Developer Double Fine Productions has disclosed that the sequel of its well-received 10-year-old cult classic Psychonauts, which it billed Psychonauts 2, is finally in the works... and it is going to be crowdfunded via Fig.
The news was announced on Dec. 3 during the Game Awards that kicked off in Los Angeles.
Rather than launching the campaign via Kickstarter, the developer made a decision to seek out crowdfunding help by means of Fig.
In comparison with Kickstarter and other crowdfunding services, Fig is a new platform which is specifically centered on funding games. The platform allows pledgers to turn into investors as opposed to just being contributors. This means that it enables its qualified investors to share in any income generated by the game.
In the past, two video game titles already took advantage of Fig in bringing up funds. Outer Wilds was able to reach more than $125,000 way back in September while Anchors in the Drift, a free-to-play RPG, generated a little less than $500,000 just last month.
Specifically, this particular project is seeking $3.3 million from fanatics. Needless to say, the studio is going to put in a considerable slice of its very own money into it. Furthermore, Double Fine revealed that a mysterious "major player" will have an important a role in turning this project into reality.
The studio noted that its unspecified partner preferred to keep on being anonymous at the moment as it is not prepared to announce its "forthcoming funding initiative quite yet."
It's worth mentioning that Double Fine is going to develop the new title with the use of the Unreal Engine 4.
"[Unreal 4] allows us to focus on the game instead of the tech," Tim Schafer, the developer's Creative Director told IGN. "We can focus on art and gameplay, and have Raz running around on day one."
Schafer went on to say that the studio is still in the early stage of production, saying he's already got the "backlog of ideas, backstory and the extended story" for the game. Additionally, he said that the Psychonauts 2 is still in its early design phase, but the team has already determined locations and designed an art jam.
The game is slated to be rolled out in 2018.
