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Spector - Epic Mickey was Disney's best-selling single platform game, sequel ideas, Ducktales talk
A portion of an IndustryGamers interview with Warren Spector...
Q: So let's talk Epic Mickey for a minute. It did reasonably well for Disney...
Warren Spector: No, it did exceptionally well for Disney. It was the best-selling single-platform game the company has ever done.
Q: Okay. So I'm sure there are things, though, that you would have liked to have included or to improve upon, and I know you haven't officially announced anything, but most people are assuming that it's coming. So for the hypothetical sequel that may or may not happen, what things would you like to improve upon for Epic Mickey?
Warren Spector: With Mickey 1, we built a team - we went from 13 people to about 180. We built a studio, we built a tech base, we built a world... we did about everything you can do wrong in video game development. We tried to do everything at once. And so I'm really proud of the first Epic Mickey game. If I were to do it again, there are clearly things that we had to cut and things we could have done better. The number one thing I get asked is, "Why can't I play this on my platform, damn it?" So if I were to do another one - now that we've reintroduced Mickey as a video game hero on the right platform, which was the Wii - I think we've got other people intrigued. There are now more PS3s and 360s in sort of "family hands," let's put it that way. So I think the time would be right to get the game on other platforms.
The second thing I get asked is "you made a game that appeals to adults and kids equally," which is true by the way and was one of our goals, so "Why can't I play together? Why can't I play with my son and why can't I play with my mother? Why I can't play with my friends?" So, I would probably do co-op. I would definitely address player concerns about the camera. That was the number one complaint we heard, but I will defend to the death the quality of the work my camera team did on that first game; there is a whole GDC talk about that sometime, too. The camera in the first game was an amazing piece of work that people don't appreciate. We took the hardest problem in gaming and then made it even harder through our game mechanics - which people don't get - but we know we could do better. And so I would do that and I would do full voice. I mean I made a decision on the first game not to have characters speak. It was a mistake and I would fix that.
Q: I know you've said a zillion times how you would absolutely love to do a DuckTales game. Is there any progress on that front? Also, I know Disney owns Marvel, so would you have interest in working on a Marvel game?
Warren Spector: Yeah, you know, there are all sorts of things I'd love to do. I mean one of the biggest thrills of my life was two years ago at E3; I met Stan Lee. I wrote a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure book for the Marvel Superheroes game called "One Thing After Another." It was a Fantastic Four thing. And I got to type the words "It's Clobbering Time" on Page 1, and know that Stan Lee was going to read it, and then I got him to autograph my copy of my book! So, yeah, I'd love to do a Marvel game. That would be awesome some time. And a Duck game, you know, some day people are going to get tired of me saying, "I want to do a Duck game. I want to do a Duck game. I want to do a Duck game."
Q: Keep saying it until Disney gives in, right? (Laughter)
Warren Spector: Absolutely. That's the way to get what you want, man. It just becomes so annoying they have no choice. That's how I get everything in life. You can ask my wife about that too. (laughter)
Full interview here
Q: So let's talk Epic Mickey for a minute. It did reasonably well for Disney...
Warren Spector: No, it did exceptionally well for Disney. It was the best-selling single-platform game the company has ever done.
Q: Okay. So I'm sure there are things, though, that you would have liked to have included or to improve upon, and I know you haven't officially announced anything, but most people are assuming that it's coming. So for the hypothetical sequel that may or may not happen, what things would you like to improve upon for Epic Mickey?
Warren Spector: With Mickey 1, we built a team - we went from 13 people to about 180. We built a studio, we built a tech base, we built a world... we did about everything you can do wrong in video game development. We tried to do everything at once. And so I'm really proud of the first Epic Mickey game. If I were to do it again, there are clearly things that we had to cut and things we could have done better. The number one thing I get asked is, "Why can't I play this on my platform, damn it?" So if I were to do another one - now that we've reintroduced Mickey as a video game hero on the right platform, which was the Wii - I think we've got other people intrigued. There are now more PS3s and 360s in sort of "family hands," let's put it that way. So I think the time would be right to get the game on other platforms.
The second thing I get asked is "you made a game that appeals to adults and kids equally," which is true by the way and was one of our goals, so "Why can't I play together? Why can't I play with my son and why can't I play with my mother? Why I can't play with my friends?" So, I would probably do co-op. I would definitely address player concerns about the camera. That was the number one complaint we heard, but I will defend to the death the quality of the work my camera team did on that first game; there is a whole GDC talk about that sometime, too. The camera in the first game was an amazing piece of work that people don't appreciate. We took the hardest problem in gaming and then made it even harder through our game mechanics - which people don't get - but we know we could do better. And so I would do that and I would do full voice. I mean I made a decision on the first game not to have characters speak. It was a mistake and I would fix that.
Q: I know you've said a zillion times how you would absolutely love to do a DuckTales game. Is there any progress on that front? Also, I know Disney owns Marvel, so would you have interest in working on a Marvel game?
Warren Spector: Yeah, you know, there are all sorts of things I'd love to do. I mean one of the biggest thrills of my life was two years ago at E3; I met Stan Lee. I wrote a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure book for the Marvel Superheroes game called "One Thing After Another." It was a Fantastic Four thing. And I got to type the words "It's Clobbering Time" on Page 1, and know that Stan Lee was going to read it, and then I got him to autograph my copy of my book! So, yeah, I'd love to do a Marvel game. That would be awesome some time. And a Duck game, you know, some day people are going to get tired of me saying, "I want to do a Duck game. I want to do a Duck game. I want to do a Duck game."
Q: Keep saying it until Disney gives in, right? (Laughter)
Warren Spector: Absolutely. That's the way to get what you want, man. It just becomes so annoying they have no choice. That's how I get everything in life. You can ask my wife about that too. (laughter)