Incognito

Super Quadruple Fine

There’s been a lot of internet-news out lately about industry rock star Tim Schafer (creator of Psychonauts) and his indie studio Double Fine. First, there was the fantastic Twitter-exchange between Tim and Notch about a possible Psychonauts 2, in which Tim lamented his lack of funding for the project and Notch flat out replied: 

Then, only fourteen hours ago, Tim announced that Double Fine would be using KickStarter in order to fully fund a new project— a point-and-click adventure game. In an effort to revive a genre and cut the strings attached with getting funding from a publisher and/or other big investors, Double Fine has done something never seen before. They have looked directly to their fan base and asked for support.

Publishers tell us that adventure games are dead. Our fans tell us they aren’t. (doublefine.com)

Clearly they aren’t dead. In fact, they are so much not dead that it only took 12 hours to meet the 400k goal. As of this moment they are about to hit $700,000 and the number is still rising. Rapidly. Since they have 33 days left to raise money, there’s a really good chance that they’ll hit a million dollars. Probably more. 

This is something completely unprecedented in the industry. Much like Notch’s Minecraft phenomenon, Double Fine’s success in this endeavor is going to change the face of the industry. It’s incredible. Independent developers can look to Double Fine as a source of inspiration and optimism, as they prove that you can get the funding you need. Big time. 

I think this is going to change the way people look at publishers, and there is going to be a strong trend towards platforms like KickStarter as developers look to taking their games back into their own hands. This could work wonders for the industry at this point, since it’s no secret that the AAA world is rapidly sliding downwards into what could be another crash. But with the indie scene only getting stronger, the industry itself is about to see a huge shift— most likely in the developer’s favor. It’s an exciting time to be in games right now. I can’t wait to see where it goes. 

Long live the indies: taking a risk, taking charge, and changing the game.