memory vaults.
Locked away inside Raz's Memory Vaults, the Aquatos
To bring the Aquato family to life in more detail, Scott took these memory vaults and redrew the whole family. We also get to learn all of their names!
Augustus, Donatella, Dion, Frazie, Raz, Mirtala, Queepie
After lots of tweaks and fun costume changes, the team settled on some designs, and Bagel worked on the coloring. It's important that each character has a recognizable silhouette and set of colours, even at a distance. So Bagel tries to put the minutia aside, and look at the overall shapes, before then filling in the details again.
The Aquato Family
Happy Holidays!
From everyone at Double Fine Productions, we wish you and your loved ones a very Merry Christmas, a Bonanza Kwanzaa, a Happy New Year, or simply a wonderful winter break!