Fresh off of calling Bobby Kotick a dick, Tim Schafer gave a speech at the Develop conference this morning in which he dropped a few hints about what his development studio, Double Fine, has in production. Since the studio has only released two games in the last ten years, it comes as a surprise that Double Fine is working on not one, but four new games. However, instead of big-budget ordeals, they will actually be smaller titles, both downloadable and retail releases.

The vague details about the four titles are as follows:

• Lee Petty, art director on Brütal Legend, is leading a game Schafer described as "sort of retro but also really new."
• Nathan Marts, lead programmer on Brütal Legend, is working on a game that's "quite cutting edge."
• Brad Muir, who designed a lot of the combat and multiplayer on Brütal Legend, is working on a game that "focuses on gameplay mechanics."
• Tasha Harris, lead animator on Brütal Legend (and former senior animator at Pixar) is heading up a fourth game.

Sadly, at least for me, this means that there will be no sequel to Brutal Legend. I know some people were disappointed by Schafer's last game, but even though it didn't live up to expectations, I still really enjoyed it. I thought the potential was definitely there for a sequel, but sadly, we'll never know the rest of Eddie's tale. However, I am really looking forward to seeing four new Double Fine games in the indeterminate future.

Schafer mentioned that some of these projects would be coming out this year, but then quickly corrected himself: "I didn't announce that... I see you writing that down... That was not a ship date." In other words... stay tuned!

[Source]