The game was formally announced as The Cave in May, 2012, with Sega as publisher for the title.
Work began on the game proper at Double Fine around a year before its eventual announcement. Prior to that, Gilbert had spent six months developing the ideas for the game and Tim Schafer participated as creative director for the title.
In September 2010, Schafer revealed that he had hired Gilbert into Double Fine Productions to work on a title of Gilbert's own design.
Gilbert used his blog to tease parts of the game's artwork, including collaborations with Double Fine's art team.
