Jason Wilson: Difference between revisions

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.

'''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.

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.

'''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?

'''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;

'''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?

'''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?

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

'''1)''' Dan's voice in MediEvil 2 sounds very different from his voice in the first game and Resurrection. Did you also provide his voice-over in that game or was it a different person?

'''JW''' - I did the voice for Medievil 1 and the PSP remake but not for Medievil 2 or the Allstars game.

'''2)''' The ending that players receive for collecting all the chalices feature Dan and Kiya using the Time Machine to travel back to Zarok's arena in Gallowmere where they are then attacked by the dragon creature that Zarok transformed into in the first game, except that it has Palthorn's head in this scenario. Can you please explain what this ending meant? Were there any ideas to make a sequel continuing from this scenario?

'''JW '''- The original idea for Med 2 had Zarok being kept prisoner in the Tower of London and Dan had to free him. The two of them then had to work together in an easy alliance. In the final game it was just his spell book. The ending was really only meant as a bit of fun, that Palethorn had used the spell book to travel back and rewrite time - Dan had not only travelled back in time but also to an alternative time line. But most of all it was just a silly B-movie twist ending for fun.

'''2)''' I've heard a rumor that the Anubis Stone sub-plot from the PSP remake was originally intended for the first game but never made it in because of time constraints. Is this true?

'''JW''' - There was no Anubis stone sub plot that I can remember from the original Medievil. None of the original designers of Medievil was directly involved with the remake.

'''3)''' Was the Jabberwocky chase level still intact when the demo of the first MediEvil was released? If so, could hacking the demo files possibly turn-up the level?

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

'''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.

'''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. 

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.

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.

'''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?

"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.