Psychonauts Creator Tim Schafer Talks the “Half Tuck”

Fashion is by no means something I’m interested in by any stretch, but Seinfeld-level comments on certain trends is something I’m not above. At the very least, the same could be said about Double Fine’s Tim Schafer, the creator of Psychonauts. Having just played through Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, Schafer had something to say about the game – although it’s definitely not the usual commentary you see when discussing a game.

It was all super next-gen, but the most next-gen thing about it to me was Drake’s shirt. Check it out: Somehow it’s tucked in, and yet not tucked in, at the very same time. Of all the technical marvels contained in Uncharted, this was the one that really mystified me.

So, on his left side, he tucked the shirt in, to show his trim figure and stylish belt buckle. “What a handsome young man,” you might say, “If he gets that shirt washed, he may date my daughter.” But his right side is untucked, like the shirt of a wild man, a renegade, a scoundrel. “What is that guy up to? Why is his shirt untucked? Does he not give a damn about me and my rules?”

Then I realized what a clever invention the half-tuck is. How better to show off your rock-hard abs, but still create an air of nonchalance? Much like how a mullet shows the world your business side in the front, and your party side in the back, the half-tuck tells one story on the right side, but a completely different story on the left. In encapsulates the contradiction that you are: The shy extrovert, the organized slob, the guy who likes to shop at Banana Republic but also likes to fall into the Gap when he’s feeling a little crazy. The half-tuck reassures the ladies that you’re a man who cares about personal grooming, but who, at the same time, couldn’t give a f##k. Who doesn’t like that?

If that doesn’t get a chuckle out of you, I feel bad for you.

For those of you who want more, head over to Double Fine and read the entirety of Schafer’s half tuck deconstruction.