Tons of details about Epic Mickey, as well as the DigiComics and graphic novel
Posted on October 10, 2010 by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii
– Spector’s first job was to make Mickey Mouse a hero similar to Mario and Link
– “Job 1.5” was to share the tale of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit
– Spector is very honored to bring Oswald to video games
– Because this is the first time Oswald has a voice, Spector was responsible of casting the voice actor for the character, Frank Welker
– Spector believes Oswald can become a commercial success if “Job 1.5” is successful, hopes a Oswald plush can be possible
– Peter David writing the DigiComics and graphic novel
– Spector thinks video games do a great job of describing what’s happening now, though they aren’t as good at being able to reveal backstory and allowing players to know what’s happening inside characters’ heads
– Because of this, the graphic novel and DigiComics are going to be released
– Tales of the Wasteland is a prequel anthology
– 6 stories
– Inspired by Oswald’s life
– Stories happen before the Phantom Blot comes about and wreaks havoc on Wasteland
– Was “the happiest place in the world” before the Phantom Blot
– Mad Doctor and Oswald were friends at one point and had a nice relationship
– This changes significantly by the time Epic Mickey’s story occurs
– ‘Clocktower Cleaners’ story is a send-up of the Disney classic short ‘Clock Cleaners’
– In ‘Oswald the Lucky Duck’, Oswald tries to become other things like a Lucky Duck, Lucky Stiff, etc. so that he may become more popular
– One of the stories is based on Adventurer’s Club at Walt Disney World
– Free iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad app for the DigiComics will be released within 10 days
– Wasteland map will have mostly grayed out areas at the start, but more will be unlocked as the weeks go by leading up to the game’s launch
– Graphic novel will be released on November 30
– Novel is basically the game’s story from when Mickey goes through the mirrror
– Novel has been condensed due to playing time of the actual game
– It took Spector 26 hours to beat Epic Mickey on his first playthrough
– Someone who is very good at the game could probably beat it in about 15 hours
– Spector says the game is only on Wii because the system allowed him to introduce the game to a broader audience and because he’s a “Nintendo nerd”
– Yen Sid will show up in the game once more in the game after the opening cinematic
– For the elements in the original concept art that aren’t in the game, Spector said that he put a blanket timeframe on the elements that appear in the final product, chose the time period between 1928 and 1967
– Hidden Mickeys all over the game
– Hidden rooms, secrets to discover
– E-tickets are the game’s currency
– On film reels, Spector said, “you can guess what they do”
– Pins to collect as well
– So many things to collect that it’s impossible to find them all in one playthrough
– Spector believes 3 playthroughs will be needed to collect all items
– You can’t “fail” in the game, Spector said failing isn’t enjoyable and it’s useless because the player will end up going to their last save
– Spector said “you don’t implement” programming to deal with the choice of play of the gamer
– Small logical systems that interact with each other and respond based on the player’s decisions created
– In the tutorial level, you can save a gremlin or receive a treasure, but not supposed to be able to do both
– However, one player figured out how to do both, and although most developers would describe it as a bug, it’s an ‘Oh my God, Yes!’ for Spector
– ‘Pushing Daisies’ composer Jim Dooley doing the music
– Spector auditioned around 12 people for the music, asked them to take classic Disney music and turn it “inside-out,” giving it a “I’ve heard this before, but I haven’t” feeling
– Audio animatronic versions of Goofy, Donald Duck, etc. made by Oswald
– Oswald lonely, wants a family after seeing Mickey, which is why he makes his own versions of Mickey’s friends
– Earlier concept had the “real world” characters in Wasteland, and was a “save Mickey’s friends”-type storyline
– Because the characters exist in the “real world,” they can’t be forgotten or discarded, and that’s why they don’t belong in Wasteland
– Spector’s favorite Mickey cartoons are ‘The Mad Doctor’ (scared him as a child and, as an adult) and ‘Clock Cleaners’
– John Lasseters contributed two significant elements to Epic Mickey, but Warren Spector wouldn’t say what they are
