Tim Shafer, the man behind Psychonauts and Grim Fandango (as well as my all-time favorite game The Secret of Monkey Island) has been tasked with the job of giving the keynote speech at this years GC Developers conference in Germany.

As the president of Double Fine Productions, he’ll be talking about creativity in games. I can’t think of a better person to have on for such a speech than Shafer, too bad I can’t be there to hear it in person. Nice to see both him and his studio get some good exposure.

Maybe they’ll be announcing a new Monkey Island game (fingers crossed, though there’s no shot).

Full press release after the break…

GAME DESIGNER TIM SCHAFER TO GIVE KEYNOTE SPEECH AT GCDC 2007

Psychonauts and Grim Fandango Creator on a European Mission for the First Time

Leipzig, Germany – August 2, 2007– The GC Developers Conference (GCDC) today announced that Tim Schafer, President and CEO of Double Fine Productions, is giving a keynote speech on the subject of Creativity and Games at this year’s event. Tim Schafer played a significant role in the development of LucasArts’ classic games including Full Throttle and Monkey Island 1 & 2. At GCDC 2007, Europe’s leading developer conference (August 20-22), he will be speaking for the first time in Europe.

During his time at LucasArts, initially as game designer and later as head adventure programmer, he notched successes with cult games such as Day of the Tentacle and Grim Fandango. In 2000, Schafer founded the development studio Double Fine Productions, whose very first game, the action adventure Psychonauts, for PC, Xbox and Play-Station 2, went on to become an award-winning hit. At GCDC 2007 his keynote will be dedicated to the challenges and methods of interjecting creativity into modern game design.

Frank Sliwka, GCDC conference director, said, “Tim Schafer is an exceptional figure within the development community and his keynote speech at this year’s GCDC will provide exciting insight into the creative game development process.

GCDC 2006 retrospective

Last August 21-23, 650 conference participants from 20 countries attended the GCDC in Leipzig. Speakers included Bob Bates (USA), Don L. Daglow (USA, President/CEO, Stormfront Studios), Graham Hopper (USA, Senior Vice President/General Manager, Buena Vista Games Inc.), Peter Molyneux (UK, President, Lionhead Studios) and Bill Roper (USA, CEO, Flagship Studios), among others.