Two decades of art and insight into Double Fine Productions

I kind of can't believe Double Fine has been around for 20 years. Where were you when you first heard about Psychonauts? At? this point, I'm not even sure – but maybe a slick art?? book will jog my memory.

In collaboration with Indie By Design, Double Fine Productions is coming out with 20 Double Fine Years, a history-recapping art book "with over 280 pages of commentary, concept art, ??and key visuals."

New interviews were conducted with Tim Schafer, current and former staff members, and "many of the studio's long term collaborators." Game-wise, the book covers everything from Psychonauts and Brutal Legend to Iron Brigade and Costume Quest to the Day of the Tentacle and Full Throttle remasters.

The price is reasonable enough: $50 ?for the basic version, $65 for the Legend Edition with a cloth cover and gold-foil? logo, and shipping is free the US and UK, so the bill won't jump when you checkout.

20 Double Fine Years will be released in Q2 2021.

The post 20 Double Fine Years?? is stu??ffed with art and interviews appeared first on Destructoid.

\m/

The heavy metal world of Brütal Legend is worth remembering, and as of today, you won?'t need to put any strain on your mind trying to reminisce. Double Fine??'s 2009 action-adventure-meets-RTS game about Jack Black as a roadie in a gnarly fantasy land is now backward compatible on Xbox One.

You can pop in your old and hopefully scratch-free Xbox 360 dis??c to catch up with Ozzy, Lemmy, and other familiar faces. For that reason alone, it's lovely to see this made easily accessible on Xbox One.

I'm not expecting a sequel anytime soon, but I'm confident we'll see one in our lifetimes. For all its faults and annoyances, Brütal Legend is too rich?? a premise to only get a s??ingle game. It deserves better.

Larry Hryb [Twitter] [Image]

The post Heavy metal tribute Brutal Legend now pla??yable on Xb??ox One appeared first on Destructoid.

For Those About to Rock

AC/DC guitarist Malcolm Young died over the weekend. He's the latest in a never-ending sad and continuous stream of beloved musicians passing away. T?his year has seen, among others, Young, Chuck Berry, Tom Petty, Chris Cornell, Gregg Allman, and Chester Bennington all shuffle off this mortal coil. Some earlier than others, but all undeniably influential in their own way.

Maybe it's a strained connection, but this opportunity to remember gone musicians is also an opportunity to remember a mostly-forgotten music video game. Humble is giving away real-time-strategy-game-in-disguise Brutal Legend for free. No strings attached (apart from having a Humble? account) -- just go through the checkout process and get sent a Steam k??ey. The promotion ends at 10am Pacific on Wednesday November 22.

Looking through our archives of Brutal Legend stories, I found this retrospective that I apparently wrote four years ago. (I've written 3,000-some stories here, it's hard to remember even a fraction of them!) In that piece, I said "Brutal Legend is the From Dusk Till Dawn of video games.?" That is still the smartest thing I've ever said.

Brutal Legend [Humble]

The post Humble’s giving away Brutal Legend for free right now appeared first on Destructoid.

From our community blogs

Honestly it’s a bit weird to me I haven’t talked about this game yet-it’s a game ??that has a very special place in my blood pump and its one that came to me during that tumultuous time in most peoples lives where where they begin figuring ??out who they are: High school.

I was first introduced to this game by a friend of mi??ne in high school, who took it upon himself to loan me a PS3 copy of the game, a decision that would serve to introduce me to two things I would come to have a large fondness for in future years-Double Fine, with its clever writing and ehhhh gameplay that would become emblematic of the brand, and heavy metal. At the time I wasn’t really into metal, and my musical tastes were still somewhat underdeveloped but this game would help push me into the direction of the best genre of music on this or any planet-as many here will attest-which I had never really experienced. I recall being pretty enthralled with the game, and the humor/great music really sold me on it as well as the world design being really great. From there I got a respect for the genre that has led me to listening to it as my primary source of music from then to now, with my entire music library on my phone consisting of almost entirely metal music with some synthwave standouts.

Brutal Legend immediately caught me with the entertaining narrative and voice actors, and its rather fitting introduction to the game menu itself. It’s hard not to love Jack Black when you put him in the right role, and him starring in a live action intro that serves to get you to the menu screen fits pretty damn well. Also aiding in the engagement of the player is the fact that said menu screen is an old school Vinyl Album that is flipped around for different settings, etc.  The in-game introduction starts by mocking a few current metal trends that aren’t held in high regard by the game makers, and pines for the days when metal was king and at its apex of quality to some peoples minds-before transporting you to a world that is so metal it hurts. The process of getting ?there is even metal as fuck-a monster with hands permanently in the hand position that most metalheads/metal bands use (generally called horns or some such, and apparently popularized by Dio) screams some characters heads off before howling to a?n ever more enthusiastic crowd. 

From there you are transported to a world of metal, and the introduction starts with some combat as well as some Children of The Grave by Black Sabbath which helps engage you in the world as you literally play a building apart in your fight against demons who want to kill you. After that combat tutorial you make your way along a badass highway fending off demons to get to the main overworld, which is best described as a metal album cover come to life. It’s such a brilliantly realized world with trees made of metal, animals with metal or engines integrated into their bodies and huge monuments of metal iconography spread about that are just so well thought out and named. Each area is oozing with personality, from an eerie swamp filled with ghoulish specters and zombies to a glamourous city that epitomizes flashy gaudy style all of which have their own feel and atmospheric music that you can drown out with the amazing soundtrack on your car radio. Just driving around the world is a fun time because you get to see some really neat or weird stuff in most areas, and its pretty visually engaging throughout the game with some pretty amusing stu??ff like a seawall covered in speakers that blows things up with sound. 

You attack with an axe in or play deadly riffs on your magic guitar in some fairly basic combat that is servicable, drive around in a badass car and do other, more normal open world things ala sidquests and unlockables. The gameplay is a bit clunky but it works well enough to not be unbearable, and the little rythym game guitar riffs are generally easy enough to pull off that they're not too much of a bother to play to get the effe??cts. I love the themes the game messes with and its factions-each of them seems? to represent different genres of metal and their areas (if they have them) tend to be emblematic of their personality. They’ve also got some legendary artists-ala Ozzie, Rob Halford, and so on-in to do voice work, which helps sell some of the characters even more. It’s probably one of the best realized worlds I’ve seen in games and even years later it still stands out pretty well in my mind. 

Heck even the parts of the game I don’t think work very well at least thematically make sense-regrettably this game has RTS elements that are pretty weak and mar parts of the game with how clunky they are. It feels like a bit of a crapshoot of whether or not you'll win sometimes and its not really overly fun to play, as well as being a system I feel took time away from the main development. Even then though, they’re integrated in world pretty well and they make sense-its two genres of music and their followers duking it out with the biggest ?baddest stages and support from fans via merchandise booths-it’s a terrible mechanic that makes sense in the context of the story and it’s such a weird thing to think about that shouldn't work as well as it does but it just kind of does in some ways. 

As I drove around this twisted metal world, the radio constantly blared metal classics and during set story scenes it also added to its scenes by tossing metal songs into them. This gave me a pretty good beginner’s course in metal music and some of that music has still stuck around to be quite enjoyed by me. I eventually would move into all sorts of different genres of metal after slowly getting more and more into it after playing this game, but it really helped me f?ind music that I loved and helped solidify a part of my interests during my high school years which I think also helped me get a bit more outgoing and willing to talk to others as well, and it helped make me into the monst-er, man I am today.  Its the games you play during formative times like that, the music you listen to and the friends it deepens connections with that you find a lot of in high school, and its interesting going back to one of those big things in my life that still resonates with me today. All round it was a pretty good game and it hit me at the perfect time in my life-hard to complain much about that.

The post A Brutal Legend appeared first on Destructoid.

'I would love to go back there'

Brutal Legend's development was marred by a series of unfortunate incidents involving IP rights, but eventually, it hit the market. Sadly, we haven't seen anything indicating that we'd ever get to return to the world, outsi?de of the occasional comment by Tim Schafer, who recently spoke up again regarding his creation.

Schafer states, "I love that world and I would love to go back there. And I think [actor Jack Black] might be up for it, too. I would love to...even just do a DLC pack. We're always trying to get Lionwhyte in there, [as] a playable Lionwhyte?? army. Maybe that would happen some day." I would definitely be up for it as well -- if all of the RTS elements were eliminated.

Brutal Legend 2 [GameSpot via OXM]

The post ??Tim Schafer muses on return to the world of Brutal Legend appeared first on Destructoid.

Plus Dropchord, The Cave, and Middle Manager of Justice

Double Fine has uploaded six game soundtracks to their Bandcamp page. They're all avai?lable for purc??hase, and you can stream them too.

Middle Manager of Justice soundtrack is $2.99, Psychonauts: Original Cinematic Score is $7.99, Psychonauts: Original Soundtrack is $7.99, The Cave: Original Soundtrack is $7.99, Brutal Legend Original Soundtrack is $9.99, and the Dropchord soundtrack is $9.99.

The post Psychonauts, Brutal Legend soundtrac??ks now on Bandcamp appeared first on Destructoid.

MM25 will be MINE, I say! MINE!

San Diego Comic-Con came and went, and despite my best efforts to use the Dtoid team to my own ends, I was unable to score the coveted hardcover edition of MM25. Thanks a lot, DALE!

But no worries! UDON promised that all its event-exclusive books would be available for purchase on its online store. True to its word, you will be able to pre-order any of the six volumes beginning tomorrow, August 1, at 12:00 PM EST.

Once again, the items up for grabs are The Art of Brutal Legend ($79.99), MM25: Mega Man & Mega Man X Official Complete Works ($99.99), Street Fighter Origins: Akuma ($39.99), Street Fighter Classic Volume 1 ($59.99), Super Street Fighter Volume 1: New Generations ($39.99), and World of Warcraft Tribute ($99.99). These are all limited edition hardcover printings; cheaper standard vers?ions will be available later this year if they?? aren't already.

Get your clicking fingers ready!

UDON 2013 Convention Exclusives Available For Pre-Order Online Aug??ust 1st?? at Noon [UDON Entertainment via The Mega Man Network]

The post SDCC-exclu?sive UDON books up ?for pre-order August 1 appeared first on Destructoid.

Exclusive Brutal Legend and World of Warcraft volumes will be available as well

As it does every year, comic and videogame art book publisher UDON Entertainment will be attending San Diego Comic-Con with a bunch of event-exclusive goodies i??n tow. Technically, all these books will be ava?ilable elsewhere in standard editions, but if you want the privilege of spending out the nose for fancy covers, you'll have to brave the sweaty SDCC crowds.

UDON's Street Fighter comic series is getting three hardcover compilations with special dust jackets, featuring a character face-off on one side and a "Street Fighter lady on the beach" spread on the reverse. Street Fighter Classic Vol. 1 and Street Fighter Origins: Akuma are $40 each, while Super Street Fighter Vol. 1: New Generationis $60.

MM25: Mega Man & Mega Man X Official Complete Works is supposed to arrive in September, but show attendees can snag a blue laser foil hardcover edition for an insane $100 (WHAAAAAAT!?). Also priced at $100 is a hardcover World of Warcraft Tribute, which collects fan art submissions from around the world. Finally, there's The Art of Brütal Legend, available f??or $80 in a silver m?etallic slip case.

If these books sell out at the show, that's it. But if there are lefto??vers, UDON editor Matt Moylan promises they will appear on UDON's web store.

UDON ENTERTAINMENT ANNOUNCES 6?? COMIC-CON EXCLUSIVES! [UDON Entertainment via The Mega Man Network]

The post UDON? to sell SDCC-only?? Street Fighter, Mega Man books appeared first on Destructoid.

Play around with some of the studio's unreleased ideas

A week ago, the Humble Double Fine Bundle was announced. For some, it was easy to resist; though the games on the list range from decent to great, fans of the studio ?already owned most, if not all of the titles. Of course the Humble Bundle people are going to add some more stuff a week in to keep the interest high. Of course. That's how they get you.

Double Fine is known for taking a few weeks to prototype new ideas every so often, and joining the bundle is a group of eight prototypes that haven't yet seen the light of day, as well as 2 Player Productions' documentary on Double Fine's Amnesia Fortnight 2012. Customers who pay more than the average (which is currently sitting around eight dollars) get all of the prototypes, along with most of the games and soundtracks from the original bundle.

The post Humble Double Fine Bundle adds a bunch of prot??otype games appeared first on Destructoid.

Be prepared to use a controller for Brutal Legend on PC

[Want to know how a developer handled the PC version of a multiplatform game? Check out the PC Port Report for the full scoop.]

It's been about three and a half years since Brütal Legend came out on consoles and it has finally found its way to the PC. It's almost the same game that we reviewed back in 2009 ;with clever rock-fueled writin??g that's backed by mediocre gameplay, but I think PC gamers will find it less enjoyable than our console brethren.

Brutal Legend (PC)
Developer: Double Fine Productions 
Publisher: Double Fine Productions
Released: February 25, 2013
MSRP: $19.99
Rig: AMD 9850, with 5GB of RAM, GeForce GTX 480 GPU, 60fps average performance, Windows 7 64-bit

At its core, Brütal Legend feels like a strategy game, but it's controlled from a third-person over-the-shoulder perspective. It plays a little bit like Orcs Must Die!, but you also build and control other units, and the controls aren't nearly as well done. You have to move units around by pointing a marker in front of your character, and you can only move it around by changing where you are looking since there is no mouse cursor whatsoever. It's very difficult to get people? to go exactly where you want them to and takes much longer than a traditional real-time strategy game would.

I tried to play with both a mouse and keyboard, and an Xbox 360 controller. The keyboard is barely usable as a control method -- it's highly uncomfortable to play it this way. Even the pre-rendered tutorial cut scenes show you how to play using an Xbox 360 controller. It does work well with ??a controller, so if you don't mind using one, I highly recommend playing that way. If you don't have a 360 controller for your PC, or you don't like playing games with a gamepad, you might as well skip over this one altogether.

Graphically, the game looks a little bit better than the console versions due to increased draw distances and a few other minor improvements, but it's not visually stunning. The art style is nice, which makes up for the poor graphics quality,?? but it's not up to par with newer releases. It looks OK for a game that came out in 2009, but it's 2013 now, so I think most people will expect more.

If you can look at Brütal Legend as a console game with similar graphics that is best played with a gamepad??, you might find something here to enjoy. That said, I feel like anyone who might h??ave been interested in this type of a game would already have played it on a console when it came out.

Brütal Legend on ??the PC seems like a huge missed opportunity to really refine the gameplay to make an all-around better game. There could have been quickbars to access powers instead of using a radial menu system, click-to-move mou??se support, the ability to select individual units with the right-mouse button, and overall better camera controls and a mini-map. In other words, this could've been much more than a straightforward port.

It plays like a strategy game, but with a control system that feels awkward and foreign to anyone who is used to the genre on PC. That paired with lackluster graphics make it a very lousy port, and since it only scored a 6 out of 10 on Dest??ructoid to begin with, you might want to ??skip this one.

The post PC Port Report: Brutal Legend appeared first on Destructoid.

A retrospective look

This week, more than three years after its initial release, Brütal Legend, Double Fine's sophomore effort, makes its way to PC. To the casual observer, Brütal Legend appears to be nothing more than an innocent celebration of metal culture -- a game that at every opportunity bleeds the sheer brutal excess that defines the musical genre. While that holds true, Brütal Legend is also remarkable for being one of the most polariz??ing and quietly controversial games of the past five years.

The tale of Brütal Legend dates back to 2007 when the game was first announced. The gaming community was immediately aflutter at the very prospect of Tim Schafer & Co. teaming with Jack Black to take a crack at creating a metal megaworld. It wasn't long before Brütal Legend was an industry darling, eagerly anticipated by many just as an AAA sequel would be. To say that this is rare of?? a new IP would be a vast understatemen??t.

Double Fine hit its share of roadblocks in the development process. Brütal Legend's history is marred by publisher issues and ??nasty lawsuits. The title was originally picked up by Sierra Entertainment to? be published. When Sierra was acquired by Activision, the company decided it wasn't interested in funding the game, and dropped it from the release schedule.

Months later, EA signed a deal with Double Fine to publish Brütal Legend, at which? point Activision asserted that it was still the publisher of record. Activision filed a lawsuit just months before the game's release, in an attempt to? prevent the game from coming out, which spurred a counter-suit from Double Fine. Eventually, all sides reached an undisclosed agreement, but not before the matter seriously affected the psyches of the lead executives at Double Fine, including Tim Schafer.

With the road to release clear, Double Fine and EA engaged in their marketing campaign. Most notably, a demo for Brütal Legend was made available three full weeks before the full game hit store shelves. The demo featured almos?t thirty m?inutes of gameplay, showcasing the game's third-person hack-and-slash elements and introducing players to the wonderfully twisted world before them.

The only problem is that the demo really was??n't indicative of what the game was actual?ly about.

Brütal Legend is the From Dusk Till Dawn of videogames. While approximately the first one-third of the game emphasizes the action-adventure and open-world exploration elements, Brütal Legend eventually shifts t?o a stripped-down real-time strateg??y component that transforms the entire experience. Critics almost universally praised the game's setting, characters, and soundtrack, but seemed to be baffled by the sudden change in direction to an RTS -- especially given that this approach hadn't really been revealed beforehand.

The end result was a core mechanic that was unfamiliar and mostly unapproachable to players looking for an action game, and scaled-down and downright odd to veterans of the real-time strategy genre. This damning combinatio??n produced a? system that very few people were actually thrilled with -- one that struggled to resonate or find an audience.

Despite Brütal Legend's RTS-induced shortcomings, it offered plenty of meaningful moments. Brütal Legend was crafted in such a way that could make even the most mundane of situations feel absolutely epic. Everything about the game definitely oozed metal, and the near-perfect soundtrack exponentially enhanced the experience. For the collecting type, nothing was better than summoning your vehicle and exploring the bowels of the sadistically gorgeous underworld while finding the hidden secrets generously smattered ab??out the landscape.

Although Brütal Legend had plenty to offer, Jack Black playing the role of Eddie Riggs is what really stole the show. Make no mistake about it, although his name was Eddie Riggs, Brütal Legend featured Jack Black playing Jack Black in a setting that felt like it was ripped straight out of Jack Black's mind. In hindsight, any other lead character may have resulted in a somewhat disastrous outcome, and a certainly more underwhelming produ?ct. 

More than three years later, Brütal Legend never really did find its niche. It's not mentioned among Double Fine's best games, but it's certainly not bad. It seems to receive divided opinions from gamers, but no one's particularly passionate or adamant in their judgments. As of 2010, it was reported that a sequel would not happen, evidently because of poor sales figures. For a game that was built around maybe one of the most memorable premises of all time, it turned out sort of the opposi?te; it was kind of forgettable.

And that's too bad. Brütal Legend deserves more. Hopefully with the PC release, the game will cat??ch a second wind and find a passionate audience. Honestly, it probably won't happen, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed -- anything to possibly justify a sequel. I can't help but shake the feeling that if Double Fine was given a second chance at creating a game within this world, it would absolutely stick the landing this time around.

The post The tricky tale of Brutal Legend appeared first on Destructoid.

Plus Dynasty Warriors 7: Empires, Etrian Odyssey IV, and Star Wars Pinball

Monday has?? once again snuck up on us like an unfortunate rash you got from a really good weekend. Don't worry, there's cream for that! And much like a soothing medicinal balm, the new releases of the ?week are here to cure what ails you. 

Brütal Legend finally drops on PC after years of being locked in console servitude, and despite its dodgy strategy portions, we should welcome it with open, heavily tattooed arms. The absolutely cracking soundtrack makes it more than worth a look, and the great voice ac?ting, more than competent action, and art direction that will make your eyes bleed from heavy metal joy makes its failings a lot easier to swallow. 

If metal hurts your delicate ears and Jack Black sends you into a blind rage, then there's still a bunch to look forward to this week. Dynasty Warriors 7: Empires adds some strategy to your hacking and slashing; fans of punishing dungeon crawlers and 3DS owners rejoice, Etrian Odyssey IV finally arrives in the US; Might & Magic Heroes VI gets a new expansion, Shades of Darkness; a curious looking RPG drops on PC in the form of Driftmoon; and Star Wars Pinball is a thing that actually looks pretty groovy.

What will you be using to soothe that nasty rash?? this wee??k?

Xbox 360: Star Wars Pinball, Top Hand Rodeo Tour, Mass Effect 3: Reckoning Borderlands 2: Add-on Content Pack, MUD - FIM Motocross World Championship, Halo 4: Majestic Map Pack

PS3: Dynasty Warriors 7: Empires, Star Wars Pinball, MUD - FIM Motocross World Championship, Mass Effect 3: Reckoning Borderlands 2: Add-on Content Pack, Skyrim: Dawnguard

PC: Brütal Legend, Driftmoon, Sniper Elite: Nazi Zombie Army, Might & Magic Heroes VI - Shades of Darkness, MUD - FIM Motocross World Championship, Star Wars Pinball, Expeditions: Conquistador, Masters of the World: Geopolitical Simulator 3, Borderlands 2: Add-on Content Pack, Dungeonland Dungeon Maestro Grimoire Pack, Mass Effect 3: Reckoning

3DS: Etrian Odyssey IV: Legends of the Titan

Vita: Ninja Gaiden 2 Sigma Plus, MUD - FIM Motocross World Championship, Star Wars Pinball

iOS: Real Racing 3, Star Wars Pinball

Android: Real Racing 3, Star Wars Pinball

XBLA: S.D.G.T

Star Wars Pinball (Android, iOS, PC, PS3, Vita, Xbox 360)

MUD - FIM Motocross World Championship (PC, PS3, Vita, Xbox 360)

Etrian Odyssey IV: Legends of the Titan (3DS)

Dynasty Warriors 7: Empires (PS3)

Top Hand Rodeo Tour (Xbox 360)

Driftmoon (PC)

Sniper Elite: Nazi Zombie Army (PC)

Might & Magic Heroes VI - Shades of Darkness (PC)

Expeditions: Conquistador (PC)

Real Racing 3 (Android, iOS)

The post New releases: Brutal Legend makes PCs metal appeared first on Destructoid.

Depending on how well Brütal Legend does on PC, we may be able to take part in some? new advent?ures in the world of metal.

Schafer explains what he would change, speaking to Rock, Paper Shotgun: "I mean, we have a wishlist from when we made this ver?sion. But since we are a small developer publishing it ourselves, we have to go with the best version we can make and then hope it's succes?sful so we can add more. I would love to do alternate gameplay modes in multiplayer. I’d like to bring in Lionwhyte as a playable faction. There are some tweaks I’d like to do to give you more feedback about what your units are doing"

Although Brütal Legend was a major disaster commercially, Double Fine is now literally rolling in money, so I can?'t see why Schafer couldn't tweak it to ?make it the game he wanted it to be.

I had the chance to speak with Schafer about Brütal Legend a little before its launch, and he was extremely passionate about it. If he wants to revisit this world, without the legal bullsh*t that w?ent al??ong with the console release, I really hope he's able to.

Pending PC success,  Brutal Legend will?? go on [Rock, Paper Shotgun]

The post Tim Schafer might add content to Brutal Legend PC appeared first on Destructoid.

Pre-purchase to save and get TF2 items

Years later, Brutal Legend is finally going to be available on PC. It'll hit Steam on February 26, 2013 for $14.99 and is curiously being published by Double Fine. The landing page is already up, allowing would-be players to save 25 percent on the purchase and get some bonuses, like immediate access to the multiplayer beta and exclusive Team Fortress 2 items: Eddie Riggs' hair and his guitar.

A mix of action-adventure and real-time strategy, the game was loved by some, despised by others, and misunderstood by the rest of us. Perhaps the new budget price and passage of time will be be??neficial. Beyond the title itself, the original score composed by Peter McConnell has also appeared on Steam -- it's priced? at $4.99 when bundled and $7.99 individually.

The post Worth the wait? Brutal Legend head??s to PC this month appeared first on Destructoid.

It's Rocktober!

Double Fine says that October is a special month as it is both Rocktober (for Brutal Legend) and the month of Halloween, which relates to Costume Quest. These and all of their other games are on sale this week, with most discounts starting at 50 percent off, going up to 81 percent off for some ??items. Discounts stretch from their own store to Amazon to digital outlets, like Xbox Live and Stea?m.

I love that signed copies of Brutal Legend are 69 percent off (only $20!) at their on??line shop. See what they did there? Check out the full list below.

Costume Quest: 
- Steam, inc. Grubbins on Ice (50% off)
- Xbox Live Arcade (50% off)
- Grubbins on Ice, Xbox Live Arcade (50% off)

Brütal Legend:
- Xbox 360, Double Fine Shop (81% off)
- Xbox 360 SIGNED, Double Fine Shop (69% off)
- PS3, Double Fine Shop (81% off)
- PS3 SIGNED, Double Fine Shop (69% off)

Psychonauts:
- Steam (50% off)
- Mac App Store (50% off)
- Original Soundtrack, Steam (50% off)
- Original Score, Steam (50% off)

Stacking:
- Steam, inc. The Lost Hobo King (50% off)
- Xbox Live Arcade (50% off)
- The Lost Hobo King, Xbox Live Arcade (50% off)

Iron Brigade:
- Steam, inc. Rise of the Martian Bear (33% off)
- Xbox Live Arcade (50% off)
- Rise of ??the Martian Bear, Xbox Live ??Arcade (50% off)

Double Fine Happy Action Theater:
- Xbox Live Arcade (50% off)

Once Upon a Monster:
- Amazon (15% off)

The post All Double Fine games are on sale this week appeared first on Destructoid.

_{Check out the first part of the feature, here!}

The last few years have been an interesting time for the adventure game gen??re. After a decade of disappointment, fans finally started?? to see more and more titles appear and most importantly, become successes. Big changes in the industry, such as the rise of digital distribution and the popularity of episodic content created a more favorable environment to craft these games in. More opportunities for indie developers started to appear as well.

In this, the second part of the feature, I'll be taking a look at what impact these changes have had on the developers and their games as well as what we might be able to expect in the future (hoverboards, hoverboards, hoverboards.) Providing us with words of wisdom are: Al Lowe, creator of Leisure Suit Larry; Dan Connors, CEO of Telltale Games; Dave Gilbert, creator of the Blackwell series and founder of developer/publisher, Wadjet Eye Games; and Josh Nuernberger, creator of Gemini Rue.

I was something of a late adopter when it came to digital distribution. I clung to my boxes and physical media for as long as the world let me. Everybody has a price, though. It turned out that my price was the complete Space Quest collection on Steam. Imagine my surprise when I noticed that it was far from the only example of a classic adventure game on the platform, indeed, there were plenty of new ones as well. Steam alre?ady had a massive user base and it offered a great? space for promotion. 

Telltale Games is no stranger to digital distribution; its games can ??be found on all manner of digital platforms, including those of the console variety. CEO Dan Connors explained, "Digital distribution allows independent publishers to reach the customers without taking on the costs associated with building and marketing a retail title." Telltale sells directly to their customers via their own site, as well. "We're going to be re?launching that soon, because we've learned a ton and we're really going to start making that a big part of our mission again, to get a community there and get people excited and offering them things they can't get in other places. It's a way you can test experiences, try new things, message however you want, position product however you want, provide information on products, and let people participate."

Along with Steam, indie bundles have been a massive boon to smaller adventure game developers. The first three titles in the Blackwell series and Gemini Rue were both featured in indie bundles, last year. Those games were the work of Dave Gilbert and Josh Nuernberger, respectively. Dave told me, "It was like launching the games all over again. I think more people have played Blackwell in the [week since it featured on the bundle] than they have in the last five years. My inbox and forums have exploded since the Indie Royale launch, and the association also gave Blackwell the final push it needed for Steam to accept it. We’ve been trying to get the series on Steam for two years but they always said no. So we’re very gr??ate??ful for that."

One of the largest problems for adventure game developers in the years since the go??lden age of the genre was publishers' lack of faith in the products. When they were willing to invest in such a game, it was lazily marketed and rarely got the support it needed. With promotion and direct access to players, developers have been able to show that there's a healthy audience out there, which will hopefully lead to more publishers investing i??n these types of titles.

Better tools have ?also made it easier for small devel?opers to make a finished product. Adventure game studio (AGS) is a free development kit inspired by Sierra's interface for its adventure titles and it's been used to create a vast number of games, including many commercial ones. Most of Wadjet Eye's catalog used AGS. "The creation of third-party tools like AGS enable idiots like me to make these games, so more of them are being made every day." Although AGS games frequently favor a retro aesthetic, that's a design choice rather than limitations imposed by the software. Dave explained, "It’s a big misconception that AGS can only handle low-res games. It can actually go as high as you want, just most people prefer not to. So the decision to use AGS has nothing to do with aesthetic choice, but it has everything to do with money and time. Right out of the box, it has everything you need to make a point-and-click adventure game. Not having the experience or knowledge to make an engine of my own, it was the most logical choice."

Dave's own games have a distinctly retro look and thematically they are similar to the much-beloved Gabriel Knight series. Playing the Blackwell series instantly transported me back in time to the days when Sierra were still blowing my mind with new adventures. It's a wonderful feeling. "Blackwell is very much me trying to do Gabriel Knight. The story of Joe Gould and Joseph Mitchell was my Jen?senia?n attempt at merging real-life historical people with supernatural events."

As Al Lowe reminded me, these smaller teams using AGS are a lot like the teams that developed adventure games in ?the '80s and early '90s. "I think that's great because it brings back the small team concept of one or two people working closely together on a project and actually putting the??ir own personalities into it. I think that so much of what we see that's wrong with games today, that there is no key personality that comes through."

While cost is obviously a concern, I do think that there's a tendency for adventure game fans and developers to be incredibly nostalgic and thus gravitate more towards retro design. I'm guilty of this, myself. My love of the genre classics means that I'm immediately more interested in titles which are inspired by those particular art styles or certain mechanics. In Telltale's case, Dan defends nostalgia, believing that older franchises still have much to offer. "Well I think that for us, with having Sam & Max as our flagship, we looked at the content as being so rich and relevant in the modern day... [It] needed to be brought up now. Having Sam & Max in 2004, and 2010 and all the times we've been able to use them as characters ... I mean they're just great characters and it's a g?reat franchise. So for us introducing that content to a new audience was a huge thing."

Expanding into new markets such as consoles and handhelds has also increased the userbase. Adventure games used to be pretty much a PC only affair, with the occasional shoddy console port. While PC is still the focal platform, titles like Phoenix Wright, Ghost Trick, and 999 made the DS a must for lovers of strange adventures and interactive stories. PSN and XBLA have also seen their share of adventure ports, most of Telltale's games can be found there, for instance. Fans of the genre can even get their adventure on with their phone or tablet. Machinarium on iOS is fantastic and might be even better than it was on PC, thanks to?? it becoming a more tactile experience.

Dan seemed to be willing to embrace new platforms and technology. "It can bring more imagination to how you interact with the characters in the world and how you experience the story." He acknowledges the risk of doing that when i?t comes to traditionalist fans, though. "It moves away from traditional stuff and is a bit risky. So you have to be pure adventure game or you're in this vanguard story game t?ype of place."

When I recall playing most of my favorite adventure games, I remember pouring countless hours into them. Getting stuc??k on a puzzle meant that I was going to be doing a lot of trial-and-error experimentation, exploring loads of areas, doing a lot of pixel hunting and then finally leaving the computer to go and contemplate it elsewhere -- maybe in a dojo or on top of a mountain. Failing that, I'd pester my friends.

Now there's a strong temptation to just go online and find a walkthrough, even if you've only just been stuck for a couple of minutes. It can ruin the pacing of the game and rob the player of their satisfaction at being able to think of a solution. In an effort to keep gamers immersed, or at the very least to stop ?t?hem alt-tabing every time they get stumped, many modern adventures contain an in game hint system or simply less taxing puzzles. This can certainly frustrate old fashioned players, like myself, but one cannot deny it has lowered the bar for entry and possibly increased the genre's fanbase.

Dave doesn't think this is really anything new, however. "You often hear that gamers are less patient these days. I’m not sure if that's true. Back in the '80s, I would spend several months playing the latest Infocom game and never think of ordering the hint book unless I was desperate. But then I got the game Enchanter, which mysteriously shipped with the hint book. I finished that game in less than a week. If I got stuck for maybe ten minutes I'd reach for the hint book, because it was so accessible. The only thing that has changed since those days is that we all have instant access to that hint book via Google. There's no reason to force hard puzzles on people, becau?se everyone can solve them. So the trend has moved away from difficult puzzles and more towards making the experience of playing an adventure game more enjoyable. It's a very hard balance to strike."

The importance of story in adventure games cannot be overstated. It's what drives the exploration forward and it's the motivation for completing the puzzles. One of the positive aspects on these titles not relying merely on head-scratchers is that there's even more effort put into the narrative. Josh Nuernberger's Gemini Rue contains one of my favorite stories in the genre?? of late. It's a tale of loss and identity set in a bleak neo-noir future. Even though it's an understated adventure built? using AGS, it's gained a lot of attention and you'd be crazy for not checking it out. 

Josh advocates the importance of telling the story through gameplay. "What I'd really like to see is games that make these complex stories your experience in the game -- e.g. you are hunted by a mysterious oppressor, or you must face your alternate personality in physical form. Many games today are unfortunately sequences ??of simplified gameplay strung together by cut-scenes that provide context for your actions (see many first or third-person-shooters). Great games ?tell stories through their gameplay -- you understand the world and the story by the way you interact with them as a player."

Gemini Rue also has several action sequences: cover-based gun fights. "Although in adventure games you can't always go the route of totally removing all cut-scenes, you can at least integrate other aspects of gameplay so they don't just turn into quick time events. I knew when incorpor??ating combat I wanted it to be meaningful and to work on its own as a mechanic. The ultimate goal is to give players a unique experience and a quick time event doesn't really capture a gunfight in the same way that a developed combat system does." I personally think that the integration of interesting mechanics is something the adventure genre desper??ately needed to continue expanding its audience and I think we're starting to see a lot more of that.

A great example of a game that does this is Double Fine's Stacking. It was built around the delightful premise of controlling a matryoshka doll and jumping inside larger ones to gain their abilities and overcome puzzles and obstacles. It was incredibly inventive and its unique gameplay mechanic really made it stand out. Double Fine seems to have had more success with the downloadable market than it did with Psychonauts or Brutal Legend. Their use of Kickstarter to fund their latest project seems to have paid off, as well, wi?th fans almost throwing money at the company. It will be interesting to see the long-term impact of Kickstarter on independent develo?pers as more start to use it to secure funding.

Along with shorter downloadable titles like Stacking, episodic adventures have become increasingly common in recent years. It has always struck me as a perfect fit for the genre. Most classic adventure games can be completed rather quickly if you know the solutions to the puzzles. The games' lengths were augmented by the challenge of solving the puzzles yourself. It also meant that each episode could fund the next one, making it financially more viable. It's far from an automatic route to success, however, according to Dave Gilbert. The Blackwell series has been goin?g since 2006 and contains four games, but not all episodic series are so fortunate. "The most obvious thing that can go wrong is that the game flops. What then? Do you forge on ahead and finish the series, knowing that the first one didn’t do well? If you do, then you run a much greater risk of the sequel doing just as badly. If you don’t, then you lose a lot of faith and goodwill and that is hard to get back."

Episodic games require a big investment from players as well as developers. Dave continues: "The main problem with episodic games is that isn’t a lot of faith in the format yet. Only Telltale has managed to pull it off successfully and gained the trust of the consumers. While opinions on their games vary, nobody doubts they will finish what they start. By this point, the gaming public probably has a bit more faith in my ability to deliver than most, but I still get a lot of emails from people saying they don't want to get invested in Blackwell not knowing?? if it will ever be finished. I can t??otally understand that."

It's not just independent developers and publishers working to bring adventure games to a new audience, though. Quantic Dream's Heavy Rain, an interactive thriller that reminded me a lot of FMV titles from the '90s, made some big waves a couple of years ago. While it enjoyed both commercial and critical success, it also got criticized for being more movie than videogame. Our own Jim Sterling is far from a fan. However, its s??uccess may lead more publishers to take risks on games with such a strong focus on story.

The now-defunct Team Bondi made quite the impression last year with their investigative adventure (and driving simulator,) L.A. Noire. It made an even bigger impression with its implosion, some might say. The game itself, if not the treatment of the people that worked on it, still deserves praise, howeve??r. Before the genre started to have probl??ems, it was ahead of the curve when it came to animation, so it's good to see so much effort being put into making believable game worlds and characters again. If you'd asked me, back in 2005, if I ever thought big studios would be designing AAA adventure games again, I would have laughed. Now it doesn't seem nearly as absurd.

I'm not going to be dramatic and suggest that we're seeing an adventure game renaissance. I wish I could, but it's simply not true. We're definitely seeing it making something of a comeback, though. There's a lot more faith in them, both from publishers and players and that's gone a long way to start bringing them back into the mainstream. The fact that the market is growing at all is a massive step forward and looking back just five or six years, we can see how far the genre has come. There are a lot of talented developers out there bringing us more and more experiences to enjoy. It might not be a renaissance yet, but that do??esn't mean it won't happen.

The post The grand adventure: Making a comeback appeared first on Destructoid.

I've always been baffled by the fact that no Tim Schafer games have ever made it to a Nintendo console (that I know of anyway). The man's irreverent sense of humor, general rejection of realistic visuals, and a focus on absurdity have always seemed like a good fit for Nintendo's audience. I was sure that the alleged Brutal Legend?? Wii port was going to sell at least as well as the 360/PS3 versions. Turns out, Schafer might have been thinking the same thing, though his publishers thought otherwise.

According to Schafer -- "Double Fine would love to make something for Nintendo's fine machine, but it's not up to us. It's the publisher's money, so they get to decide what platform to invest in. In other words, IT'S NOT OUR FAULT! I personally would have loved to make Psychonauts for the Game Cube. (Well, not literally me personally. I would have loved to tell someone else to make it, and I would have loved to watch them do it, and I would have loved yelling, "Faster! Faster!" as they worked.) I really hope we get a chance to make a game for the Wii some day. Why don't you spam your favorite publisher with mail right now and ask them to send us money to make a Wii game?"

Psychonauts and/or Brutal Legend port for the Wii and/or 3DS anyone?

Tim Schafer wants to make a Wii game, but the decision ?rests with publishers [GoNintendo]

The post Tim Schafer wants to make games f??or Nintendo consoles appeared first on Destructoid.

A while ago, Brütal Legend developer Tim Schafer called Activision CEO Bobby Kotick a prick, following the former publishers attempts to block Electronic Arts from releasing his game. To?day, the flame-maned demon prince of videogames has hit back, and he's hit Schafer where it hurts -- the work ethic. 

"Tim Schafer. The guy comes out and says I'm a prick. I've never met him in my life -- I've never had anything to do with him," explains the nefarious businessman. "I never had any involvement in the Vivendi project that they were doing, Brütal Legend, other than I was in one meeting where the guys looked at it and said, 'He'??s late, he's missed every milestone, he's overspent the budget and it doesn't seem like a good game. We're going to cancel it.

"And do you kn?ow what? That se??emed like a sensible thing to do. And it turns out, he was late, he missed every milestone, the game was not a particularly good game ..."

Oh Bobby, you're ?the only brutal legend we'll ever need. 

Kotick Slams Tim Schafer [CVG, taken from Edge magazine]

The post Bobby Kotick dest??roys Schafer for ??calling him a prick appeared first on Destructoid.

[Update: Well that didn't take long. The game's been announced -- it's a downloadable title being published by THQ. It'll hit Xbox LIVE Arcade and PlayStation Network in late October. More details here.]

It’s already been revealed that Pyschonauts and Brutal Legend developer Double Fine is already cooking up a few unannounced projects at its studio. While most of us are hoping there's a sequel to the critical darling Psychonauts in there somewhere, one of them is probably not a sequel to Brutal Legend. But here’s one out of left field -- what are your thoughts on a Costume Quest? 

Trademark-trawling Siliconera has spotted a USPTO filing by Double Fine for Costume Quest. What the hell is that? Well, it certainly sounds like some ?kind of journey where you ??search for costumes. Obviously.

But that explanation is likely far too mundane for Tim Schafer and the folks at Double Fine, whose creative minds work in some of the most curious and craziest ways. Even our best guesses probably wouldn’t scratch the surface of where the studio plans to take us on a Costume Quest.

Is Double Fine’s Next Game Costume Quest? [Siliconera]

The post Double Fin??e? taking gamers on a Costume Quest? (Update) appeared first on Destructoid.

Did you think Brutal Legend was a promising, if flawed, game that could have ironed out its problems in a sequel? Well if so, you've been DENIED! Double Fine has confirmed what many of us suspected, that Brutal Legend 2 would not be happeni??ng. The news was let slip in passing while Double Fine talked about future projects, so if you missed that, be aware that this is the dismal situation.

Electronic Arts passed on the sequel, indicating that the original probably didn't sell too well despite considerable hype and the involvement of Hollywood Popple Jack Black. Of course, since Double Fine is already working on four brand new games, there's plenty to look? forward ??to from Schafer and crew. 

As far as Brutal Legend goes, though, I totally blame Nick "6.0" Chester. It's like he hates all videogames or something.

The post There will be no Brutal Legend 2 appeared first on Destructoid.

Double Fi??ne's Tim Schafer's a funny guy. Great talker. Talented industry veteran. Makes some pretty great, clever games. That's why he'll be giving a game design talk at this year's Develop conference in Brighton. Makes sense.

Develop PR says Schafer will be making a "rare appearance in Europe." Not sure why Schafer hates Europe so much, but maybe he'll spill the beans during his talk. Or he'll trash talk Destructoid, because I'm pretty sure he's got it out for us.

The conference takes place from?? July 13 through July 15. 

[Image]

The post Tim Schafer to invade Europe, talk at Develop appeared first on Destructoid.

It has been said so many times that it now borders upon a meaningless cliché, but the fact remains: a lot of games look the same. I'm not going to lament the propagation of brown color palettes, generic RPG characters, or any other individual aspect of art design. But? I will say this: I do not envy?? the job of someone who is asked to do what Lee Petty was asked.

See, Lee Petty is the Art Director for Double Fine. He and his team are responsible for the incredibly creative and cohesive world of Brutal Legend, and it's hard to imagine just how?? m?uch work went into making this creativity and cohesiveness work in the context of a videogame.

But that didn't stop me from trying. I had the opportunity to ask Lee about Brutal Legend and his work with videogame art in general. Read on as Lee and I dig deeper into the game's art than ever before, and check out some never-before-seen artwork from the game. 

Imagine this: Tim Schafer walks up to you and asks you to make a videogame world out of every metal album cover in exi??stence. I mean, good lord, what do you even do with that?

"It was a bitch," Lee told me. "We had ye?ars of concept art and a ton of really awesome ideas that all of the members of the team had come up with. Way more than could fit in one game. Or maybe three. Trying to integrate that into a cohesive experience with some sense of progression and achievement was really tricky.

"I think what worked for us is that we had largely divided the?? characters of the game into several 'factions': the human 'Ironheade' faction lead by Eddie Riggs, General Lionwhyte’s glam-rocking sell-outs, Ophelia’s Goth influenced 'Drowning Doom', and the demonic race of the 'Tainted Coil'. Each of these groups represented some side of the metal experience for us -- and they all had their own look.

"We pretty much organized the world around these groups -- so various areas of the world reflected their inhabitants. As the player progress?es through? the game, the world around them changes as they encounter and become involved with these different groups.

"Layered underneath all of this was the backstory. That meant incorporating remnants of the ancient race of Titans throughout the world. This is the race that helped forge the world, and allowed us to create some really cool "album cover vista views" with giant weapons?? and skulls embedded into the terrain."

With so much to create and integrate, there must be, I don't know, one or two bits of art that have to be drawn up, right? I asked just how much art is created for a game like Brutal Legend.

"A metric ass to??n," Lee responded. "More than any other studio that I’ve worked at, Double Fine provides a lot of time for “exploration and inspirational” concept art up front in a game’s development. But the ?concept art doesn’t stop there. Once a game is actually in full production, there is still a lot of “production designs”, “model sheets” and “draw-overs” that are generated to help guide the art team."

And the amount of environmental design changes?

"Two metric ass tons. Although we have a process, with defined milestones, for making a “level” once we’re in production, games evolve pretty organically. We employ agile development when making our games–so every two to four weeks the entire company is always looking at the game and thinking about how well some of the pieces are working together. One of the things that makes big games difficult is that it’s hard to see how all of the e??lements are fitting together until relatively late in development. But it is how well the game harmonizes with itself that makes for good art design.

"Something that felt great earlier might need some lovin’ later in development because other parts of the game have changed. With environments, for example, it’s a close co??nnection between the space design and the actual moment to moment gameplay that makes the world really rich. Gameplay is a very iterative process, so finding ways to account for that in the visual design is key. It’s an imperfect process, filled with both successes and failures, but it’s something we try and do well at Double Fine."

The scale of some of these changes can be rather startling, and there was no lack of this in Brutal Legend.

"Early in the development of Brutal Legend’s world, we made everything giant. We wanted an epic, crazy metal world so everything was made immense. In our? early skirmish mode (multiplayer), where the player can fly, this worked out great. However, in the majority of the single player game, which was developed later, the player is on the ground -- either chopping wildlife with his axe or driving his car through a throng of druids. While on the ground, it felt like the player was “staring at the ankles of the world”.?? The immense world was simply too large to be appreciated from that angle.

"Because of that we re-thought the world a bit, and added more detail of different scales to the game, catering specifically to what Eddie was going to be doing in that space. If it was an “on-foot” mission, the space was smaller and the detail more human-scale. If it was an “open world” driving space, we mixed in a variety of different sized detail, and organized the space around specific “album cover vista views” to still capture the ?epic heavy metal feel that we wanted."

As I hinted at before, art design, in many cases, feels dull and impersonal. ?Shouldn??'t an artist inject personality into videogame art?

"I think personality is one of the focuses at Double Fine -- not just in the art design, but in the story, the chara?cters, and the gameplay. There are other studios out there who focus on creating slick “roller coaster, Hollywood” game experiences, but I think Double Fine really excels at instilling a sense of personality.

Sounds easy, right? If only it were. There's a reason that so many games look similar, and Lee had some thoughts on why personality was so evident in Brutal Legend.

"I think giving a game a strong sense of personality starts at the top with strong creative direction; that creative direction should influence and be?? incorporated into all aspects of the game. From a visual standpoint, we thought about the whole world as a living breathing METAL world, which meant incorporating many of elements of heavy metal as natural elements in the world. So the sky is metal, t shirts are the bark that sloughs off of trees, and beer is a natural resource that trickles in streams from sacred trees."

Wait, you mean all members of a development team should inform and support one another? Yeah, it sounds obviou??s, but a large number of games seem to stray from this path. To make a game a success, Lee thinks ?? a little cooperation can go a long way.

"More than ever," Lee said. "I think the best game experiences are when all aspects of game production are really in tune with each other. The best teams approach the game as creative partners, blending together their divergent backgrounds and perspectives to make something that ??is better than a single discipline could.

"So, yeah, all of the aspects affect each other whether you want them to or not??. Playing the game a lot in development and thinking about how those elements can be brought closer together, even in small ways, is one of those things that is both satisfying?? to a developer and a player.

"Tim is a huge creative presence at the studio, and the backs??tory he wrote and his tastes had a huge impact on the art. Tim’s a very visual guy, too, and thi??nks a lot about context and what story the art and the gameplay is communicating to the player."

Ah, yes, Tim Schafer. The man with the plan. Let's be honest: he's the kind of boss that we all wish we could work for.?? And I just had to know: what sort of craziness suggested by Tim actually ended up in the game?

"When you work with Tim Schafer, there are a lot of jokes and lot of crazy ideas that end up the game. In fact it’s so common place, I’m not sure I can come up with a great example. I do remember that we were having?? trouble coming up with the design for the “Bound Serpents”. These were elements that we could put all over the world that the player could do a guitar solo on and get some rewards for exploring the open world. The problem was that everything we came up with involved the player doing something that was destructive, making the world look more desperate, or downtrodden. Tim wanted the player’s actions to the make the world better in some way (“to create beauty simply by rocking”).

"I came up with the idea th?at there were ancient statues that the Tainted C?oil demons had defaced. The visual design for the Tainted Coil was an unusual combination of the paintings of 16th century artist Hieronymus Bosch and the Bondage/S&M scene. Taking this into account, we made the statues bound with leather studded straps and placed a red ball gag put in the mouths of the serpents. The player would play a pyro solo on his guitar, which would free the statue from its straps, causing it to spread its wings in freedom and the bright red gag ball would fly off and roll around the world like a ball.

"I was always trying to get as many gag balls as I could in the game; it’s been a car?eer goal of mine."

Can anyone think of a more no??ble career goal? D?idn't think so.

Indeed, inspiration seemed to flow from every stream in that game, but what exac?tly was it that the game's inspiration was founded on? After all, as we saw before, there's plenty of opportunity to fill the game to bursting with every possible inspiration.

"Last year," Lee said, "I gave a speech at GDC on the art direction of Brutal Legend. For that speech, I broke down the inspiration of Brutal Legend into four main elements: Heavy metal, fantas??y ?artist Frank Frazetta, Hot Rods, and Tim Schafer. It was the combination of these elements that gave us our unique feel.

"Our take on a heavy metal game was a charming skull-laden kick ass world fille??d with painterly skies and giant hot rods. I think other  people would’ve approached a heavy metal world game very differently.

Lee felt that great art design in general, across? all games, is tied directly to inspiration.

"So?mething I often say is to not imitate your inspirations, but make them your own. Being influenced by others’ work is a good thing, but if you don’t bring something of yourself to it, you’re in danger of your game not having its own visual identity.

Of course, there's no simple answer to the question "W?hat makes awesome art design?." There's quite a bit to consider, and there's quite a bit that you might not have thought about yourself.

"I think excellent art design is also about unity and not uniformity. Some dissonance in art design is good. It’s all too easy to design the art of a game in a really obvious, cookie cutter fashion. Making choices like the “good guys” are green and all of the “bad guys&rdq?uo; are red. It sounds silly, but this type of thing happens a lot in games, especially when, from a gameplay point of view, there are valid reasons for that type of approach. But I think when something has more depth and subtly, you get a better total game experience.

"I think it’s a tricky combination of left and right brained thinking. Trying to let your imagination go to new places and thinking about last few thousand years of art as inspiration,?? but then adapting all of that to work wi?th the medium of video games.

"But that still isn’t enough. You have to help find a way to make it happen. You need? to communicate ideas to a team, and work with a whole group of people of very different backgrounds to make something that ? somehow feels cohesive and original."

? Without much of a personal background in a?rt, art design, or really anything beyond three-armed stick figures, I also wanted to know just how many different facets of art design there were to consider in the creation of a videogame.

"Art design isn’t just about a drawing on paper. You really have to know your medium, and be willing to work closely with some very smart and technical people to understand what the hardware can do. You need to find what e??lements of?? your art design work best on screen, at your target resolution, and with your particular game engine.

"What’s working best needs to be embraced and expanded and maybe other elements need to be re thought or redesigned. For example, in Brutal Legend, one of the things that always felt great was the skies. Even early in development, they had a great painterly, overly dramatic quality that made the whole game feel more “metal”. At the same time, the ch?aracters’ surfaces felt flat and uninteresting. Because the skies were working so well, we pushed the characters’ surfaces to feel more believable and respond better to what was going on in the sky. This decision helped define the sky and lighting as one of the central parts of the game’s final look."

Well, from where I'm sitting, Double Fine has always gotten art design right. Psychonauts, of course, did just about everything right, and Brutal Legend kept up that tradition for the HD crowd, and in style. So, what's next? Ha, as if I was ?going to get an answer to ?that.

"Just keep an eye on Double F?ine. We’ve got some really cool top secret stuff going on right now that I can’t wait for people to see."

Let the speculation begin. Personally, I'm pulling for Goggalor vs. Eddie Riggs in Space, but perhaps that's just me.

And, hey, while you're here, don't forget to check out some awesome exclusive artwork from the game in the gallery below. For more art from Lee, check out his personal art blog.

The post A charming skull-laden kickas??s world: The art?? of Brutal Legend appeared first on Destructoid.

For those of you worried you'll be getting a sh*tty Christmas gift this week because you've been a naughty little bastard, then fear not! EA and Brutal Legend are hosting a contest where they want you to send in pictures of the worst wrapped gifts you receive this Holiday. For your troubles, you may get some sweet Brutal Legend swag!

The contest is open until January 15, 2010 and the prizes are pretty awesome. You'll be able to win one of the two Brutal Legend metal T-shirts, the Eddie Riggs collectible statue and $10 off Brutal Legend at the EA store. Just e-mail them a picture of your crappy gifts and you may win some awesome ??stuff. And really, the Eddie Riggs statue alone will be better than anything else you get this Christmas.

Check out the Brutal Legend contest page for the full rules on how to win.

The post Brutal Legend will save you from a ?crap??py Christmas appeared first on Destructoid.

A second piece of Brutal Legend DLC is slated to hit PSN and Xbox LIVE soon -- as in December 17th, soon. Dubbed “Hammer of Infinite Fate,” the conte?nt adds several new Eddie Riggs outfits, a few item upgrades, and four fresh multiplayer maps. Sounds f'ing metal, right? Below are some quick-hits.

• The three new outfits for Eddie Riggs are as follows: Mountain Man, Black Metal, and Zaulia Threads. Seven more back patches and even new paint for the Deuce are coming as well.
• Those having trouble locating all the serpents should be pleased with the “Oculus of the Lost,” one of the new items introduced by "Hammer of Infinite Fate." The Oculus operates like a GPS, pointing out the locations of these numerous and sometimes well-hidden stone beasts. (Sorry, GameFAQs.)
• Purchasers will also be able to get their hands on three fresh (and sharp) weapons: the Eye of Sorrow, The Disgorger, and the Coiling Maw.
• New Achievements and Trophies.
• And finally, the four new maps are: the Altar of Blood, Coiled Remains, Crucible of the Titans, and the Amplified Cliffs. All of which will supposedly pack an “in-game element of surprise,” according the official release.

The DLC is slated to hit ?at 4?80 Microsoft Banana Dollars over Xbox LIVE and around five bucks ($4.99) over PSN, which seems like a rather rad deal. How many of you are interested in this?

The post Brutal Legend DLC ‘Hammer of Infinite Fate’ announced appeared first on Destructoid.

Can't get enough Brutal Legend? That's good, because Double Fine may not be done with it ju??st yet. 

In a recent post-game-release chat with GamePro, Double Fine's Tim Schafer reveals that the developer is keen on not only tweak?ing the game with an update, but adding even more content. 

"We definitely want to do more DLC for both si??ngle-??player and multiplayer," he says. 

The first bit of downloadable content was for the game's multiplayer, called "Tears of the Hextadon," and was ??made available for the downloadin' last month. As for what the tweaks would be, Shafer says those revolve around potentially overpowered units in the game's multiplayer. 

You can read more of GamePro's chat with Schafer online, if you're so inclined.

The post Double Fine would like to roc??k more Brutal Legend DLC appeared first on Destructoid.

Double Fine and Mishka NYC teamed up to produce two of the most metal f**king shirts you have ever seen in your life. The Headbanger graphic was created by James Callahan and "brings a scene of pure metal aggression to life, creating an epic Stage Battle on your chest." The Razorgirl shirt was created by Daniel Mumford and "modernizes the epic ?girl meets monster designs used by so many ea??rly heavy metal bands."

How can you get these epic shirts? You'll just have to keep an eye out as Double Fine will have multiple opportunities for fans to snag one. Until then, Miska Bloglin is giving away four copies of Brutal Legend (two on Xbox 360, two on PlayStation 3). Just send them an e-mail at brutal@mishkanyc with either Xbox or PS3 in the subject line and you?'ll automatically be entered to win. You have until Friday, November 20 to send an e-mail.

The post These Brutal Legend shirts are f**king metal appeared first on Destructoid.

[Editor's note: TheBigFeel recapped his entire Brutal Legend soap box car that got him first prize at the Red Bull derby -- CTZ]

So we built the Tour of Destruction from Brutal Legend, won a race, set a speed record, and?? then this happened. I have to tell you, it's been a pretty amazing experience.

If you've been following along, you've seen us build the frame and shape the body. Now I'd like to show you how ?everything came together, how the race went, and what the reaction has been. And maybe we can talk about next year? 

So we broke our brake. It got mangled under the raw power of our racer's speed! Or, we just didn't engineer? the mount properly. Same thing, really. Either way, the old brake mount has to be cut out and ground off to make room ?for the new brake.

While I work on the last bits of the frame??, Christine sands the body. She'd started earlier this morning. Sanding takes awhile. It's not pleasant, either. Have you ever been to the beach and gotten sand in your suit? OK, now imagine that, but this time the sand is in the shape of tiny little splinters. That's what the fiberglass dust feels like.

Ultimately, the bus should not look like a giant twinkie. For this to happen, it needs some kickass fe?nders. Luke is wo?rking on the skeleton for our fender mold.

We're fiberglassing the fenders separately from the main body. The last bit of our resin is getting us?ed for thi??s. Some of it is dyed, some of it isn't. That's what the black patches are from.

Using a mold release and a latex primer makes getting the mold out of the fiberglass waaaaay easier than it was for the bo??dy, where I needed a large hammer and quite a bit of force.

After the fenders have cured, we cut out holes for them to fit into. Using our last bit of fiberglass and resin, we attach the fender??s on the inside of the body and put in some ribbing to strengthen the internal structu??re.

It was at this point that the ?beast came to life. The soul o?f a racer is born!

Computers are pretty cool, aren't they? Christine illustr?ated the flames to create a paint stencil. Like a dentist, she carefully removes the crap we just don't want in there.

The stencils are on transfer paper, ready to ??be applied to t?he body for some wicked flames.

Without access to a real paint room, improvisation happened. We basically built a room ??extending the vehicle bay at the shop.

After a nice layer of primer, it's ti?me to break the setup down and go ?home for the day.

Next is a layer of the blackest of black paints. Andrew t?apes off the window areas of the bus so the?y stay black.

A few blood red coats goes on the bus. This ?thing is starting to look really good.

Slowly peeling off the ta??pe reveals the windows we marked earlier.

Flames make everything look badass????. Clear coats make everything look gorgeous.

Yeah. Working at TechShop is awesome because stuff like this happen??s all the time.

The Tour of Destruct??ion has a lot of chrome. We can't use actual chrome for everything and stay under our weight limit of 176 pounds (which is the excuse we give instead of the truth: we have no idea how to work with chrome). Most of this we will sculpt out of foam and paint.

Some l??arger pieces require multiple layers. In ou??r area, two inches was the thickest affordable foam we could find.

??Gluing everything together is the perfect time to dick around a??nd take silly pictures.

WOW!!! Every piece is done!?? That barely took any time at all. Whew! If we had to fill gaps and sand everything it sure would have taken ??a while.

Mounting the skull hubcaps required sculpting a base and gorilla-gluing it into some real hubcaps. I never knew ??they made these things for golf karts! Lucky us.

We put six coats of primer on all the pieces so that we can fiberglass them. Six coats is a lot of paint, but it's bette?r than having our sculptures possibly melt when we put resin on them.

We use a thinner fiberglass veil for these pieces. Two layers of it gives it an egg-shells amount of protection. That may not sound like much, but the paint would scratch before one of these gets chipped. We aren't removing the internal foam, either, so the inter??nal pressure will make it a bit stronger to handling.

I'm glossing over a lot of gap-filling and sanding again. The resin doesn't always fill all of the holes in the glass fabric, so sanding exposes a lot of bubbles. We use a green sandable body-fill?ing putty to smooth out those imperfections.

Some items need to be attached to wood mounting plates so we can remove then for tr??ansportation. The pipes and teeth are good examples.

After hollowing out a portion of ??the pipes, we've exposed some holes in the fiber glass. We fill these holes and strengthen it (slightly) by laying on a healthy amount of body filler. I can't wait to see these looking shiny!

Speaking of?? shiny, I ought to test my painting process and technique. What you see are a fraction of the number of corn-plastic spoons I used to te?st different "chrome" paints. How reflective are they? How diffuse is the reflection? How scratchable are they? How buffable? Yeah, lots of spoons died for this cart.

Step 1: Prime that shit!

?Step 2: Use a high gloss black backing. I used two coats of a rustoleum black lacquer. I should have used one more, but did I mention that at this point we have 24 hours until check-in (after a 6 hour drive).

Step 3: Thin touches of SpazStix chrome spra??y paint. It's an aluminum suspension that is designed to be sprayed on the inside of a clear plastic shell for RC car bodies, but we found that on a glossy black undercoat, it is the strongest, most reflective paint we could afford. Other paints you couldn't even wipe with a cloth, but this held up pretty well. No chrome paints clear coat well... none that are under $100 per pint, that is.

This is just the black lacquer.

A tire shop gave us some special?? ??black tire paint for the front wheels, which used to be gray. That was particularly awesome of them.

We're out of time. We have to pack it up and ?drive to Los Angeles so that we can check in on time. A lot of t??his is going to come together in a parking lot the night and morning before the race.

Yes, that is a Pacman racer in the background.

And the bus is done! I sure hope the tapes holds up!... Nah, I'm just kidding. We've attached the chrome tr??im (which is actually acrylic dowels bent under a heat gun, then painted chrome), a?nd the tape holds it in place while the glue dries.

This is our pit. Oh, yeah... we made a Clementi?ne replica, too. Now if only we h??ad some sort of amp to hook it up to...

Oh hey! Thanks, guys! You read my mind.

At this point, we realize that I've never driven this with the body on. Maybe we should try it out and make sure everything works well together,?? huh?

Here is t??he first half of the race that greeted me as I walked up the hill the morning of the race. A lot of people wondered if our front wheels would handle this course. Our response: "um, of course they will!..."

Enough with the waiting... it's time for some road racin'! There were 40 teams at the race with some pretty imaginative cars. My favorite design was team number 5 with their grand piano. We were team number 6, so our race ?time came pretty quickly.

We wheel up our giant amp. It's time to put on a show. Roadies Andrew and Luke do some last minute inspectio?ns and fiddle with some knobs. Christine has to satisfy her need for rock. Motorhead's Ace of Spades starts blaring, the drums are kicking in, the speaker feedback builds as she jams away until..??.

CRAAAAAAASH! The Tour of Destruction tears out of the speaker like a bat out of hel?l. After a few hundred feet, with the crowd roaring behind me and chanting "IRONHEADE! IRONHEADE!", the bus has picked up quite a bit of speed...

...enough speed to take the first jump pretty hard. While only in the air for a few moments, the bus was definitely airborne long enough for thoughts to enter my head: "Hey, I should?? have hit the ground by now. I need to line up for this next turn soon." Maybe a second look will help you understand my predicament.

Here's a fun game: count the number of people in the photo that came at this precise moment. And can you pick out the one that just s??hit his pants? My favorite part of this image is the kid on the right side throwing out the horns.

After swerving through the chicane you saw earlier, I take the berm to empty out onto the home stretch. People would later tell me -- in an effort to convey how fast they saw the bus going -- that the camera operator was unable to keep up with me here. He was looking up the hill, the bus zooms?? past, then he pans over to an empty quarter-p??ipe. For a moment, some had thought I'd crashed.

But that moment soon passed as they saw the bus barreling down the final leg, lining up for the second jump. At this point, I felt pretty good about the run and the integrity of our vehicle, so I pump my fist to the still-playing meta?l and hit the jump...

...while giving the horns. Why not?

I cross the finish line in what was ??the fastest time so far (among six teams that had raced so far), and would remain the fastest time until the end of the day when only Speed Racer would finish mo?re quickly. I remember thinking to myself, "That was a pretty good run. I'll bet I might have hit 30mph, and the crowd loved it."

So did the judges. We got a perfect score for showmanship. And as it turns out, 30mph was nothing; I hit 46.1 miles per hour. This was the all-time fastest that anyone had gone at a Red Bull Soap Box Derby??. That's the power of metal??, bitches!

When all the scores were tallied up, we came in first! It was awesome. We took our place on the podium among Team Speed Racer, and Team Ludicrous Speed. Both teams wer??e ridiculously fast.

Check out some coverage of the race from around the world. Poor Yosh?i!

We were on Attack of the Show, t?oo. Samit, you might have even seen us on SportsCenter, from ??what I hear.

After the race, Double Fine went nuts, and Tim invited us to lunch and the Brutal Legend wrap party. So we brought the ??bus by the studio. That Eddie Riggs statue turned out to be the perfect scale; I'm saddened that I missed out on the comment? contest.

The bus phot?ographs well at their st?udio, I think.

Yeah, it was only a matter?? of time before this happened.

Tim experiences ??the cart??'s awesome cornering abilities.

Even the 2HB got a chance to ride.

I have to say, this has been an awesome two-month project. Our team learned and experienced so much in 10 weeks that there's almost an emp??tiness now that things have settled down. There will have to be another project. We might do the race again next year. I think a community-built Destructoid racer would be pretty badass. Would Brad slay a dragon and then ride its lifeless body down the hill? Or, a Contra dude could enter the konami code, spawning 29 more rambo-attired Dtoiders to emerge from the crowd, each taking over the cart after the other inevitably crashes. Chad riding a dolphin would be amaaaa?aazing. Ideas, guys. I know you've got them.

I'll leave you with a teaser image of te??sts for Christine's next project. It has to do with a familiar belt buckle...

The post Build?i?ng the Brutal Legend Bus: The end [photoblog] appeared first on Destructoid.

More is coming to Brutal Legend in Rock-November. Publisher Electronic Arts and developer Double Fine have just?? announced a downloadable map pack dubbed “Tears of the Hextadon.” The pack adds two additional maps -- Circle of Tears and Death’s Fjord -- to the Stage Battle compone?nt.

Circle of Tears, as described in the press release, is a “rough-hewn circular battlefield” that players will have to navigate in order to rock opponents. The other map, Death’s Fjord, is an “icy mountain path,&rdqu?o; with fans waiting to be gathered at the bottom of the aforementioned.

The expansion is set to release on November 3rd via Xbox LIVE Marketplace for 400 Microsoft Banana Dollars (in moon speak). The PSN version of the content -- at least?? in the UK -- will launch on November 5th for free until November 19th, at which point it will be priced the equivalent as the LIVE version. All owners of the pack will receive a playable axe called “the Blade of Ormagoden” for their patronage.

[Update: The latest PS blog post??ing confirms that the two weeks of free on PSN is intended for the US ?as well.]

The post Brutal Legend DLC incoming: ‘Tears of Hextadon’ announced appeared first on Destructoid.