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Schafer to receive lifetime honor from IndieCade

Brendan Sinclair
By Brendan Sinclair, Senior Editor

Independent game festival gives first Honorary Trailblazer Award to Double Fine founder and Grim Fandango, Psychonauts creator Tim Schafer.

As host of the 2009 Game Developers Choice Awards, Tim Schafer got an up-close look at a whole lot of happy developers walking off the stage with shiny new trophies in hand. Next week, the Double Fine Productions founder will get a chance to be on the other side of that equation, as independent game festival IndieCade today announced that he would be the first recipient of the group's Honorary Trailblazer Award for Lifetime Achievement.

Future Trailblazers will be stuck following in Schafer's footsteps.

Future Trailblazers will be stuck following in Schafer's footsteps.

The award was created to honor "a true visionary in the field of game design" and "an individual who has displayed extraordinary vision and creativity in the field of game design, while serving as an inspiration to up-and-coming designers in the field." Schafer will receive his award from Secret of Monkey Island creator (and new Double Fine employee) Ron Gilbert.

Schafer began his career working with Gilbert on LucasArts hits like Monkey Island and Maniac Mansion: Day of the Tentacle before becoming lead designer on games like Full Throttle and Grim Fandango. After leaving LucasArts, he founded Double Fine, which has since produced Psychonauts and Brutal Legend. Although Schafer is receiving a career retrospective award, the developer's work is not confined to the past. Next month will see the release of Double Fine's Costume Quest, the first of a full slate of downloadable and retail games the developer has lined up.

The lifetime achievement award is just one of 11 honors that will be presented at the IndieCade Awards Show October 8 in Culver City, California. Awards will be handed out in categories like aesthetics, gameplay innovation, and documentary games, with actor LeVar Burton (Star Trek: The Next Generation, Reading Rainbow) hosting. Among the finalists for this year's awards are dozens of games, including Limbo, Trauma, Retro/Grade, Every Day the Same Dream, Bit.Trip Runner, Auditorium, and more. The awards are just the opening night highlight of the IndieCade 2010 Festival, which runs through October 10 and also features hands-on gaming and panel discussions.

For more on Schafer's latest game, check out GameSpot's previous coverage of Costume Quest.

Brendan Sinclair
By Brendan Sinclair, Senior Editor

Brendan Sinclair has been a games journalist since 1999. His tastes are eclectic, though he has a definite affinity for games with arcade roots. He's Canadian, but has also been at home in Atlanta, Austin, Chicago, and San Francisco.

21 comments
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6h05tly
6h05tly

So proud he's earning such a mantle. Psychonauts was the first Schafer game I played. He's indeed the Tim Burton of video games :)

jamccain
jamccain

NEXT!!!MAKE PYCHONAUTS 2!!!! ALSO costustume quest looks awesome

Jedilink109
Jedilink109

He deserves more than just a lifetime award. He deserves sales for his games already! They're only incredible and extremely fun games! In all seriousness I don't understand how his games don't sell millions of copies upon each new release.

chesed
chesed

I'm biased as hell, but BOOYA! 'Bout time!

MMOPlayer22
MMOPlayer22

He definetly deserves this award, Grim Fandango is my favourite game of all time :D

snugglebear
snugglebear

I may be partial, but I think Schafer deserves all of the kudos and hype surrounding him. His games really stick with you. Random images and situations, quotes, the Meat Circus, rubber chickens with pullies in the middle..

NColdhardt
NColdhardt

Sadly, it took quite a while for him to be recognized :( ... But I guess that's how things work for Lifetime achievements. To anyone who doesn't know who Tim Schafer is: This man has been making videogames for over 20-something years. He's the Western extreme of Hironobu Sakaguchi.

lightwarrior179
lightwarrior179

He's a genius. He fully deserves the honour for creating such remarkable games and some of my all-time personal favourites like Grim Fandango. :D

BloodMist
BloodMist

They need to hurry up with that special edition of Full Throttle that I hope they eventually make.

Unr3al39
Unr3al39

Full Throttle was one of my favorite games as a kid. Congrats, Tim.

childe_roland
childe_roland

That's great, so glad the Trailblazer went to him.

IceJester45
IceJester45

Good man. He's totally deserving of this honor. Hell, someone needs to be honoring him (considering the way Grim Fandango, Psychonauts, and Brutal Legend sold, the marketplace surely isn't. Other GS users need to start buying this man's games!).

S2333
S2333

He is a great developer. He looks a lot thinner in that photo though.

darkcomedian
darkcomedian

Schafer is a good dude. Congrats to him.

DeMoN_SouL_666
DeMoN_SouL_666

Congrtas to Schafer, he truly deserves it. my true gaming experience started with Grim Fandango and Monkey Island back in the day.

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