Tim Schafer
Games of Fame: Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge, Day of the Tentacle, Full Throttle, Grim Fandango, and Psychonauts.
Signature of Style: Tim Schafer started out with aspirations to write stories - not design games. "I had this idea that I would get a database programming job, inspired by a young Kurt Vonnegut, who worked at PG&E or somewhere as he was writing his first stories. I thought – ‘That's what I'm going to do. I'm going to get the most mundane job possible,’" explained Schafer in an interview with Game Studies.
Instead, Schafer wound up at LucasArts, where he co-designed Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge and Day of the Tentacle. It was there, that Schafer unexpectedly found the outlet for creativity he expected to find outside a mundane day job.
Above: Despite having received rave reviews and many awards, Psychonauts and Grim Fandango didn't do well in sales
Since then, titles where Schafer steered the helm have been known for avoiding the beaten path. With quirky characters, humorous dialogue, and surreal environments, Schafer gave the adventure genre a kick-start in the pants with Full Throttle and Grim Fandango.
But it was Schafer's break with the adventure genre that made him stand out with Psychonauts: an action title where you enter the minds of others and platform your way past their most private phobias with psychic powers. With characters like the crackpot conspiracy theorist, Boyd Cooper, and off-the-wall levels like Gloria's Theater - which pits you against an unrelenting literary critic - Schafer's Psychonauts exemplifies how his games tend to explore uncharted waters, brimming with surreal visuals and wacky personality that is often absent from most mainstream titles.
