‘Psychonauts’ creator Tim Schafer says being inclusive makes for better games

Speaking to NME, Double Fine founder Tim Schafer has explained why writing inclusively and not reaching for a “grab bag of stereotypes” makes for better games – and how it influenced the Psychonauts series.

As part of Schafer’s Boss Level profile with NME, the developer explained that there was “a lot less sensitivity” in the games industry when he joined in 1989 and that shift in attitudes informed the differences between Psychonauts and Psychonauts 2, which were released 16 years apart.

“Some things we did in the first game, we didn’t do in the second game on purpose – but we’re just older, and had more sensitivity to a lot of issues that naturally express themselves in the game,” Schafer revealed, adding that Double Fine felt “it was important that it had the same kind of jokes and humour, but [also] cared more.”

“It was really important – because it’s a comedy – that people knew we weren’t making fun of people, but were looking humorously and lovingly at the human psyche,” the developer added.

Continuing, Schafer stressed that inclusivity is “an ongoing education for everybody,” and shared his own learning experience.

“I thought I’d learned a lot, and then we tested a game and people pointed out a word and asked if we knew what this word means to certain people,” the developer recalled. “I had no idea – and people will criticise that and say ‘woke culture, PC police’ and stuff – but for any art, I’m thinking about how my art will be interpreted by the viewer. If I’m making a horror game, I want the viewer to be scared – is this effectively scaring people? If it’s a comedy, is it making people laugh? Is a romantic comedy making people feel romantic?”

“If you’re told you’re hurting people [and it’s] a comedy, it’s not supposed to be hurting people,” he continued. “You naturally want to think about how your words affect people, and make sure that the artistic intent is successful. Are you using shaming words? Alienating depictions of people?”

On that note, Schafer shared his own thoughts on what makes for good writing – and how avoiding harmful tropes plays into that.

“The best writing is never based on stereotypes,” Schafer explained. “The best writing is based on research, or real world found-dialogue, or your own personal experiences. It always makes for writing that punches through as unique, as opposed to a grab bag of stereotypes.”

Elsewhere, Tim Schafer has stressed that it is “really important” for the games industry to tackle crunch culture and improve the quality of life for workers.

In other news, a new quartet of classic Sega Mega Drive games are now available to play on the Nintendo Switch, via the Online Library.