Epic Mickey: Epic Screenshots and Artworks - News

by Gabriel Franco , posted on 29 October 2009 / 20,838 Views

Press Release Of Press Mickey Annoucement:

WARREN SPECTOR REVISITS A CARTOON ICON'S LEGACY IN DISNEY EPIC MICKEY

Disney Interactive Studios today announced the development of Disney Epic Mickey, an adventure-platforming game with light role-playing elements for the Wii™ home video game console. The game stars Mickey Mouse who has been re-imagined for videogames by luminary game designer Warren Spector and his Junction Point game development studio. In Disney Epic Mickey, Spector, a life-long Disney fan, taps into Mickey Mouse’s rich history along with the characters and worlds brought to life by Walt Disney to create an edgy and unexpected cartoon adventure.

“Mickey is an adventurous and rambunctious mouse,” said Warren Spector, creative director and vice president, Junction Point. “I want to bring his personality to the forefront, place him in a daunting world and connect his spirited character with video game players worldwide. Ultimately, each player decides for him- or herself what makes Mickey cool.”

In the game’s fiction, a sorcerer named Yen Sid creates a beautiful, whimsically-twisted world where Disney’s forgotten and retired creations thrive. Originally, the powerful sorcerer from “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” in Walt Disney’s 1940 film “Fantasia” was nicknamed “Yen Sid” by Disney animators, although never named as such on screen. In Spector’s game, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit – Walt Disney’s first cartoon star created in 1927 – becomes the earliest inhabitant of Yen Sid’s Cartoon Wasteland after Mickey Mouse is created. Oswald makes the Cartoon Wasteland comfortable for other retired characters as they join him in this magical land. Years pass, and as Oswald dwells in the Cartoon Wasteland, he becomes resentful watching Mickey’s popularity swell. When Mickey curiously stumbles upon Yen Sid’s map, he makes an innocent yet terrible mistake and inadvertently devastates Oswald’s comfortable world. Eventually, Mickey’s mistake pulls him deep into the mysterious Cartoon Wasteland to face the destruction he unknowingly created.

“Having Warren combine creativity and innovation with one of the world’s most famous characters takes Mickey back to his creative roots and allows fans to deepen their engagement with him as a character – especially in video games,” said Graham Hopper, executive vice president and general manager of Disney Interactive Studios. “In addition to Warren’s lifelong love of cartoons, films and comics, his visionary approach to game design and storytelling will make certain that this heroic tale of discovery and redemption resonates with Disney fans and gamers alike.”‪

Players use the Wii Remote™ to wield magical paint and thinner to re-shape the world around them. Paint’s creativity and thinner’s damaging effect give the player robust tools and empowers them to make choices about how they move through the world. Each player’s decisions to use paint, thinner or both dynamically changes the world with consequences that affect the environment, interactions with other characters, and even Mickey’s appearance and abilities.

“The core of this game is the idea of choice and consequence, and how that defines both the character and the player,” says Spector. “By putting the mischievous Mickey in an unfamiliar place and asking him to make choices – to help other cartoon characters or choose his own path – the game forces players to deal with the consequences of their actions. Ultimately, players must ask themselves, ‘What kind of hero am I?’ Each player will come up with a different answer.”

Blurring reality and fantasy, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit’s role is as significant in the game as it was in real life. The Walt Disney-created Oswald appeared in 26 silent cartoons between 1927 and 1928 for Charles Mintz, who contracted with Universal for distribution. At this time, Oswald was primed to be Walt’s first big animated star. When faced with daunting production costs, Walt asked for more money to ensure the quality of the Oswald cartoons. When a deal could not be reached, Walt lost the rights to Oswald and with the rabbit went much of Walt’s staff. Among those who remained with Walt was animator, cartoonist and long-time friend Ub Iwerks, and together they created a new character named Mickey Mouse.

The initial concept behind Disney Epic Mickey originated within the Disney Interactive Studios’ Think Tank. The Think Tank conceptualized Mickey as a cartoon character thrown into turmoil. Spector expanded and refined Disney Epic Mickey’s concept and built the game for a broad audience fully utilizing the Wii and Wii Remote for accessibility and engaging gameplay.

Developed by Junction Point in Austin, TX, Disney Epic Mickey is slated for a fall 2010 release. The game currently is unrated by the ESRB. For more information, go to www.disney.com/disneyepicmickey.

33 Comments

z101 (on 31 October 2009)

The game looks nice so far but the gameplay mechanics sounds incredible. Now I am hyped for Epic Mickey!

N.Genckel (on 31 October 2009)

The worst thing is the scenery, imo. It's so bland, ugly, and simple. I really hope things will shape up to look more like the artwork, but right now, it looks ... bad.

almcchesney (on 30 October 2009)

wow looks kinda meh......
was expecting a bit more, and you can see the ugly polygons on the character models....... expected everything to be more rounded, like marios shiny noggin on ssbb

Burning Typhoon (on 30 October 2009)

All of a sudden, I'm no longer interested in this game... The drawings looked so cool..

V-r0cK (on 30 October 2009)

So far the screens seem from just one level, i hope there are more better looking levels than that

ckmlb (on 30 October 2009)

Thought it would be darker than this (in tone and feel), but it looks interesting.

N.Genckel (on 30 October 2009)

The art simply looks much, much better than the actual screens. I'm really dissapointed.

Cueil (on 30 October 2009)

this game brings sadness to my heart for some reason

PeteyPeeps (on 30 October 2009)

ive always kinda liked disney games ... well old school ones ... mickey mania and quack shot on the megadrive / genesis were my fav games on the system, ill get this game :-)

Kenryoku_Maxis (on 30 October 2009)

@couchmonkey

Well I'm definitely not saying they should have sent these pictures out. Heck, if anything, they should have sent gameplay footage instead, even if it was 'beta'. But still, peoples seething hatred for this game because it isn't EXACTLY like the artwork or some kind of 'epic' steampunk world with half dead Hewey, Dewey, Louie and mechanical Donald trying to eat Mickey with bloody chainsaws....its just pathetic. It just shows how much western gamers are obsessed with graphics.

Sapphire (on 29 October 2009)

I suddenly love the art design
cant wait

couchmonkey (on 29 October 2009)

Kenryoku: I sorta agree, but at the same time if the game doesn't look 100% yet, maybe they shouldn't be sending screenshots to the press.

Personally, I'm more interested than when the first concept art came out.

Kenryoku_Maxis (on 29 October 2009)

More early development screens for people to whine over...

Wind Waker all over again.

uno (on 29 October 2009)

def interested.

Need to see more.

Chrizum (on 29 October 2009)

The game looks decent, but the textures suck. Let's hope they'll improve with time.

frictionini (on 29 October 2009)

I agree that screenshots looks meh if to be based on the artwork and concept. Might have been better if it was cel shaded

.jayderyu (on 29 October 2009)

I'm looking forward to this game. I have little else to say on that.

demonfreak (on 29 October 2009)

@moondeep

I don't think everybody is comparing the screens to the concept art as far as graphics go. I think most, myself included, loved the concept art style. For me it made it seem dark and mysterious. Now that there's screens it looks way too cartoonish not nearly dark as the concept art.

I hope they change it make it more to the style of the concept art. When the first concept art came out I was 100% onboard, now with the screens I'm 50%.

Rath (on 29 October 2009)

I'm just disappointed by the textures. They're so flat and boring.

Oh well - doesn't really matter if the game is epic. Hope they darken it up a bit more before release though.

moondeep (on 29 October 2009)

This game looks fabulous! Can't wait.

To everyone saying that they screenshots don't live up to the concept artwork... well tell me a single game where the game's graphics exceeded the conceptual art. That's par for the course folks!

I_Heart_Nintendo (on 29 October 2009)

Wii games generally look better in motion than they do in screenshots. I too, like someone else said, was hoping it would look more like that artwork that was released beforehand

PhalanxCO (on 29 October 2009)

Why is Pete wearing a dress?

Batman...WTF? (on 29 October 2009)

Wow... Just wow...

txrattlesnake (on 29 October 2009)

I do want this game.

MightyGrogg (on 29 October 2009)

It's interesting. The artwork is a mixed bag. Some of it looks nice while some of it just looks washed out and unexciting. It'll really depend on how the game plays and the story for me to be interested in this game.