'Pschonauts' (Image courtesy of Doublefine)
Doublefine developer Tim Schafer gave gamers a peek behind the development curtain in a tweet last week. While it’s easy to imagine developers know their games inside and out, Schafer revealed that himself and many other devs regularly consult fan-made game wikis to double check the finer points of their past game’s stories.
“I just want to thank fan sites and fan wikis everywhere,” he tweeted. “Not just for being fans, but for helping us find information about our own games. I wonder if you know how often game developers pull from your sites to make presentations about their own games. I know I do it A LOT.”
I just want to thank fan sites and fan wikis everywhere. Not just for being fans, but for helping us find information about our own games. I wonder if you know how often game developers pull from your sites to make presentations about their own games. I know I do it A LOT.
— TimOfLegend (@TimOfLegend) February 4, 2021
Schafer was quickly seconded by Bungie Vice President Mark Noseworthy.
I just want to thank fan sites and fan wikis everywhere. Not just for being fans, but for helping us find information about our own games. I wonder if you know how often game developers pull from your sites to make presentations about their own games. I know I do it A LOT.
— TimOfLegend (@TimOfLegend) February 4, 2021
Telltale Games dev Eric Stripe commented as well. “I just want to thank fan sites and fan wikis everywhere,” he tweeted. “Not just for being fans, but for helping us find information about our own games. I wonder if you know how often game developers pull from your sites to make presentations about their own games. I know I do it A LOT.”
I just want to thank fan sites and fan wikis everywhere. Not just for being fans, but for helping us find information about our own games. I wonder if you know how often game developers pull from your sites to make presentations about their own games. I know I do it A LOT.
— TimOfLegend (@TimOfLegend) February 4, 2021
Schafer’s company Doublefine specializes in rich, story-driven games like Broken Age and Grim Fandango. In the more than 20 years, Schafer has worked in the game industry, it seems obvious in retrospect that one man can’t be responsible for remembering the massive lore of all his creations.
Schafer’s comments come notably close to the release of the highly-anticipated sequel to the 2005 game Psychonauts, making his observations resonate even more. “When you’re making a sequel, and you want to make sure something matches the original, it’s faster to get the information from a fan site than from my musty, disorganized and possibly-on-a-zip-drive archive,” Schafer said.
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