Jason Wilson

Jason Wilson
Credits
MediEvil (1998)	Game Design Art Design Texture Art Preliminary Script Additional Voices (Sir Dan)
MediEvil 2	Art Design
MediEvil: Resurrection	Original MediEvil Design Voice Talent (Sir Dan)
MediEvil (2019)	Project Consultant Cast (Sir Daniel Fortesque) Special Thanks

Jason Wilson was responsible for the game and art design on the original MediEvil, and was the writer of its preliminary script. He continued to work on the art design of MediEvil 2, but had less input in terms of the game design. He was brought on as a project consultant for the 2019 remake of MediEvil.

Wilson is the voice of the series protagonist Sir Daniel Fortesque in all the games safe for MediEvil 2. He performed his lines for the original game through gritted teeth with a bucket over his head.

Biography

The following biography appeared on MediEvil 2's Official European website. According to Wilson, it was not written by him despite a part of it being in first person.

Jason Wilson (29) – Lead Artist

Jason is responsible for setting the style, character designs and environments. Progressing the style set by the previous adventure into the exciting possibilities of the Victorian age. With Medievil2 that means turning his twisted and bizarre design ideas into conforming art guides.

Short personal biography: Lots of arcade games!… Pacmania, Space Harrier, loathsome football games, and I designed a number of arcade adventure games in the late 80s. I also worked extensively on the first Medievil game as Concept Artist/Lead Designer. In the past my job roles have ranged from an Arcade conversion slave, to being Lead Designer, Lead Artist and Creative Director.

Interviews

• Official Australian PlayStation Magazine, April 1998
• The-Dan-Fanclub, October 2006
• MediEvil Boards, December 2012
• MediEvil Boards, February 10, 2013
• MediEvil Boards, February 17, 2013
• MediEvil Boards, February 20, 2013
• MediEvil Boards, March 2013
• PREVIEWSworld, September 2019
• MediEvil Boards, November 2013
• Retro Gamer, March 2008
• Push Square, December 2017
• RETRO, July 2015
• MediEvil UnOfficial Fan Club, October 2017
• S!CK, September 2023

Retro Gamer

March 27, 2008

• Retro Gamer - The Making of... MediEvil on The Mean Machines Archive (PDF file). Published March 27, 2008.

MediEvil Boards Q&A

February 20, 2013

1) During the level, would the camera have been positioned behind Dan as he ran from the creature or would it have been more Crash Bandicoot style, with Dan running towards the screen as the Jabberwocky chased him?

JW - We were trying both approaches, into and away from the camera. It was abandoned due to time constraints. Another reason for abandoning it was when we played Crash Bandicoot, we realised that the level didn't add that much value to the gameplay.

I have the original scans for the level layout knocking around somewhere.

March 1, 2013

1) In the games trailer and concept art, the ride aboard Zarok's train seems like it was meant to take Dan completely around the exterior of Zarok's Lair. Was the ride aboard the train originally intended to be longer?

JW - Yes the train journey had a stopping off point at Zarok's Lair. The train journey was not much longer but there was a level based around Dan climbing Zarok's Lair.

2) Another thing about Zarok's Lair; by using a teleport cheat, it has been discovered that parts of the exterior of the lair were built to be solid, and concept art seems to imply that Dan was meant to ascend the Lair's exterior. Was the Lair in-fact intended to be climbed, similar with Cathedral Spires from MediEvil 2?

JW - And yes, there was a level designed around traversing the exterior of Zarok's Lair. You see the castle in the FMV sequence and in the train journey. It was dropped due to pacing and time issues.

3) There was a kind-of newspaper that was released with MediEvil 2. 

Do you know anything about this newspaper? Is it canonical to the game?

JW - The newspaper was only used in the Press Kit boxed edition of Med' 2. Most of the Cambridge Studio Press kits (Med 1, 2 and Ghosthunter and Primal) were released to the Press in nice swanky Press boxed editions.

November 3, 2013

Q: I'd like to ask if it would be alright if I could ask you about a concept for MediEvil 2 which wound up not being used: You mentioned that the original idea for MediEvil 2 involved Zarok being kept prisoner in the Tower of London and Dan had to free him, after which they would then work together in an uneasy alliance. 

I'd like to ask if there is anything more that you can describe about this concept and, if alright, why it wasn't used. About how different was this vision from the way the game actually turned out?

Jason Wilson:   Chris came up with the original wonderful idea of setting Med' 2 in Victorian London. I believe at this point that the hero wasn't even Dan Fortisque but an ascendant of Dan's - a rather dapper skeleton in a top and tails (I forget his name). This revision might have been too similar to Jack Skellington but we ran with the idea for a while. The final design of this character did end up in Med' 2 as the Victorian outfit that Dan gets to wear.

Chris was busy ramping up the pre-production on Primal and was looking into technology for an engine to run on the then unreleased PS2. I was left with Med' 2 on my own for a while so I went away and knocked around a few ideas to embellish Chris's overall brief (which was how we had worked on Med' 1). I came up with the British Museum and the exhibits coming to life as well as the Vampires in London amongst other things. At that point we had Zarok imprisoned in the Tower of London. His spell book which is held in a secure location was stolen and used by an evil cult to resurrect the dead. At some point in this early design spec the player had to team up with Zarok, who was an untrustworthy ally to save the day.

There was an idea that Dan could take out his eye ball and pop into area he had no access to so that he could spy. This was later replaced by Chris with the fabulous Dan-hand idea. Chris also had the idea of Queen Victoria being possessed and turned into a giant monster version of Queen Victoria and stomping about London like Godzilla. After I worked on this design spec a new project director became involved with Med' 2 - James Shepherd. James kept some of the ideas that Chris and I had specced up but also replaced some ideas with his own, such as replacing Zarok with the Palethorn gangster character and the boxing section. In terms of art design, I decided that if Zarok was thin and fey then Palethorn would be wide, square and gruff. I liked the contrast between the two villains.

I liked a lot of James' ideas and approved of the main character still being Dan Fortesque. He also added the romantic sub plot which was a great idea. The only mis-steps was that I felt that the boxing match section was misplaced and the level designs were rather flat after the joyous undulations of the original (after a lot of level design work on Med' 1 I had little to do with level design on Med 2 as I was dealing 100% of my time on art direction and concepts). I would have loved to have seen the monstrous Queen Victoria in the final game.

I still have the original design doc for Med' 2 before James came on board. It would be interesting to look back at it and see how it evolved. All in all, MediEvil 2 was a polished game that was a good mix of ideas from Chris, James and myself, that took the game in a fresh new direction.

I went on to enjoy working with James on Ghosthunter where we continued some of the themes of MediEvil 2. Sadly I never worked on another game with Chris again. I have a good deal of respect for both chaps.

Hope that helps.

J

PS - if any of you chaps want a preview of my current project then you can 'like' my Jay Gunn Facebook page. Jay Gunn is my graphic novel writing pseudonym. I'm working on a 'science fiction fantasy horror' comic book series - "Surface Tension." There are some crazy ideas in the story and art and if you liked the art or the games that the Cambridge Studio developed then you'll probably like this story too! :) It'll be released in 2014 by Titan Books.

November 3, 2013 - additional Q&A

Q: Actually, if it's still alright, there's one other question I have regarding a cut level in MediEvil 2: someone on the MediEvil Boards found mention of a file called "Parliament" and I've heard that this was intended to be a level in the game. Is this true? If so, what would it have been like?

Jason Wilson:  "Parliament" was the level intended as the battle ground for fighting the Queen Victoria monster. It got changed to a different level design when the Queen was dropped for the big demon that replaced her. I do not think that much work was done on the parliament level.

RETRO

July 25, 2015

• RETRO - Behind the scenes of MediEvil on gamesTM (PDF file). Published July 25, 2015.

Russian Interview

December 9, 2017

JW - Hello! Thank you for your fast reply! I so appreciate your attention. I will check your video. Sorry for the delay in replying!

1) If some studio decided to make a MediEvil movie, would you like to be a lead designer or an artist?

JW - Well it's a very long shot and I have other things that I enjoy making but If I was asked onto another MediEvil game I'd probably like to be the lead designers.

2) The second question is about those running arms in all MediEvil games. Is that a reference to “The Addams Family” or “Evil Dead”? Did they have any usage on the early stages of development “MediEvil 1”?

JW - It's a definite reference to the Evil Dead. Chris and I were big gore horror film fans and we both loved Evil Dead 2. We would watch Fulci zombie films together - happy days.

3) Which character was the most difficult one to imagine and create (except Sir Daniel, of course)?

JW - For some reason they were all relatively easy, we really just made up anything that came to mind. It would be much harder today because there would be about ten people telling us how we couldn't do what we want to do.

4) Why was the “Swamp Guardian”, that monster with lots of mouths and eyes, refused? From our point of view it could be an astonishing game experience.

JW - It wasn't refused, we just simply didn't have the time to do everything we wanted. It would have been a fun thing to add but we already had so much to do.

5) What happened with the purple worm from Dan’s skull? We can see him on title screens in some DEMOs and even in the cut scene after “Haunted ruins”. Was it impossible to realize this character technically?

JW - Again, like the Swamp Guardian it was time. We built a level for the worm based on my drawings and plans but we had to cut it from the game but Morten the worm still appears in the FMV cut scenes.

6) What are your favorite levels in the first and the second MediEvil games? What would you have changed, if you had a chance?

JW - I like the reuse of levels in MediEvil 1, the fact that you return to levels such as the graveyard but they have changed and evolved. I don't think anyone was doing this sort of thing in many games at the time. I like having gameplay design that interconnects with different paths across levels. As for MediEvil 2 - some of the levels were too long, I was happy with the Vampire Mansion as that used my designs and I like puzzle designs that include lots of action and thought.

7) Can you tell us any secrets or facts about MediEvil, which nobody knows?

JW - The actual title of the game comes from Evil Dead 3 - Army of Darkness. Originally that film was going to be called The MediEvil dead - true story! But originally MediEvil was called Dead Man Dan but everyone knows that.

8) This question has always tortured all the fans: who had put gloves on Dan before he awoke in 1886 in London?

JW - Me! I went back in time and put the gloves on him. :) Actually, I never liked Dan's skeletal hands and thought he would love better with gloves as he would look a little chunkier and could emote better with hand gesticulations.

9) Who is Lord Palethorn talking to during the cut scene before the “Wulfrum Hall” level? t=1m19s youtu.be/gUqnleN2Djc? t=1m19s

JW - There was going to be another big bad guy but it was cut. I forget who or why. MediEvil 2 went though a number of different storylines that started with Chris, then me and then James.

10) There are so many facts about deleted levels from the first MediEvil, and we got so little info about things we haven’t seen in sequel (actually we know only about Queen Victoria as final boss). Do you remember something about it?

JW - That was Chris' idea - to have a big Queen-Zilla (as she was named after Godzilla). I did some drawings of her but it was decided it looked too silly so she was replaced with a boring unimaginative traditional giant demon.

11) Is that true that the Time Machine design was inspired by the “Time Machine” movie directed by George Pal?

JW - Yes. George Pal and H.G. Wells.

12) Can you tell us more about the sewers folks? Is this a kind of reference to any cultural phenomenon?

JW - They are based on the Morlocks from The TIme Machine, the humans from the future that have evolved into underground monsters. It's a great novel, you should read it!

13) Can you imagine how would MediEvil look like if it appeared in our days?

JW - Yes. It would look fantastic. I had an artist build a Dan Fortesque for Playstation 4 but the project was cancelled at a very early stage.

14) What was it like to watch, how the characters from the first game were being reworked for “MediEvil: Resurrection”? Which ones, in your opinion, turned out the best and the worst?

JW - Chris and I didn't really like MediEvil Resurrection. But I did really like the body redesign of Dan Fortesque, he looked great but I didn't like his run animations - he lost his goofy way of moving.

Push Square

December 14, 2017

• Interview: MediEvil Creators Give Their Verdict on the Forthcoming PS4 Remaster on Push Square. Published December 14, 2017.

PREVIEWSworld

September 17, 2019

• Dead Man Dan Returns In MediEvil Graphic Novel on PREVIEWSworld. Published September 17, 2019.

Videos

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See also

• Atomic-city
• Jason Wilson's notes

Gallery

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External links

• Jay Gunn
• JASON WILSON - PORTFOLIO
• atomic-city concept art and design of Jason Wilson (archived at Wayback Machine Internet Archive)