14 DAY TRIAL // Tim Schafer, the president of Double Fine Productions, makes it clear that the current model which sees studios lay off staff after big projects are completed is broken and needs to be eliminated because it creates problems for both developers and gamers.
Speaking to Wired, he says, “Instead of being allowed to apply all those lessons to a better, more efficiently produced second game, they are scattered to the winds and all that wisdom is lost.”
The development process for a modern game is a long process, which involves significant resources and, by the end of it, the team involved develops new ideas, makes mistakes, corrects them and learns valuable lessons.
If developers are laid off after a project is completed, all the wisdom is lost and the process starts from zero on the next title.
Schafer talks about how he approached the problem during the creation of Psychonauts, when he was tempted to lay off personnel in order to have more money and resources for Brutal Legend.
The developer adds, “doing so would have meant breaking up a team that had just learned how to work well together. And what message would that have sent to our employees? It would say that we're not loyal to them, and that we don't care.”
Double Fine believes that fans appreciate a studio because of its games, but they also tend to look at other practices while evaluating it and deciding whether to buy its products.
At the moment, Double Fine is working on an old school adventure game that it has funded via Kickstarter.
Tim Schafer says that it will try to resurrect all the core mechanics of the genre and use them in innovative ways.
The game is expected to arrive during 2013 and the company is also working on The Cave with publisher SEGA.