Double Fine PsychOdyssey · EP14: “Surface Tension”

[@HadoukenPen]

Man, feel for James, meeting after meeting of everybody not very subtly implying that you're not doing good enough. Knocked confidence doesn't help.

[@blackmanwhitesuit]

I feel for him in the sense that everyone is telling him not what we want, but I'd rather them tell him than let him get further away. That's what a team does.

[@einootspork]

I really love how the "deep fried" thing keeps coming back like a running gag

[@mattceccotti]

11:09 The sound match cut on the "umm" is GENIUS.

[@MrAppleGuySnake]

Absolutely one of the best little joke edits in this series

[@Nopalmtreez]

I replayed this part approximately 200 times it's amazing

[@RFieth]

It's wild how well the documentary managed to catch the vibe of how the studio completely pivots for two weeks for Amnesia Fortnite. Like when this episode started and people started talking about development of Psychonauts 2, I actually went "oh right, this was a documentary about the making of Psychonauts 2!"

[@Vitreia]

I love how James has leaned the art of Jim Halpert-style camera mugging

[@KaeWinters]

They talk a lot about how hard cameras are and how no one wants to do it, but after just replaying Psychonauts 2 they did a fantastic job. It's so smooth and responsive, and the pivot when you zipline along stray thoughts snaps so perfectly you can just go super fast without having to stop. Really impressive, and should get more recognition!

[@PlaylistGeneral]

God dude I empathize with James so much. He's had to hit the ground running on what would basically be a dream job for a lot of people and there's just so much pressure to fulfill the role.

[@jarkokoo]

Been there, pretty much how my career in the game industry started as well, in a very similarly respected studio. It can be super scary, super awesome, super empowering and super frustrating at the same time, an emotional rollercoaster really. :) But I would not change it for anything. Learned to take a lot of responsibility right out of the gate and deliver in the planned schedule, and it has carried me quite far to be honest. Something like 14 years in now in the industry and going on. :)

[@DavidSGrop]

I enjoy Zach's slow but steady transformation into Marc Maron

[@tednugent1100]

Damn, I'm worried that James is going to get canned at some point, poor guy

[@schmatzler]

30:16 That shot

[@josh0156]

After AF they really just drafted Asif into working on the game.

[@hannabelphaege3774]

The people who make camera work in videogames are true unsung heroes

[@lucasnstube]

“Sorry, dad”

[@JoeGrzzly]

Bob's Bottles came out fantastically; I especially loved the symbolism in finding answers in the bottom of a bottle manifested. So it's wild to see how different these early concepts for it were, though there are some elements that carried over. But these water droplet physics are a great concept that I would love to see in either a DLC or a Psychonauts 3, especially now that the Hydrophobia Curse has been broken, so there's no longer a lore dissonance.

[@scalylayde8751]

Bob Z's level is my favorite one in the whole game. It's amazing to see how many iterations it went through, how much work they put into getting it right. All of that effort was not wasted. It paid off in the form of the most emotionally impactful, symbolically beautiful level in the entire game.

[@Balomis]

34:56 Tim had me laughing so hard here, and he couldn't be more right!

[@opekamma]

The cut village bits of Bob's og level, some of the vibe I got from it felt like it made it into cassie's level, and it looked like it woulda fit in a collection with Cassies and Fred's level with the background character pieces the mind had and how it was layed out. It really underlines how well they did pivoting to show the brain of an insular, grieving older man. Like I'm loving this series and this retrospective of how much work they had to do. I always knew an unfathomable amount of work gets left on the cutting room floor, especially for a game as good and loved as pn2, but its inspiring to see the process of how much gets still gets documented and saved and potentially used later.

[@bclikesyou]

24:00 Such a great peek in to studio culture.

[@burnout713]

It's wild how so much work has been done up to this point and almost all of it doesn't make it in other than the stuff with the Quarry. And it's very obviously for the best.

[@dashmash2233]

THAT GRIM FANDANGO PILLOW!!! I'LL SEND EVERYONE TO THE LAND OF THE DEAD FOR THIS!!!!

[@Influx27]

With the way Psy 2 ends re: Raz and water, I feel like the Wet/Dry level might be something we see either in a DLC or in a Psy 3

[@AndresCiambotti]

36:23 Boy, was he right!

[@lukslt]

James is clearly the main character

[@JamesMarionDesign]

noooooo

[@gibberfish]

omg yaaay asiiiif! woop woop

[@pip25hu]

The details about how the camera placement and how it moves keeps people from being sick was eye-opening. I wonder if Psychonauts 1 had some camera problems related to that, because getting sick during the initial brain level was the primary reason I could not continue that game.

[@minerharry]

James is my spirit animal

[@JamesMarionDesign]

i'm sorry

[@HonestlyJustSomeGuy]

11:10 A chorus of “Umm”!

[@anthonytecher7619]

this transition is incredible

[@PangRenTan]

whooo hoo ASIF! i'm rooting for you

[@eos_aurora]

This is a good docuseries I think 😊

[@OlorinDNarya]

aaaaa the opening so fun

[@mchepen]

i need that Don Copal cushion, plus any other Grim Fandango merch you have laying around. Now put your hands where i can see them, this is a raw berry!!! (points strawberry at them)

[@henrymilleruk100]

That ummmm transition ❤

[@CharlieGreene24242]

Is anyone else as in love w james and jeremy as i am

[@JamesMarionDesign]

I am

[@hexeh]

11:51 Anyone else notice that jerk?

[@Extragear-gv8qq]

Awesome

[@axperience4503]

Anyone else think that this episode is named after a legendary HL level?

[@bradjackson6666]

They designed the haligtree for Elden Ring!

[@13dps]

29:23 is great because i was feeling so bad about having raz fall to his death like 30 times because i kept being like well he can just reuse the balloon 2 mms before he hits the ground like link can in botw. feeling less guilty about this now

[@Cazamalos]

I would be mad if someone scraped all my creative work without even giving a decent alternative lmao.

[@sckchui]

With any creative project, the majority of the stuff you make won't be included in the final product. Photographers take hundreds of photos and then pick the best one. A painter might make dozens of sketches and studies to figure out one painting. When you make a movie, the vast majority of the footage gets left on the cutting room floor. None of it is wasted, because every moment you do something you learn and you get better at it, and ultimately the best of the best work is your final product. I'm sure James will get better at his work, and by the end of it all, when he looks back at his earlier stuff, he'll agree that it should have been cut, because his final work will be so much better.

[@MyChunkyGoose]

My dude James pronounced diluted right btw

[@CraWea]

Right?! Seems to me that Zak was doing a British pronunciation. (Google “pronounce diluted” to hear difference). Either way, seems like an unnecessary thing to point out in the meeting.

[@addzyk]

I think he heard it as deluded, maybe and was trying to see if James meant diluted or deluded.