Meet The Team Behind Double Fine PsychOdyssey - MinnMax Interview

[@minnmax]

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[@ChrisLT]

Give them an Emmy. Probably not within your powers, Ben, but I feel like we all gotta keep getting the word out.

[@minnmax]

I can give them mine!

[@JonnyBriers]

@@minnmax humblebrag

[@krist1212]

Give them a Benmy

[@bretscofield]

An amazing documentary.

[@yfytfghhfg9514]

This Doc is such a privilege to have , this interview with the crew is such a cool bonus companion piece, Ben did great work at asking stuff we all felt after watching.

[@GroundPunch2]

THANK YOU BEN - fellow freaky fan of 2PP (interviewed Paul Owens back in the day for the original DF doc) PsychOdyssey is easily the best doc I’ve seen on gene dev, i cringe so hard at the sheer undertaking it must have been, even from just an editing point of view

[@minnmax]

Oh thank God I'm not alone.

[@rikkuricky]

Woo! I just finished the documentary last night, love that we get an interview with the team, amazing stuff.

[@minnmax]

Awesome, glad you enjoyed it!

[@TextureKing]

This documentary should be on Netflix or something. DFA inspired me when it came out so now I'm working at a game development studio. When PsychOdyssey came out I finally could relate to every game designers - artist interactions that happened during P2 development. So excited for what's next for 2PP. I can't even begin to imagine what's the next step is because P2 doc was a total culmination 2 Player's work, a real masterpiece. DFA for me is like "Chungking Express" whereas Psychodyssey feels like "In the Mood for Love" if you know what I mean. But I'm so excited to discover what your next project is. Also - please release a collectors bluray like you did with DFA - that beatiful box still is on my desk at all times to inspire me.

[@merkmobile]

These are some humble ass dudes

[@iamtryagain]

I was a backer on Broken Age and it's amazing to see how far the 2 Player Productions team has come since then. Everyone owes them a massive thanks for the amazing work they did in this documentary. It's a once in a lifetime view into what it takes to make a videogame. Thanks Ben for the lovely interview. It's great to peak a bit behind the curtain. Lots of great questions. I was smiling all the way thorough.

[@dustind548]

They are so chill

[@bsl9555]

2pp is amazing! i wish i had that documentary growing up. i watched indie game the movie as a wee high schooler and that gave me rose tinted glasses coming into game dev. community is everything, watching psychodessy gave importance to people and how they work together and doesnt shy away from the heartbreaks of the dev experience. absolutely a fantastic piece of art.

[@dopojun7915]

Thanks 2 Player Productions for your incredible work and Ben for a fantastic interview! The questions were great but the praise to the crew was also very much appreciated!

[@madisonmoore6431]

OH MY GOD YES!!!! I just finished the documentary over the weekend, so this is PERFECT

[@minnmax]

Great, we're glad you found the interview then!

[@Fjonan]

I am binging the MinnMax Interviews surrounding the doc and thank you so much, that is exactly what I wanted after watching it. The doc is a masterpiece in the industry that will be referenced for years.

[@minnmax]

Awesome, glad you found the interviews. Thanks for watching!

[@twoscoops2]

Great interview Ben. I love the idea of another episode that Levering mentioned to see how those involved felt about the documentary. Asif also hit the nail on the head that people not in game development could relate. I work at a large company on a development team working on just a piece of this giant puzzle and I related to quite a bit of what Double Fine devs went through.

[@Aizeiyaloius]

I work at Architecture Firm I see alot of parallels… I love every bit of the doc, especially Asif’s journey in to game development… AF to His game in the final release! Purely Amazing!

[@TMoneyOG]

I loved this interview so much. Thanks, Ben and 2PP!

[@2dorkstv]

This is such a fantastic interview. I too have been annoying every friend and family member I have to watch PsychOdyssey and Adventure. They're both so phenomenal

[@manuelberbesi691]

Amazing to meet the people behind the camera! Thanks for this guys!

[@romansharf8113]

I can understand why Paul kept looking for reviews/comments. After such a long and arduous project, you want to know if people "got it" or even found something of their own in it. This was a great interview and the documentary is beyond fantastic! Thank you! PS: Asif, you sir, are a hero :)

[@pix3l_brat]

I’m friends with a lot of game devs and this is super interesting! Can’t wait to watch the doc! The music and voice acting are always the best parts 😊

[@HarpKenneth]

Oh boy I wanna see you report back after you have seen this, because yeah that is a part if it, but this doc shows every side of gamedev, I din’t recall the last time I was so invested in a Doc, man everytime Someone left it was tearfull, but yeah this should be mandatory watching to all the people that complains about game delays. Really interessting to see the contrast between Tim Schafer and Zac. And how it developed over time. Somuch masterfull editing and when to use Music and not.

[@HarpKenneth]

Love the Doc. It has been an Wild ride, and not just to see gamedev up close, but Also how much you Can recognise from your own work. For instance new guy comes onboard with What you Think are very structured ideas that Will help but more and more you just see how much it all is against the Spirit and heart of Double Fine, and you try to Make it work. But it’s not villainfied it’s just a person with diffrent ideas and I Loved that aspect. Loved the animated intros Also where you Got a small tease from the episode you were going to Watch. And yeah Asif and James’s Jouney both getting thrown out in Deep water.

[@brainfreeze10]

The covid episodes where the animated intro zoomed through a now empty office were genuinely a gut punch. What a perfect way to showcase how things evolved over the course of the series. I'd love to hear them talk more about how those were crafted.

[@KB92]

Just finished all episodes 2 min ago. Absolutely the best doc ever! Thank you!

[@mart8577]

So excited for this! I'm addicted as I can be to the documentary

[@sass2836]

Can't wait to watch! I'm halfway through PsychOdyssey, and it's extraordinary work.

[@quiet451]

Thank you Ben for recommending this doc. It's so great and everyone involved did such an excellent job. It's one of those rare pieces of film that really keep you in thought for days after finishing.

[@knoxeh5846]

So glad you guys are making this series of interviews. A lot to unpack and it's hard to convince friends to watch 20+ hours of game development no matter how well done it is. Love the ep.

[@pixelhotdish]

My fiance and I are slowly working through the entire series right now. We are about half way through... just fantastic stuff. Excited to watch this interview! Keep it up Minnmax!

[@minnmax]

Glad you're watching it. Thanks, Pixel!

[@pixelhotdish]

@@minnmax Just finished this interview. Fantastic stuff as always.

[@brainfreeze10]

I binged the entire documentary series last weekend in one day (at faster speeds, tbf) and I was completely blown away. It was so relatable and captured so many perspectives with such amazing empathy, I genuinely think it's changed the way I'm going to think about a lot of things going forward. I've had tense meetings at work before, and any time it happened here I found myself thinking "What would I have looked like if some impartial observer was filming me during those moments? How would my 'opposition' have looked? How could I have handled that better? What can I learn here?" When they said they could have potentially made a few more episodes I immediately found myself wishing that they had. I'm glad to hear they plan to do a big post mortem to at least talk about how the doc's been received and what they may have left out - I hope it's meaty. They're in such a unique perspective where releasing documentaries inherently effects the environment of their next documentary, and it's valuable to capture that too. You covered pretty much all of my biggest questions in this interview, but I still feel like I could listen to these guys talk for another few hours about all of this lol. It's nice to hear Asif comment on how fortunate he feels that his role at 2PP turned into a design role on the game teams. I'm super jealous, but also very proud of him. I'm curious what his actual title is at this point, given that he's split between two very different jobs. I will say, I actually think for me personally it was a good thing that they didn't re-edit that one Amnesia Fortnight movie down into a new episode. I watched that movie back when it first released and (besides feeling super inspired) it really created this image of Double Fine as this incredibly happy and creatively fulfilling place to work. I don't think that's untrue, but the context of the rest of the doc series adds so many layers of nuance to that, and I think it really highlights how much context I was missing and what assumptions I was making with that original thought process to have the old doc slotted in exactly how it was. I watched the Broken Age doc last weekend for the first time, so I really feel like I've absorbed 10 full years of these people's lives in the matter of 1 week, and my brain is kind of exploding with all of the thoughts in my head. I genuinely teared up every time someone moved or left the team. Every single person. I feel weirdly attached lol. Tim's speech about Wil Wright got me too. What a journey. FWIW, my favorite "characters" were Ray and Rusty. Not the most heavily featured people, and certainly not the most dramatic, but there was such a comfort any time either of them was on screen. I'd trust those strangers with my life. Huge thanks to Asif, Paul, and Paul, as well as Ben for this interview and the other upcoming videos celebrating this accomplishment. Can't wait to see more!

[@nekokna]

Another kickass interview! TTUTT i am glad i found this you tube people

[@michaelrfx7]

Just finished the Doc! Absolutely incredible work all round! Ben thanks for recommending the Doc, awesome recommendation!

[@minnmax]

Glad you enjoyed it, Mike!

[@michaelrfx7]

Ben, I will join you on digging a 30ft pit and bow down along with you, these guys were awesome and deserve all the positive recognition. My favorite character was Asif, he is just awe-inspiring and for is buds to allow him to continue his game dev path is a testament to their friendship.

[@markmiller6744]

Great interview as always! I just finished the documentary because of your recommendation and was overwhelmed by how good it was! Can't wait to watch the rest of your content about it and I'm doing my best to get my gaming friends to watch it as well!

[@Hamerparsa]

Good job all around 👏🏻

[@neon9999]

Great interview Ben! You asked some of the questions that I was dying to ask while watching the doc and some of the interviews afterwards!

[@richardbibaud2326]

Psych odyssey is an absolute must watch

[@SerpC]

Great interview

[@minnmax]

Thanks, Chris.

[@azriell783]

Thanks, Ben, for show casing PsychOdyssey. I hadn't heard of this before and I can't wait to watch it.

[@NeedlessNick]

Thank you for covering this!

[@michaelrfx7]

Amazing work 2P!

[@CastleClique]

Love this channel! Thanks

[@Kmaitland89]

This is one of the best documentaries I've ever seen AND I was on Zaks side. It very much felt like Zak was just direct and uderstood they had a small team and a big game. I never felt like he was rude, or even negative. Just realistic. Zak was my favorite "character". I also consumed it really quickly and it had a weird affect on my mental state.

[@DesignedByTaz]

Amazing amazing amazing documentary!

[@FBNL]

nice interview

[@minnmax]

Thank you!

[@Chandlest]

This playlist is backwards. It probably doesn't matter too much but I started with the Max spoilers and Jacob referenced this interview which was confusing.

[@minnmax]

We'll fix it for you!

[@Extragear-gv8qq]

im gonna watch it nkw even though i was planning to watch it after getting better gaming pc to play psychoauts 2

[@MisterShine7]

24:00~ "I think we may have bleeped it as a joke actually?" "..don't say that..." Fuckin lol I'm right with you Ben the mystery means too much to me

[@mrgameart4733]

Such good shit

[@jonathand827]

I’m curious who was the other company, maybe it was Sony or Nintendo, and they didn’t want to associate with Microsoft who owns double fine or Vice versa.

[@gdn86]

Even relatively early on I got the feeling Zak probably wasn't going to work out, but I didn't see him being almost directly related to a 2 year delay in production. This doc might have ruined his career, as no studio is going to give him that level of control again.