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Day of the Tentacle, also known as Maniac Mansion II: Day of the Tentacle, is a 1993 graphic adventure game developed and published by LucasArts. It is the sequel to the 1987 game Maniac Mansion. The plot follows Bernard Bernoulli and his friends Hoagie and Laverne as they attempt to stop the evil Purple Tentacle—a sentient, disembodied tentacle—from taking over the world. The player takes control of the trio and solves puzzles while using time travel to explore different periods of history.
The Secret of Monkey Island is a 1990 point-and-click graphic adventure game developed and published by Lucasfilm Games. It takes place in a fictional version of the Caribbean during the age of piracy. The player assumes the role of Guybrush Threepwood, a young man who dreams of becoming a pirate, and explores fictional islands while solving puzzles.
Grim Fandango is a 1998 adventure game directed by Tim Schafer and developed and published by LucasArts for Microsoft Windows. It is the first adventure game by LucasArts to use 3D computer graphics overlaid on pre-rendered static backgrounds. As with other LucasArts adventure games, the player must converse with characters and examine, collect, and use objects to solve puzzles.
Timothy John Schafer is an American video game designer. He founded Double Fine Productions in July 2000, after having spent over a decade at LucasArts. Schafer is best known as the designer of critically acclaimed games Full Throttle, Grim Fandango, Psychonauts, Brütal Legend and Broken Age, co-designer of Day of the Tentacle, and assistant designer on The Secret of Monkey Island and Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge. He is well known in the video game industry for his storytelling and comedic writing style, and has been given both a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Game Developers Choice Awards, and a BAFTA Fellowship for his contributions to the industry.
The Game Developers Choice Awards are awards annually presented at the Game Developers Conference for outstanding game developers and games. Introduced in 2001, the Game Developers Choice Awards were preceded by the Spotlight Awards, which were presented from 1997 to 1999. Since then, the ceremony for the Independent Games Festival is held just prior to the Choice Awards ceremony.
From the late 1980s to the early 2000s, LucasArts was well known for their point-and-click graphic adventure games, nearly all of which received high scoring reviews at the time of their release. Their style tended towards the humorous, often irreverent or slapstick humor, with the exceptions of Loom and The Dig. Their game design philosophy was that the player should never die or reach a complete dead-end, although there were exceptions.
Double Fine Productions, Inc. is an American first-party video game developer of Xbox Game Studios based in San Francisco, California. Founded in July 2000 by Tim Schafer shortly after his departure from LucasArts, Double Fine's first two games – Psychonauts and Brütal Legend – underperformed publishers' expectations despite critical praise. The future of the company was assured when Schafer turned to several in-house prototypes built during a two-week period known as "Amnesia Fortnight" to expand as smaller titles, all of which were licensed through publishers and met with commercial success. Schafer has since repeated these Amnesia Fortnights, using fan-voting mechanics, to help select and build smaller titles. Double Fine is also credited with driving interest in crowdfunding in video games, having been able to raise more than US$3 million for the development of Broken Age, at the time one of the largest projects funded by Kickstarter, and more than US$3 million for the development of Psychonauts 2.
Psychonauts is a 2005 platform video game developed by Double Fine Productions. The game was initially published by Majesco Entertainment and THQ for Microsoft Windows, Xbox and PlayStation 2. In 2011, Double Fine acquired the rights for the title, allowing the company to republish the title with updates for modern gaming systems and ports for Mac OS X and Linux.
Double Fine Comics is a webcomics collective supported by Double Fine Productions. Each comic varies in style and tone, but they all reflect the eclectic humor found in the Double-Fine produced game Psychonauts. The webcomics were published in Adobe Flash format on the company website under the heading 'Comics'.
A casual game is a video game targeted at a mass market audience, as opposed to a hardcore game, which is targeted at hobbyist gamers. Casual games may exhibit any type of gameplay and genre. They generally involve simpler rules, shorter sessions, and require less learned skill. They don't expect familiarity with a standard set of mechanics, controls, and tropes.
Brütal Legend is an action-adventure video game with real-time strategy game elements created by Double Fine and published by Electronic Arts for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The game was released during October 2009 in North America, Europe, and Australia. Though Brütal Legend was originally to be published by Vivendi Games prior to its merger with Activision, Activision dropped the game from its portfolio after the merger. It was later picked up by Electronic Arts, though Activision and Double Fine brought counter-lawsuits against each other over publishing issues. The issues were settled out of court. Later, Double Fine announced a port of the game for Microsoft Windows via Steam, which was released in February 2013. Mac OS X and Linux versions of the game were made available as part of the Humble Bundle in May 2013. A physical collector's edition for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux was released by IndieBox in October 2014.
Host Master and the Conquest of Humor is a free Flash adventure game, written by Klint Honeychurch and game developer Tim Schafer, with gameplay and art by Honeychurch and music by Bert Chang. The game was published by Double Fine Productions, of which Schafer is president, and is playable on their website.
Stacking is an adventure puzzle video game developed by Double Fine Productions and published by THQ; like Double Fine's previous Costume Quest, it is a smaller title created during the development period of Brütal Legend, and was released in February 2011 for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 video game consoles. A Windows version was released on March 6, 2012. A Linux version was released in May 2013.
Tasha's Game is a free Adobe Flash puzzle-platform game by Klint Honeychurch, with art by Tasha Harris and music by Bert Chang and Razmig Mavlian. The game was published by Double Fine Productions, and is playable on their website.
Tasha Sounart is an American animator, artist, video game designer, and writer. She was the designer of Double Fine's adventure RPG Costume Quest. She is currently an Associate Creative Director of Theme Parks at Pixar.
Epic Saga: Extreme Fighter is a free Flash fighting game, designed by Klint Honeychurch with art by Razmig Mavlian. The game was published by Double Fine Productions, and is playable on their website.
My Game About Me: Olympic Challenge is a free Flash sports game parody, designed by Klint Honeychurch with art by Nathan Stapley. The game was published by Double Fine Productions, and is playable on their website.
Nathan Stapley is an American artist. He was the lead artist on Double Fine's adventure game Broken Age and has worked on Psychonauts and Psychonauts 2.
Razmig Mavlian is an Armenian-Canadian artist, animator, video game developer, and musician. His nickname "Raz" was the inspiration for the name of the main character in Psychonauts. He currently is a concept artist at Oculus VR.
Host Master Deux: Quest for Identity is the sequel to Host Master and the Conquest of Humor. It is a free Flash Adventure platformer, created Benedikt Hummel and Marius Fietzek, and starring game developer Tim Schafer. The game was published by Double Fine Productions, of which Schafer is president, and is playable on their website.
References
- ↑ "Psychonauts Creator Reveals, Releases New Game "Epic Saga"". Kotaku. Archived from the original on May 5, 2009. Retrieved February 28, 2012.
- ↑ "Double Fine Returns with Epic Saga: Extreme Saga". Joystiq . Retrieved February 28, 2012.
- ↑ "Double Fine Announces New Game...Sort of". 1UP.com. Archived from the original on July 15, 2012. Retrieved February 28, 2012.
- ↑ "Double Fine drops new mini-game 'My Game About Me'". Joystiq . Retrieved February 28, 2012.
- ↑ "Exciting mini-game from Double Fine". Eurogamer.net. Eurogamer. January 15, 2008. Retrieved February 28, 2012.
- ↑ "Double Fine Action Arcade Soundtrack Contains All Your Flash Favorites". The International House of Mojo . Retrieved February 28, 2012.
- ↑ Walker, John (October 20, 2008). "Unicorns & Magic Cats: Tasha's Game". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Rock, Paper, Shotgun . Retrieved February 25, 2012.
- ↑ "Double Fine Releases Tasha's Game, Not Brütal Legend". Kotaku. October 27, 2008. Retrieved February 27, 2012.
- ↑ Mastrapa, Gus (August 11, 2010). "Next Up For Double Fine: Halloween RPG Costume Quest". Wired . Retrieved February 27, 2012.
- ↑ "GDC: Host Master, Tim Schafer's finest point & click in a decade - Offworld". Archived from the original on April 4, 2009. Retrieved April 2, 2009. | GDC: Host Master, Tim Schafer's finest point & click in a decade. Retrieved on 02/04/09
- ↑ "GameSpy: Tim Schafer's GDC Adventure Game - Page 1". Archived from the original on June 18, 2009. Retrieved April 2, 2009. | Tim Schafer's GDC Adventure Game. Retrieved on 02/04/09
- ↑ http://jayisgames.com/archives/2009/03/host_master_and_the_conquest_of_humor.php | Host Master and the Conquest of Humor. Retrieved on 02/04/09
- ↑ "Show Tasha Your Love". The International House of Mojo . Retrieved February 25, 2012.
- ↑ "Best of Casual Gameplay 2008 – platform (browser games)". Jay is Games . Retrieved February 25, 2012.
- ↑ "Best of Casual Gameplay 2009 – adventure (browser games)". Jay is Games . Retrieved February 25, 2012.
- ↑ "GDC 2009: Double Fine offers free Tim Schafer sim - GameSpot News Blog - Gaming News and Videos". Archived from the original on June 19, 2009. Retrieved April 2, 2009. | GDC 2009: Double Fine offers free Tim Schafer sim. Retrieved on 02/04/09