The highly anticipated new Wii video game, Disney Epic Mickey, was recently released. With this game, Warren Spector, Epic Mickey’s creator, looked to create the video game equivalent of a Pixar film – entertainment for everyone. Spector is well known and respected in the gaming world for creating popular video game series such as Wing Commander and Deus Ex, but with Disney Epic Mickey Spector wanted to create a video game that appealed to more than just hard core gaming fans. I recently participated in a conference call with Warren Spector. Continue after the break to read and listen to Spector’s thoughts on creating the new Wii action-adventure game as well as his love of Disney. Also, at the end of the article learn how you can win a copy of what’s been touted by some as the video game of the year.
Click here to listen to highlights from Warren Spector’s conference call
Note: this was a moderated conference call where we were asked to submit questions ahead of time – many (but not all) of the questions asked were my own. The last portion of the call was opened up for us to ask questions directly.
You may wonder why the DIS Unplugged, a website specializing in Disney-related travel, is covering the release of a Wii video game? Well, besides the fact that the game appeals to the Disney fan in us, the game’s universe takes place in the theme park Wasteland, a “Bizarro Disneyland” made up of familiar, yet strange, Disney Park attractions. Whenever an attraction is eliminated or re-imagined in a Disney Park, such as Disneyland’s Nautilus submarine or Swiss Family Treehouse, *poof* they appear in Wasteland. The story of Epic Mickey relies heavily on Disney history. Warren Spector wants to re-introduce Mickey Mouse to a generation who has yet to see Mickey star in his own story, and in this alternate universe Mickey confronts and befriends all sorts of cast-off Disney Characters. The head honcho for Wasteland is Walt Disney’s first cartoon star from the 1920’s-30’s, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, who is bitter and jealous of Mickey Mouse’s life and success.
Spector described himself as a life-long animation buff who grew up watching the Mickey Mouse Club, Wonderful World of Color, and Wonderful World of Disney. Those shows, as well as Saturday morning cartoons, were hugely influential and a part of his life that he never outgrew. He continued to watch and study cartoons, studied film criticism in college, and ultimately wrote his Master’s thesis on Warner Bros. cartoons. Spector cited the Warner Bros. Daffy Duck cartoon “Duck Amuck” as one of the greatest cartoons ever created and admired how it provided a peek behind the creative process in animation. However, Spector also said, “If you’re an animation buff, you have to study the Disney stuff.”
However, Spector was not solely enthralled in cartoons. He’s a big theme park fan as well, and described how one of the most magical days of his life occurred on his 30th birthday at Disneyland. He recounted a trip that occurred during Disneyland’s 30th anniversary celebration. When Spector went through the turnstiles, bells, whistles, and alarms started ringing. It turned out that he was the 3,000th person through the gate – Mr. 3,000 – and he had the run of the park with his friends, never waiting more than 5 minutes to ride an attraction. His day culminated when after the fireworks, Spector and his friends were invited to stay in the park for an after-hours private party.
Spector elaborated on his love of the theme parks saying he dreamed of becoming a Walt Disney Imagineer. After college was torn between designing video games or theme park attractions. He had two telephone interviews with Disney Imagineering before Origin Systems offered him a job to create video games. Spector still holds out hope that some part of Epic Mickey could make its way into a theme park saying, “It would be a life-long dream if Epic Mickey would end up as a theme park attraction.” Given the imagery released for Epic Mickey, it makes you wonder just what kind of steampunk theme park attraction Spector would create.
In creating Epic Mickey, Spector and his team relied heavily on previous work completed by Disney. They had full access to Disney’s history and the archives, and in many instances Spector reined in his team from being too creative. Instead, Spector wanted the game to reflect Disney’s creativity and inspiration. They did not need to create new villains or characters because that work had already been extensively done by Disney. They drew inspiration for characters, attractions, and theme park lands directly from the Disney archives. Everything from the backgrounds seen in the game were taken directly from Disney paintings to the trash cans on Main Street U.S.A. were reproductions of those at Disneyland. However, just like Disney films and theme park attractions, Epic Mickey is ultimately about the story.
Disney Epic Mickey: Into the Archives
Warren Spector uses video games to tell stories WITH players not to players, and Epic Mickey is no exception. He wanted young children to see Mickey Mouse not just as a corporate icon, but as the starring character of a story, and ultimately as an Epic Hero, as he was in “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice”, “Mickey and the Beanstalk”, “The Prince and the Pauper”, or, more recently, “The Three Musketeers”. He also wanted the story to have the same broad appeal as a Pixar film such as “Toy Story 3” or “Up.” Spector commented on how nobody considers “Toy Story 3” as JUST a children’s film, or looks at “Up” and says, “Oh, that was clearly aimed at tween girls.” Pixar creates films with depth that grandparents can see and enjoy with their grandchildren. That is what Warren Spector is aiming for with Epic Mickey, and one of the reasons he selected the Nintendo Wii console as the sole gaming platform. When the game was in the initial stages of creation the Wii was the only game system where children would play side-by-side with parents and grandparents, and appealed to all ages.
As we wrapped up our conference call, Spector talked about his creative philosophy. He has always believed games can tell a good story as deep and sophisticated as any medium. He hopes when people are playing Disney Epic Mickey they start to think about how exactly do you define a hero? Also, Spector hopes playing the game will reveal how important family and friends are to the player. By the time people get to the end of this action-adventure game, people may actually learn a little something about themselves, how they feel about family and friends, and how they define a hero.
Win a Copy of Disney Epic Mickey
OK, I promised you at the beginning of the article I would reveal how you can win your own copy of Disney Epic Mickey. Disney Interactive Studios has provided the DIS Unplugged with 6 copies of the Disney Epic Mickey Collector’s Edition. In addition to the game, the Collector’s Edition includes a 5 inch Vinyl Epic Mickey Figure, Special Edition DVD with behind the scenes footage and videos, Epic Mickey Stylized Wii Remote Faceplate, and 2 Epic Mickey Stylized Wii Console skins. Over the next few days, we will post a number of contest blogs on the DIS Unplugged to give away the copies of Disney Epic Mickey. All you need to do to enter is log in with your DISboards username and password and leave a comment on the blog. That’s it, you’re entered, and we will randomly select winners from the comments on the blog. 
Oh, what the heck, let’s start this giveaway now! We will randomly select 2 people who leave comments at the end of this blog to win a copy of Disney Epic Mickey Collector’s Edition. You have to leave a comment on this article, comments in other places such as Facebook or Twitter will not be official contest entries. Comments will close on Friday, Dec. 3rd. So get started, let us know what you think of this article, Waren Spector, Disney Epic Mickey, or anything else on your mind. Good luck to everyone who enters.
Comments
356 responses to “The Imagineer of Wasteland: Epic Mickey’s Warren Spector”
I think this is a HUGE step for Disney-to come out with a game as immersive as this. It’s very refreshing to see this versus all of the movie-based games they’ve come out with. We’ll see if it lives up to Kingdom Hearts!
Very interesting.
I am looking forward to playing this game and meeting Warren next year at the Walt Disney Family Museum.
I’m so excited that Disney has made a game of this magnitude!
Wow! We can’t wait to play!
My kids really want this game…I won’t say how much my husband and I want it too….lol
I cannot wait to get my hands on this for the boys! Well, ok, for me too! Great job, Dave, as always!
I am looking forward to getting this game as well. Not for my kids but for me! Thanks Dave you always do a nice job.
Very exciting game and news for DISers! 🙂
Nikki
Great job, Dave! Looks awesome! Can’t wait to play!
Thanks Dave! So excited to play!
I have been following the news about this game since I first heard about it! I am SO excited that it is finally here! I absolutely can not wait to try it! Sadly I am not “allowed” to buy it, as Christmas is right around the corner! I am expecting nothing less but an absolutely epic experience!
I’ve been so pumped for this one, ever since the steampunk artwork was leaked on the web !!! Can’t wait to play it.
Sounds like fun. Very interesting to hear all of the background. Thanks Dave!
How fun! I would love to win this game. This will be great to expose kids to the true magic of disney.
Loved reading the blog about Epic Mickey!! Great job Dave!! This game is high on my daughters ‘wish’ list for Christmas. After reading this info, I can’t wait to try it out myself!
I am soooo excited for this release!!! We have been waiting ever since it was annouced last year!! I first read about it in a Gamers magazine and flipped out!! Need to get this before our trip to the World!!!!
I’m really excited to see it in person!
I’ve been looking forward to this game for a long time! It really looks like Warren and the rest of the development team took their time to research everything Disney and put it all into the game.
Another awesome blog! I like the graphics and the background story.
There are just so many things to enjoy about this game. There’s the immersive nature of the game, which is always what I find most appealing about the best of Disney. Then there’s the look of the game – not only detailed, inspired by everything from theme-park attractions to pre-production drawings. I also like that Epic Mickey does more than simply pay homage to Disney’s earliest cartoons; it really channels their spirit. Lots to like here.
And speaking of like, Dave, your coverage here is, as usual, very well done. I’ve now got the endlessly quotable “If you’re an animation buff, you have to study the Disney stuff” running through my head. It’s going on my Facebook page! (Already posted a link to your article on Kungaloosh!)
Sounds like this game is going to be wonderful. I can’t wait to see Disneyland Aka Wasteland!
My husband and I are 26; the first thing that he said to me this morning was “Epic Mickey comes out today!” We currently own several Disney Wii games and are hoping to add this one to our collection soon! We never win prizes, so that would make it even better!!!!
Looking forward to trying this game. Very interesting interview with the creator. Thanks Dave!
I’d have LOVED to have been on that conference call! How amazing to be such a Disney fanatic and have the ability to bring the characters to life through such a graphically pleasing video game! Not sure how I feel about Oswald being a villain but… I still can’t wait to play this game!!!!!
Really looking forward to checking out this game! Yhanks for the great article Dave!!! 🙂
Great article! Until recently, my kids had no clue what Disney was. We started to collect a bunch of short movie clips of the Fab 5 and introduce them, as we had a trip in Sept. Still so much to teach them – lol! This game looks great and I can’t wait!
This game looks really amazing.
Looks like a great video game. Thanks for the information and look forward to playing soon.
This game looks like it is gonna be so much fun to play. I am so excited to finally have a new “adult” style game to play from Disney. The graphics look so fantastic and I am looking forward to entering a new world. Thanks for more indepth look into the game.
I am not even a video game person really and I’ve been excited for this game for AGES. Thanks for the article!
I’m so happy that it’s finally been released! I can’t wait to actually play it.
I am so super excited to play this game!
I put this on my Christmas list, but it would be so cool to win one. I think it looks amazing and fun and totally perfect for a Disney geek like me.
Great article! It really helped me understand what it’s all about & the thinking that went in to creating it. Can’t wait to see it in action!
Can’t wait to play!
The game sounds fantastic. Great job,Dave!!
I’m very excited about this game. It looks so different than other Disney video games.
This is awesome! With money being tight it would be GREAT to win one.
This looks so darn cool! I have a feeling I’ll enjoy playing this as much or even more than my kids.
This game looks fantastic. I can’t wait to play it
Ok, this game has definitely been added to the Christmas shopping list! My kids loved Kingdom Hearts because of the Disney characters so I know they will love this one even more.
Looks like a Wii will be on my shoppng list now. This game looks great!
This looks like an awesome game!! Cant wait to get it.
As a huge gaming fan and a huge Disney fan I can’t wait to get my hands on this game and test drive it. Would be a great birthday present for me!!!!
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Great blog, this looks awesome! Pick me, pick me!!!
Thanks for another great job, Dave! We can’t wait to try this one out.
Thanks Dave for another great blog!
I cannot wait! It is on my Christmas list! 🙂