Apparently Tim Schafer misses platformers more than he misses adventure games.
As most people know, Tim Schafer built his industry name through work on adventure games, specifically the Monkey Island series, Day of the Tentacle and Grim Fandango.
When he left LucasArts to form Double Fine studios, his first title was the platformer known today as Psychonauts.
In a recent interview with Eurogamer, Tim was asked if he was happy to see the mini-resurgence of adventure titles. He responded, "I didn't get out of adventure games because anyone told me to, I could have kept working on them. I just got excited about directly controlling a character... I got more excited about playing those games. Whether popular or not, I'm more far likely to make whatever game I'm interested in."
Eurogamer then asked whether or not he missed making those types of games. He proclaimed in response, "you know what I miss more than adventure games? Platform games." Schafer was disappointed to learn that by the time Psychonauts was released, it was "illegal to make a platform game." "People bemoan the loss of adventure games, but no one wants to be sad about platform games. I think that's a big loss."
Given his response to such questions, hopefully it is not beyond reason that Double Fine is considering Psychonauts 2 as their next title. Schafer has said in the past that he'd be happy to make the game if there was enough fan outcry for it.
I agree completely with Schafer regarding platformers in today's repertoire of games. They've almost been completely wiped out, except for licensed or Nintendo titles.
As one of my favorite genres it saddens me to see the number of them being produced trickle down, the genre definitely needs to see a resurgence.
Oh and more Psychonauts? Yes please.
I love Tim Schafer and I love Psychonauts and I love platformers. I also love that Tim Schafer loves both of those things, because hopefully that means more of them. And since it's Tim Schafer you know it'll be good.
I'd rather Schafer make something new than another Psychonauts game. I'd also appreciate more polished game play to go along with the excellent stories.
Maybe it's just me, but I wouldn't change a thing about Psychonauts. I love that game through and through.
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