DICE Hall Of Fame
Last month, at the 26th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards Ceremony at Resorts World Las Vegas, Tim received a pretty great honor from The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences: induction into their Hall of Fame. That's an entire hall full of fame and (if you can seize it along with your pirate crew) gold and glory! The Hall of Fame includes folks like Hideo Kojima, Ed Boon, Sid Meier, and Shigeru Miyamoto. Tim's been working in the industry since 1990 and..
Oh my god, I'm just being told that 1990 was thirty-three years ago. Okay, now this awards makes even more sense. Tim's pretty cool and yeah I guess games like Grim Fandango and Psychonauts are all-timers but with a such a long-lasting career you really gotta hand the fella some credit. And I'm not saying that because he's my boss. Making it that long in games, particular when so much of it was running an independent studio, is impressive as heck. The video games industry is as volatile as it is creative and magical. It takes some grit to make a lasting career.
Tim has been a beacon of creativity and innovation in the games industry for decades, said Greg Rice, who I'm told once worked here at Double Fine.
Since the early days of LucasArts hes been setting the benchmark for storytelling in games, and with the formation of Double Fine he created a place that not only allowed him to continue to deliver incredible games, but also inspire and support others doing the same. He truly is a legend.
Greg presented the award to Tim, who thanked a heck of a lot of people in his acceptance speech. Because no one does it alone. A career is something that starts with your own curiosity and love, is fertilized and encouraged by family and educators, and made possible with the help of countless collaborators, comrades, and even some critics. So yes, thank you to everyone including Tim's seventh-grade English teacher Mr. Harrington! It wouldn't have happened without ya.
In reflecting on his time in the industry, Tim was honest about the hard development of games like Psychonauts and Full Throttle. The industry has changed and being a leader means considering the past. The game industry is a fraught place where folks push themselves (or are made to push themselves) in long stretches of intense work. There's always room to improve and fix things for workers. The early LucasArts and even some of those early Double Fine days were rough and tumble.
And gosh, that took a serious turn but even the silliest art takes a serious creative process to make. But you don't need to hear that from me. You can hear it from Tim. In addition to his acceptance speech, Tim participated in a fireside chat with Outloop Games' creative director Chandana Ekanayake.
In a cozy 40 minute chat with Ekanayake, Tim goes further into his career and his thoughts on the current state of the industry. You can watch the entire thing on IGN. In the meantime: congrats to Tim. And double congratulations to that really nice purple-pink vest that he keeps wearing. That's one of the truly unsung MVPs in this whole equation if you ask me.