When you think of the esteemed back catalogue of industry veteran and adventure game overlord Tim Schafer, your mind will no doubt be dazzled with such greats as Grim Fandango, Day of the Tentacle and the brilliant Psychonauts. So which game does Schafer hold closest to its heart? Escape from Monkey Island? Brutal Legend? Surely not a largely forgotten Kinect game on Xbox 360 called Double Fine Happy Action Theater? Err, well we'll let him explain this one himself...
"It was odd that it happened, because I wasn’t supposed to be running projects. We were doing this new model where games like Stacking and Costume Quest were run by other people, and I was just going to be managing," says Schafer in the latest issue of Edge. "But then I had this idea, and I was like, ‘I really want to make this one tiny game’. So I made it and then handed the sequel off to someone else. It was a weird aberration, in a way, but it was super fun to do and I would have kept making them if everyone had a Kinect."
So why has a three-and-a-half-year-old Xbox 360 Kinect game stayed with Schafer through such a storied career with both LucasArts and Double Fine? "It’s still the game I feel I’m most proud of," comments Schafer. "When you watch people play it, it’s such a crazy experience. You bring it home at Thanksgiving and your grandma is playing it with a two-year-old and the family dog is there and the camera still picks him up. You just see so many people having so much fun and laughing and playing together."
Question is, with such an iron grip on his affections, does Schafer still play Double Fine Happy Action Theater? "I still turn it on whenever I have a party," he adds.
The latest issue of Edge, with Deus Ex: Mankind Divided on the cover, is out now. Download it here or subscribe to future issues.
