Awesome Toybox
Rhombus of Ruin gets a pair of new project leads. Tim invites his most trusted artists to the studio to help brainstorm for Psychonauts 2.
Duration:
Published: January 20th 2023
Episode Stills Gallery
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Team members chortle and chuckle during a meeting in Double Fine's "Granny" meeting room. A large painted picture of the aforementioned Granny lurks in the background, the cartoonish old woman standing terribly in her star-studded frock.
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Tim Schafer sits in his cluttered office, holding up a triangle box of the adventure game "Day of the Tentacle." On the cover, the bespectacled nerd Bernard flees from the titular tentacle monster, who is holding a sci-fi ray gun in a floppy tentacle hand.
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Tim, alongside artist Peter Chan and other team members, discusses art concepts in one of the studio's meeting rooms. Behind them, a board is covered in paper Post-it notes of various colors.
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Artists Scott Campbell and Peter Chan discuss ideas in a meeting room. Scott's hand extends claw-like and his face scrunches into a sneer as he poses out a concept to Peter.
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Concept Artist Emily Johnstone poses happily at her desk, beaming all the while. She wears a purple Double Fine Studios tee-shirt and her desk is adorned with monitors and sketchpads.
Episode Transcript
BAGEL: I have another one too.
Write down repetitive stress disorder.
-Remember the polar bear? -Oh, you are talking about...
That's called repetitive stress disorder?
I think it's called repetitive stress disorder.
-Check it out, man. -No, it's not.
Check out the internet. It's not?
-No, I just tested it. -Oh, cool.
[TIM LAUGHS]
Do you mean, like, polar bears that are, like--
There is a polar bear at the San Francisco zoo,
that you'd go-- every time I went,
he was just going back-and-forth every time.
He'd go-- all day long.
TIM: They call it zoochosis.
Psychosis caused by confinement.
-BAGEL: Oh, really? -It's very common.
Including repeatedly vomiting and eating your own vomit.
BAGEL: Ugh, gross.
TIM: And gorillas that sob. Oh, that'd be so sad.
Sobbing gorilla...
And compulsively masturbating walruses.
Ha-ha, that's awesome.
-How does a walrus masturbate? -Is there any other kind?
Oh, here. YouTube. Walruses masturbating.
[BAGEL LAUGHS]
BAGEL: There is a video, I love it.
VIDEO: He would roll over and masturbate...
[TIM AND BAGEL LAUGH]
All right, next...
Is it their back feet?
-Oh, man! Oh, jeez! -Oh my god!
Ugh.
All right!
I'm learning a lot.
Do you think, like, it's hitting its long...
[BAGEL LAUGHS]
-Holy shit, that was disturbing. -Ugh.
BAGEL: You guys are lucky.
Hey, if it was bad, God would've made his fin smaller.
[BAGEL LAUGHS]
TIM: What?
[TIM AND BAGEL LAUGH]
[MUSIC]
...and started brainstorming ideas for Psychonauts 2.
GREG: The idea now is not to just talk about the Psychonauts sequel.
We are talking about VR experiences.
TIM: As kind of a missing mission between Psychonauts 1 and 2.
BRAD: It's a hard game to make. It's a really hard game to make.
And they are trying to do some stuff that's, like,
you know, that's basically never been done before.
TIM: One of our longest-term employees is leaving the company.
Ray Crook and Chad Dawson will be co-project leading GVR.
[CLAPPING]
Yeah, we'll see how it goes.
TIM: Excellent! Awesome! Let's talk about GVR.
Thanks for sitting close to each other, you guys.
And thanks for not wearing a creepy foil finger, Chad.
I'll put it down... after the update.
What happened last week in the world of--
in the exciting world of virtual reality?
[LAUGHTER]
I'll let you go, since you got the finger.
Okay.
RAY: So, we finished the 5XP, the five-minute experience.
We had quite a few people, ten or so, come and try it.
And, uh, got a lot of really good feedback.
Um, things that are good, things that are bad.
Um, so, that was encouraging.
Um, yeah, we've been doing some cool stuff with, um...
Martin has been working on with just sort of the space,
with the Rhombus of Ruin, and what that's going to look like.
[MUSIC]
-PAUL: How's it been? -RAY: Good.
PAUL: Yeah?
Yeah. Busy.
This is just the check-in with project lead style that we've setup.
Also, because you guys were new project leaders.
How do you guys like being project leaders?
TIM: I'm a strong believer that when you are first time leading a project,
you should have a partner.
Like, uh...
By the way, this is Day of the Tentacle.
Me and Dave.
And it-- Because, um...
Your first time leading a project-- at least I was very intimidated.
You have all this self-doubt, like:
"Should I be running this? Does everyone think I'm crazy?"
And then you have this other partner, and they are like:
"Yeah, they do! They think we are all crazy."
-"What are we going to do about that?" -"I don't know."
And you can just talk like that with somebody.
And having an ally is just really important.
Because it's, uh, it's lonely at the top.
Are you still able to do your first jobs?
This is mostly my lesson to explain my problem with writing deadlines.
So you guys will understand...
-...my problem with writing. -It's true.
Yeah, you don't do what you are good at, right?
RAY: Yeah, I think-- I think it happens to everybody.
I think everybody that, uh, has a specialty, you know,
you eventually, um, move into management.
And you start-- and you get to do less and less of what you enjoy doing.
CHAD: I treasure the days I actually get to check-in code that--
that works and runs, and I feel like a programmer again.
This-- this skill that you've been trying to hone and practice
and, um, that you love doing, um...
You-- And you start losing it, right?
I mean, you start losing it to some degree.
And when you are not doing it, you just become rusty at it.
[CHUCKLING]
CHAD: I've always loved Ray's animation in particular.
Ever since I worked with him on Brütal.
Um, he added so much to characters.
It's been a little frustrating
not getting to see him kind of put that Ray charm on the characters.
Yeah, it's a different-- it's a shift.
Hopefully, it's a net win.
Both of us have been around for a while now.
There is a lot we have to offer.
You know, I'm trying to think of some of these new guys who are...
I'm scared to think they might be, you know,
twenty years younger than me or whatever.
You know, fifteen or more years in the industry less.
Um, I'm trying to think--
When I started, I didn't have many people with that much difference of experience.
How nice it might have been
to have someone with that amount of experience
give me a little bit of mentorship, give me a little bit of leadership,
steer me in the right way,
um, help me become a better programmer faster.
You-- you start to recognize that you have something to offer on that,
that you didn't even know that you had, you know.
And... that's-- that could be a good thing.
...most on this project since then has been not only leadership,
but also on the design side,
with sort of a design team of sorts.
EMILY: So you need to find music.
You know you have to find music somehow.
And so you are searching around and you find the music box,
but it's broken.
EMILY: You CV into the rat that's next to--
-The rat? -EMILY: The rat.
-EMILY: I don't know, just go with it. -Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.
And, uh, the last piece is a little too small to fix,
so you have to CV into the bed bug.
-TIM: Mm-hmm. -Get even smaller.
EMILY: Or a flea on the back of the rat.
And take that little like grain of sand or something and knock it off.
-EMILY: And-- and then-- -RAY: Oh, yeah!
-Once you get all this stuff out... -Once you pull that thing out...
-...it just starts going. -...it just starts going.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's better!
So, if you try and crank it from the outside
it just goes: "Tick, tick, tick." It just won't move.
-TIM: It's already wound-up. -It's, like, overcranked.
-Yeah, it's overcranked. -Yeah.
Okay, and so once you remove the thing, it just starts playing.
-And then it starts playing. -Okay.
TIM: I have high hopes for that team,
because Emily has turned out to just be a creative powerhouse.
She just comes up with tons of ideas.
She comes to every meeting with like eight Post-it notes
to lay out some idea she had.
Um, and I'm like: "I didn't bring any Post-it notes. Man!"
I was like: "That overachiever, I need to put her down!"
No, she is, like...
TIM: You know, I found a lot of times, someone's here at the company
for one profession, or one area of expertise.
But you get them to a brainstorming meeting
they are just this fountain of, like:
"What about this? What about this? What about this?"
And that's so valuable.
I don't know how I did that, but I did.
I just started bringing in, like, weird design stuff and just presenting.
And I just had ideas, and...
I just think that that's a fun thing to do
is to sort of design story and what happens.
And I try to think about what's-- what I think would be cool in a game.
CHAD:That can always be a little bit tricky without someone,
you know, being the de facto design lead.
Particularly, um, bringing Tim in with his busy schedule.
Him not being able to make it to all the meetings,
and being on sort of a different page than us,
I think it took us a little while to get that going.
RAY: Emily has a good idea that we could avoid that maybe.
-Hey, there you are! -TIM: Hi.
Um, so then, maybe stabilize the bus. Maybe not, if we don't go that way.
CHAD: Neither of us, I think, really expected
to kind of have to fill that in as much.
We are going to, I think, just continue on Milla's?
-Yeah! -Okay.
CHAD: On the bus.
I feel like you should be able to do, like, turn signal, windshield wipers...
Yeah, right? Use all those stupid things.
-Once the bus has power. -Yeah.
Maybe if he can get the power restored in the bus,
he can, uh, get it going.
So, the trick to this one is...
You are at a dashboard here, and there is a stop sign, and a hood.
And if I hit this button, um, it pops the hood open.
And the hood actually kind of pops from the front.
So you can see it from the driver's point of view,
down in the hood.
And you see that the battery is dead or missing,
but you can't do much about it.
But then, there is a bunch of sharks and eels circling.
But as you put up the stop sign, it's kind of like musical chairs.
They all kind of stop.
So, if you are quick, and you can stop and catch an electric eel,
then you can pop the hood,
and catch the electric eel, and he replaces the battery,
and now you have power to the radio.
But we got the-- we got the stop sign, eel, and the hood thing, right?
-The electric eel made it. -Eel in the hood.
EMILY: That was a joke. It was a joke.
-Eel from the hood. -Man! The eels in the hood.
[LAUGHTER]
We've hit that point in the meeting where anything is funny.
-All right, all right. -Very dangerous. Very dangerous!
CHAD: But particularly as he started getting the idea to do Psychonauts 2
his focus has been more-- more on that.
Grasslands is starting to warm up.
Because I'm starting to actually pull out back my design documents.
Because next week is the art jam for Grasslands.
As Scott Campbell and Nathan Stapley are going to be coming to town,
and Peter Chan.
And be hold up in the back room, drawing stuff, um,
talking about, uh, Grasslands.
For new guys, that's Psychonauts 2. That's our code name for Psychonauts 2.
So, we are just getting ready for that.
Which is good, because to get that started--
Because we need to get some of those things--
just for the design of the game would be good, but also to, um--
You just made the craziest face at me right now.
Matt was yawning and then doing the: "I'm going to hide a yawn."
And it turned into, like, a death mask.
-Kind of... -[LAUGHTER]
And I happened to catch it right when I was talking.
You scared me!
But also, some of the art would obviously be helpful
when we start our campaign for Grasslands on Fig.
Whenever Grasslands is going to start, pre-production is going to start,
you know, Tim is just going to start...
taking our people.
He's going to take Emily, he's going to try to take Bagel.
-Right? I mean, the people that he is-- -I know.
...that he is saying: "Hey, I want them in the art jam."
Which is Emily and Bagel.
Who are both our-- our artists.
MALENA: You know, we-- we were a studio that we all worked on Psychonauts.
And then we all worked on Brütal Legend.
And then we went to four projects.
And it was tricky.
It was definitely tricky to balance all of the people and the needs.
You know, so, it's like,
the fact that he identified Emily
as somebody that he wanted,
I think, is actually really great for the company.
Because it means that-- that Tim is recognizing
that there are people in the studio who have good design ideas,
can produce great art, and that we don't ha--
I mean, yes, we've got all these people that we love working with,
Scott and Peter,
um, but cultivating that talent from within,
I think, is really important too, so.
-CHAD: Right. -Okay.
MALENA: I'm totally pleased that he asked for her by name.
RAY: Okay.
MALENA: Grasslands is only starting to emerge as a thing.
And then, until Tim really has a good design worked out,
I can't imagine that he is going to have a huge team of content creators
until-- until we know what it is that we are building.
MALENA: Anything else?
-I don't think so. -Nothing I can think of.
-It'd be great to have you next week. -Yeah, hopefully you can come.
-All right, okay. Thanks, guys. Bye! -RAY: Okay, bye!
MALENA: I also really like Chad and Ray.
And I think it's a great opportunity
for two guys who've been at the company for a long time,
and are really good at what they do, to have a chance to take on,
uh, you know, a new responsibility, a new challenge.
Uh, whether it's overwhelming or not for them, I don't know.
But, you know-- But they are doing a really great job.
They have a lot of respect from the people in the company.
So, it's-- it's fun to see them in that role.
...trying to get an hour... of time.
-You want this? -Hello, buddy.
-You want that? -You are an important dude!
-You got the mic! -Why are you still sitting in his place?
It's all mixed up.
That-- those three chairs are usually here.
[MUSIC]
TIM: Hi, everybody! Hello!
Please, say hello, people here to-- Welcome this first--
TIM: At Double Fine we have to welcome Scott Campbell.
-TIM: Scott Campbell is here. -[CLAPPING]
TIM: Nathan "Bagel" Stapley is in the house.
-[CLAPPING] -TIM: Yep.
-TIM: Peter Chan is right there. -[CLAPPING]
-TIM: Mister Peter Chan. -[CLAPPING]
TIM: So, yeah, a lot of people.
Our old friends, uh, from out of town
here to, um, help me remind me what Psychonauts is,
so we can start working on Grasslands.
But, uh, we've been locked up in the Cold Room.
Uh, brainstorming and talking about ideas for things,
so they can have an art jam and draw some of the first art
for the, um, sequel to Psychonauts
that we are going to be crowdfunding in December.
-Fig. -Fig.
RAY: I just like throwing it out there.
-Which we are going to be Figging. -RAY: Fig.
How is it going so far, you guys?
-Pretty goo-od! -TIM: Yea-ah!
[LAUGHTER]
TIM: So, more like high noon for, uh, Magnificent Seven.
All these guys are coming to town.
And Bagel is like the really good swordsman who's drunk all the time.
[LAUGHTER]
BAGEL: Like Jackson Pollock.
See you, guys. Thanks for doing that!
SCOTT: Dude, I'm down to trying some markers.
All your old markers are, like, still here from the Brütal Legend art session.
-And they are probably dry as a bone. -Probably dry as a bone!
[SCOTT CHUCKLES]
Oh my god, what are you eating? That's crazy!
-I'm going to eat this whole donut myself. -Oh, good.
-Two napkins. -Yeah, I was going to tell you...
-...there is a box of donuts. -Going to lay it down right here.
-Just to get it ready. -[TIM CHUCKLES]
Yeah.
That looks muscular.
-Yeah, it is, like-- yeah. -Like a big muscle arm.
TIM: You know how I love art jams.
Uh, I like seeing those guys. And for them-- they are going to--
I want them to work together.
Like, they are going to work together remotely.
But it's great to have them all together.
Just to get all their heads in sync.
Which I have to do, because I need some-- some more ideas.
When Raz arrives at the Psychonauts headquarters.
Uh, the Psychonauts kind of need him more than, uh, he needs them.
They are just not the organization they used to be.
Not the one that Raz always dreamed of joining.
He is like: "What is up with this?"
And, um, he is told that his field promotion is not valid,
and if he really wants to be a Psychonaut,
he has to earn it here, at the headquarters.
And, um...
RAY: Is that Levi?
Levi!
I wondered if you were going to be able to join us.
TIM: And he finds out-- and Raz finds out that this guy was pushing everybody
into researching not the normal Psychonauts powers,
but necromancy, specifically the speaking to the dead.
Which has been debunked by Psychonauts.
They don't believe in it. They think it's just--
And also it's seen as kind of-- it has a lot of moral problems.
They just don't like it.
Yeah, turns out Gristo was pushing them,
because he is trying to revive the long-lost spirit of Maligula.
-[BAGEL CHUCKLES] -TIM: Maligula.
BAGEL: And you are going off, and you are just like debunk-- you know.
Yeah, you are exploring the headquarters, and finding all these secret areas,
and going into different brains.
And, uh, the main thing is actually going through a list of possible minds.
So, just, like, a million-- Just, like--
Just try to, like, think of what some of these might look like.
You could just pick one. And then for a certain number of minutes
even just sitting around, all talking about it.
And then from the end of it, like, we'll see all this different kind of...
Maybe some crazy, like, mech-- like--
like, gameplay mechanic might come out of it.
And then all of a sudden, like, that's what you basically have.
You are like: "Oh, wait. Actually, that mechanic is cool.
So maybe we could, like, turn that into--
we could work that into this side of brain."
I don't know, I say bom--
At this point, just bombard Tim with a million things,
and then have him look around and kind of start making connections
and figuring out how he wants to do it, and...
And then we can come back and make--
you know, make all the worlds really amazing.
TIM: Because there are so many ways you can go with the brains, you know.
Like, I learned on the first game...
People really liked the second half levels more than the first half levels.
The later ones had-- each had, like, a crazy concept to the gameplay of them.
Whether it's the bubble moving through, or the bull running through,
or all these things, um, that twisted everything upside-down.
TIM: Like, the setting is suburbia, the theme is-- is paranoia,
and the, uh, twist is that relative gravity twisting the world.
Right.
Just trying to make sure each level has each one of those things, you know?
Setting, theme, twist. There you go!
And so, I'm realizing just, like,
a level with a cool looking theme and funny jokes will not be enough.
Each one really has to be this, um-- turning gameplay inside out, new idea.
So I'm really bringing all of the brains I can together
to create a brain storm.
Oh, that's why they call it that!
Pachinko world.
Like, the entire time you are just falling down.
Buh-doo, buh-dee, buh-dee, buh-dah, buh-doo.
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
Uh, deep-fried world.
[TIM LAUGHS]
I really like that.
Like, everybody is just tempura.
-Like, everyone is just delicious looking. -Just dipped.
Everyone leaves, like, a little trail of oil behind them wherever they walk.
Uh, wind chime city.
That's crazy, you just run through it the whole time: "Bwong, bling, blom."
Uh, Peter Pan syndrome.
Oh, a new brain!
Yeah, a new brain entirely.
-SCOTT: What is Peter Pan syndrome? -Never growing up.
Uh, never growing up.
EMILY: And it's like a jungle gym, Fisher-Price style world.
TIM: Hmm!
EMILY: Oh, those guys!
They are so good at what they do!
I'm sort of the-- I feel like the impostor syndrome,
where I'm like: "Yes, yes. I know what I'm talking about.
I don't know what I'm talking about. Okay. Hey, guys!"
And then, they are, like, really good at drawing.
And... I'm okay.
I'm okay.
SCOTT: Yes! It's been amazing having Emily.
Having, like, a female influence back there is actually pretty wonderful.
I mean, she's, like-- Even besides that.
It doesn't matter, she has unbelievable ideas no matter what.
But it's just great to have that dynamic kind of shifted a little bit.
It's been really, really great.
And that must be tough coming into a situation
where these-- the guys that have-- that worked on it,
and were old bros for a long period of time.
In the beginning... we were so, so tight.
It's hard to get into something like that.
Like, get into, like, that little-- the circle.
But it's absolutely no problem!
But it's cool to see their-- their passion and...
And they-- they know what they are doing.
And I'm sure they might feel a little impostor syndrome too.
Because, I feel, a lot of artists have that.
But they are-- they are good. They are really good!
Hmm, this could be a kind of creepy, Children of the Corn style scenario,
where, like, all the kids and all the characters are having a blast,
and all the adults are, like, trapped and being tortured.
Stalker mind.
TIM: Okay, stalker mind.
This is so creepy, I'm scared of touching it.
Or, like, it's that feeling of a stalker, like-- like:
"If I just-- if they just-- you know, ugh!
I know this-- I've watched all of her movies and stuff.
I feel like I know her.
And if she could just meet me...
she would really-- I think we'd really be close!"
We've all thought that way, right?
Yeah, that kind of happens in real life sometimes too, where--
I don't know about you guys, but...
when we were growing up, and going to art school,
you put certain artists,
like, you go through your society of illustrators,
and you see these guys that you admire,
and you look up to them, right?
And then, um, you put them on a pedestal.
And then you have the opportunity to finally meet them,
and they turn out to be dicks, right?
And then you go: "Why did--
-You don't like their stuff anymore. -PETER: I don't like 'em anymore.
PETER: Because they are, like, totally phony.
And, um...
And you are disappointed after that.
BAGEL: Yep, you put them on a pedestal...
And then you stop putting people on pedestals.
TIM: Well, we killed another column.
Last column. And then we can do other stuff.
Baby's mind, you guys.
Is that adorable?
Is that going to be the most adorable mind ever?
You just see boobs everywhere.
[CHUCKLING]
[MUSIC]
[LAUGHTER]
So, like Nathan's mind pretty much.
[LAUGHTER]
[MUSIC]
[STREET NOISES]
PAUL: For you it's a little different now, because you don't live here anymore,
and, you know, you are doing a lot of your own stuff.
Like, do you want to be more of a part of it? Or...
Uh, man, I feel that coming on.
I do feel that vibe when I'm looking around
at, like, the VR game,
and looking at what everyone's doing, I feel like:
"Oh, man. I really want to spend a lot more time with this."
And, like, I have that pull to come back and really be here all the time, but...
Um, but then again, when I worked--
when I moved to New York, it was--
I felt like it did free up so much of my mind.
I was able to come up with ideas a lot--
in a lot more of a smooth environment.
Smooth way.
Pretty cool.
That's awesome.
Cool.
SCOTT: Rad, I love it.
SCOTT: Every once in a while
during this week, I would get that feeling of like:
"Oh my god, I just want to...
take this whole cast of characters and just draw them all,
you know, like, and have a little awesome toy box, you know?
And I feel like-- in my mind I'm like:
"Ooo, I can't wait to work with those shapes again.
And I can't wait to do that with, like, renewed strength
that I've built through the years."
I feel, like, really excited to revisit it, you know?
If they ever want to email me things or...
Okay.
SCOTT: If they have any questions about anything.
-Okay. -SCOTT: Or any critiques.
-RAY: Bug you? -Yeah.
RAY: Okay, we are going to bug you, man.
SCOTT: Later, bud.
Thanks, dude! Thanks, man!
Cut.
MALENA: All right. Hey, everybody!
-Hey! -Thank you.
Our team is getting so big. This is pretty awesome.
CHAD: And we put a new sitting bench in the back room.
MALENA: Yeah, it got even bigger today!
Because I really want to introduce Andy Alamano.
-Hi, everybody! -[CLAPPING]
I'm really happy to have him here.
And he is going to do wonderful things.
Um, he is joining the team as a producer.
Um, so we now, I think, have the most number of production people
in the company devoted to this project.
-So that... -RAY: What does that say about us?
[LAUGHTER]
What does that say about our project?
I think it says that this is important.
We are free-spirited.
And you-- and you are not the new guy anymore, Paul.
[LAUGHTER]
-Since Monday. -ANDY: I have taken over.
ANDY: I gotta tell you, what--
As someone coming in, as a producer working on a game,
watching Double Fine Adventure has been a very, very eye-opening experience
about watching a production happen in this company.
It's been very, very informative to look at.
Like: "How did things happen? And why do you think things happened?"
That's been very, very, uh... educational.
And it's perfect timing too, because production is about to start.
It's going to start when we get back from Christmas break.
And we are going to be going, like, full-on production.
I'm kind of getting prepared for that.
And, yeah, that's partly been the process of getting started here,
getting ramped up, getting ready to roll.
Because we are a Psychonauts game.
We want to make sure that we deliver this thing.
And it gets people like: "Oh, this is the Psychonauts I remember...
...in VR."
So, art style is a big deal.
RAY: And then, today we have a big kind of meeting
with, um, Peter and Scott.
Sort of helping, um, guide-- give us--
just give us some pointers and feedback on sort of their process
when it comes to the style of Psychonauts.
RAY: And we are gonna ask you questions, um, sort of about,
a little bit about your approach when you were thinking about--
working on Psychonauts.
I mean, now you guys are actually back into it again a little bit.
I have a few examples.
This is some of what Say has been doing.
Um, she has probably taken stuff the farthest,
as far as when-- as into production work.
Um, and, um, and I don't mean to put Say on the spot,
But this is all-- you know--
-RAY: This is her work. -TIM: This is your life.
This is her work and, um, and--
but you guys should feel free to sort of make any comments,
and things that you think would help push it into the Psychonauts world.
Cool. This is awesome.
I would say-- Yeah, the wonkify thing.
Right?
What? What do you want to say about it?
I wasn't allowed-- that was-- that was just--
that was a discontinued term on Psychonauts,
because I said it too much.
PETER: First off, Say, great job!
[LAUGHTER]
I love your work!
-Yeah, these are great! -These are beautiful!
What?
Dude, Martin is like: "Oh, I know."
He knows. He took my class, so he knows.
How I approach the Psychonauts world is that it's asymmetrical.
Even though you've drawn it in a cartoony way,
it's still proportionally correct.
So, if I was going to do it, I would try to make one side,
you know, really bigger than the other.
Or something like that.
Just to break it up.
Okay. So, if I was going to do a circle, I would put the center off a little bit.
So, it's like a person doing a caricature of a face.
You try to find that one feature that you can kind of embellish on.
SCOTT: There is also this story that you are telling.
I'm not sure if this is--
Like, so the story is what?
There is, like, a psitanium here that everything is attracted to?
Everything is pulled to this point, right?
Yeah, it crash-lands into that point.
SCOTT: Crash-lands?
One thing I'd want to see is, like--
This feels like it's, like, been just a pile.
Like everything just fell-- fell to it.
It would be really dynamic if they all just...
Like, were pulled into it.
Just, like-- Like they all crash-landed into it.
So, instead of, like-- like, kind of, like, this sort of thing,
they all kind of were pulled towards this center thing.
Maybe the shape is more like this.
And you could see, like, this is the bus that went slamming in.
And this is this one that went slamming in.
And this is the little Volkswagen Bug that went slamming in.
You know, and this is, like-- I don't know, whatever.
PETER: No, no, that's-- And that's-- that's brilliant.
Because that's the thing about establishing shots.
-It should tell a story. -Yeah, yeah.
SCOTT: One thing I always hear you talk about is, like,
the tension between shapes.
Like, the negative space too.
-Like when something-- the tension... -Almost touches.
...it almost touches, and stuff.
And I love, like, this boat here. It's like--
Like, everything is in this point,
but you have certain things that are still--
have not gotten to this spot.
Like, I love that this boat is, like, just hanging on.
-Like, that's so dope, right? -Yeah.
But it could be even more of a dynamic kind of--
But what would make it more dynamic is that it's teetering, right?
Because right now it's sitting nice on that cliff.
But if it's teetering and aiming toward it
then it looks like it's pulling in, right?
Like, do that thing.
It should look like it's pulling that cliff down with it, right?
So, now-- See, again, that's--
But then you also--
that means you also have to look at the negative space.
And that always enhances the positive.
-All right? -SAY: Mm-hmm.
PETER: So, that's that.
SCOTT: It was so hard to figure out what that style was.
But now that we have that game done, we can look at it.
We can just take that.
And people have-- that have played it are working on the game.
And-- and everyone here that have gotten just way more skilled.
We can kind of put that all together and just make--
The blueprint is already there.
And it's a real-- it's a real rough blueprint.
So they could make it way better now.
So, that's...
I can't wait to see what everyone does with it, so.
I'm cool with stepping back a little bit and just kind of watching what happens.
PETER: And sometimes it's fun to just create a backstory
when you are designing it too.
Like, for example, the reason why there is a giant A-frame around this whole thing
is because the original house has a lot of roof leaks.
So then I just deliberately drew a second roof over it.
And then that way it forced me to come up with a different silhouette.
It's cool. Good work, dude.
Nailed it with that design.
[LAUGHTER]
-Okay. -Gosh!
PETER: So long ago, you guys!
[CHUCKLING]
'01.
Yep.
BAGEL: '01, wow!
[MUSIC]
SCOTT: I think so, yeah!
I felt good about it.
And actually, like, Peter and I were talking about--
When we did that demonstration, like, it was helpful for us
to get back into the mindset of-- of what the shapes are like,
and what the rules are, like, and stuff.
And it felt good for us,
and so when we went back to the room, to draw,
we got even more inspired about it, so.
It was so fun to look at that stuff.
Yeah, I don't know, so.
I think it's going to be great.
[MUSIC]
[TIM LAUGHS]
Come on, you live in the-- on this island.
I'm sure you've had a walrus on your front porch some mornings.
Serious question. Do you get walruses on your island?
No? It's cold?
Killer whales. No walruses?