Schafer to receive lifetime honor from IndieCade
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.
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.
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
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 :)
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.
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..
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.
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
They need to hurry up with that special edition of Full Throttle that I hope they eventually make.
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!).
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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Costume Quest
- Publisher(s): THQ
- Developer(s): Double Fine Productions
- Genre: Role-Playing
- Release:
- PEGI: 7+
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