Double Fine Thumbs Nose at Adventure Game-Hating Publishers and Raises $1.6M on Kickstarter, in One Day

Tim Schafer and Double Fine want to make a modern point-and-click adventure game but when they approached publishers, the publishers weren’t interested.

Just goes to show how out of touch with gamers some publishers are because Double Fine turned to Kickstarter to raise the funds for it. One day Several days later, 46,000+ people have pledged over $1.6M to get the game made (they were asking for $300K plus $100K for a documentary of its making).

You might know Tim’s name from classic adventure games like Grim Fandango and Day of the Tentacle. Double Fine, founded in 2000, has been involved in Pyschonauts, Brutal Legend, Costume Quest, Stacking, Iron Brigade, Once Upon a Monster, and Double Fine Happy Action Theater.

Over a six-to-eight month period, a small team under Tim Schafer’s supervision will develop Double Fine’s next game, a classic point-and-click adventure.  Where it goes from there will unfold in real time for all the backers to see.

 Player Productions will be documenting the creative process and releasing monthly video updates exclusively to the Kickstarter backers. This documentary series will strive to make the viewer as much a part of the process as possible by showing a game grow from start to finish, with all the passion, humor, and heartbreak that happens along the way.  Double Fine is committed to total transparency with this project, ensuring it is one of the most honest depictions of game development ever conceived.

A measly fifteen bucks for the cause will get you the game on Steam when it’s ready as well as beta access, the documentary series and a private discussion forum for all backers.

With $1.6M raised they can probably get to work right away. The Kickstarter campaign page states the game will be ready for delivery around October 2012.

If this is the power of the people in regards to funding new games, we might soon just do away with some publishers altogether and have an all new business model for indie games - ask the gamers to fund the game’s creation and give them cool stuff and then game when done. It’s even a step beyond the pay-what-you-want model since over 100 people pledged more than $1000 to get the game and all the extra rewards, none of which included profit sharing.

Watch their pitch video to get an idea of what you can expect from the game (probably dick and fart jokes and stuff which is cool with us):