Everyone knows Tim Schafer is a pretty funny guy. From The Secret of Monkey Island to Psychonauts, his writing has left many happy players smiling. What many people don’t know is how much Schafer loves to do stand-up comedy:
“Sometimes, out of nowhere, you’d hear Tim say things in a showman’s voice like, ‘It’s great to be here tonight! Not that I have a choice in the matter'”, says Ron Gilbert, creator of the Monkey Island series. “He made us all laugh, especially during particularly difficult times in the development of the first Monkey Island game. It didn’t surprise me when he said he was going to be opening The Tentacle Lounge.”
Schafer, founder of Double Fine Productions and former director of the eagerly anticipated Brutal Legend, has left video game development to pursue his new interest. While fans might appreciate the naming of his comedy club after one of his more famous games (Day of the Tentacle), many more will probably be outraged that Brutal Legend will be put on indefinite hold. This will not be the first time that the game’s development was threatened. It was dropped from the lineup after Activision Blizzard merged, only to be picked up by EA. This time, however, with the main creative force running his own comedy club, will someone else take the reins? And even if the game does see the light of day, will the game suffer from the lack of Schafer’s leadership?
I suppose things like this happen. Some of the best video game developers might find that they have other interests. Players can’t claim any kind of rights to the minds of these people. For instance, if Shigeru Miyamoto decided to stop making video games to pursue his music career, it would be a major loss for the game industry, but it’s not like we can force him to continue making games for us.
I wish Tim the best of luck on his new venture. The video game industry will miss you, but I’m sure we can always stop in at The Tentacle Lounge whenever we’re in L.A.
2 replies on “Tim Schafer Opens Comedy Club”
yeah, right!!! You got me for a while, dude!
Oh, nice blog, keep it up, i love it, etc…
Thanks, Gabriel! I was wondering if anyone was going to comment on the April Fools’ jokes!