Double Fine’s become a poster child of independent development. They’ve been around for years and games like Psychonauts have always been loved but it’s only recently that they became as well known as they have.
It took “a troubled time when it wasn’t quite clear what was going to happen” to turn into the studio they are today.
“I guess they were kind of the dark ages, after Brutal Legend 2 was cancelled there was a bit of a troubled time when it wasn’t quite clear what was going to happen,” Double Fine’s lead programmer, Oliver Franzke. told GamesIndustry International.
It marked a change in the studio. They began running microteams on different projects, all of which were based on ideas come up with by the team. It wasn’t simply Tim Schaffer dictating what projects to work on next.
“I think the company really did what they could and they turned it around and it was actually a very risky decision to say ‘well, let’s just empower people to make their ideas happen,'” continues Franzke
“Double Fine hasn’t grown at all since Brutal Legend, we’re still very much the same team size. In fact, we wouldn’t actually be able to put more people into our building because we’re maxed out.
“It really feels more like a family… A lot of people at Double Fine have been working there since the early days, for ten, 12 years, and it’s almost impossible in the games industry to find somebody who’s worked for a company for more than two years or something like that.”
Double Fine are currently working on their Kickstarter games, Broken Age and Massive Chalice. Broken Age’s first part is due out in January, 2014.