Founded over ten years ago in July of 2000 by Tim Schafer, Double Fine Productions initially consisted of just a handful of ex-LucasArts employees who had all grown dissatisfied with the companys shift away from traditional adventure games in favour of endlessly milking the Star Wars license. Alongside former colleagues David Dixon and Jonathan Menzies, Schafer began to put together a small team of personnel, most of which he had previously worked with at LucasArts on titles such as Grim Fandango and Full Throttle. Working out of a clog shop in Los Angeles, the team would continue to grow in size over the next few years as development continued on the game that would eventually become Psychonauts. Though sales were initially disparaging, Psychonauts was universally praised by critics for its wit and personality, earning it a cult-following that has only continued to flourish since the games release. Now, over ten years later, Double Fine is one of the most cherished developers in the world, responsible for some of the most critically acclaimed and imaginative games on the market. Unfortunately, for every feast theres a famine, and for every Costume Quest or Broken Age theres a Kinect Party and a Spacebase DF-9. Double Fines track record has been far from spotless, but for the most part theyve had a pretty respectable output. With that said, I invite you to join me as we travel through the entirety of Double Fines collective works and rank everything theyve ever developed from the worst, to the absolute best.
17. Spacebase DF-9
One of several ideas greenlit by Double Fine's Amnesia Fortnight 2012 project (a project in which senior members of the company pitched concepts for games to the public in the hope of getting them made), Spacebase DF-9 wasted a lot of interesting potential. Essentially a base management game, DF-9 saw players take control of a space station as they fended off alien attacks and managed resources to keep their human inhabitants happy and healthy. The game was also built around random events similar to those seen in FTL: Faster Than Light, adding a degree of spontaneity and unpredictability to the gameplay. Though the game was received positively, the lack of sales on Steam forced Double Fine to somewhat abandon the project in 2014. As you would expect, fans were outraged by Double Fines sudden loss of interest in the project, especially considering the games unpolished and incomplete state. Spacebase DF-9 currently maintains a 23% rating based on 2,879 user reviews on Steam. Moral of the story? Dont promise what you cant deliver.
