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Tim Schafer worked at LucasArts for 10 years making adventure titles like The Secret of Monkey Island, Day of the Tentacle, Full Throttle, and Grim Fandango. He’s known for working heavy doses of humor into his games, in 2000 Schafer left LucasArts to start his own company, Double Fine, which went on to release the critically acclaimed Psychonauts in 2005. In a recent interview he talks about how he’d love to make sequels yet would rather make something new, but first about some choice quotes about the change of times…

Schafer: “In 1990, Monkey Island took nine months to make and cost $200,000. In the early ’90s, we were really excited if we sold 100,000 copies of a PC graphic adventure. I think Monkey Island 2 sold 25,000 copies. Full Throttle is the first game I made that cost $1 million. That was 1995 and we were shocked. Before that they had cost around $300,000. And Full Throttle took a year and a half to make, which was crazy at the time. Now games take us at least three years. Psychonauts took five, only sold half a million copies and we’re still in business. The quality of games matters more than people give it credit for.

We like to make things hard on ourselves. We like to try new things. I think it’s important that every time you do a game, you do something that’s the exact opposite of the last one you did. Full Throttle is very different than Day of the Tentacle, and Grim Fandango is very different than Full Throttle. Part of the fun of it is doing a complete 180 every time.”

Does that mean we’re not going to see a Grim Fandango 8?
Schafer: “I’ve toyed with that because I love those characters and that world. I would love to go back and spend time with the characters from any game I’ve worked on, and I would love to make a sequel to any of them. But I also want to make something new. If there were five of me I might make sequels, but there’s always some new idea I want to explore.”
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LucasArts and BioWare today announced that they have entered into an agreement to create an interactive entertainment product. Us gamers call this thing a “game” and you’re out of luck if you were hoping for some details, because none were given, except that it will be “Ground-Breaking” and “will push the boundaries of the gaming market by utilizing the strengths of both companies to deliver an innovative, high-quality experience.” In other words Bioware will be developing and Lucasarts publishing and likely (our guess) providing them with an IP (Intellectual Property) they own.

“LucasArts has a deep commitment to developing compelling stories and characters for the unique medium of interactive entertainment, and we have been searching for a developer that shares this value. We found this in BioWare,” said Jim Ward, president of LucasArts. “Through our previous collaborations, we know that BioWare has an impressive ability to blend gripping stories with technological advancements, and we believe that our upcoming product will deliver an experience that will span the traditional boundaries of video game entertainment.”

“BioWare’s mission is to deliver the best story and character-driven games in the world, delivering powerful emotional experiences to our fans.” said Ray Muzyka, chief executive officer, BioWare Corp. Added Greg Zeschuk, president of BioWare Corp., “The collaboration with LucasArts allows us to combine our passion for creating high quality and innovative experiences with those of a company dedicated to bringing only the finest games to market.

Bet you didn’t expect to hear a new game announcement so soon after the take-over of Bioware by Electronic Arts. I wonder what Lucasarts franchise they might use, maybe a Star Wars MMOG (Massive Multiplayer Online Game) or Monkey Island adventure-RPG?

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