Editing Psychonauts (section)

===Production and publishing difficulties===
Esmurdoc described the development of ''Psychonauts'' as difficult due to various setbacks, compounded by the new studio's lack of experience in how to manage those setbacks.<ref name="post-mortem"/> The game's initial development began in 2001 during the [[dot-com bubble|dot-com boom]]. Due to the cost of office space at that time, Double Fine had established an office in an inexpensive warehouse in San Francisco that initially fit their development needs.

By 2003, they had come to realize the area they were in was not safe or readily accommodating, slowing down their development. With the collapse of the dot-com bubble, they were able to secure better office space, though this further delayed production.<ref name="post-mortem"/> Schafer was also handling many of the duties for both the studio and the development of the game. Though some of the routine business tasks were offloaded to other studio heads, Schafer brought Esmurdoc onto the project in 2004 to help produce the game while he could focus on the creative side.<ref name="post-mortem"/>

The intent to allow all developers to have artistic freedom with the game created some internal strife in the team, particularly in the level design; they had initially scoped that level designers would create the basic parts of a level - main paths, scripted events, and the level's general design, while the artists would build out the world from that. As development progressed, they determined that the artists should be the ones constructing the level geometry, which the level designers resented.

Subsequently, levels that were generated were not to the expected standards due to conflicts in the toolsets they used and Schafer's inability to oversee the process while handling the other duties of the studio. In 2003, the decision was made to dismiss all but one of the level design team, and unify the level design and art into a World Building team overseen by Erik Robson, the remaining level designer and who would go on to become the game's lead designer; the change, which Esmurdoc stated was for the better, disrupted the other departments at Double Fine.<ref name="gamespot interview 2004"/><ref name="post-mortem"/>

''Psychonauts'' was to be published by [[Microsoft]] for release exclusively on their [[Xbox (console)|Xbox]] console; Schafer attributes this to Microsoft's [[Ed Fries]], who at the time of ''Psychonauts''{{'}}s initial development in 2001, was looking to develop a portfolio of games for the new console system.<ref name="polygon df">{{cite web | url = http://www.polygon.com/features/2012/12/13/3726930/double-fine-double-feature-tim-schafer-dracogen-kickstarter | title = Double Fine Double Feature | date = December 13, 2012 | access-date = December 14, 2012 | publisher = [[Polygon (website)|Polygon]] }}</ref> Schafer believes that Fries was a proponent of "pushing games as art", which helped to solidify Double Fine's concept of ''Psychonauts'' as an appropriate title for the console after the team's collected experience of developing for personal computers.<ref name="polygon df"/>

However, according to Esmurdoc, Microsoft had also created some milestones that were unclear or difficult to meet, which delayed the development process.<ref name="post-mortem"/> She also believes that their own lack of a clear vision of the ultimate product made it difficult to solidify a development and release schedule for the game as well as created confusion with the publisher.<ref name="post-mortem"/> Schafer stated that Microsoft also found some of their gameplay decisions to be confusing based on play-testing and requested them to include more instructional information, a common approach for games during the early 2000s, while Schafer and his team felt such confusion was simply the nature of the adventure-based platform that they were developing.<ref name="usgamer interview">{{cite web | url = http://www.usgamer.net/articles/Tim_Schafer_Interview | title = "I Don't Know if a Duck is Going to Swallow me Whole." The Tim Schafer Interview. | first = Jaz | last = Rignall | date = June 23, 2015 | access-date = August 21, 2015 | publisher = [[USGamer]] }}</ref>

Double Fine was also resistant to make changes that Microsoft had suggested from play-testing, such as making the humor secondary to the story, removing the summer camp theme, and drastically altering the story.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.polygon.com/2015/5/21/8637961/psychonauts-tim-schafer-marketing | title = Watch the terrifying market research that would have killed Psychonauts | first = Justin | last =McElroy | date = May 21, 2015 | access-date = May 21, 2015 | publisher = [[Polygon (website)|Polygon]] }}</ref> Fries departed Microsoft in January 2004; shortly thereafter, the company soon pulled the publishing deal for ''Psychonauts''.<ref name="polygon df"/>

Esmurdoc said that Microsoft's management considered Double Fine to be "expensive and late", which she agreed had been true but did not reflect on the progress they had been making at this point.<ref name="post-mortem"/> Schafer also noted that at the time of Microsoft's cancellation that they were planning on transitioning to the [[Xbox 360]] and were not funding any further development of games that would not be released after 2004; even though Schafer had set an approximate release date in the first quarter of 2005 by this point, Microsoft still opted to cancel.<ref name="gamestm"/>

Following this, Schafer and Esmurdoc worked to secure a new publishing deal while using internal funds and careful management to keep the project going.<ref name="post-mortem"/> One source of funds that helped keep the company operational came from [[Will Wright (game designer)|Will Wright]], who had recently sold his company [[Maxis]] to [[Electronic Arts]]. Prevented from investing into Double Fine by the Maxis deal, he instead provided Double Fine a loan of funds that kept them afloat over the next several months. Wright is credited for this support within the game.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2018/03/how-the-creator-of-simcity-helped-save-psychonauts/ | title =How the creator of SimCity helped save Psychonauts |first = Kyle | last = Orland | date = March 22, 2018 | access-date = March 22, 2018 | work = [[Ars Technica]] }}</ref>

By August 2004, Double Fine had negotiated a new publishing deal with [[Majesco Entertainment]] to release the game on Windows as well as the Xbox. Tim Schafer was quoted as saying "Together we are going to make what could conservatively be called the greatest game of all time ever, and I think that's awesome."<ref>{{cite press release | title = Majesco Acquires Publishing Rights To Double Fine's 'PSYCHONAUTS' | publisher = Majesco | date = August 4, 2004 | url = http://www.majescoentertainment.com/news/display_news.php?id=90 | access-date = March 30, 2008 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080802221058/http://www.majescoentertainment.com/news/display_news.php?id=90 | archive-date = August 2, 2008 | df = mdy-all }}</ref>

Though the publishing deal ensured they would be able to continue the development, Esmurdoc stated they had to forgo plans for hiring new developers to meet the scope of the game as agreed to with Majesco. Subsequently, the studio entered, as described by Esmurdoc, "the most insane crunch I have ever witnessed" in order to complete the game.<ref name="post-mortem"/> This was compounded when Majesco announced a [[PlayStation 2]] port to be developed by [[Budcat Creations]] in October 2004, which further stretched the availability of Double Fine's staff resources.<ref name="post-mortem"/> The game [[Software release life cycle#RTM|went gold]] in March 2005; Esmurdoc attributes much of the success of this on the solidarity of the development team that kept working towards this point.<ref name="post-mortem"/>

A [[GameCube]] port of the game was planned, but was cancelled after publisher Majesco Entertainment dropped support for the platform.<ref>{{cite web | last=Purchese | first=Robert | title=Psychonauts to return? | website=[[Eurogamer]] | date=October 23, 2007 | url=https://www.eurogamer.net/psychonauts-to-return | access-date=May 13, 2024}}</ref> This may have been partially due to the game's extensive use of [[Full-motion video|FMVs]] and voice recordings, resulting in a large file size (about 4.5 GB), which would have presented difficulties with the GameCube's [[MiniDVD]] format (about 1.5 GB).{{citation needed|date=May 2025}}

Esmurdoc stated that ''Psychonauts'' took about 4.5 years to complete — though that without all the complications the real development time was closer to 2 years — with a team of 42 full-time developers and additional contractors, with a final budget of $11.5 million.<ref name="post-mortem">{{cite web | url = https://www.gamedeveloper.com/audio/classic-postmortem-double-fine-s-i-psychonauts-i- | title = Classic Postmortem: Double Fine's Psychonauts | first = Caroline | last = Esmurdoc | publisher = [[Game Developer (website)|Game Developer]] | date =August 17, 2015 | access-date = August 17, 2015 }}</ref>