Mecha-zombie Goofy... Hu-yuck, Gawrsh

July 30, 2009 11:55 AM

Epic Mickey: a dystopian, steampunk version of the Disney world and characters we all know and love (we love them, right?) from Junction Point Studios.

Deux Ex designer Warren Spector, now of Junction Point Studios, owned by Disney, is heading a team developing Epic Mickey, a video game that explores a fantastical, dystopian Disney World. First confirmed last December, concept art has now been discovered.

Rotting Epcots, machines wearing the faces of the Seven Dwarves, scorpion-Country Bears, oh my! Whether something this, ermm.... dark, makes it into the final game is another matter. But enjoy the possibilities.

posted by pixlboi (51 comments total)

Holy crap, this looks awesome.
posted by Bageena at 12:00 PM on July 30

Yeah, I can't believe Disney is going in for this. If the game is anywhere in the same area code as Deus Ex, quality-wise, then wow!
posted by Mister_A at 12:07 PM on July 30

Somebody tell Paul Krassner.
posted by Guy_Inamonkeysuit at 12:08 PM on July 30 [1 favorite]

The only way something this edgy would ever actually be made is by first bringing about the dystopia that it portrays.

And then, I guess, it'd be like, "ho hum, mechanical scorpion Country Bear. See those every day."
posted by gurple at 12:09 PM on July 30 [2 favorites]

Holy shit.
posted by brundlefly at 12:09 PM on July 30

Wow, ditto Mister_A - I'm amazed that Disney let the Happiest Place on Earth get this treatment.

From a now missing Goths in Hot Weather post: steampunk Mickey ears.

Also: Steampunk Willie, the (alternate time-stream) cousin of Steamboat Mickey.
posted by filthy light thief at 12:14 PM on July 30 [1 favorite]

Don't think we can top Mefi's own waxpancake commenting on this:

"Fantastically bizarre, and the biggest Cory Doctorow bait I've ever seen."
posted by SpiffyRob at 12:16 PM on July 30 [12 favorites]

As the first article notes, this was discovered by the superannuation tumblelog. The artwork appeared on a page by Fred Gambino, and it seems unlikely that Disney authorized this art release. Also unclear whether actually be part of the final product.
posted by Nelson at 12:17 PM on July 30

My first association to any game whose pitch is "It's like setting X, only dark, twisted, and edgy!" is to American McGee's Alice.

To be fair, Spector has association with a rather better pedigree of games than McGee, and if it ends up actually having decent gameplay, great.
posted by Drastic at 12:18 PM on July 30 [1 favorite]

In other news, Cory Doctorow jizzes in his pants.


Then, he writes a novel about it.
posted by Ratio at 12:24 PM on July 30

I am so excited, except for the fact that the game probably won't actually be finished beyond this art. It hasn't actually been announced.
posted by The Devil Tesla at 12:24 PM on July 30

These are originally from the back room of the Disney Vault.
posted by COBRA! at 12:26 PM on July 30

This could be wonderful, or it could be terrible. Ideally, it would be both.
posted by owtytrof at 12:28 PM on July 30

Given the precedent of the Kingdom Hearts games, I don't think it's all that unrealistic to imagine Disney letting someone go dark with the Magical Kingdom, though, yeah, if this does turn into a release I have a feeling the finished product would be somewhere closer to the midpoint of this art and your stock Mickey Mouse stuff.
posted by cortex at 12:28 PM on July 30 [4 favorites]

If there's one thing we need, it's more Dark, Edgy Treatments of Existing IP.
posted by Scoo at 12:32 PM on July 30 [5 favorites]

I think it's telling that someone posted this on another board I frequent -- and the initial post was followed up by at least THIRTY responses from people, all of whom were saying "OH MY GOD I WOULD ABSOLUTELY PLAY THAT GAME".
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:35 PM on July 30 [1 favorite]

Given the precedent of the Kingdom Hearts games...

Good point. Whoever is in charge of the video game licensing at Disney is evidently far more relaxed about the sanctity of the I.P. than the average mouse suit.

Hopefully they'll be down with my proposal for a hard-M survival horror game based on Pete's Dragon.
posted by Iridic at 12:48 PM on July 30 [1 favorite]

I liked the movie about the little boy and his imaginary French mounted infantry division.
posted by GuyZero at 12:53 PM on July 30

My friend made the joke about how Cory Doctorow's going to be all over this, but little did he know the man had already made a post about it! You can't call him predictable if he beats you to the punch!

I'm kind of conflicted about this thing because I love Warren Spector and Deus Ex but I have a hard time believing Disney would: 1) allow their properties to be mutated like this and 2) release a game with any kind of gameplay depth or complexity. I was ready to call Mr. Spector a traitor before I saw these and now I'm not so sure. I'm just assuming that if Disney lets 1. happen then 2. will follow as well, and that would certainly be good news. We'll see, I guess?
posted by palidor at 12:54 PM on July 30 [1 favorite]

If there's one thing we need, it's more Dark, Edgy Treatments of Existing IP.

I'm predicting a trend where people take Dark, Edgy IPs and transform them into wholesome, optimistic fare.

Fight Club: Unsatisfied office worker quits his day job to pursue his lifelong dream of making quality cosmetic products. He finds spirituality when he enrolls in a community martial arts class and learns how to accept his place in the world

Cube: Strangers awake in a brightly colored room with no knowledge of how they got there. Exploring there surroundings, they find that they are in a wonderland where cubes of various colors contain unexpected and wondrous surprises. All their needs are provided for. They are perfectly content and make no attempt to discover the secret behind the Cube.

Crying Game: Dil removes her pants, revealing... a pecan pie! They eat the pie, and both agree it was the best damn pie they ever had.

Cathie (comic strip): Cathie is hunted through a forest by rabid wolves. Everyone else gets on with their life.
posted by logicpunk at 1:21 PM on July 30 [21 favorites]

Shining: depressed writer Jack Torrence finds meaning, happiness in his adoptive relationship with fatherless scamp Danny.
posted by cortex at 1:34 PM on July 30 [1 favorite]

Trainspotting: Here comes Thomas! Choo choo!
posted by robocop is bleeding at 1:39 PM on July 30 [4 favorites]

Don't forget Must Love Jaws, a story about one man's misunderstood love for an elasmobranch.
posted by benzenedream at 1:40 PM on July 30 [1 favorite]

No one has mentioned the fact that this is reportedly going to be a Wii-only title. On one hand, the fact that this game might be on a Nintendo system makes this whole thing even more bizarre, but on the other, it's unfortunate for what that probably means for the game's quality.
posted by rbf1138 at 1:50 PM on July 30

How does being made for Wii mean this will be crappy? If it's a point and click adventure game -- and that's what it looks like to me -- then the Wii is its natural home.

The sooner people get over their graphics fetish, the better games will be.
posted by robcorr at 1:57 PM on July 30 [3 favorites]

Hmm... needs more Darkwing Duck. Or better yet, Darkwarrior Duck.
posted by Servo5678 at 1:57 PM on July 30

Requiem for a Dream: A young man and his girlfriend grow closer as they work to establish a small business. Meanwhile, his mother renews her self esteem by whipping herself into shape for a television appearance.

Stroszek: A happy-go-lucky immigrant and his makeshift family pursue the American Dream.

Watership Down: OMG BUNNIES
posted by Iridic at 1:58 PM on July 30 [3 favorites]

Whether this ultimately becomes a game or not, I really want a full-sized poster of S.S. Rotting Epcot Narwhal.
posted by naju at 1:58 PM on July 30

It looks like a phenomenal setting for an old-school point-and-click adventure to me. I'm thinking The Longest Journey meets Loom. A boy can dream.
posted by kjh at 1:58 PM on July 30 [1 favorite]

S.S. Rotting Epcot Narwhal

That's got user name written all over it.
posted by brundlefly at 2:03 PM on July 30 [2 favorites]

Happiness: A lonely loser gets set up on a cute blind date with his neighbor after a series of romantic misadventures, while an emotionally repressed dentist gets back in touch with his son and his friends. Everyone has ice cream at the end.
posted by benzenedream at 2:14 PM on July 30

Hamlet: A young man reconciles with his mother, while his girlfriend goes through therapy.

Glengarry Glen Ross: Oprah, in an uncredited role, gives everyone new Caddys!

Seinfeld: Reagan really did begin bombing in five minutes. Everybody dies by fire.
posted by bonehead at 2:17 PM on July 30 [1 favorite]

mickey's ears appear to not conform to company policy. they are to be 55 degree ovoids, set at an angle of 85 degrees on the head(circle). the ears may also be circles, but must be set 85 degrees apart too.
posted by billybobtoo at 2:37 PM on July 30 [1 favorite]

Then, he writes a novel about it.

In crayon.

And still manages to promote it enough to get Hugo and Locus nominations. Luckily, the judges of the former miscount the tally and the judges of the latter change the rules after voting is over. He is then forced to find consolation in a fellowship at an institution that thinks that he still has some cachet.
posted by ten pounds of inedita at 2:38 PM on July 30 [1 favorite]

Disney misses revenue estimates, shares slip.

Hey, maybe we'll see this dystopia, after all!
posted by gurple at 3:17 PM on July 30

Somebody tell Paul Krassner.

That's here. (NSFW, unless your boss likes it when Disney characters have sex.)
posted by twoleftfeet at 3:45 PM on July 30

Disney Fallout? What the hell?

Next step: the Fairy Godmother selling herself for bottlecaps out behind a now-radioactive It's A Small World.
posted by Schlimmbesserung at 4:12 PM on July 30

Some other interesting info here. Apparently:

"We've since been told that it's a Wii-exclusive where you paint your way through levels using the Wii Remote. This 'painting your way' involves you drawing, etching and erasing whole or parts of levels as you go. Capcom's Okami immediately springs to mind but we've not got enough info to go on to make any kind of informed judgement.

As for the story, we've also been told that it'll be based around very old and/or forgotten Disney characters who are out to get their revenge on Mickey, presumably because they're jealous of all his fame and fortune. We Googled 'early Disney characters' and found that Oswald the Lucky Rabbit returned a lot of hits."
posted by Amanojaku at 4:40 PM on July 30 [2 favorites]

I'm not sure they'd go for Oswald, since he basically is Mickey and that'd be a bit weird. Then again ... final boss?

On the other hand, Horace Horsecollar, Clarabelle Cow and Clara Cluck are shoo-ins.
posted by bettafish at 5:29 PM on July 30

Feh. The only dystopian Disney I approve of is the one where Epcot Center is the center of the DMZ between the Caribbean Republic and the Christian States Of America. They have treaty meetings in the Hall Of Presidents, the rotting robotic faces leering all the way.
posted by The Whelk at 6:32 PM on July 30 [3 favorites]

Sid and Nancy: It turns out breakfast is ugly and boring so they skip it to have tons of great sex.

Beautiful Creatures: Hi mom! Thanks for coming to our Coming Out party in the park, we're so lucky you are supportive and just want us to be happy!

Children of Men: free love for everyone! No consequences!
posted by freebird at 11:06 PM on July 30 [3 favorites]

Whoah, I just noticed all of mine were about sex, wtf. Maybe having a kid has impacted my psyche more than I realize...
posted by freebird at 11:07 PM on July 30

Damn, "Heavenly Creatures". I give up.
posted by freebird at 11:09 PM on July 30

Bambi - Young deer learns to shun and mock unpopular forest animals with the guidance of his papa!

Glengarry, Glenross - Alec Baldwin leads eager acolytes to unrealized potential, steak knives.

Pulp Fiction - Honey-Bunny orders waffles! Misunderstanding results in a frank exchange of ideas.
posted by Slap*Happy at 11:30 PM on July 30

Alien - Humans come across an alien spaceship full of brightly colored easter eggs. A puppy hatches out of one and runs around snuggling with people.

Aliens - Humans sent to investigate the loss of contact with a mining colony find it has been overrun with puppies, and the miners are too busy snuggling with them to call anyone.

Alien 3 - People from the movie Aliens unintentionally bring a puppy to a penal colony. All the prisoners enjoy snuggling with the puppy.

Alien Resurrection - More puppies and -- oh god, a freakish human-puppy hybrid is created. Holy crap that's creepy! How did this get a G rating?

Alien vs Predator - Puppies and kittens frolic in Antarctica. A team of humans sent to investigate observe, grinning stupidly.

Aliens vs Predator: Requiem - 90 minute screen capture of scrolling through Cute Overload.
posted by whatnotever at 1:31 AM on July 31 [10 favorites]

cortex: "Given the precedent of the Kingdom Hearts games, I don't think it's all that unrealistic to imagine Disney letting someone go dark with the Magical Kingdom[...]

Kingdom Hearts had just about proved to me that darkness* and Disney should never, ever go together, or at least not with Donald Duck casting Final Fantasy spells in a suit covered with zippers. I could rant for quite some time about why that game was Evil and Bad.

This, however, might be cool. Warren Spector is ace. Did you guys know he wrote a Paranoia module?

* By the way, is the word "darkness" past its sell-by date yet? There is no more overused gaming cliche.
posted by JHarris at 2:20 AM on July 31

Amanojaku: ""We've since been told that it's a Wii-exclusive where you paint your way through levels using the Wii Remote. This 'painting your way' involves you drawing, etching and erasing whole or parts of levels as you go. Capcom's Okami immediately springs to mind but we've not got enough info to go on to make any kind of informed judgement.

Sounds a lot more like the highly underrated, utterly wonderful De Blob.
posted by JHarris at 2:26 AM on July 31

This is real?! Whoa.

The first Kingdom Hearts instilled in me a deep hatred for Donald and Goofy. I don't think that's what the creators meant, but they had some of the worst AI I've seen in RPGs.
posted by graventy at 6:56 AM on July 31

This looks quite good, and I would play it. It's pretty refreshing to see them go in this direction, and the art ties into the plot about old characters in a way. I saw a piece of Oswald merchandise recently, so I wouldn't be surprised if he might be in. Clarabelle, Horace, and Clara were in Kingdom Hearts II, and so quite possible.

Graventy, did you customize their behavior from the options menu? They served me pretty well.
posted by cmgonzalez at 10:33 AM on July 31

Sounds a lot more like the highly underrated, utterly wonderful De Blob.

Dude. You're not kidding. Great game.
posted by Amanojaku at 2:30 PM on July 31

Am I the only person who noticed the olde schoole characters frolicking around in the second picture and thought that it looked like a twisted forgotten alternate dimension version of Disney World where those guys went to live or something. As in the fictional universe, not the theme park.

Anyone?
posted by Magnakai at 4:04 PM on July 31