Interview:MediEvil Boards, December 2012

MediEvil Boards, December 2012
Interviewee(s)	Jason Wilson
Interviewer(s)	Winston1
Interview Subject	MediEvil MediEvil 2
Language	English
URL available?	Yes

An interview with Jason Wilson posted on the MediEvil Boards on December 24, 2012.

Transcript

I emailed Jason Wilson to ask if he could answer a few questions I had about the original two MediEvil games, and he replied yes. So I sent them over, he answered them, and here they are;

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1) In the Japanese version of the original MediEvil, Sir Daniel wears a helmet that is absent from the other versions of the game. What was the reason for this?

JW - "The helmet was a stipulation from our Japanese partners. Lots of games have changes made to them when being translated for other countries, especially between Japan and the West and vica versa - this can be due to cultural differences or just things being fixed between versions. For Medievil there was a worry in Japan that Dan's skeletal head might be seen as a bad spirit and not a 'hero.' Japan is still quite a spiritual country and things we simply take at face value (no pun intended) can be interpreted in a very different way in different cultures - a skull being no exception. So for gameplay it was decided to hide Dan's face behind a mask!

2) From some interviews, we've heard that a playable character called Morton the Earthworm was planned but didn't make it into the final game. There is, however, this FMV for the Asylum, taken from the PAL version and shows Sir Dan using Morton to unlock the door. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqModgcGLGo Can you please confirm if this was intended to be the introduction to Morton’s level, and could you state what his level was going to be like? Also, was Morton a possible inspiration for the Dan Hand sections in MediEvil 2?

JW - "It is is quite common (like films) that a lot of things get left on the cutting room floor during production. These reasons can be many; lack of time to finish an element, something just not working during playing, or simply deciding it gets in the way of pacing. There was to be a playable level with Morton the worm, I illustrated and mocked up a level that featured Morton in a side scrolling level set inside the Asylum. We left the FMV sequence in the game as it got us out of a plot hole as to how Dan gets into the Asylum, plus it was funny to see Dan pluck a worm from his eye socket. Morton was not really an inspiration for the Dan Hand but I would say we all like the idea of 'Russian doll' type characters - you know, character living inside another or a change in scale for gameplay. We always wanted to add funny cute gameplay elements and so changing the scale of an environment around a character certainly shared a similarity between Morton and Dan Hand."

3) In the FMV introduction to the Ghost Ship, Sir Daniel is featured attempting to escape from a Jabberwocky creature, and footage shown during the making of video briefly reveals a gameplay portion of this scenario. Was this intended to completely be a chase-styled level, and if so, how far did it get before being removed?

JW - "Yes it was glimpsed in that making of video. We simply were starting to run out of time so we made the decision to drop the level. We had the level running with some gameplay but the animation requirements were looking unlikely due to animating the Jabberwocky monsters as it ran and smashed its way through the level."

4) In the ST files from MediEvil 1, there is a track that is not used in the game at all. This is the music; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahuXMDzen_s What was this track to be used for?

JW - "Not sure, it was probably for one of the cut levels. Again it is not unusual for a musician to write more tracks than required so the game director can choose a track they like."

5) I've heard a rumor that there was intended to be a whole level aboard Zarok’s train and it was intended to be a type of on-rails shooter. Can you please confirm whether this is true or not?

JW - "This was never discussed as an idea and must be a complete rumour. The train was almost cut from the game as it was quite hard to have it run along the track as it kept falling off! But I really wanted the train kept in the game so I managed to convince the coders to keep it. I'm glad we did."

6) This is a question I have had for some time; it’s about the voice-over for Sir Daniel Fortesque. I have read from some sites that you were the one who provided the English voice-over for Sir Dan in all three of the MediEvil games, but other sites claim that actor Stéphane Cornicard provided the voice for Sir Dan in the original MediEvil. Can you please clarify this matter?

JW - "Yeah the original and the PSP version was my voice. We tried getting actors to do it but we were never happy so I stepped in and did it - my finest hour! Never heard of Mr Cornicard, I have no idea who he is? The voice in Playstation Allstars is not my voice, he sounds a little too much like the Swedish Chef for my liking. What a lot of people may not realise is that I wrote a script for what Dan actually says and then just read the lines through gritted teeth with a bucket over my head! One point I would make is that on most online wiki sites anyone can actually change information on them, so don't always believe all the credits or facts you read on a wiki!"

7) I'm not sure if you're able to answer this question, but what was the specific date (days and month) that MediEvil 2 took place in?

JW - "Honestly cannot remember! But it is not really our world or history - it is an alternative history."

8) Just for fun, what was the story behind the “Mr. Apple” that’s stated toward the end of the credits in MediEvil 1?

JW - "Mr Apple was a mascot created by the games programmer James Busby. I think Matt Johnson or Katie Sorrell drew a face on it but then one of the team put Mr Apple in the microwave and cooked him! He was radiated after that point and never decayed! He was a super Mr Apple! He lived in the office for many years and even made it into the game's credits. He should have appeared as a character!"

JW - "There you go. Happy Christmas"

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