Double Fine's Tim Schafer Interview

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Eurogamer: We've been told not to ask you too much about the game, because you're saving that for later. But we don't know that much about Brutal Legend anyway, apart from the Eddie Riggs roadie plot and what was said back when it was announced. Why has there been so much secrecy around the game?

Tim Schafer: We've been waiting until it's time to show people the game. It just isn't the time yet.

Eurogamer: We've heard that Jack Black will still be voicing Eddie Riggs. What's it like working with him? I hear you're quite friendly.

Tim Schafer: It's been great. From the beginning, before I even dreamed of having someone of that calibre on the game, we were hoping that we were making a game Jack Black would like. Just because the stuff he had done before with School of Rock, with Tenacious D and that song "The Metal" - he wrote a whole song about how metal cannot be destroyed.

We were like, "I just hope he would play this game," because I'd heard that he played games. And then when he liked it, we thought, maybe we can actually talk to him about doing this game.

So I met up with him in LA and I showed him my pitch for the game and he really loved it, I think, and said he'd do it. And he's contributed a lot; he improvises dialogue, he really brings a lot to the character. So he's been great to have. Not just for the participation, but contributing to the energy and enthusiasm of the project overall.

Eurogamer: We remember reading that some famous metal groups were recording new music for the game. Is that still the case?

Tim Schafer: The final track list is not something we can announce right now. But we're definitely going to have the same calibre of top bands in the game, yeah. So it's still going to be awesome, even though we're not announcing the songs yet.

This is basically everything we've ever wanted, right here.

Eurogamer: And what about the game, has much changed since announcement? Or is everything as the target document predicted?

Tim Schafer: We're still talking about a heavy metal fantasy world and that experience is the same. Projects evolve or improve over time, but we're still talking about that roadie making that epic journey through time.

Eurogamer: I know you can't say too much about the game, but could you tell our readers something about the game that will get them so excited they might not be able to sleep tonight?

Tim Schafer: Haha! In Brutal Legend you'll go into a world you haven't gone into before, which is combinations of every single thing I've ever thought was cool in the world, all together in one place. How's that?

Eurogamer: Excellent. I'm excited. And obviously we here at Eurogamer were big fans of Psychonauts, so much so that we voted it best game of 2005. I don't know if you know that, so...

Tim Schafer: I did!

Eurogamer: ...How much better is Brutal Legend going to be?

Tim Schafer: Hahaha! Brutal Legend is the natural evolution of awesome. I think you must take the next step, even if it is a giant step... The next logical, enormous step towards awesomeness that we've made.