Game Studies Interview with Tim Schafer
Feb 25th, 2008 by trevelyan
Stumbled onto an excellent interview with Tim Schafer at the online journal Game Studies. Tim Schafer was a game designer for LucasArts back in the mid-1990s when they were at the peak of adventure gaming and had yet to really start milking the Star Wars franchise.
I don’t have the time or equipment to play computer games these days, but played his last game Psychonauts about two years ago on the XBox and was hooked. Still consider it hands-down the best computer game I’ve ever played, which makes it interesting to read Schafer talk about his approach to gaming, and especially the importance he places on storytelling and character over “emergent gameplay”. I think he’s probably right and recommend anyone who hasn’t taken a stab at Psychonauts consider getting it. Besides, there aren’t many games that let you pillage a city of lungfish.
I downloaded Psychonauts after reading this, and promptly got addicted. The lungfish level is driving me nuts at the moment — I just can’t get past the boss.
It’s not always a simple shooter… you’ve got to equip one of the powers you’ve learned to defeat him.