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Any guess on what Doublefine will make next?


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I know this is useless speculation, but I was thinking that some of you, members of this forum, were quite good at figuring out the anagram about the double fine store, so maybe you have some more educated guesses than I have.

 

I'm thinking that, even though there would be untold dancing and rejoicing on my behalf, Sam and Max 2 is out of the question. I could be wrong, but if anyone will be allowed to complete it, I would think Telltale Games would be, and that doesn't look like any sort of outcome in the foreseeable future. I think it's prudent to not even mention Lucas Arts.

 

My guess is that, considering Tim Schafer's track record - Motorcycles, Mexican Folk Lore, and then Psychic summer camp - there is no telling. He might make a sequel, but my best guess is that it will probably be an original title. Even if it there was a sequel I doubt it would be Psychonauts..I mean, I would think they would release a different title first, even if a sequel to pyschonauts was on the horizon. Since I haven't heard anything about a deal with Lucas Arts(who cares about prudence), I'm guessing it's a totally new original title; something at least equally as original and different as all the other titles.

 

So, I doubt any of us will have any idea until the press release but considering the lack of news and everything, I'm guessing they are either working hard at getting the production under way or they are just keeping quiet until the big anouncement. But it's still fun to speculate.

 

The multiplayer game programmer hiring thing is kind of a give away. Psychonauts online maybe? An mmorpg? I don't think it's really Tim Schafer's style, but then again, the best style has no definitions.

 

Maybe it will be a game based on the Da Vinci Code, or maybe an Art Pony?

 

Man, I'm tired. I'm linking this recent post because it's related, and sort of asks the same question.

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If Psychonauts does well, Majesco is going to push for a sequel. I might like to see what happens when Raz is a little bit older; puberty might do strange things to psychics.

 

But if Double Fine hired a multiplayer programmer, then maybe they could a Psychonauts multiplayer FPS called CounterPsych.

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My guess is that a psychonauts sequel would involve new characters with the kids at camp being counselors or secret agents or something. Might not even take place at the camp...or maybe it would only breifly visit the locations in the first Psychonauts.

 

At first I thought maybe they were looking for an online network game programmer to add multiplayer to psychonauts...maybe like ID software added multiplayer to Quake 2 in a point release shortly after the game was released. That doesn't make sense for console games though. Or maybe the way Running With Scissors added multiplayer to Postal 2 ;they released a whole new game about a year later and owners of the old game got a big discount. That doesn't say anything about the next game though, really. I can't imagine what multiplayer psychonauts would be like, either.

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Originally posted by Plankhead

If Psychonauts does well, Majesco is going to push for a sequel. I might like to see what happens when Raz is a little bit older; puberty might do strange things to psychics.

 

XD That's a funny thought. "Teen-psychic angst in PSYCHONAUTS TWO!" But then there might be Lili fanboys, then the world would violently implode...

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I don't think there'll be a Psychonauts sequel. We haven't seen sequels for anything else Tim Schafer has done - the ending was a cinematic device rather than a declaration of intention, I think. Still: with nothing better to do at work, I was putting some skull time into a Psychonauts sequel...

 

Oh noes! The director of Psychonauts - and Lili's dad - has been kidnapped! Agents to teh rescue! Only when they get to the high-tech PNHQ... no he hasn't?! The director's right where he's always been and everything seems just fine. The game starts on a bit of an awkward note as our putative heroes mill around trying to figure out what happened to the emergency recall message they received.

 

The PNHQ has an anti-psi field set up as a security measure, with your specific clearance level allowing you to bypass its effects. Raz, as a raw cadet, has no clearance - that's right, the field suppresses all your powers for the time being. *grins* Hey, gotta explain it somehow. The adults all disappear into higher-security areas, and with nothing better to do, it falls to Raz to try and improve his clearance somehow. Thus begins exploration of PNHQ, which is like a cross between Black Mesa, the Fortress of Solitude, and the Ivy League University of your choice. Advanced courses for cadet training are held for remotely-projecting agents, which means one of the first powers you obtain will be clairvoyance/telepathy/psychometry - this'll get used enough this time that it'll have its own shoulder button (or tab key for us PC users), allowing you to switch between normal vision and astral perception on the fly.

 

And there's plenty to see. The PNHQ is laced with riddles and conundrums to be solved, the usual personal issues to be sorted out - I demand a D&D-obsessed technician with orcish censors - and not just human, but mechanical as well. Remember the rail system from the original? Well, that was just Ford's personal transportation. Genuine Personality Prototypes are all over the place, and getting clearance to some areas is going to require tapping into the mentality of the security system itself. And for those of you that - like me - feel Raz's original outfit beats the hell out of his French Artiste getup, while projecting like this his self-image retains the infamous goggles 'n' helmet. The psi powers get a boost with expanded functionality (the levitation power, for instance, allows you to alter your personal gravity and walk on walls/ceilings) and possibly combos (shield + psiblast = an area effect that shoves away enemies, disorienting any immobile ones).

 

As the plot thickens, you get to interact with many of the adults from the original, as well as a new gang of idiots and a few ranking cadets (including a conflicting love interest for Lili, let's get that love triangle shiznit going), resolving not just personality issues but personal issues as well. Finally, it is discovered that Daddy indeed was kidnapped... by himself! The director turns out to have quite a Jekyll & Hyde complex going, and by the time it is discovered, he's locked down the facility. Many adventurous hijinks ensue, and ultimately Raz uncovers the true villain behind this disruptive influence - the core computer for DNHQ itself, which has developed a strong enough personality to take over completely. Diving deep into Ultraviolet security and leaping between physical and astral worlds, Raz ends up trying to unplug their own personal Shodan, which causes it to use Lili as the penny in the mental circuit breaker, which gives Lili the power to fight Shodan on the inside and help guide Raz to the CPU itself, which... well, you get the idea.

 

Anyway, it would be cool, and I bet we'd all love to see more of this merry gang of misfits, but I don't think Double Fine had any interest in creating a license. They wanted to create a compelling first game, and that they did.

 

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Double Fine will be around for a while. I've seen no evidence of otherwise, personally. ^_^ So I'm not too worried about them disspearing. Besides, from the sound of it Tim worked hard to keep the company together. Why stop after all that work and one game?

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It was on the top 10 ebgames seller list.

 

Found this quote from an interview tih tim on http://www.armchairempire.com/Interviews/psychonauts-tim-schafer.htm

 

Most of the projects you’ve worked on have been “one-off” games without any sequels. Would you want Psychonauts to turn into a franchise? Are derivative sequels bad for the industry?

 

Kind of a leading question don’t you think? Are derivative sequels bad for the industry? I’m not sure, I mean is toxic candy bad for kids? Is carcinogenic pollution bad for the environment? (And strangely, the answer to all those questions is still, “Depends how much money it makes.”)

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Originally posted by doremi210

30,000 is uhh... well not blockbuster.

 

KnifeFace says only 30,000 units for the xbox. Let's not forget it's also on two other platforms, and I have a feeling PC version will probably be the most popular.

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I just hope Tim keeps making games. I play sports games once in a while, but other than that I wouldn't play any if Tim never made a game again, unless LucasArts decided to make another graphic adventure...

 

If he made a Psychonauts sequel I'm sure it would be fresh and it would expand and even improve on the original. A brand new adventure from the mind of Tim would be great, but I'd take a Psychonauts sequel in a couple of years over a brand new adventure in 7 years.

 

Just keep working Tim...

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Don't know how many of you remember this, but if you haven't read the Schafer part.

 

He talked about how it's all well and good to take three years making a game, but that he would like to leverage the artistic and development talents of a full studio to make episodic games no more than perhaps four hours in length at smaller intervals.

 

Since this is from 2003, it means Tim wanted DF's next games to small before Psychonauts was released and flopped. Ron Gilbert's been talking about short adventure games for some time, Telltale is doing just that, and Tim takes to the idea as well, apparently. Great minds think alike?

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I think two small up-and-comer developers should come together to make something completely oddball. I believe Double Fine should make something with the Behemoth(Alien Hominid). I'd love to see Schafer's writing and creativity mixed with Fulp's gaming and Paladin's art.

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