On March 12, four Harmonix developers took the stage at The Skellig in Waltham, MA to discuss valuable design lessons learned from early Disney Fantasia: Music Evolved prototypes with a group of local developers. The Boston Post Mortem talk was hosted by the Boston Chapter of the International Game Developers Association. The talk itself was led by Lead Designer Jonathan Mintz, Creative Director Matt Boch, Level Designer Dan Bruno, and Level Design Lead Adam Arrigo.
From Left to Right - Matt Boch, Jonathan Mintz, Dan Bruno, Adam Arrigo
The presentation kicked off with an overview of the game's current design vision as a mixture of exploration and musical performance as shown through our most recently revealed realm, The Haven. The group then discussed how we first became involved with the groundbreaking project after being asked by Disney Interactive to create a Fantasia experience for motion platforms. In order to remain true to the spirit of the original Fantasia film, members of the Harmonix team had the opportunity to explore the Disney archives and read original production notes and meeting transcripts, as well as review concepts to help inspire the game's design.
During the research and prototyping phase, the team at Harmonix created several prototypes that helped inform the game's current vision, which involves giving the player creative agency over music as well as giving players the tools and teaching them the skills needed to transform a variety of worlds with music and sound. The crowd got a look at Mood Lake, Love Birds, and Spirit Desert prototypes with commentary from the team. The talk ended with insightful questions from the crowd.
Big thanks to everyone who joined us that night in Waltham! We look forward to sharing more information about Disney Fantasia: Music Evolved in the coming weeks! Stay tuned for exciting news!