The Team
Founding Sponsors
Double Fine Productions
Double Fine Productions is an award-winning game development studio founded in 2000 by games industry veteran Tim Schafer. Located in San Francisco’s South of Market district, Double Fine is committed to making high-quality games with an emphasis on originality, story, characters, and fun.
iam8bit
iam8bit is a creative production emporium that’s been boldly redefining the entertainment industry since 2005. Its collaborative works have taken a variety of forms, including groundbreaking community events, immersive art experiences, and exclusive collectibles, all designed to bring surprise and delight to people’s lives. iam8bit played a crucial role in the vinyl renaissance, minting its first record in 2010, and is the industry leader in premium physical editions of top-tier games. iam8bit evolved into financing and publishing games under its iam8bit Presents imprint, including the smash hit Escape Academy; NES mash note Garbage Pail Kids: Mad Mike and the Quest for Stale Gum; and the upcoming chill vibes simulator Simpler Times. The company is based in Los Angeles and co-owned/co-creatively directed by Jon M. Gibson and Amanda White. Visit iam8bit.com or follow @iam8bit on Instagram or Twitter or @iam8bit.com on BlueSky.
The Board
Tim Schafer
Tim Schafer is the Studio Head of Double Fine Productions, a San Francisco-based video game developer, makers of many critically acclaimed games including Psychonauts, Brütal Legend, Costume Quest, Stacking, The Cave, Massive Chalice, Headlander, and RAD. In 2012 Tim launched the record-breaking, multi-millon dollar Kickstarter project, Double Fine Adventure (aka Broken Age), which inspired a new era of crowd-funded indie titles. Prior to founding Double Fine in July 2000, Tim was a Project Lead at the LucasArts Entertainment Company, where he was responsible for several classic PC adventure games, including Grim Fandango and Full Throttle. Tim also co-designed Day of the Tentacle, and served as a writer and assistant designer on The Secret of Monkey Island 1 & 2. In 2019, Double Fine Productions became part of the Xbox Game Studios, and in 2025 the company will celebrate its 25th anniversary.
Greg Rice
Greg Rice has a long tenured history supporting independent creators in video game development. He currently is acting as the Lead Curator for Day of the Devs in addition to consulting across multiple high profile companies spanning games, film, and the arts. Prior to this, Greg was Head of PlayStation Creators at SIE in which he was responsible for PlayStation's relationship with the global Indie and F2P gaming segment.
Greg also was the VP of Business Development at Double Fine Productions, Tim Schafer's legendary game studio in San Francisco, where he helped launch the record-setting Kickstarter project Double Fine Adventure, was the Lead Producer on the resulting point-and-click adventure Broken Age, and ushered the sale of the company to Microsoft.
Greg was responsible for running Double Fine Presents, the studio's publishing arm, which has released numerous critical and financial successes such as Gang Beasts, David OReilly's Everything, and Knights and Bikes. He also helped create Day of the Devs, the indie games festival and non profit run in collaboration with Double Fine and iam8bit. Prior to Double Fine, Greg worked with Seamus Blackley in the video game department at Creative Artists Agency in Los Angeles.
Amanda White
After a decade producing films such as documentary film festival award winner Long Gone, Howard Zinn’s film The People Speak and grassroots film and marketing experiment, I'm Still Here, a faux-documentary starring Joaquin Phoenix, Amanda pivoted to working in the video game industry, partnering with friend and collaborator Jon M. Gibson to serve as co-owner and co-creative director of the creative marketing agency, retail shop and indie games publisher, iam8bit. Since 2008, iam8bit has been a leader in the videogame space, winning multiple Clio’s for marketing work and a Grammy nomination for Gravity Falls.
Jon M. Gibson
Gibson began his career as a technology and videogame journalist, freelancing for publications like LA Weekly while in high school. He co-founded and served as executive editor of the much-lauded Play Magazine in 2001. After the magazine reached its peak, he sought new challenges, contributing to dozens of international publications, including EGM, GQ, Maxim, Vanity Fair and Wired. While still dabbling in journalism, Gibson leaned into TV screenwriting, developing a variety of pilots for Disney Channel, Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network, and becoming the youngest person at Disney to sell his own show, at 20. Gibson also served as producer on several projects for title designer Kyle Cooper, including Metal Gear Solid 3, before launching iam8bit in 2005 as a group art show. The company has since evolved into a full-fledged creative production agency and retail outfit. Jon serves as iam8bit’s co-owner and co-creative director alongside longtime friend and business partner, Amanda White.
James Spafford
James “Spaff” Spafford is Director of Marketing and Communication at Double Fine Productions, Tim Schafer’s legendary studio based in San Francisco, which is part of Xbox Game Studios, makers of many critically acclaimed games including Psychonauts, Costume Quest, and Brütal Legend, Remasters of classics such as Grim Fandango, and producers of acclaimed documentary series Double Fine PsychOdyssey. He was also a core contributor to Double Fine Presents, which published games from small independent teams such as Gang Beasts, Knights and Bikes, and David OReilly's Everything.
Spaff has been part of the industry for over 25 years, and prior to Double Fine worked in Community Management roles at studios such as Media Molecule, for the LittleBigPlanet series, and NCSoft Europe for titles such as Guild Wars, and City of Heroes. He has been a content creator, blogger and podcaster since the beginning of time, and was co-founder of cult gaming site Idle Thumbs. He is also a co-founding board member of Day of the Devs, a non-profit with a mission to promote creator driven, independently developed games.