Disney Epic Mickey is, to me, the next step on that path. From the start of my work in the electronic games space, I've been on a quest to empower players and give them tools to craft their own unique experiences. Everything I work on, everything my studios work on, has to contribute to “the mission". W.S. : Well, to be clear, I doubt anyone at Disney was thinking I'd be “restoring the prestige” of Mickey Mouse! He hardly needs my help! But to the rest of your question, yes, there was never any doubt the ideas that informed my earlier games would be useful in Disney Epic Mickey. It's incredibly cool.Īfter Disney call you to restore the prestige of Mickey videogame licence, did you already know, despite of the gap which can separate this world and those of your previous productions, that some ideas of your previous games will be useful? And the music changes not just in response to what's happening at any given moment, which a lot of games do, but also in response to each player's changing playstyle. Many of the themes are familiar, but with just enough of a twist to fit the Wasteland's “familiar yet strange” vibe. Jim created a score that hits all the notes (as it were) I wanted the music to hit. Luckily, we found a composer – Jim Dooley, who's done a huge amount of game work as well as composing for the TV show Pushing Daisies. The company is known for memorable scores and memorable songs so we had to live up to a very high standard. W.S. : The music is hugely important to Disney Epic Mickey, as it must be in any Disney game. I have noticed that even if we know many things about Disney Epic Mickey, we don't know as much about the music part. We didn't even have Mario Sunshine on the list of must-play games for the team (though most of us had played it, of course). It's just that both games have a hero who sprays stuff around as their starting point. Clearly, there's something similar going on there – liquid spraying and changing the landscape, obviously – but there wasn't a lot of conscious inspiration going on there. The Mario Sunshine reference is interesting. And, of course, some Deus Ex or Ultima roleplaying ideas. For me, it has strong The Legend of Zelda series roots too. W.S. : I certainly hope the game reminds players of Super Mario! That was clearly an inspiration. What were your main inspirations for Disney Epic Mickey? Personally, in some aspects, the game reminds me Super Mario (and notably Super Mario Sunshine). Obviously, it would have been foolish to make a Mickey Mouse game that didn't include Mickey himself but Disney did a lot more “making things available” if we wanted them rather than “imposing things” as if there were some corporate mandate.Įven if the concept is relatively the same, the influence of Mario Sunshine would not be conscious. In fact, the Disney Interactive execs who pitched me on the idea of doing a Mickey Mouse game went to almost humorous pains to make sure we didn't feel any pressure to do or include specific things. W.S. : Honestly, Disney didn't impose anything on us. So, rather than dwell on what we didn't do, I hope players will focus on what we did do and judge us on those things.ĭid Disney impose you to include some specific elements or characters (other than Mickey, of course - laugh)? The key thing is that no one would WANT to do those things. Similarly, there are some things you don't do with Mickey Mouse and some things that have no place in Wastland. I mean, if you put magic into Deus Ex, the fans would revolt – and with some justification! You don't put a 747 in Red Dead Redemption. W.S. : All creativity happens within constraints. Can you give us an (or several) example of idea you wanted to include and that, in the end, you (or Disney) have thought that it was going too far for a game based on Mickey Mouse. When you work with stars as Mickey Mouse and its friends/foes, I suppose you can't always do what you want. But the bottom line is that our approach to the characters and locations and situations isn't retro at all, at least I don't think it is. And, for many – if not most – people who play the game, all that “retro” stuff will be new and fresh and different, so there's novelty there as well. Our core gameplay offers players the chance to do things they've never been able to do in a game before. W.S. : I think we're offering plenty of novelty in Disney Epic Mickey. Don't you think that, in a world where everybody wants novelty, this choice involves some risks on the commercial plan? It seems very different, for example, from the Kingdom Hearts series from Square-Enix, in which the vintage levels only seem to be bonus stages. Compared to the last Disney's productions, Disney Epic Mickey tries to emphasise retro-vintage characters.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |