
Eurogamer also detailed several concepts that aren’t seen in the final product, including the use of different color paint and additional tools like pencils and erasers. An original version of the narrative, reported by Eurogamer in 2009, had Oswald as the ultimate villain, posing Mickey’s journey as one of survival through Oswald’s revenge. That issue hit a little more than a year before the game’s ultimate release, and in that time, a lot of what had been planned for the title would ultimately be changed or cut. And it would be dark, a far more grim take on the Mouse than had previously been seen before. It would feature a painting and thinning mechanic where players could literally finish the world around them or thin it down. According to the many articles posted on it, Epic Mickey would feature a new take on Mickey Mouse from the man who brought us Deus Ex, visiting a tarnished land inhabited by Disney characters and attractions that people and time had forgotten. The issue finally gave those enamored with the concept art an inkling of an idea of what the game would be. I don’t think any person was under the impression the Nintendo Wii could adequately recreate those images, but goddamn if I didn’t hold out hope that they were trying.ĭisney Epic Mickey would ultimately be revealed in the pages of Game Informer in October 2009. The problem with this approach to concept art, to see how far you could go with it, is that video game art has a tendency to leak, and when it did throughout 2009, it set up certain expectations for what we’d see in the final game. Nightmare-inducing would be a good way to describe it Mickey Mouse by way of H.R. A lot of great artwork originated in this early stage of development, including the “Paint Thinner Beach” piece and my personal favorite, “Epcot and Hollywood Studios on the Back of a Whale.” The images presented a vision of Disney not seen outside the pages of DeviantArt, a reimagined world of forgotten critters and mechanical monstrosities possessing the faces of characters known and loved around the world. Chances are you know this concept art well as the various images have stuck with the franchise even when Junction Point abandoned most of the ideas they illustrated. Looking at his previous titles, Spector could go quite dark with his concept and asked his artists to draw up designs to find out where Disney would draw the line. Junction Point’s first action would be to test the bounds of Disney’s limitations.
