Difference between revisions of "Disney's Aladdin/Development"
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Wanting to make a more meaningful contribution to the video game market (as opposed to just licensing out properties as had been the case until now), [[Disney Software]] were approached by [[Virgin Games]] with work-in-progress technology known as "Digicel" - a means of converting frame-by-frame animation cells (used in producing animated films) to a format more suited to video game consoles at the time{{magref|vgce|54|78}}. As Digicel theoretically allowed Disney to bring its trademark standards of animation to a new market, the company signed up to working in conjunction with Virgin Games on a new product - the Mega Drive version of ''Aladdin''. | Wanting to make a more meaningful contribution to the video game market (as opposed to just licensing out properties as had been the case until now), [[Disney Software]] were approached by [[Virgin Games]] with work-in-progress technology known as "Digicel" - a means of converting frame-by-frame animation cells (used in producing animated films) to a format more suited to video game consoles at the time{{magref|vgce|54|78}}. As Digicel theoretically allowed Disney to bring its trademark standards of animation to a new market, the company signed up to working in conjunction with Virgin Games on a new product - the Mega Drive version of ''Aladdin''. | ||
| − | Work began | + | Work began in January 1993 (having temporarily shelved ''[[The Jungle Book]]'', which was in mid-production{{magref|mega|14|16}}), with ten of Disney's Florida-based animators producing animations, which were then shipped to Virgin Games' production facility in Irvine, California and digitised for use in-game{{magref|vgce|54|80}}. Roughly thirty people were involved between the two sites in total{{magref|vgce|54|80}}, including the film's directors{{magref|vgce|54|79}}. The teams gave themselves a deadline of October 1993 (or "100 days"{{magref|mega|14|17}}), considered roughly three quarters of the normal time allotted to game development in this era{{magref|vgce|54|80}}. |
Lead programmer [[David Perry]] claims to have been insured for $1.5 million over the 100 day period, being medically assessed on the first day of the project, and working (on average) 19 hour days{{magref|mega|14|17}}. | Lead programmer [[David Perry]] claims to have been insured for $1.5 million over the 100 day period, being medically assessed on the first day of the project, and working (on average) 19 hour days{{magref|mega|14|17}}. | ||
Revision as of 04:53, 13 November 2021
- Back to: Disney's Aladdin.
Development
Wanting to make a more meaningful contribution to the video game market (as opposed to just licensing out properties as had been the case until now), Disney Software were approached by Virgin Games with work-in-progress technology known as "Digicel" - a means of converting frame-by-frame animation cells (used in producing animated films) to a format more suited to video game consoles at the time[1]. As Digicel theoretically allowed Disney to bring its trademark standards of animation to a new market, the company signed up to working in conjunction with Virgin Games on a new product - the Mega Drive version of Aladdin.
Work began in January 1993 (having temporarily shelved The Jungle Book, which was in mid-production[2]), with ten of Disney's Florida-based animators producing animations, which were then shipped to Virgin Games' production facility in Irvine, California and digitised for use in-game[3]. Roughly thirty people were involved between the two sites in total[3], including the film's directors[4]. The teams gave themselves a deadline of October 1993 (or "100 days"[5]), considered roughly three quarters of the normal time allotted to game development in this era[3].
Lead programmer David Perry claims to have been insured for $1.5 million over the 100 day period, being medically assessed on the first day of the project, and working (on average) 19 hour days[5].
Disney worked exclusively on character animations (which took nearly eight weeks to produce[6]), with backgrounds being provided by artists at Virgin Games (after being approved)[3]. Despite being in production at the same time, no animations are shared between the game and movie, mostly due to the requirement for video game animations to loop[3]. 1,500 new pieces of art were created for the game, with 250,000 digitised cells from the film also at the team's disposal for reference[7]. The team did not have access to the full movie, with Virgin instead paying the development team's cinema tickets[5].
The Mega Drive Aladdin was meant to launch in the US on the same day as the VHS release - October 10, 1993[7], however other sources suggest it missed this date[8]. Sega of America allocated a $3-$4 million advertising budget for the game[7], with advertising inserts being included (alongside Colgate and Pizza Hut offers) with the original VHS[9].
Aladdin was first shown to the public at Summer CES 1993, with a lavish production number of the song, "Prince Ali", complete with harem girls and a fire eater[7]. At the event, Tom Kalinske gave a speech, as did Virgin Games chairman Richard Branson, Walt Disney Studios chairman Jeffrey Katenberg and Virgin Games president Martin Alper[7]. The version on display was incomplete, though was said have passed 14 out of 20 milestones[7].
While the Sega-Virgin-Disney partnership garnered much of the attention at the time, this was not the only Aladdin video game project in development. Capcom, which at the time held the rights to produce Disney games for Nintendo platforms, were working on a different Aladdin game for the Super NES. Aside from working with the same source material, there is not thought to have been any overlap between the two projects - SNES Aladdin, a more traditionally made 2D platformer, launched later in 1993 to modest success. 8-bit Sega versions for the Sega Master System and Sega Game Gear developed by Nexa and SIMS, respectively, would also debut in the coming months.
Incidentally it is said that Capcom's Aladdin team drastically improved the graphics of its SNES version after seeing the Mega Drive at Summer CES[5].
Images
A Disney Interactive graphic artist producing the game's line art.
A detailed photograph of the character Aladdin's line art.
A colored concept sketch of Sultan's Palace.
A character color and proportion reference sheet used by Virgin Games USA.
A row of computers used by Virgin Games USA's in the game's production.
A Virgin Games USA developer overviews some of the game's animation cycles.
References
- ↑ VideoGames & Computer Entertainment, "July 1993" (US; 1993-0x-xx), page 78
- ↑ Mega, "November 1993" (UK; 1993-10-21), page 16
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 VideoGames & Computer Entertainment, "July 1993" (US; 1993-0x-xx), page 80
- ↑ VideoGames & Computer Entertainment, "July 1993" (US; 1993-0x-xx), page 79
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Mega, "November 1993" (UK; 1993-10-21), page 17
- ↑ Electronic Games (1992-1995), "November 1993" (US; 1993-10-21), page 64
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 Game Players, "Vol. 6 No. 8 August 1993" (US; 1993-0x-xx), page 52
- ↑ VideoGames, "September 1993" (US; 1993-0x-xx), page 41
- ↑ Game Players, "Vol. 6 No. 8 August 1993" (US; 1993-0x-xx), page 16
