Grim Fandango retrospective video sheds light on revival

This is 2014 Tim Schafer. Watch the documentary for some 1990s Tim Schafer.

2 Player Productions have put together a rather terrific mini-documentary about the history of Grim Fandango. It features Tim Schafer, artist Peter Chan, composer Peter McConnell and others involved in the production of the game.

The 12 minute presentation explains that the success of Full Throttle gave Schafer the freedom to pitch Lucasarts a strange noir game about the Mexican Day of the Dead. Art, music and further inspirations are explored, as well as some interesting details about the game’s release. Contrary to the sort of received opinion put about by lazy games writers such as myself, Grim Fandango did sell reasonably well.

Schafer confirms that it hit it’s “internal numbers” and that he saw at least one royalty cheque; so the game made a profit.

The video also goes into some of the details surrounding the deal that has allowed DoubleFine to bring the game back in the first place. Since Lucasarts’ closure, the Grim Fandango license has been owned by Disney. By the sounds of things, DoubleFine and Sony had to convince Disney that a re-release of this nature was the best way for the company to had usage out of the property.

For now, the Grim Fandango remake is only said to be coming to PS4 and Vita. However, Tim Schafer has indicated that “other platforms” (like the one the game originated on, we hope) are very much in consideration. Given the obvious affection the DoubleFine/former Lucasarts’ people have for the game, and the respect given to PC fan modders in the video, it seems likely that a PC version will happen.

Sony, it seems, has it as an exclusive “on consoles.” The PC is not a console, therefore …

@JamesKilbride @SimsDaniel Sony has exclusivity on consoles.

— TimOfLegend &:Y} (@TimOfLegend) June 10, 2014

Anyway, here’s the short documentary. I highly recommend it.