Scott Campbell is the art director at Double Fine Productions, a video game development studio founded by Tim Schafer of Lucasarts adventure game fame. Campbell’s cartoony and light-hearted art style form the canvas of Double Fine’s critically acclaimed games Psychonauts and Brutal Legend. I spoke with Campbell at the Toronto Comic Arts Festival, after he spoke on a panel that discussed the convergence of video games and comic books. He has a webcomic of his own on Double Fine’s website, called Double Fine Action Comics.

Jonathan: Tell me about the games you worked on at Double Fine.

Scott Campbell: Psychonauts was the first game we did and I was art director on that, which meant that I helped establish the visual style of the game. I did a lot of designs for it, including the characters, and sort of kept the vision intact. Same thing with Brutal Legend, except by that time we had a bigger production team, so we had a pre-production phase as well.

Jonathan: You mentioned that with a project like Brutal Legend, you went through several stages of concepts, refining and editing. How long was the process?

Scott: Tim Schafer, the head guy at Double Fine, is a total perfectionist. I am a perfectionist too, so we always just want to iterate, iterate, iterate until it’s perfect. With that project it took about five years to make, and it’s pretty ongoing, as far as redesigning things to get them to work.

I would design something, and then I would bring it to Tim, and there are certain reactions you want to get out of him. So if you show him a drawing or a concept for something, and you’re pretty excited about it, but you’re not entirely sure, and Tim’s like “ah, that’s pretty cool,” then you know. You could stop there, but you have to keep on going until he’s like “Ah, heh heh!” laughing out loud and having a good time about it.

That’s what makes that environment so great; creatively everyone wants to make everyone else psyched, and to laugh at each other’s ideas – well, a good laugh – just really to inspire each other, and that environment creates some really interesting stuff. I think we all appreciate how Tim works to create that environment. In crunch time it gets crazy, but it’s still good to have someone making sure that everything is still top quality.

Psychonauts from Double Fine Productions

Jonathan: Any one artistic aspect you can point to in Brutal Legend or Psychonauts that is yours?

Scott: I started at Double Fine because Tim wanted me to establish their style, based kind of on my cartoony style, for Psychonauts. So I guess that entire game has my signature on it. I designed all the characters, and designed and hand-placed all of the figments in the game. There were these collectibles, sort of like hand-drawn memories in the game, and that was the one thing I did beside the concepts.

Brutal Legend was a different style, so it called for a different look. We wanted it to be powerful, to make it feel like it could be on the cover of a heavy metal album, so that a metal fan would like any image from the game. So we wanted to do that, but also give it some of that Double Fine style as well.

Jonathan: Brutal Legend featured characters based on real people, like Jack Black and Ozzy Osbourne. Were there any constraints on how far you were allowed to take their representations?

Scott: Dude, yeah. Those characters were the hardest ones for me to design. We didn’t have any constraints with them specifically; they didn’t tell us, ‘you have to make us look a certain way’ or anything. But just trying to work on the likeness of such recognizable people and have it work with the stylized look of the game, was really difficult. I was doing a lot of noodling to make sure it works. It’s very hard.

Jonathan: So you didn’t have any constraints from the celebrities or their agents/promoters at all?

Scott: No. Our guidelines came from Tim, because these were all his idols. So he had images in his mind that he grew up with and that he loved about him. You know, like having Ozzy with a bat body and a straitjacket. They’re like gods in a fantasy world. The game is basically Tim’s fantasy world. And we were all trying to realize his world, to bring it to life in different ways.

Brutal Legend art by Scott Campbell

Jonathan: Brutal Legend wasn’t as big a commercial success as some may have hoped. Did you get a sense that it didn’t reach its potential, or reach as many people as it could have?

Scott: That’s an area I don’t know much about. I think a lot of us just move on to the next thing. Because after working for five years on a project I rarely want to think about it. (laughs) You know? So it’s hard for me to gauge everyone’s reactions. But it seems good, far as I can tell.

Jonathan: Can you say what you’re working on now?

Scott: With Double Fine? Top secret! But it’s a very exciting place right now. My own stuff is working out. I’m just finishing a kid’s book about zombies. I’m going to be done about in June. It’s with Simon & Schuster. And various art shows and things.

Jonathan: You have a very distinctive art style. Can you tell me where that came from, and how you started drawing?

Scott: After art school, there were a few years where I was working with some others who were trying really hard to keep each other excited with art. All my artist friends had a reason to do it, like “Oh, I have to create art or I will die!” or “I have to paint or I’m going to lose my mind!” and I just didn’t feel like that.

I wanted to figure out what I was trying to say with my art, and that was the one thing I never learned in art school. What am I trying to say? What was my reason for creating? I felt like I always wanted to get that same kind of excitement that you got when you woke up as a kid in the morning; you were so excited to get back to drawing that battle, or that weird thing you were drawing the other day. It was less about drawing and more like you were on an adventure. That’s what I wanted to get, that same childlike excitement.

Once I started using the watercolours, because I was struggling to find a medium too, they were very non-committal for me. It’s not like with washes, or oil, or acrylic; those are very decadent and you can layer and whatever, but you’re very committed to these colours. Watercolours are very subtle and very pleasant. I could put a little bit of colour and then keep adding it, but you can go very slowly with each stroke. You don’t have to really commit to it, and I think it gives a certain kind of light-heartedness to it. It feels more in tune with the themes that I have – which are supposed to be light-hearted, and make you feel really good. I feel like my role is to make things that make others feel gleeful.

Jonathan: Double Fine Action Comics is a little more under the radar, and it has pretty much nothing to do with the major projects the studio is working on. How do you figure out what to do with these comics that have the studio’s name on it?

Scott: Well Tim’s always wanted an environment like that. So many things can happen, not just games. And we have the site act as a hub for everything. We have it for everyone at the studio to get their own ideas out there. It’s very encouraging to have everyone coming up for ideas for games, and for stories. That’s what he wants Double Fine to be: an exciting place where lots of things are happening. There are comics, and some mini-games as well on the site, some of which are based on the comics.

Also, it’s about putting things out there while in the middle of a five-year project just so people can see – oh, they’re still alive in there! They’re still creating things! Having everyone there working on “extra-curricular” things helps the main projects.

Great Showdowns by Scott Campbell

Jonathan: Do you feel added pressure from publishers, especially closer to release dates when you have to put all that aside and get the game ready in time for that date?

Scott: Oh, there are definitely times when we just don’t output as many comics. Most webcomics are very, very regular, which makes them very effective. You expect to get them every single day, or every week or whatever. And it does slip sometimes at Double Fine, when it gets really busy, which is a bummer. There were a few artists who did them for a while but then stopped, because once it starts feeling like a second part of your job, and then it’s not fun. It’s supposed to be a way to just release some pent-up stuff. Not necessarily releasing frustration, just so that you’re not all working on one thing.

Jonathan: Have you been playing any video game or reading any comics lately?

Scott: I haven’t had much time to play many games recently, which totally bums me out. But for webcomics, I like Kate Beaton’s Hark a Vagrant, and Ryan Pequin’s Three Word Phrase. Kate’s work is amazing. And they have a bent that I really like because they’re historical, the dialogue’s amazing, and the jokes are just so funny. And Ryan’s are just so simple, that every time it’s just a sort of mini-joke, but it’s always just so good. And there’s also Graham Annable’s Dunk at Telltale Games – which is another thing. They [Telltale] have the same thing with games as well as comics on their site.

Jonathan: What’s on your dork shelf?

Scott: I’m kind of addicted to buying books. I have this awesome book about knights that I found. I also got a Brutal Legend action figure on my shelf, it’s of Eddie [Riggs, Jack Black/the game’s main character] jumping down with his axe. It very much sticks out with the rest of the stuff. Oh, and my puppets are next to Eddie, which is an interesting combination. Oh, and an Elisabeth Ito plush cat-dude.

Zack Kotzer of the arts and culture zine Steel Bananas returns to review Tim Schafer’s heavy metal action/RTS Brütal Legend.

Over the years fans have tended to let down Tim Schafer more often than not.  He delivered onto us fantastic and creative worlds, overflowing with wit and dark humour.  Each an underappreciated gem.  Now here we are, three decades in and only now does it seems that Tim may have finally found himself a commercial success.  It was a rockin’ rocky road, but after being picked up by Electronic Arts (who contractually have every employee tattoo “Cash Money in the Bank” on their arms) and then sprinkled with a plethora of marketable voice talent, Brütal Legend may just finally wipe the gloomy cloud of starvin’ artist woes that have haunted Schafer for so long.  But what do you care, blog reading, indie-proud game enthusiast?  You already knew you’d give Schafer your winning lotto ticket anyways, in more of a matter of politics than preference.  Instead we find ourselves in a new shade of black.  Does big company backing mean Schafer has sold out on us, sacrificing honour for dollars, or just given the money to properly craft his vision?  The answer, dear readers, is that Brütal Legend is not the groundbreaking, heart-coiling new Schafer title like his previous efforts.  And here’s the twist, it wasn’t due to selling out, oh no.  It appears the creative vision is the devil behind this sour note.

One thing that hasn’t given out is Schafer’s knack for shaping amazing worlds.  From Grim Fandango to Maniac Mansion, Schafer has always crafted games whose realms tended to be more addictive than their gameplay.  The same is true fourfold for Legend.  After dying onstage, seasoned roadie Eddie Riggs is sent to a world where the power of metal is a literal power.  Harnessing heavy riffs, Eddie Riggs leads the bright eyed, dark clothed humans on a rock revolution to overthrow their demonic oppressors.  The environments are a variety of metal inspired monuments.  Metal vets will be flattered by the “Dry Ice Mines” and a never-ending wall made of amps, though I’m a little puzzled as to which school of metal the jungle world was based on.  It all feels fleshed out, despite its cartoonish appearance, there’s a full and intricate origin story that unravels throughout the game.  The impact is only deepened by the personas scattered throughout.  The dialogue, as totally expected, hooks you.  Every line is charming and some will stick with you and your metalhead friends for weeks.  The voice acting is superb, Lemmy Kilmister’s raspy machismo is always welcome, Ozzy Osbourne is not only coherent but suave and hilarious.  To top it all off, Jack Black delivers a surprisingly layered performance instead of the constant yelling of “METAL ROCK” so many were nervously expecting.  The metal-bound soundtrack, while lacking some obvious omissions like Danzig, Pentagram and Witchfinder General, has a little bit of something for everyone.  Even more metal is the use of particular songs;  By which I mean Ozzy songs.  I can see Schafer, sitting in his chair, head bobbing to Sabbath thinking of scenarios to accompany each opus.  There’s one mission where Eddie escorts his traveling party through a misty swamp while Diary of a Madman plays, and the moment feels so right and so perfect you just want to make a shrine for it.

No, it is not the skin and voice that are rotting in Brütal Legend, but the flesh inside.  The game starts out as a basic though coherent action adventure, with driving and fighting all simple and functional.  About a fifth of the way in the game will introduce the real time strategy elements you’ve probably heard about by now.  While the RTS isn’t necessarily broken, it’s simply uninteresting.  The idea of a literal battle of the bands is a great concept, but in execution it just feels like an interruption.  To best describe the missions, they are somewhere in between a typical RTS like Command & Conquer and something like Dynasty Warriors.  You manage resources, create and command units, but you also participate in the fray yourself.  But the experience does not feel nearly coherent enough, and doesn’t hold a match, never mind a candle to deeper RTS games.  Battles feel decided within the first minute, grabbing the bulk of resources (or fans) early tends to make the clash too much of an uphill battle for your opponent.  Most units seem to lack specific purpose, though that won’t end up mattering because commanding specific units is too fickle a process and you’ll probably just send loot bags of units towards any task.  To make matters worse, most of your units often seem helpless on their own.  Combat too often depends on you swooping in to either melt the enemy’s collective faces off with a guitar riff or just conduct a series of hit n’ runs with your hot rod.  Only being able to command units you are nearby makes sense, but a fairly static camera makes it tough to even tell where about your units are.  It’s more of a CD sampler of an RTS than a fluid double LP.

I can see where Schafer was aiming with his genre collage, but while Grim Fandango and company excelled at being adventure games and Psychonauts passed off as a creative platformer, Legend simply feels muddled compared to other games like it.  Even the non-RTS elements don’t feel sharp as the axe it grips.  The environments, while colourful, are crowded, and while exploration is encouraged through a plethora of hidden collectibles, straying off the beaten path can be intimidating, due to becoming lost or getting wedged in a glitch.  There were a few times my car was launched into the ether by some bizarre obstacle inspired physics hiccup.  The non-RTS side missions, which there are plenty of, suffer from repetition, and worse yet it seems that the most uninteresting quests are also the most frequent.

Legend isn’t some abomination.  Heck, I’d even call it a good game, if a little disappointing.  It just doesn’t feel as complete as other Schafer ventures.  The ending of the game hits hard and fast, as if they suddenly ran out of rope.  Schafer even leaves a dreaded number of “sequel questions” looming around once everything is said and done.  You’ll be glad to play it, but sad it didn’t feel like something more.  This won’t tarnish Schafer’s reputation, it’s just not his magum opus.  As with Electric Wizard, y’know?  Can’t all be Dopethrone, but it deserves a heavy spin.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Brütal Legend is one of the most anticipated games of the year. It looks like a hell of a good time. As someone who grew up playing Tim Schafer’s many awesome LucasArts adventure games (Day of the Tentacle, Full Throttle, etc.), I can hardly wait to play Brütal Legend when it arrives for the PS3 and Xbox 360 this October.