Blip.023: Going Psycho (Again)

It's not all fun and games.

A couple weeks ago, I started playing the sequel to a game that I never thought would get one. Within the first fifteen minutes, it reminded me how fun, clever, thoughtful, and wildly creative games can be when they’re made by the right team. In 2015, cameras started rolling on a documentary at legendary video game designer Tim Schafer’s Double Fine Studios in San Francisco California. They continued rolling for the next seven years, documenting the design and development of what would be Schafer’s most difficult and most fan-requested project, Psychonauts 2. For those of you you might not recognize the name, you might be familiar with at least some of his work. Tim has written and/or designed iconic games like The Secret of Monkey Island, Full Throttle, Grim Fandango (my personal favorite), and of course, Psychonauts. He’s been given a lifetime achievement award and has even won a BAFTA for his contributions to the video game industry. PsychOdyssey is a 32-episode documentary that goes inside the mind of Schafer and the team at Double Fine to show what it takes to not just make a video game, but to bring creative ideas to life. It’s all in there, from the initial ideas and the troubled development to the final release, and whether or not you’re a gamer, it’s a fascinating watch.

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