Tim Schafer is this year’s BAFTA Fellowship recipient

Double Fine legend and Day of the Tentacle mastermind Tim Schafer is to receive a BAFTA Fellowship gong at this year’s London-based ceremony on April 12.

The veteran games designer is one of only a handful of industry folk to receive the prestigious award, with the likes of Peter Molyneux, Shigeru Miyamoto, Will Wright, and John Carmack having previously been honoured for their outstanding contributions to gaming.

Schafer has had a long and varied career in game design, and originally cut his teeth on The Secret of Monkey Island alongside Ron Gilbert back in 1990 and its sequel, 1991’s Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge.

He later hit the big league with Maniac Mansion sequel Day of the Tentacle in 1993 and went on to helm Full Throttle and the Aztec-flavoured Grim Fandango in 1995 and 1998, respectively. 

These days Schafer can be found weaving his magic at Double Fine Productions, which he founded back in 2000. The studio has since pumped out a number of titles including cult classic Psychonauts as well as remastered versions of both Day of the Tentacle and Grim Fandango. 

Double Fine is currently beavering away on the crowd-funded Psychonauts 2, which is slated to appear on PS4, PC, and Xbox One in 2019. The project raised nearly $4 million from over 24,000 backers in early 2016. 

‘I am surprised, humbled, and honored to be receiving the BAFTA Fellowship this year. BAFTA’s long-standing support of video games and championing of creativity and strong storytelling in that medium, have had an extremely positive impact and I’m very grateful to be recognized by them with this Fellowship,’ beamed Schafer.

BAFTA’S Chief Executive, Amanda Berry OBE, commented: ‘Tim Schafer is a true pioneer of game design, who has pushed the boundaries of the medium through his extraordinary talents. With a career spanning three decades, his diverse body of work includes some of the most iconic and best-loved adventure games, all characterised by his powerful storytelling and distinctive comedic writing style. We are honoured to be presenting him with the BAFTA Fellowship.’