I am a Tim Schafer, ask me about Loom! Or anything you want!

Hey, who deleted that question about pancakes? The question was do I like pancakes, and the answer is yes! But mostly the flat, Scandinavian style pancakes. The puffy, cakey ones that soak up the syrup are kind of gross after a while. But Norwegian or Swedish pancakes with lingonberries? Holy pancakes those are good.

Adventure Games

1. I read an interview with you somewhere — it must have been Computer Gaming World or that promotional magazine LucasArts used to package with the games — where you talked about designing Ben Whatsisname's character as someone the player could be proud of (as opposed to a character like Bernard). Are you still influenced by this philosophy? Do you believe a playing character like Ben is the most relatable and interesting? Or would that be a more flawed character like Manny, who must have done something really nasty to have to work at the Department of Death (and got detention a lot)?

2. There are some mechanics of old adventure games I found interesting and unique. For example, in Sam & Max Hit the Road and The Dig, dialogue options were shown as icons rather than the lines of dialogue themselves, so you had no way of knowing precisely what your character would say. Do you wish any such features that have since fallen out of favor would make a comeback?

3. One thing I've noticed about modern adventure games is that they tend to have more simplified commands than the adventure games of yore: Left-click on an object and the game will determine whether your intent was to take it, inspect it, talk to it, or otherwise interact with it. This is, of course, a far cry from a bank of commands from "Talk to" to "Give" to "Open" to "Close." Do you find such simplification restrictive?

4. Likewise, modern games' preference for minimal interfaces prove problematic at times. For example, having Manny remove inventory items from his coat one at a time looked elegant, but it rendered him unable to use items in his inventory together. And, of course, there were times when he needed to, like the severed hand and the grinder, so he had to place the grinder back where it was if he already picked it up. Do you have any regrets about sacrificing ease for aesthetics?

The Video Game Industry

1. Given your recent Kickstarter success, do you believe we're now in a new era of community-funded games that eliminate the middleman and provide entertainment to the masses directly, aided by technology such as online downloads and payments?

2. What's your take on DRM? Do you believe that a DRM-free honor system is feasible?

3. Do you believe that indie games will ever be able to take on the major publishers, market share-wise?

4. I assume someone like you believes video games are art. As such, are you invested in the movement to "preserve" old games and port them to modern formats for new audiences?

5. So I have this friend, see? And he believes he has an idea for an indie game that will be unbelievably groundbreaking and innovative in terms of game mechanics and interactive storytelling. This in spite of the fact that his education and career path have nothing whatsoever to do with the gaming industry. Assuming my friend has any chance whatsoever to have his plans come to fruition in his lifetime, what advice would you give him to make his dreams a reality?

Specific Games

1. Why did you introduce Hoagie and Laverne as new characters rather than bring back Dave or any of the other original characters from Maniac Mansion? Did you find Bernard to be the only interesting/funny one?

2. How many people besides me would you reckon have noticed the fine print in Suzi's plans to recapture the restored hardtail?

3. What do you think about the cancelled sequels for Full Throttle? Do you agree with me that Full Throttle's ending was a logical endpoint in the narrative?

4. If you're sprouted (or shredded to pieces, or whatever) in the Land of the Dead, what happens to your consciousness? Does it cease to exist, or does it just stay there next to your immobile remains, forever? O_o

5. Are you as disappointed as I am that they retconned Herman Toothrot's backstory in Escape from Monkey Island, rendering it incompatible with the narrative supplied by the captain's log Guybrush finds in the Sea Monkey?

Personal

1. Given Full Throttle and the Bonewagon, I've always assumed you were something of a motor vehicle enthusiast. True?

2. So what, exactly, do you have against cats? You realize, of course, that you are now in what is firmly established as cat lover territory?

3. Just one more thing. When I was a teenager, one of my teachers handed out a form where you wrote your ideal career and a person from that career you'd like to talk to about how to get in said career yourself. The school or some other agency would supposedly try to set up an interview with you and that person. I was somewhat naïve back then, to put it gently, and my responses were "PC game designer" and "Tim Schafer," respectively. What do you make of that?

---

Edit:

Thanks to everyone for their constructive criticism. For the record:

• I believe I understand the concept of IAMA: You can ask someone anything if they say you can, though they aren't necessarily obligated to answer anything. Thus, I don't expect TimOfLegend to answer all my questions (though of course I'd be delighted if he did).

• I'm not a stalker. I just have an unusually good memory, and was an optimistic teenager and a fan of adventure games when Grim Fandango came out.

Adventure games 1. The theory at the time was that previous Lucas heroes had been “loveable losers” like Guybrush and Bernard, and maybe players would like a character who was “cooler” and more powerful than them for a change. I don’t think this makes characters more or less relatable. That’s a separate challenge. Hopefully Ben’s humanity still showed through for that. Manny may have been a flawed human being but we were still going for a character that was confident and cool, ala Humphrey Bogart. PS Ben’s last name is Throttle, but they couldn’t say that in the strategy guide because of the Biker Mice from Mars. 2. Codewheels! 3. We fought that for years. I remember writing a long email about how the removal of verbs reduces player choice. But I’ve come to accept that there are different places you can put player choice, even if they only have one verb: Use. You can still use timing, context, and inventory to give the player many different ways to say “use.” 4. The idea with Manny’s inventory was that people would use the number keys to pull out items directly. I regret hiding that information deep in the manual.

Video Game Industry 1. I think we live in an era where game makers and players are finding ways to get closer together without a middleman, just like they are in music and other creative industries. 2. I think the Kickstarter experience shows that people will pay money for things they want, especially if you make it easier for them to buy it than steal it. 3. I think they actually benefit each other, like the way indie films make the film industry healthier. And just like indie films, indie games stand the same chance of becoming blockbuster hits and stealing all the awards. 4. I rely on the fans for that. They do it much better than I could. And much faster than publishers do. 5. Make that game! What is your friend waiting for?

Specific Games 1. Bernard had the most well-defined personality, we thought, along with Razor. Razor was in the original six DOTT characters, but we cut three. 2. No matter how well you hide that stuff, somebody finds it! 3. I admit that I’m happy they were all canceled, but sad for those teams. I feel ownership over Ben and his world and wouldn’t want anyone else to do a sequel. Like most of the games, I think the story ended at a natural point, but a new one could always start for those characters. 4. Maybe it just ceases to exist. Or maybe there is an entirely different underworld it goes to. Who knows? It was never spelled out in the game. But I knew it was bad. 5. I never played that game, so I’m not sure what they did. But whatever it is, I’m sure they can explain it away again using Voodoo.

Personal 1. I love hot rods and old muscle cars. “Big Daddy” Roth custom car culture is something I’ve loved since I was a kid. I still drive a 1967 Plymouth Barracuda to work every day. Take that, environment! 2. We let the team thank whoever they wanted in the end credits of Throttle, and I was annoyed at how many cats were in there. Do you know how many cats finish games, let alone stick around for the credits? And even if they did see their name in there, they’d say, “Humpfft. Now get me my dinner.” I’ve married into cat ownership, but I’m not happy about it. Just one of the many sacrifices of marriage. 3. They probably did contact me and I never got back to them, sorry! It’s all about timing. Sometimes I can give interviews and sometimes I can’t. For instance, yesterday I couldn’t do this one, but today I can.

Phew!

whoa. the formatting looked right when I posted it! :)

Could you convince Lucasarts to rerelease Grim Fandango on Steam?

So far, no. I have not been able to. They're busy with the whole space thing they do. With the laser swords and teddy bear monkeys, you know?

There was a short lived twitter campaign appealing to LucasArts to consider GOG.com. They weren't hearing any of it; refusing, which is sad. You can still see a load of comments on that LucasArts Workshop website they tried setting up a while back (right here).

When the Double Fine adventure becomes an amazing and glorious spectacle of a game that everybody loves, that's probably when you'll be able to convince them that GOG (or Steam, ok let's go with Steam if we must) is a good idea.

I mean, I just shelled out £30 for a battered copy of Grim Fandango from eBay. I played it, I loved it. I think more people need to play it. I should set up a Kickstarter project so I can buy copies for everyone.

Well, you never know why. Maybe they said no because they have grander plans like a special edition, and they don't want to ruin it. I don't know. I haven't heard anything.

So tell me about Loom.

You mean the latest masterpiece of fantasy storytelling from Lucasfilm's (™) Brian Moriarty? Why, it's an extraordinary adventure with an interface of magic, stunning high-resolution 3D landscapes, sophisticated score and musical effects. Not to mention the detailed animation and special effects, elegant point-and-click control of characters, objects, and magic spells. Beat the rush! Go out and buy Loom today!

You fight like a dairy farmer!

How appropriate, as I do raise cows and milk them and sell the milk for a living! I take pride in my work as a dairy farmer, and appreciate you noticing that it carries into everything that I do!

You mean Rampart?

I only played the Atari Lynx version, but I loved it. Mostly because I only had five things to play on the Atari Lynx. Even back then I would think, "I hope they make a movie about this some day, but only if they can get that guy from Cheers to star in it." Haven't seen the movie yet, but I really hope they nailed the part where you use the tetris blocks to build a castle.

Hey guys! I have to run right now but I will try to jump back on later tonight and answer more! THANKS FOR ALL THE QUESTIONS! See you again soon!

Are you sure you aren't going to spend the Adventure money on drugs?

I am 78% sure of that.

78% sure, or 78% will not be spent on drugs? It's an important distinction.

You're obviously a cop. Get of my back, Johnny Law!

surely you mean 'off', my liege.

...

scampers away

Oh, so you're a spelling cop? Even worse!

Hi Tim - thanks for doing this AMA. I posted this in the announce thread the other day and I thought I'd post it here to let you know how much your work has meant to me. Thank you. 

I remember when I was a 13 year old boy growing up in the Norfolk countryside - a fairly desolate/quiet area of the UK. It was a cold, cold winter. My parents were in the middle of a painful divorce. My sister was at University and wasn't able to be around for me. It was a pretty screwey time for me.

A family friend sent me a copy of Day of The Tentacle after I'd mentioned to them that I thought the characters looked funny to me after seeing them in a PC gaming magazine. My Dad's office was in the converted garage and had no heating - it was freezing at that time of year. I sat there for days playing through the game with my only heat coming from the overworked tower and the bright ray of sunshine that had been bought into my life by a video game. The humor felt like it was my friend, the puzzles were taxing enough to take my mind off the home life. I finished up the story and was left with a pocket full of amazing memories of what would normally be a pretty sad time. 

Ever since I sat down in the glow of that old monitor, watching the credits roll and reading the name Tim Schafer for the first time, I've always hoped that Tim would make a sequel to transport me back to that grey, cold Norfolk winter that I shared with my good friends Bernard, Laverne and Hoagie. 

Whenever we make a game we like to think that we are making a personal connection with somebody somewhere, so it's always nice to hear a story about that happening!

Hope things are better now!

Tim, do you realize how many people around the world would, when asked "how did you learn English as a second language", jump to name Grim Fandango, Day of the Tentacle and the Monkey Island series as their most memorable sources?

I can speak for myself, though: the deepest, most personal and durable connections between reality and vocabulary, grammar and sentence structure are made when I explore and interact; your games have taught me so much more than 12 years of studying in school ever could.

Thank you, Tim, for your wonderful humor and a keen sense of pacing and memorable characters and unexpected twists and... well, everything. You've helped me learn English. :)

That is nice to hear, but if you really learned English from me then you're probably always getting your yours and you'res mixed up. Better go back and check. And maybe the its/it's too.

Hi, Mr. Schafer. You probably won't see this because it'll most likely be buried by better questions and comments, but I just wanted to let you know that you're my hero. I met you at Wondercon this last year, and I told you that. You were so kind and everything, and that meant the world to me. When I told you that you were my hero and that I wanted to be like you, that you were the reason I wanted to get into the video game industry, you said to me, “You're my hero.” You probably say that to everyone who tells you that, but it was seriously the greatest moment of my life, and I wanted to thank you so much for that.

Thanks man! It's always a blast to meet fans at Wondercon.

mancrush

That would be a good name for a mortal combat character, or maybe someone from Running Man.

Honestly, what went through your head when Notch sent you that tweet?

I was relieved, because when I woke up that morning I had five text messages saying, "You'd better check your Twitter." So I just assumed we were getting sued again. But, Phew, it was only some awesome millionaire who wants to make awesome.

Hey Tim, has anyone ever told you how much you resemble Bruce Campbell, sans the chin? Are you his stunt double or is he your handsome, evil twin? In any case, please put Bruce Campbell into the new point & click game.

Also, I gave you money, but here's a little sketchy drawing just for you. You sexy Bruce Campbell sort-of-lookalike you.

http://imgur.com/N2x2w

And as a second question, how involved (in detail, I guess) will the community be in actually influencing your design decisions on this new project?

I'm struggling as a game developer myself, trying to one day make a game I'd like to play myself. So all the best to you Tim.

A video response! http://youtu.be/Vo7qqJiqs9Q

First question: How do you feel about your former temporary writing partner Eric Wolpaw's current success, how do you feel about his writing in the Portal games, and if Psychonauts 2 happens, will you consider bringing him back to write some of the dialog like he did on the first one?

I think it's awesome and I'm totally jealous. I wish he had stayed at Double Fine, but then again, if he had, then I think Portal would have been a much different game. And I love the Portals so much.

You know what they say, if you love something, set it free, and maybe you'll get free copies of its games.

What exactly do you do as the president of DF?

Have lots of meetings. Do interviews. More meetings. Check in on all the projects. Recruit new employees. Pitch games to publishers. Try to convince programmers not to go to Zynga. Worry about money. Think about new games. Write dialog. Decide on t-shirt colors. Make coffee.

Tim! You are a golden God. Thank you for everything. Games like Grim Fandango, Full Throttle, Monkey Island, and DOTT have turned me into the quirky, funny, intelligent, interesting, modest person I am today. If you are ever in need of a crazy fan who is willing to jump off a bridge, push his mother into an incoming freight train, or commit any other immoral and/or illegal act for any sick, depraved reason whatsoever, please do not hesitate to let me know and I will be more than happy to oblige.

THE QUESTIONS! (I listed a whole bunch. Answer them all and win a prize)

What game are you most proud of having created/worked on?

What are some of your favorite adventure games, aside from the ones you've created/worked on?

What is your favorite adventure game puzzle? Any puzzle you designed that you’re particularly proud of? Any puzzles you’ve particularly disliked?

What are your feelings about Sierra the company and its adventure games? Any games you loved/hated? I always think of Sierra and Lucas Arts as some kind of “Apple vs. PC” competition. What was the relationship like between those companies? Was there a lot of trash-talking going on?

And last, have you heard of the adventure game Toonstruck? The "Who Framed Roger Rabbit"-esque game with Christopher Lloyd. I think there were some petitioning efforts to get the second part of the game released. As the adventure gaming guru, do you have any idea what’s going on with that? Can you use your wizardry to get this game released, or at least spread the word?

Again, thank you so much for being here on reddit and earth!

EXCITING VIDEO RESPONSE! I'M SO CONCEITED! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QiURcdCXark

I had read on Penny Arcade that you had flipped off Jerry at one point. I was wondering if you could give a bit of background from your perspective on the incident. Jerry wrote:

Tim Schafer hates me; I stole a yo-yo of his once, but I also said something mean about a game he made, and when I saw him at GDC a couple years ago he flipped me off. It didn’t hurt my feelings, I flip people off for a living. All it said to me was that he takes it serious; that he and his work are synonyms. That’s more or less the person I want to support.

Have you spoken to Jerry or Mike since the incident? Are there any lingering ill feelings as far as you are concerned?

ETA: What might we, your loyal fans, do to try and have you do the keynote speech for PAX Prime?

Ha. Yeah, I did flip him off. I thought his comments on BL were unfair and nasty and deserved a response. And that was the most polite response I could think of. :)

But I think I expressed myself fully in that gesture and there's no lingering feud or anything. I admire the charity work PA does and I think PAX is a great show.

About keynoting: I try to avoid public speaking when I can because I can never think of anything useful to say! If I ever think of something useful, I will note the hell out of any and all keys.

Your recent interviews on adventure games have been conspicuously silent on the topic of Telltale Games' recent point & click games. They seem to be getting enough funding to do plenty of "classic" pointy clicky games, and have included features you've been wondering about (e.g. the optional hint levels built into their more recent titles). Is there a reason you've not mentioned their output?

Conspiracy! No, no reason. There are actually a lot of modern adventure games and whenever I talk about them in an interview I leave some of them out. But I've played all the way through the Tales of MI series and enjoyed it.

With the Kickstarter project, you originally asked us for 400k, which would have been divided 300/100k between the game and the documentary. Now that you have raised more than 2 million, will 2 Player Productions also have more than 100k to work on the documentary?

Really excited to see both the game and the documentary!

They get some more just like we do, but the majority of it is going to the game.

Will the adventure engine be built in house? do you also plan to opensource it or open the engine up to the community for developers?

What's your favourite type of bacon?

Might be a mix of made in house tools with an existing cross platform engine. We'll decide when the budget is final. Haven't talked about opensource yet because that depends on what engine we go with. I like the bacon I get from the little market down the street from my house. Wish I could tell you what it's called. Bacon is going to kill me someday.

If Pixar offered you a chance to write and direct a film for them as well as let Double Fine create the tie-in game, would you?

OH GOD! PLEASE MAKE THIS HAPPEN TIM!

Haha. Sounds fun, but I don't think Pixar usually hands those kinds of opportunities out to people who have never directed a film before. And also, film is dead. Games are the future! (trolling)

Ever thought of releasing a game on a Nintendo console?

Yes! We didn't really have a relationship with Nintendo before, but we've been pitching more games to them lately, so who knows!?

Oh god, this is already up on the net as "news." It says "tim wants to be on nintendo." this isn't news! We pitch to everybody!

How involved will Ron Gilbert be in the design of the new adventure? Co-Designer? Any idea when we can expect to hear more about his mystery project?

He has his own (top secret!) game he's working on full time right now. But he has promised to help out with this on too. In the beginning of the project we'll be having a lot of brainstorming sessions, and he'll be in those helping us come up with story, puzzles, etc.

Is Ron actually grumpy in person? (for anyone who doesn't know, Ron Gilbert's website is called "Grumpy Gamer")

He is actually very friendly, but only in small doses.

Which game designers, of those that you have not worked with, inspire you the most?

Miyamoto. Keita Takahashi. Media Molecule. Fumito Ueda. Playdead. Will Wright.

Is there any "motto" that you follow when designing your games? What inspires your designs?

Lets see... "All games are wish fulfillments..." "don't be afraid of stupid-sounding ideas..." (three-headed-monkey rule) "get home by 6:30 so my wife doesn't get mad..."

Let me think about that one for a while to see if any more pop into my head.

Can you expand on what the "three-headed-monkey rule" is?

I put that line in as a joke and was about to cut it but Ron Gilbert said no, leave it in, and he was right. And that's when I learned that the normal human tendency is to over-censor yourself. Sometimes you think, no, that joke is TOO silly, to weird, but in fact it's not.

(Except when it is.)

If Lucasarts asked you to create an HD Special Edition of Full Throttle that included Ben's peyote-induced hallucinogenic trip and the rest of the things you were forced to cut from the original release, would you?

My wife has a rule: "Never go back to a party after you've left it." Not sure what her reasons are, but it kind of feels right.

You have spoken before in interviews about the importance of non-linearity in adventure gaming. Have you considered using "interactive narrative" artificial intelligence, such as in Façade, to increase non-linearity? There are a number of research, groups, developing the technology in academia, and it seems that adventure gaming would be a natural fit.

Only in passing. It sounds hard. Also, it's hard to imagine AI coming up with a better story than a person could, but maybe that's just me not understanding what the tech can do. Wouldn't be the first time! :)

As such a talented writer, have you ever attempted or considered attempting to write in another medium than games? A book or a screenplay, for instance?

I have an idea for one of everything: One screenplay, one children's book, one pancake recipie, etc. But mostly I just sit on them. Some day I'll do them all I hope. But mostly I just like games.

I'm interested in game design and programming, I'm sure many others here are as well.

1. Can you give advice for anyone interested in game design or programming?

2. What education do you have and what would you recommend for your line of work?

3. How did you get your start in game design? Do you think it's easier to get in the industry now than in the past?

I can only tell you what worked for me. I went to a four-year college and studied computer science, but found all my favorite classes were outside my major: Psychology, anthropology, lit, even geology. There are so many interesting things to study in this world, and it all feeds back into game design and gives you ideas. I got my start in game design by finding an entry-level job programming and designing. Luckily for me it was at LucasArts! To say more I think I'd need a more specific question, I guess.

What should I study extra hard in computer science to become a decent game programmer? I'm in a love-hate relationship with my computer science courses.

You get a video response!! http://youtu.be/wE1ZOIKrUoU

Have you actually considered SCUMM for Double Fine Adventure? With ScummVM already done and running on pretty much everything ever, you could work in a format you're familiar with. I mean, yeah, you'd need to rewrite authoring tools from scratch, but SCUMM!

Video response! bam! http://youtu.be/WzP0F_QkmD4

What was your favourite level to design in Psychonauts?

Can't pick!

You seem to prefer working with artists who bring quite a distinctive, individual look to your games. How important is art style to you when designing a new world, and how does that relationship work?

I love bringing new looks to games that I haven't seen before. That's why I was so excited to work with Scott Campbell and Nathan Stapley in the early days of Double Fine. I knew them from LucasArts/LucasLearning, and there they were drawing baby yodas, etc. But their personal work was like something I had never seen in a game before. How it works is that we talk and talk about how excited we both are about cool looking art, and then they draw stuff and then we talk so more. It's fun.

What is your opinion of mobile (iOS/Android/WinPhone) games? Do you think they'll ever be able to provide as broad an experience as a console title?

I play a lot of iOS games these days. It's a totally different experience. I don't know about how broad they are, but when I play them I don't usually want to go as deep into their world as I do as console games, but that's usually because I'm on the train and don't want to miss my stop! iPad is a little different though. I got pretty into Mechanarium on the last flight I was on.

Top 5 favorite games?

video mumbles! http://youtu.be/IZubkxKn5HE

Hey Tim,

really excited for the new adventure game. My absolute favourite game of yours is "Brutal Legend" and I would kill (well if I didn't like the guy) to see a sequel be made. After seeing the overwhelming amount of donations for "Adventure" would you ever consider using kickstarter to help fund Brutal Legend 2? Or is there no hope for that game?

Thanks for playing! I would love to make a BL sequel too some day. I'm not sure if I could use Kickstarter for that though. BL2 feels like it really should be a BIG game, like >$20MM, and that's too big for... wait a second... this sounds familiar. Hey, this is exactly what I said about Kickstarter the first time. I was surprised then, so you never know!

Double Fine has snagged a TON of prolific voices over the years.. Any good stories of working with your special guests in Brutal Legend? Ozzy, Lemmy, Lita, Rob, Jack?

Not to mention the more tenured voice actors used in Psychonauts - Tara Strong, Richard Horvitz, David Kaye, Steve Blum.. gotta be some good stories there.

I loved working with all the people you mentioned, and I would work with--and hope to work with--all of them again. Actors are hilarious people and lots of fun to work with.

I noticed that a donation of $100 or more will get your name in the credits for DFA.

I also noticed you've raised over $2 million.

So, how long do you figure the credits are going to be?

Also, you've mentioned several times that you would love to make Psychonauts 2. Given the overwhelming success of your first Kickstarter project, have you given any thought to funding Psychonauts 2 that way?

I think we'll make the credits interactive and browsable so that you can look for your name. Second question: yes I have thought about that!

I think we'll make the credits interactive

It would be cool if you guys made them something like the credits in Super Smash Bros. Melee.

You could fly around and shoot your own name and the names of others.

Sam and Max did that in Hit the Road in the 90s.

I have really enjoyed Double Fine's recent "smaller" games. If you get a chance to make a larger game again on the scale of Psychonauts and Brütal Legend, would you still want to keep a part of the studio simultaneously working on smaller releases?

Yes! We are multi-project forever. But we can make small games and big games--whatever we want!

Hi Tim. I make cast resin Manny Calavera dolls for family and friends. If I sent one to you, would you like, not throw it away? Or maybe... just maybe... sign one and send it back if I paid for postage and everything?

Your friend and kickstartee, Jay

I want one! If you send me two, I'll send one back. :)

How much did Brütal Legend cost to make? How much of it was music licensing?

On Twitter, you have told us budgets to most of the games that you have worked on, but I didn't notice you mentioning the budget for Brütal Legend. :)

Around 20 million. More than that in marketing. I don't have all the numbers for the licencing, but I know the normal songs were like $4-5 thousand a song, and some of the big songs were closer to $40,000.

If you had an infinite budget, what type of game would you ideally make? (i.e. environment, scale, genre)

You know, I always make exactly the game I want, so it's hard say what I'd do without restrictions because I've never felt any.

Where did you get the idea for Psychonauts? What was your main inspiration for that game?

A "Psychology of Dreams" class I took at UCSC.

Has anyone donated to the Double Fine Adventure at any of the "Too High For Kickstarter" tiers?

Yes, we've had a couple $50k backers.

I've always wondered, What was your inspiration to use the "calacas" as your character model in Grim Fandango? Are you familiar with mexican folklore? And by the way, keep doing all the great work you do cause your games remind me there's still some originality out there in the video game industry :D

This needed a video to be answered: http://youtu.be/vDq9vULR_B0