Pyschonauts and Costume Quest developer Double Fine Productions wanted to create a game in the public eye—and with their help. To do this it created a campaign on Kickstarter and with amazing speed, the support from fans came through.

Tim Schafer and Double Fine Productions have surpassed their goal of a $400,000 goal on Kickstarter with almost $700,000 raised at the time of this writing. Not only that, but a spokesperson from Kickstarter revealed that this project is the fastest-funded in the site’s history. Wow.

Double Fine is going to create a new point-and-click adventure game more akin to Tim Schafer’s roots.

The company wanted to skip the influence of publishers, or investments firms, thus this Kickstarter campaign. This allows Double fine to create the game its way, and release it when it is ready, and not be under pressure from a publisher.

Backers of the project get access to a video documentary series based on creating the game. Also, backers can post thoughts about the game on an exclusive online forum, and gain access to the beta test of the game. These are the low tier prizes that can be awarded for only donating at least $30. More prizes for higher donations are available on its Kickstarter page.

Except, perhaps, for the “people” part.

Tim Schafer…had to pitch his Once Upon a Monster…to Cookie Monster. Cookie Monster is clearly very “meh” about zombies. Check out the cuteness below.

Trenched’s Project Lead, Brad Muir, pretty much noted that words don’t even matter when we’ve got video, saying that, “You’re probably not even reading this part of the press release right now because we sent a video along with it.  And honestly that’s fine; the video has all the information you need.”

You probably want to see that video — it’s the intro. Here you go.

What’s the topic? Game design. Honestly, there’s probably not a better candidate than the President and CEO of Double Fine, who have made some of the best games in the past ten years. (Really, if Psychonauts isn’t on your Best Games of the 2000s list, there’s a problem.)

The conference will take place July 13-15 in Brighton.

ESRB:

BUY

I suppose that when you look so forward to something for so long, you’re bound to be disappointed with the final product. And while that’s no way to start a review for a game that I genuinely like, it is disappointing. Hear me out…

Pain and Fear!

To give some perspective, I hold Tim Schafer’s Psychonauts in the highest regard. It is gently resting on a pillow, covered in a glass case, atop a pedestal, guarded by 20 El Odios in my mind. To say that I consider it the greatest game possible would be an understatement, and would of course doom any sophomore effort from Tim’s Double Fine. How do you beat the unbeatable? Having looked forward to this game with a child-like enthusiasm since it was announced, I was excited nonetheless. Joss Whedon has struck gold more than once and I expected the same greatness from his gaming counterpart. Though failing to meet your own stellar standards that you’ve set could hardly be called disappointing. Overall, I’m torn.

Getting it out of the way early, let’s start with the things that are “wrong” with Brutal Legend. Obviously this is a game about music, but more specifically it’s about metal music. Maybe the greatest thing about Psychonauts was that I had no opinion on psychic summer camps before I played it. When it came to bringing in the gamer, it was a neutral subject. Conversely, I have a very strong opinion about heavy metal, in that I absolutely cannot stand it. It’s one thing to grin and bear it through a 15-minute episode of Metalocalypse, but it’s entirely another to immerse yourself in a world that you need to understand before you can successfully navigate it. This probably would’ve still been a problem with any music genre chosen (could you imagine an entire game about folk music?), and I understand that metal and the culture that comes with it is rich and full of an interesting mythology. But I don’t have to like it.

Beyond its initial bother of being based on a subject I personally have no interest in, there are several things about the game that could’ve been thought through better. The opening video of Jack Black entering the record store to find the Epic Metal record was interesting and refreshing. Hey, I think Jack Black is funny and I enjoy watching his movies. Only you’re stuck watching the movie every time you turn the game on. There was no need for that, guys. Watching it once is cool, but not being able to skip it (I haven’t found a way yet) is some new kind of torture.

This is what commanding dudes looks like.

It’s been said in most other reviews, but I’m going to keep beating this dead horse when I say that I hate the RTS aspects of the game. Very cool in theory (I’m sure more so for people who like RTS games, which again I do not), but the execution is like pulling teeth. Having to command your guys to kill the other guys should be way easier than it started. For one, the differences between Eddie’s troops and Lord Lion White’s troops are the colors of the headbands. I’m not even kidding; good guys are ranged between dark red and black, and the bad guys are kind of a fuchsia and pink color. Exact same character model for the good guys and the bad guys, where the deciding factor between “send to fight” or “kill” is a subtle color change. This part of the game was frustrating once, and luckily you get to keep doing it. Non-sarcastically lucky, is that it does improve the more you play. The enemies become more diverse as the game goes on, and it’s a lot easier than fighting your own dudes.

Now, beyond there being a limited number of them, do not think that I am ragging on the characters or the models. Scott Campbell, artist extraordinaire at Double Fine, is an amazing human being. I heard that he has as much knowledge and affection for the metal genre as I do, yet he still managed to create brilliant character designs. They fit in perfectly with their larger-than-life surroundings, which are also phenomenal. Even though I complained about the RTS turns the game takes, I really enjoyed playing solos to melt faces or summon my car because it was too far away and I’m too lazy to walk up the hill to get it. While that may sound unimportant, it seemed to me like the developers understood things about what gamers like and dislike, and tried to fix them.

Some of the voice talent used (and I’m not going to pretend I know who half of the musician cameos are) were manufactured to put a smile on your face. Did you ever think you’d play a videogame where comedian Brian Posehn tasks you with killing Ground Urchins (metal for porcupine)? Speaking of porcupines, animals play an essential and totally rad part in this story (they join your army!), and they’re a lot of fun.

Picture unrelated.

Looking back, it seems like there was more to complain about than to love, and I apologize if I gave you that impression. Maybe we’re more critical of games that are important, and that matter. Assigning a number score for this kind of gaming experience is difficult, because I believe that my loyalties are weighted more in one direction than they should be. It’s probably a sign of the times where people don’t just look up to athletes or movies stars, but to people who work hard and develop a product the player is drawn to, over and over. If a game doesn’t live up to its desired potential, those who are emotionally invested in its success take a hit. I may be taking things too seriously. Tim, if you’re out there… we love you.

Please understand that the game is wonderful — I can’t stress this enough. And while it’s initially kind of a pain and hard to love, like a sibling, if you invest the time you come out ahead. If you feel the way I do, where you absolutely hate metal music and real time strategy games, understand that it works. Eventually. Although this wasn’t exactly what I was expecting, I’m still on the Double Fine team and I’m looking forward to whatever they have next.

Yes, it is truly awesome. Since Tim Schafer just can’t tear himself away from playing Brutal Legend, fans are in luck. If Tim says he needs more maps, then the game gets more maps!

“I play Brütal Legend online every night,” said Tim Schafer, President of Double Fine Productions. “And I need more maps! Circle of Tears is named after the crying of my vanquished foes on the battlefield, and Death’s Fjord is obviously a tribute to my Nordic ancestors, and their love of fan geysers and… Well, actually I just thought the name was cool. See you online!”

Everyone who downloads the new maps will also receive a free axe, the Blade of Ormagöden.

On November 3rd, 360 players can pick up the two new maps for 400 Points. November 5th sees them land on the PSN where users can nab them for FREE until November 19th, at which point they go on sale for $4.99.

Tim Schafer and Jack Black rocked the Key Club last week to talk about Brutal Legend. The room full of journalists were probably not prepared for what was going to transpire. Both guys came to the event in a good mood and it was quickly apparent that this wouldn’t be the place for serious questions. Further proven by the journalist who asked about “cock push-ups”. I at least got one semi-serious question in.

The video uses explicit language so watch only if you are not easily offended!!

It’s now Rocktober and Brutal Legend will be out on October 13.

Here is a video of Tim and Jack talking about the “competition”:

AWESOME.

Today at 12pm PST, there is a live broadcast from Double Fine Productions where they will be answering your questions from Facebook and Twitter. They’ll also be giving away “Brutal” prizes and going over spoilers.

Watch the entire event here and hope that Ormagoden is happy so we all don’t get Sine Flu.

Ladies and gentlemen, let me tell you… there is now good reason to be excited. EA released a couple demo codes this past week, to allow a slice of gamers to get a look at the next huge autumn game. I sat down with this beauty and loved every single minute of it.

AWESOME.

It starts with legendary roadie Eddie Riggs. He has constructed a massive stage set for a “metal” band that really puts that title to shame. A series of unfortunate choices later, the band’s stupidity has led to Eddie being crushed under the giant stone stage monster he has created. His blood drips into his (truly metal) belt buckle, which transports him to another world (and also creates a monster that destroys everyone in the band, thank goodness). In this decidedly more Brutal world, he is attacked by evil monks, who he manages to fend off with the help of an axe, and an “axe” (melee and magic weapons, respectively). As luck would have it, he runs into a hot metal chick that helps him navigate the level. There is fighting, driving (he assembles a car, no problem — roadies can build anything, and he’s the best), and it all culminates with a boss battle against a creature that looks quite similar to… well… it seems pretty obvious but I’ll let people draw their own conclusions.

If this sounds like your run-of-the-mill niche game, you’d better find your brain and think again. First of all, the dialog is pure Tim Schafer; for a game so badass you will definitely find the time to laugh that ass off. Music fans will especially get all of the tongue-in-cheek subtlety (it doesn’t even have to be metal music, which I hate), but even if you just appreciate clever dialog you’ll find humor here. Second, Double Fine has taken stale game mechanics and made them interesting again. In order to get the parts to assemble the car, you need to play a series of power-up notes, sort of like a Guitar Hero mini-game. Only one was available at the time, but there was a whole wheel of spaces that I’m really looking forward to earning in the full version. Also, progressing in the level involves smashing through walls with the power of rock, which is 100% more interesting than just walking through a door. And please do not get me started on the absolutely amazing menu screen. I WAS BLOWN AWAY BY THE MENU SCREEN, WHAT DOES THAT TELL YOU ABOUT THIS GAME.

If you haven’t given Brutal Legend a thought beyond, “yeah I’ll check it out”, please reconsider. It truly is (if the demo is any indication) THE game to buy in 2009. Who knows, I may end up buying three copies again…

Brutal Legend logo

Here’s the last part of our interview with Tim Schafer. It’s been pretty epic so far. Here we go!

Q: As the world opens up beyond the tutorial, can you give examples of some of the missions in there and will there be cool metal stuff to unlock or uncover?

A: The references are woven into it. If you are familiar with metal you’ll see bits and pieces mixed together and placed in the world. Some missions are just Eddie and his ax focusing on combat. On other missions you start building your army and use the dpad to control these guys. Eventually you have such a big army that you have a whole army on the battlefield at once and you get to pick and choose which ones to add to the battle. That’s when it expands to be full out heavy metal warfare.

Q: Are there any plans to add post-content to the game?

A: We’re currently talking about DLC. We want to do stuff that will be fun and that we have time to do. Nothing is concrete yet, but we’d like to expand the world sure.

Q: If Brutal Legends does really well in sales, will there be another one?

A: *laughs* That would be great! I would love that but um, we’ll have to see.

Q: Do you have dreams of making it into an episodic series or a trilogy?

A: There’s a lot of story. When I do a game I usually do a lot of research and backstory. There was a big epic story that we’ve only been able to tell a small part of. I don’t know if episodic is the word but there is definitely more stories to tell in the world of Brutal Legend.

Q: Any original gameplay in multiplayer?

A: It’s a strategic type of battle where you are totally destroying your opponent’s stage. It’s kindof a more complex, not just last minute hacking with an ax. You’re choosing what warriors to add to your army and when you have those warriors you are choosing where they go on the map and then when they capture resources you’re choosing what to do with those resources. Can invest in new units or keep going with headbangers. There’s a lot of depth to it and it’s all about destroying your opponents stage.

Tim Schafer President of Double Fine Productions

Q: What are your thoughts on the recent release of LOOM (on Steam) and LucasArts embracing it’s catalog? Or thoughts on doing a LOOM remake right now?

A: That would be great. I think that would be great for modern players to be able to go back and play those games. I think they are doing it as a “Let’s test the waters”. I’ve heard it was a success so maybe they’ll do more. We’ll see how it goes.

Q: I read that the game originally started as a multiplayer and then you kindof switched to single player. What caused the switch and were there any problems in focusing on single player first?

A: The reason we started with multiplayer is because we knew we wanted to have it. When going into production you have to do the most scariest, hardest thing first. You tackle the hardest problems first cause you don’t want to be doing those as you are right up against your deadline. What do we know the least about? We’ve never done multiplayer, so let’s do that first. Let’s prove that we can make a good multiplayer game.

Q: Is there anything gameplay-wise that will ease casual game players?

A: We have three difficulty modes when you play the game. We have gentle, normal and brutal. We know that the multiplayer game has alot of different mechanics to play the game. We added a video tutorial that you can watch, or the single player game itself is a step by step lesson in how to play multiplayer.

Q: You’ve made very creative games. Do you feel the industry is stifling on creativity and have you ever had to fight to be as creative as you want to?

A: Well thanks, but yeah, but that goes along with if you want to do something interesting or unique you have to be prepared to fight for it. I don’t see a problem with that. If you are going to do what someone else wants you to do then your life is a lot easier, but if you want to do what you want to do then there will always be some fight to it. Once you accept that then I think it’s worth it.

Q: How does working on the game let you have your heavy metal dreams come true?

A: I was 14 in 1981 and the first album I bought was Diary of a Madman by Ozzy Osborn. I still have that album and I got to bring it to the studio and have Ozzy sign it for me and have him tell me all the details of the album. He sat there and told me all about his album covers. If I had made a list when I was 14 years old of people I want to meet it would be a list of people who are in this game.

Q: Strategy games have not historically done well on the console. Was there any concern in adding the strategy element when people may just want the action aspect?

A: Well it is still and action game. There are elements where you are making intelligent choices, but if you play it as just sending your troops forward and then getting in there with your ax it really is an action game. There is some strategy if you want to go deeper. If you jump in there with your ax, you’ll have a good time just playing your guitar or using the double team attack.

Q: How did you decide on the main character being a roadie and not a rock star?

A: I just want to tell a story that has never been told before and I don’t think anyone has ever done a roadie. Roadies have this appeal in that they life out the rockstar’s life in different ways.

Q: Metal is known for over the top, extreme type mentality. What are some things that Eddie can do that is extreme?

SPOILER ALERT!!!
A: He does get to sprout giant, leathery type demonic wings over the battlefield at one point. Of course that won’t be a surprise now because I spoiled that, but if I hadn’t spoiled it, it might be a jaw dropping moment. Other things he does that are over the top, were inspired by Jack Black, like a power slide where you can play a chord and run and slide to hit your enemies.

Q: Out of all the characters you’ve created, do you have a favorite?

A: *laughs* No. I mean I love Eddie. The work Jack did to bring that character to life he really is a special character because he does all the hard work and doesn’t get any of the credit cause he’s a roadie not a rockstar. That kindof appeals to me. You get very attached to characters when you finish a game because you spend alot of time with them.

Q: What are you playing now?

A: Ever since I’ve gotten into the final mode of Brutal Legend, I go home and play Brutal Legend every night. After I put the baby to bed and my wife would leave I would play a few hours of games and then I started feeling stressed out by not playing Brutal Legends every night. Now I’m starting to try and figure that out because I missed some games that I need to check out. Like Fallout 3 I should check out.

Q: What do you think of technology like Natal and are you anxious to use it on a game in the future or maybe a sequel?

A: It’s really interesting. We have been kicking around some ideas for that. I’ve never been really technology driven or new controllers. You always get some ideas, but most of the things I care about are characters and story and you can do that with any controller.

A huge thanks to EA and Tim Schafer for spending the time to talk to us! Brutal Legend will be in retails stores on Rocktober 13th and if you pre-order through GameStop you can get early access to the demo on September 17th, as well as a special in-game guitar inspired by Tenacious D.