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”
Another fantastic blog, Dave! Crossing my fingers that I’m one of the lucky six!
I can’t wait to get Epic Mickey!
Hopefully Santa will leave one in my stocking! =0)
Oh oh…I want one!!!!
I want to play with the extinct theme park rides. It’s nostalgia time! Bring on Journey to Imagination.
Looks like an AWESOME game 🙂
Can’t wait to get this game my son is so excited and we are watching the Oswald videos as you suggested.
Epic Mickey is everything that Walt wanted to achieve with his parks and movies…..the telling of a great story combined with interaction on the part of the audience. With the addition of the chance to alter the storyline based on the actions you have Mickey do while in the game, you have the culmination of Walt’s dreams….I think he would be proud and so happy to see this game, bringing to life and adding new dimensions to the stories, characters and setting that he imagined so many years ago. Way to go Mickey, and Warren…you guys make a great team.
My 7 year old, who loves all things Disney, wants this game for Christmas. I’m not a gamer by any means, but it looks like so much fun!
I guess this is another instance of “It all started with a mouse, err, or should I say rabbit. 🙂 Looks to be a great game!
This game looks great! And it’s hard to find in stores! Can’t wait to play it.
I cannot wait to play this game!! Thanks for another great article!! Here’s hoping this will be a long running series, right!? 🙂
YAY! I know my DD and I are so excited to play this! I saw there is some kind of paintbrush you can buy to go with the game. We are so excited…we actually saw this for sale on Saturday at a Sam’s Club in Savannah…and being the “good” DISer that I am, I pointed out to a nearby associate that the release date on the box said Nov. 30th…OOPS! She pulled them all right away!
This looks like a TON-O-FUN!..Can’t wait to get it for our special son…and his special Dad!!! 🙂
Awesome! Great article!
I have literally been counting the days for Disney Epic Mickey to be released. It looks like an absolutely fantastic game for the Wii and I can’t wait to try it out! I absolutely loved the blog and really appreciated the video you posted. Thanks Dave, for another wonderful, insightful blog! This game is really going to be EPIC!
Great article. It will be under the tree this Christmas for our two boys. I can’t promise it will stayed “sealed” til then though…
As big Disney fans my son and I have been waiting for this game to come out. I’m sure Santa will be leaving one under our tree this year!!
My boys haven’t been this excited about a game since the last Kingdom Hearts game was released! Here’s hoping Santa’s elves at the Disboards have a copy in their bag with my boys’ names on it!
This game looks awesome! Thanks for all the great information. We can’t wait for Santa to bring the game … or to win one…
I can’t wait to try this! I was hopeless at Kingdom Hearts, but I hope I can figure Epic Mickey out. (Disboards name: mytripsandraces)
Love the concept behind this!! Something new and different!!
This looks like a VERY interesting game – what could be better? Mickey and Disney Parks together…COOL!!!!!
This game looks outstanding, great to have the youngsters learn about classic Mickey and Oswald while having fun playing this game.
Did you know nothing gets by seven year olds? If it’s got ears on it and the Wii attached to it, it’s epic even without the title of the game. It’s been on my son’s Christmas list for quite some time, and I didn’t know what it was; Fortunately, I caught a glimpse of the words ‘epic’ and ‘Mickey’ and quickly found out what it was: cool! I’m not a gamer, but this looks pretty neato. I just may be the hero in this scenario and leave Santa right out of it. This is too cool to let Santa get all the credit!
This is the most creative sounding game I’ve heard of in a long time. Can’t wait to try it out!
Our whole family is looking forward to playing this game!!
Great article Dave!
I had seen this game but wasn’t sure what it is all about. I think it is great that the old attractions are being used again. This game is a great way for families to spend some time exploring the old and new Disney.
I can’t wait to play! I’ve already bought 2 to give as Christmas gifts.
Have been really looking forward to this release! Even told my wife that I’ve been good this year so here’s hoping “Santa” delivears!
Heard about this game a long time ago and had seen some of the artwork while in development. Looked awesome at the time. Looks even better now. Thanks Dave and TheDis for highlighting it here.
Loved the article…what a way to celebrate your 30th! Headed to Disneyland ourselves this month. My son is asking Santa for this game while we are there!
This looks amazing. What a cool birthday Mr.Spector had. I’m hoping for the same magic when I celebrate my 36th birthday on 12/12/2012 hopefully at WDW.
We never venture into new games for our Wii. Thanks to this blog we have an exciting option to add to our love of Disney and Wii.
My kids are so excited about this game, we can’t wait to get it. I have no doubt that chores will get pushed to the side for a while. The graphics look fantastic, I just may have to wait a little longer for the collectors edition so I can dress up my WII.
Game looks so fun! Need something exciting to play in my Wii!
This is definately at the TOP of our Christmas lists this year!!! Can not wait to give it a go!
Wow, what an amazing game. My son and I are really impressed with game and see it as an great tie-in to the parks and all things disney. I hope this is the start of a great new trend! Really, really really want a copy of this game!!!
Well as a mom of 5 children 12 and under I look for games that are around the interest of my children. We have 13 Disney games so far and my daughter is really wanting santa to get this one as she has just finished Kingdom of Hearts and loves as do I anything that is Disney.
Was planning on buying it eventually so fingers crossed, it does look very good and I am curious to see all of these old attractions etc.
It’s an interesting concept. I can’t wait to see how it plays out.
Love,Love,Love that I can now help Mickey get color….looks Awesome, CAN NOT WAIT TO TRY/PLAY THIS FOR MYSELF!
GREAT JOB DAVE!!!
My kids are starting to think Mickey’s too babyish for them…this oughtta change their minds!
Dave, great blog as always. I just love the interviews that you do, you always manage to get such great details. As a family we can’t wait to own this game, this made us even more excited about it! We saw a few of the artists at Festival of the Masters and watched some of the kids playing, looks just great! Thanks Dave!
-Lesley
My son has this game on his Christmas list. :o)
Wow, this looks great1 I can’t wait to try it out.
Wow, this looks wonderful. A great family game to play on snow days!!
This is a great. Finally a game worthy of Mickey. Looking forward to it.
Awesome! I think I need to add one more thing to the Christmas list! Thanks for the preview.
We have been looking forward to playing this almost as much as Toy Story for Wii. Thanks to Disney (and Dave!) for getting us all excited about palying together as a family again!