Tag Archives: Double Fine

Train2Game News: Mid-week Round up of game news

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This will be a mid-week round up of all the biggest news in the gaming industry. Depending on the reaction it gets this may become a weekly post.

Gearbox’s Borderlands 2 comes out next week and in the lead up to that they have released the skill trees for the different classes available in the game. This is a good chance to see how the characters are going to play out through the game.

Valve has released a list of the first ten games being released through Steams Greenlight initiative. Some of the games on the list are Black Mesa the Half-Life mod and Project Zomboid. A full list of the Greenlight approved games can be found here.

The Wii U is having its release date and recommended retail price announced tomorrow. At 8am Nintendo will announce in a special webcast on the official Nintendo Direct Page. The release date is rumoured for UK release date early December with a possible price of £190.

Double Fine studios have accidentally released there first mobile title ahead of schedule. Thanks to some quick thinking from lead designer Kee Chi and the team behind the studios first mobile exclusive, the release turned into an unplanned beta.

Sony is ready to display a new virtual reality headset at the Tokyo Game Show. This follows the news of the Occulus Rift kickstarter and Valves augmented reality headset plans being released. The Sony headset will have a full 360 degree experience with head tracking and a live camera.

The last and possibly biggest bit of news is that this Friday the Train2Game world record attempt sponsored by Microsoft begins. The 48 hour event will see students creating games in the time they have using Windows 8. It is always fun and is always a great learning experience.

Train2Game News: Ron Gilbert on game design “For me, it almost always starts with the world”

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Game design begins with building a world before adding characters and then a story. At least that’s the case for Maniac Mansion and The Secret of Monkey Island co-creator Ron Gilbert.

“For me, it almost always starts with the world.” he told The Guardian in an interview about The Cave, the adventure game he’s developing with Tim Schafer’s Double Fine Productions.

“Maniac Mansion is really all about that mansion, that was the genesis of it. The Secret of Monkey Island all started for me because I loved the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disney – I wanted to live in that world.”

“It’s the same thing with The Cave; it started with the setting and the characters kind of get built up from that – I think, okay, now I have the world, who would live there? Who would want to adventure in that place?” Gilbert continued, before going into a little bit about game design in adventure games.

“So the characters come about, then the story starts to form, and very quickly after that I start to figure out the major puzzle beats – because in an adventure game it’s the puzzles that drive the narrative forward.”

“ I start with that over-arching narrative then, I go, ‘okay, I need a big puzzle here, another one here, and one there’, and I start building backwards from all those big puzzles to all the little ones that lead up to them.” he added.

Ron Gilbert’s The Cave involves taking three of seven adventures into a cave, battling monsters, solving puzzles and stealing loot. It’s scheduled for release by SEGA on PC, Xbox Live and PlayStation Network early next year.

There’s more from Ron Gilbert here on The Train2Game Blog in this video where he discusses game design with Tim Schafer

What are your thoughts on game design? Does the world form the base of the games you’re building?

Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog or on The Train2Game forum.

Train2Game news: Double Fine Kickstarter hits $3 million with just hours until deadline

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Train2Game students only have a few hours left if they want to back Tim Schafer’s Kickstarter project to receive exclusive access to the Beta when the Double Fine adventure reaches that stage.

With mere hours to go before investment for the crowd funding project closes, Double Fine Adventure has topped $3 million in backing from fans.

If you wish to pledge your support to Tim Schafers Kickstarter project, you can do so here, so long as it’s before the end of today.

For more about Double Fine Adventure beta access, see this post on The Train2Game Blog. The Kickstarter project’s goal was to reach $400,000, a target that was reached a matter of hours after the funding page went live.

Double Fine will present a special live stream to mark the end of their Kickstarter campaign, which will be able to watched on their UStream channel from 10 p.m. GMT.

This video featuring Double Fine’s Tim Schafer and Ron Gilbert discussing game design is also interesting viewing for Train2Game students.

Get more news about Double Fine here on The Train2Game Blog.

Have you pledged support to Double Fine’s Kickstarter project? If so, what are your main reasons for doing so?

Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

Train2Game news: Double Fine’s Tim Schafer and Ron Gilbert discuss game design

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Train2Game students should find the contents of this post rather interesting. It’s a video featuring Double Fine’s Tim Schafer and Ron Gilbert in discussion about adventure games.

In the 35 minute long video, the creators of the Monkey Island series talk about the adventure genre as a whole, look at what they did right and what they did wrong, and dissect game design as a whole.

The video from Two Player Productions should give Train2Game students a fascinating insight into the minds of two legendary figures in the games industry. You can watch it below.

The Train2Game Blog recently posted about Double Fine’s Kickstarter project, which is now backed with $2.24 million. Those who pledge $15 or more to the Adventure Game project will gain access to the beta.

We’ll be sure to bring you all the latest news from Tim Schafer and Double Fine.

What are your thoughts on Tim Schafer and Ron Gilbert’s discussion? Has it given you anything to think about?

Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

Train2Game news: Double Fine Adventure Game donators get exclusive beta access

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Train2Game students may have seen last week’s post about Double Fine reaching the $400,000 required to develop their Kickstarter funded project.

Well, a week later Adventure Game has raised over $1,850,000 and Double Fine’s Tim Schafer has released an update explaining what the studio can do with the extra cash.

Speaking in a video, Schafer thanks everyone for their support and reveals Adventure Game will be developed for PC, Mac and Linux as well as Android and Ios mobile operating systems.

The extra money also means that Double Fine’s Adventure game will have a full voice cast in the English version, with text translations into French, Italian, German and Spanish.

Schafer also reveals that all Kickstarter donators will have the exclusive opportunity to beta test the game through Steam, and that when the game is released, backers versions will be DRM free.

Watch a rather sleepy looking Tim Schafer give the first update about Double Fine Adventure Game in the video below.

There’s still time to lend your support to the project, and you can donate via the Double Fine Adventure Game Kickstarter page.

What do you make of the support for the project? Have you funded Double Fine Adventure Game?

Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

Train2Game news: Double Fine turns to crowd funding for new project, reaches $400,000 goal in hours

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Train2Game students should find this news very interesting. Double Fine, the studio of adventure game veteran Tim Schafer have turned to Kickstarter – the crowd funding service for creative projects – in order to develop a brand new game.

The adventure game from the man behind the Monkey Island series, has reached the $400,000 needed to fund the project in just a matter of hours.

Members of the public can use Kickstarter to fund indie game projects, with studios, including Double Fine, offering incentives to those who pledge certain amounts.

“Crowd-sourced fundraising sites like Kickstarter have been an incredible boon to the independent development community,” said Schafer.

“They democratize the process by allowing consumers to support the games they want to see developed and give the developers the freedom to experiment, take risks, and design without anyone else compromising their vision.”

“It’s the kind of creative luxury that most major, established studios simply can’t afford. At least, not until now.”

What Train2Game student may be particularly interested in is that Schafer has committed to using the funds not only to make a brand new, old school adventure game, but also to make monthly behind the scenes documentaries showcasing the game development process.

“There’s an unprecedented opportunity to show the public what game development of this calibre looks like from the inside,” he said

“This documentary series will strive to make the viewer as much a part of the process as possible by showing a game grow from start to finish, with all the passion, humour, and heartbreak that happens along the way.”

“Double Fine is committed to total transparency with this project, ensuring it is one of the most honest depictions of game development ever conceived.” Schafter added.

For more information about the Double Fine project, and the awards available to backers, visit the Double Fine adventure Kickstarter project page.

So Train2Game, what are your thoughts on Double Fine turning to Kickstarter? Would you consider using the model? Will you donate to Double Fine?

Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game Forum.