I know this is useless speculation, but I was thinking that some of you, members of this forum, were quite good at figuring out the anagram about the double fine store, so maybe you have some more educated guesses than I have.

I'm thinking that, even though there would be untold dancing and rejoicing on my behalf, Sam and Max 2 is out of the question. I could be wrong, but if anyone will be allowed to complete it, I would think Telltale Games would be, and that doesn't look like any sort of outcome in the foreseeable future. I think it's prudent to not even mention Lucas Arts.

My guess is that, considering Tim Schafer's track record - Motorcycles, Mexican Folk Lore, and then Psychic summer camp - there is no telling. He might make a sequel, but my best guess is that it will probably be an original title. Even if it there was a sequel I doubt it would be Psychonauts..I mean, I would think they would release a different title first, even if a sequel to pyschonauts was on the horizon. Since I haven't heard anything about a deal with Lucas Arts(who cares about prudence), I'm guessing it's a totally new original title; something at least equally as original and different as all the other titles.

So, I doubt any of us will have any idea until the press release but considering the lack of news and everything, I'm guessing they are either working hard at getting the production under way or they are just keeping quiet until the big anouncement. But it's still fun to speculate.

The multiplayer game programmer hiring thing is kind of a give away. Psychonauts online maybe? An mmorpg? I don't think it's really Tim Schafer's style, but then again, the best style has no definitions.

Maybe it will be a game based on the Da Vinci Code, or maybe an Art Pony?

Man, I'm tired. I'm linking this (http://www.lucasforums.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=148642) recent post because it's related, and sort of asks the same question.

I personally want a Psychonauts sequel; I wanna see what happens with Lili's dad being kidnapped. I really hope he eventually does a sequel for it.

But that's like if there was a Grim sequel we wouldn't have Psychonauts. I guess Psychonauts leaves itself more open to a sequel, though. :D

I haven't finished it. I have 3 more heads to fight.

If Psychonauts does well, Majesco is going to push for a sequel. I might like to see what happens when Raz is a little bit older; puberty might do strange things to psychics.

But if Double Fine hired a multiplayer programmer, then maybe they could a Psychonauts multiplayer FPS called CounterPsych.

I'm not sure, but I have feeling he might continue with platformers. Or maybe they'll just only make Star Wars games from now on.

My guess is that a psychonauts sequel would involve new characters with the kids at camp being counselors or secret agents or something. Might not even take place at the camp...or maybe it would only breifly visit the locations in the first Psychonauts.

At first I thought maybe they were looking for an online network game programmer to add multiplayer to psychonauts...maybe like ID software added multiplayer to Quake 2 in a point release shortly after the game was released. That doesn't make sense for console games though. Or maybe the way Running With Scissors added multiplayer to Postal 2 ;they released a whole new game about a year later and owners of the old game got a big discount. That doesn't say anything about the next game though, really. I can't imagine what multiplayer psychonauts would be like, either.

Originally posted by Plankhead
If Psychonauts does well, Majesco is going to push for a sequel. I might like to see what happens when Raz is a little bit older; puberty might do strange things to psychics.


XD That's a funny thought. "Teen-psychic angst in PSYCHONAUTS TWO!" But then there might be Lili fanboys, then the world would violently implode...

I don't think there'll be a Psychonauts sequel. We haven't seen sequels for anything else Tim Schafer has done - the ending was a cinematic device rather than a declaration of intention, I think. Still: with nothing better to do at work, I was putting some skull time into a Psychonauts sequel...
Oh noes! The director of Psychonauts - and Lili's dad - has been kidnapped! Agents to teh rescue! Only when they get to the high-tech PNHQ... no he hasn't?! The director's right where he's always been and everything seems just fine. The game starts on a bit of an awkward note as our putative heroes mill around trying to figure out what happened to the emergency recall message they received.

The PNHQ has an anti-psi field set up as a security measure, with your specific clearance level allowing you to bypass its effects. Raz, as a raw cadet, has no clearance - that's right, the field suppresses all your powers for the time being. *grins* Hey, gotta explain it somehow. The adults all disappear into higher-security areas, and with nothing better to do, it falls to Raz to try and improve his clearance somehow. Thus begins exploration of PNHQ, which is like a cross between Black Mesa, the Fortress of Solitude, and the Ivy League University of your choice. Advanced courses for cadet training are held for remotely-projecting agents, which means one of the first powers you obtain will be clairvoyance/telepathy/psychometry - this'll get used enough this time that it'll have its own shoulder button (or tab key for us PC users), allowing you to switch between normal vision and astral perception on the fly.

And there's plenty to see. The PNHQ is laced with riddles and conundrums to be solved, the usual personal issues to be sorted out - I demand a D&D-obsessed technician with orcish censors - and not just human, but mechanical as well. Remember the rail system from the original? Well, that was just Ford's personal transportation. Genuine Personality Prototypes are all over the place, and getting clearance to some areas is going to require tapping into the mentality of the security system itself. And for those of you that - like me - feel Raz's original outfit beats the hell out of his French Artiste getup, while projecting like this his self-image retains the infamous goggles 'n' helmet. The psi powers get a boost with expanded functionality (the levitation power, for instance, allows you to alter your personal gravity and walk on walls/ceilings) and possibly combos (shield + psiblast = an area effect that shoves away enemies, disorienting any immobile ones).

As the plot thickens, you get to interact with many of the adults from the original, as well as a new gang of idiots and a few ranking cadets (including a conflicting love interest for Lili, let's get that love triangle shiznit going), resolving not just personality issues but personal issues as well. Finally, it is discovered that Daddy indeed was kidnapped... by himself! The director turns out to have quite a Jekyll & Hyde complex going, and by the time it is discovered, he's locked down the facility. Many adventurous hijinks ensue, and ultimately Raz uncovers the true villain behind this disruptive influence - the core computer for DNHQ itself, which has developed a strong enough personality to take over completely. Diving deep into Ultraviolet security and leaping between physical and astral worlds, Raz ends up trying to unplug their own personal Shodan, which causes it to use Lili as the penny in the mental circuit breaker, which gives Lili the power to fight Shodan on the inside and help guide Raz to the CPU itself, which... well, you get the idea.

Anyway, it would be cool, and I bet we'd all love to see more of this merry gang of misfits, but I don't think Double Fine had any interest in creating a license. They wanted to create a compelling first game, and that they did.

The true question is, will Doublefine continue to exist or not. I just read on the teamxbox forum (don't know if this is true or not), but Psychonauts apparently only sold 30.000 units for the xbox so far :/

Dude, 30,000 sounds pretty freakin' reasonable. Doublefine will stay around.

Double Fine will be around for a while. I've seen no evidence of otherwise, personally. ^_^ So I'm not too worried about them disspearing. Besides, from the sound of it Tim worked hard to keep the company together. Why stop after all that work and one game?

It's been almost a month hasn't it? 30,000 is uhh... well not blockbuster. Any idea what kind of numbers Majesco was expecting?

Not that I know how well or badly the game is doing, but I think I think I'd take the number with a grain of salt if it was from a message board.

I thought I read at mixnmojo or something that it was in EBgames Top 10 game list?

It was on the top 10 ebgames seller list.

Found this quote from an interview tih tim on http://www.armchairempire.com/Interviews/psychonauts-tim-schafer.htm)

Most of the projects you’ve worked on have been “one-off” games without any sequels. Would you want Psychonauts to turn into a franchise? Are derivative sequels bad for the industry?

Kind of a leading question don’t you think? Are derivative sequels bad for the industry? I’m not sure, I mean is toxic candy bad for kids? Is carcinogenic pollution bad for the environment? (And strangely, the answer to all those questions is still, “Depends how much money it makes.”)

Originally posted by doremi210
30,000 is uhh... well not blockbuster.

KnifeFace says only 30,000 units for the xbox. Let's not forget it's also on two other platforms, and I have a feeling PC version will probably be the most popular.

Veavitdpoh, your idea is incredible. If only it was true.

I'd really like a Psychonauts sequal, but the chances don't seem too bright.

Anyone knows how we can know the number of copy of Psychonauts were sold ?

I just hope Tim keeps making games. I play sports games once in a while, but other than that I wouldn't play any if Tim never made a game again, unless LucasArts decided to make another graphic adventure...

If he made a Psychonauts sequel I'm sure it would be fresh and it would expand and even improve on the original. A brand new adventure from the mind of Tim would be great, but I'd take a Psychonauts sequel in a couple of years over a brand new adventure in 7 years.

Just keep working Tim...

Psychonauts 2! Psychonauts 2! Psychonauts 2! PSYCHONAUTS freakin' TWO!!!

Dogen's Day Off, a Psychonauts spin-off.

If they made a sequel and went with the trend of "Another game means more playable characters", I'd so want to see Dart introduced.

Don't know how many of you remember this (http://www.penny-arcade.com/news.php?date=2003-05-05), but if you haven't read the Schafer part.

He talked about how it's all well and good to take three years making a game, but that he would like to leverage the artistic and development talents of a full studio to make episodic games no more than perhaps four hours in length at smaller intervals.

Since this is from 2003, it means Tim wanted DF's next games to small before Psychonauts was released and flopped. Ron Gilbert's been talking about short adventure games for some time, Telltale is doing just that, and Tim takes to the idea as well, apparently. Great minds think alike?

I think two small up-and-comer developers should come together to make something completely oddball. I believe Double Fine should make something with the Behemoth(Alien Hominid). I'd love to see Schafer's writing and creativity mixed with Fulp's gaming and Paladin's art.

Since this is from 2003, it means Tim wanted DF's next games to small before Psychonauts was released and flopped.

So has Psychonaut's flopped? I haven't heard much about the success or lack thereof of the game...

It might be too early to call it a flop, but it hasn't sold well. There's always the chance that it will be a sleeper, like Grim Fandango, though that won't be enough to save a publicly traded company like Majesco's face. Apparently they're being sued by some stock holders over Psychonauts and Advent Rising's lack of success.

Even if it has long-term success like Grim, it's already a flop in the eyes of Majesco and certainly its shareholders. Early figures are really the only ones that matter, and they were horrid. I mean, it's already secured itself in history as a significant reason for Majesco's financial downfall. There is still the good possibility of it being a consistent seller, and I'm still praying for the success of its international release (which I hope Majesco won't minimize the launch of), but I'd say from a corporate standpoint it's a flop even if it does turn a profit somewhere down the road. Unfair and a damned shame, but yeah.

I'm surprised there isn't more anger expressed over the fairly terrible job Majesco did of actually launching it. Maybe I'm being unfair in saying that, maybe it was just down to the retailers not putting a huge effort in on their end due to Psychonauts being a fairly small title. But, my perception is that Majesco launched the game in an extremely clumsy fashion, they didn't market the game well at all (millions of dollars is nothing if it's not used well), and generally failed to make a dent in the wall of people's awareness. Does anyone really disagree with me in saying that they could have gone around this a whole lot better? :¬:

Definitely. They ****ed up, no two ways about it. And yet, I feel really bad for them because they took a big gamble on a great game, and this happens. The company that put a lot behind a really creative game they picked up has ultimately taken a huge beating and given publishers yet another reason not to fund original titles.

But yes, I feel even worse for Double Fine and the fact that a truly amazing game has been screwed. No one bought it. I think much of the blame can be aimed on Majesco's less than stellar advertising campaign, the apparent idiocy of most game retailers when it comes to distribution, and the overall stupidity of the general gaming public.

They just need to get the word out, I've seen maybe two ads on TV. They need better advertising. Then again Katamari Damaci had practically no ads but it sold well, so maybe PsychoNauts will sell well outside America, well enough to pull DF outta trouble.

Going back to the subject of multiplayer.

The only way I see it happening is with some kind of Co-op.

Althoug a Psychonauts MMORPG sounds fun...

That's really unfortunate. Does anyone have a clue about what Double Fine is planning now? They must be in a difficult situation. I really hope somehow Shafer is able to keep making games that are true to his vision. I'm going to look on the bright side and hope he returns to his roots with a true graphic adventure.

While I don't know what he's up to, I doubt it'll be anything like a classic graphic adventure at least.

I think Advent Rising did much worse than Psychonauts. I think a lot of the problem was that Majesco spent ridiculous amounts of money on those "win a million dollars" advertising. I mean, people buy carbonated beverages because they want a chance to win a million dollars. They don't buy games for that reason. More importantly, that million dollars didn't really go to getting the word out about that game. I mean, maybe some people told some other people about it, but it's not like a top commercial spot.
They should have had their ads in more gaming magazines and used the more traditional advertising that other game companies use. Sales might have even suffered from not being on the gamecube(as far fetched as that seems), because the zelda crowd might have enjoyed it more than say..the halo crowd.

Didn't the ceo get fired or something because of the lackluster sales of advent rising and psychonauts?

Anyway, I think Majesco will live because they sell tons of those crappy kids GBA videos. I think Double Fine will live because...well, they're hiring people, which is a good sign, I think. Also, I think they went through worse before. Maybe I'm just too hopeful and I don't see the dreary reality, but I think everything will be ok.

Back to the subject:
Doublefine.com has had some interesting posts lately. i've been wondering if any of them are coded messages. Like the panda and the sea monkeys...What's up with that?

I think he's just talking about the pandas that were recently born at the San Diego and DC zoo. ¬

Yeah. screw those pandas! He had seamonkies! But there may be SOME secret thing in the double fine website... I've benn suspicious since finding this with google: http://www.psychonauts.com/milkman.htm)

Cologne. Tim scented cologne. =<

Sea Monkeys are actually Brine Shrimp. You can feed them to baby fish.

Still...Monkey Island...Sea Monkeys...just seems kind of suspcious. I mean, I'm not saying that I think for a second that schafe is doing MI5. I'm just saying it's a little odd.

Hey maybe LA is getting ready to sell of all their original licenses for low-low prices and we're all about to have fairy dusted good game orgy extravaganzas rain(or maybe reign...) down up us. HAHAHAHAHA...oh, that's not funny. I'm sorry.

*grumble*grumble*

wow, that milk pic is kinda creepy.

I think the milk picture is awesome. *saves*

I would really like to see a Psychonauts prequel, maybe a game that follows Ford Cruller's life or something of the sort. You can't have enough Agent Cruller after all. I was really sad that I couldn't go into his mind.

Yeah his mind would be like a long disjointed hallway, and each door leads to one of his outher personalities, and you had to find the keys to seal off each one except the PsychoNauts one. THAT would be interesting...

Edit:I just read that Tim has a town in Animal Crossing called PinkyToe!!!! FREAKIN' AWESOME!

Yup. And he drinks rice milk. Me too. Good stuff... cheerioios aren't so yummy, though.

I'm bringing this thread back because of recent Doublefine news posts.

Specifically this one: http://www.doublefine.com/news.htm#26May2006)

I downloaded the image and it's pretty low-res low-quality. I used my mediocre(and pretty pathetic really) photoshop skills to try to clean the image up, but it didn't really help. I couldn't make out any of the text on the screen or anywhere else except on the book. I tried to look for any hidden objects around the screen, but couldn't really find any. Some of the papers look like kind of like bank statements.
The kitten sure is cute.

I gave up on trying to clean it up with photoshop or decipher anything, and instead rotated the image 180 degrees so I could read the title of the book.

After looking on Amazon for "Curiosities" which is the only whole word that can be seen on the book, I found it. It's the "Cabinet of Natural Curiosities" (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/3822847941/qid=1148710915/sr=1-6/ref=sr_1_6/002-7986912-4372856?s=books&v=glance&n=283155). The Amazon book description is as follows:

Albertus Seba’s Cabinet of Natural Curiosities is one of the 18th century’s greatest natural history achievements and remains one of the most prized natural history books of all time.Though it was common for men of his profession to collect natural specimens for research purposes, Amsterdambased pharmacist Albertus Seba (1665–1736) had a passion that led him far beyond the call of duty. His amazing, unprecedented collection of animals, plants and insects from all around the world gained international fame during his lifetime. In 1731, after decades of collecting, Seba commissioned illustrations of each and every specimen and arranged the publication of a four-volume catalog detailing his entire collection—from strange and exotic plants to snakes, frogs, crocodiles, shellfish, corals, insects, butterflies and more, as well as fantastic beasts, such as a hydra and a dragon. Seba’s scenic illustrations, often mixing plants and animals in a single plate, were unusual even for the time. Many of the stranger and more peculiar creatures from Seba’s collection, some of which are now extinct, were as curious to those in Seba’s day as they are to us now.

This reproduction is taken from a rare, hand-colored original. The introduction offers background information about the fascinating tradition of the cabinet of curiosities to which Seba’s curiosities belonged.

This isn't really a book that lies around on anyone's computer desks. I couldn't find it in my local libraries.

I don't know if that was the secret, but it's definately interesting. I'm not sure what that would tell us either. Maybe the game will have weird animals? I read in an interview once that he thought about making a strategy game once, and I read in another interview where he said this next game will be like nothing he made before, so maybe it will be a strategy game with weird animals?

Then again, maybe the book was a present or some light reading(though I think it's more a collection of pictures).

Well, if that's the clue, then I'm guessing it has animals in it, or characters that are modelled after animals.

...I'd like to bring my talking cow game idea back to the table.

This is probaby the dumbest thing you've ever heard. But I tried to bring up the pic on MS Paint and use that close up thing(It's slipped my mind right now) to read the typed stuff on his computer.

I know, stupid Darth. It'll come out all pixely which it did.

...I'd like to bring my talking cow game idea back to the table.

I'd like to wipe it RIGHT OFF THE TABLE, and bring my schizophrenic ostrich idea back.

It's unlikely that doublefine will make anyhting else after the undeserved poor sales of Psychonauts. Psychonauts was an awesome game but for some reason it got poor sales and its major publisher majesco was led to a horrible stock market demise.

Psychonauts, an awesome game, but for some reason nearly nobody got it.

It's unlikely that doublefine will make anyhting else after the undeserved poor sales of Psychonauts. Psychonauts was an awesome game but for some reason it got poor sales and its major publisher majesco was led to a horrible stock market demise.

Psychonauts, an awesome game, but for some reason nearly nobody got it.

I think you are confused. They're already making another game. There is no doubt about that. Besides, as far as I know, the game has been selling well in Europe.