2 Player Productions

Here at Double Fine, we value transparency. It’s important to us that players and fans understand the game development process and have a sense of who is crafting the mind-bending worlds they’re exploring. For over a decade now, 2 Player Productions has been the driving force behind our Napoleonically massive campaign to document the work that goes into each of our games. But who is 2 Player Productions and what’s their story?

There’s three amazing people behind 2PP: Paul Levering, Paul Owens, and Asif Siddiky. These three friends—bonded by a lifelong passion for films and video games—have turned their cameras on a variety of different subjects such as major motion pictures, independent musicians, and many different corners of the games industry. Each member of 2PP developed a love of movies at a young age. For Paul Levering, a “movie-obsessed” household and friendship with a local indie film shop owner exposed him to all kinds of films. For Paul Owens, a high-school broadcasting class built a familiarity with equipment and a teenage friendship with Paul Levering packed with intense chat about movies. Asif was given a camera by his father and began documenting family vacations with no idea that he’d build a career watching the world from behind a film lens.

But how did this dynamic trio unite? Did the world survive it? Okay, well yeah the world can survive it. I mean we’re still here! But if you insist on knowing the tale…

Asif and Paul Owens both attended Drexel University to study film and as part of their degree program, the college asked students to get real-world experience in their field. Help from a friendly program director led to the pair working on Shadowboxer (2005), the directorial debut of Hollywood creator Lee Daniels. Recording the film’s making-of process and developing a relationship with Daniels throughout, they went on to document more of his films such as Tennessee (2008) and Precious (2009). This proximity to the film industry was exciting but working on packed movie sets spurred on a desire to work on smaller, more personal projects. 

Thankfully Paul Levering had been wanting to do a project about video game music for awhile and when the time came to consider collaborators he thought of his now film-school trained pal. He reached out to recruit Owens, who then pulled Asif along for the ride. This was the birth of 2 Player Productions and for their first work, the team decided to look at a somewhat niche but incredibly vibrant community: the chiptune music scene. Covering talented musicians who program and play their music with all kinds of obsolete game consoles and computers, 2 Player Productions cataloged their melodious journey in a film: Reformat The Planet (2008).

Reformat The Planet toured around multiple film festivals including South by Southwest® 2008 and was an official selection for Fantastic Fest 2010. That’s exciting stuff but the connection to video games also meant looking to venues and conventions outside of the film industry. This led 2 Player Productions to the Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) to show the film. PAX was a bit of a whirlwind that would lead to different projects. This included both a long-form documenting of Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik, Penny Arcade’s founders, work with Sucker Punch tracking the development of inFAMOUS 2, and a stint with Naughty Dog covering Uncharted 3. Video games were becoming the lifeblood of 2 Player Productions.

Looking for something fresh to focus on, the team’s gaze turned towards the realm of crowdfunding in search of a way to cover one of their favorite games: Minecraft. Kickstarter was relatively untrodden ground for funding large scale film projects at the time. What started as a pitch for another long series similar to their Penny Arcade work transformed over time into a feature-length movie focused on the formation of Mojang, the game’s launch into a 1.0 release, and Minecraft’s astounding effect on the industry. Minecraft: The Story of Mojang premiered in 2012 to great acclaim, its intimate focus on the Mojang team capturing the attention of gaming press and reviewers. And wouldn’t you know it, one of the people 2PP interviewed for the film happened to be an enthusiastic fella named Tim Schafer. You might guess where this is going...

Asif Siddiky, Paul Levering and Paul Owens meet Tim for the first time at the Double Fine offices, while interviewing him for Minecraft: The Story of Mojang in 2011.

Asif Siddiky, Paul Levering and Paul Owens meet Tim for the first time at the Double Fine offices, while interviewing him for Minecraft: The Story of Mojang in 2011.

With Minecraft: The Story of Mojang released, 2PP once again faced the question of what to do next. To hear the team explain the situation, while they often had lists of things they wanted to try, many projects came about because of Hail Mary pitches. Does this idea appeal to us? Do we want to spend a long time embedded with this team? Oh, crap, are we running out of money? Paul Levering in particular enjoyed Double Fine and the studio’s signature creative project “Amnesia Fortnight” where the studio takes two weeks to stop its current project and create multiple prototypes pitched by anyone with an idea.

Their previous connection to Tim made it easy to reach out and talk potential projects. There were a few notions of what to cover including Amnesia Fortnight but Tim had another suggestion: what about an old-school adventure game?

This simple pitch would ultimately lead to one of the most successful Kickstarter campaigns in history, and gave birth to what would eventually become Broken Age. With an initial goal of $400k—a quarter of which was to cover the cost of 2 Player’s documentary, with the lion's share going to the game itself—the campaign ballooned towards a final count of $3,336,371 by the time the campaign ended. This figure, over eight times more than asked for, covered tons of stretch goals, set a crowdfunding world record, and expanded the project’s scope considerably.

2 Player intended to release documentary updates throughout development, to provide a Nintendo Power-esque monthly gift of information and interviews. This resulted in Double Fine Adventure, an episodic series released from 2012 to 2015, covering Broken Age’s campaign and the full development of both Part One and Part Two. This required a closeness to the studio beyond anything the team had done before. No more traveling around to places for filming sessions. They moved to San Francisco and lurked within the studio, capturing the truth of the game development process. This was a bit awkward for everyone but over time, this odd crew of camera-toting voyeurs became a part of the family. The cameras became mostly invisible and interviews with team members created a strong rapport.

One thing always leads to another. Double Fine Adventure was well-received by the public as a truly honest look at game design and the relationship between 2PP and Double Fine was strong as hell. As more games were developed, 2 Player remained at hand. Whether that was to help run the casual but informative dev streams during Massive Chalice’s production or to help document the processes behind our LucasArts remasters, the 2PP gang was there. Slowly becoming a fact of life here at Double Fine, and ultimately employees too.

When Tim decided that the studio’s next project would be Psychonauts 2, it represented not only a huge moment for fans but a massive project for 2 Player Productions. Psychonauts 2 was announced at The Game Awards 2015 and its successful crowd-funding on Fig.co kicked off the next stage of Double Fine’s trajectory. It also led to the longest extended documenting process that the team of 2 Player Productions ever faced.  One which would only grow longer and longer as the game grew and the real world provided unexpected challenges.

From 2015 onward, Psychonauts 2’s development would be documented in brutally frank detail, but an interesting detour in 2017 would provide a slight wrinkle in the workflow that 2 Player Productions had come to know.

During that year’s Amnesia Fortnight, Asif’s pitch for a game called The Gods Must Be Hungry was chosen as one of the projects to be made, and along with it, the chance to step out from behind the camera for a while.

Asif was already contributing small ideas to the Psychonauts 2 team, taking notes as he captured design meetings on film. But this opportunity to work on a game full-time for two weeks gave him clarity — he wanted to do this all the time. He started interning with the design team in his spare moments between filming, and eventually was able to become a full-time level designer on Psychonauts 2.

Impressed by The Gods Must Be Hungry, Tim offered up an even greater opportunity still. This frantic food-fest tasked players with scrambling around a giant kitchen in order to create delicious meals for dangerous godly beings. If that sounds a bit familiar to you, that’s because that gameplay was eventually ported to Psychonauts 2, inspiring the level “Compton’s Cookoff."

Of course, the development of Psychonauts 2 also faced a truly once-in-a-lifetime hurdle: a global pandemic. COVID 19 brought with it a ton of changes to the industry, as work shifted to a more remote and home-bound process. Where 2PP used to lurk in the corners of offices, hidden behind their cameras and gear, they would now hide on the edges of computer screens and the tiniest boxes of Zoom video calls. Aiding them in this process, and helping to fill the void left behind by Asif's role change, would be a new addition on the video-creation side of things: the sensational video editor Renat Sirbaev.

2 PP Hero Shot

Even with all of these shake ups, the resulting documentary—Double Fine PsychOdyssey—recieved immense praise when it released in 2023. People used fancy words like “brilliant,” “unflinching” and “essential” to talk about the documentary. Normally that would sound like we’re just bragging on their behalf but the PsychOdyssey really is one hell of a thing. Psychonauts 2 is a game we’re very proud of here at Double Fine and the development process was truly a unique experience of high and lows. 2 Player really held firm to their goal of recording the process honestly and even with all kinds of surprises, they really pulled off something pretty amazing.

But what’s next for 2PP? They’re still here! Asif’s still a designer! The Pauls lead our studio’s video team and are a key part of the publishing department. They still lurk in meetings and record all sorts of things, both in-person and virtually now, although who can say if that will ever lead to as big a documentary as Double Fine PsychOdyssey again. But they’re watching and tracking our history, they’re helping assemble game trailers and show off Double Fine’s process to the world. They are a crucial and beloved part of the studio. Sharp-eyed, insightful, and watching over things like a gaggle of vigilante superheroes. We love ‘em!

There’s more games to come at Double Fine and that means more chances to show off the creative process of game development and tell peoples’ stories. 2PP’s right here, seeing the things that we don’t even notice at the time. And helping us share all of that with you, and the world.

The 2PP Collection