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Spyro's Kingdom: Difference between revisions

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[[File:Early_spyro_concepts.png|thumb|290px|Toys For Bob's early ideas for the ''Spyro license after ''The Legend of Spyro'' series]]In fact, Activision first approached Toys For Bob about doing a ''Spyro'' title; Paul Reiche and his company originally aimed for something much darker than Spyro has ever been before. "It was going to be for an older audience, a darker take on it for the next-gen systems," Toys For Bob Producer, Alex Ness, says.<ref>[https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2012-03-12-dark-horse-the-secrets-of-skylanders-success Dark Horse: The Secret of Skylanders' Success]</ref>
[[File:Early_spyro_concepts.png|thumb|290px|Toys For Bob's early ideas for the ''Spyro license after ''The Legend of Spyro'' series]]In fact, Activision first approached Toys For Bob about doing a ''Spyro'' title; Paul Reiche and his company originally aimed for something much darker than Spyro has ever been before. "It was going to be for an older audience, a darker take on it for the next-gen systems," Toys For Bob Producer, Alex Ness, says.<ref>[https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2012-03-12-dark-horse-the-secrets-of-skylanders-success Dark Horse: The Secret of Skylanders' Success]</ref>


One of the concepts for the gritty "realistic" ''Spyro'' reboot idea was a post-apocalyptic, exploration toy story where there were no humans and Spyro, his friends, and other characters were 6-inches tall. Enemies would use surrounding objects like forks and knives as weapons. The main mystery for the premise would have had players wondering what happened to the human race.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qB9WZREg6Q Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure DEVELOPER COMMENTARY - Episode 1: Studio Head, Paul Reiche, 23:16]</ref>
One of the concepts for the gritty "realistic" ''Spyro'' reboot idea was a post-apocalyptic, exploration toy story where there were no humans and Spyro, his friends, and other characters were 6-inches tall. Enemies would use surrounding objects like forks and knives as weapons. The main mystery for the premise would have had players wondering what happened to the human race.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qB9WZREg6Q Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure DEVELOPER COMMENTARY - Episode 1: Studio Head, Paul Reiche, 4:14, 23:16]</ref>


"Let's blow Spyro out," Paul Reiche said at the time. "Let's raise up the age range for him, let's appeal to the kids over 16 up into young adults, let's make it tough and bloody. And we did all of this concept work and just lost our enthusiasm. That wasn't Spyro. That isn't what our passion was about. It was much more joyous and active, and so we sort of stepped back from that."<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20110613071644/http://www.joystiq.com/2011/06/07/skylanders-spyros-adventure-preview-babes-in-toyland/ Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure preview: Babes in toyland]</ref>
"Let's blow Spyro out," Paul Reiche said at the time. "Let's raise up the age range for him, let's appeal to the kids over 16 up into young adults, let's make it tough and bloody. And we did all of this concept work and just lost our enthusiasm. That wasn't Spyro. That isn't what our passion was about. It was much more joyous and active, and so we sort of stepped back from that."<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20110613071644/http://www.joystiq.com/2011/06/07/skylanders-spyros-adventure-preview-babes-in-toyland/ Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure preview: Babes in toyland]</ref>

Revision as of 00:10, January 27, 2020

Template:GameSpyro's Kingdom was a defunct Spyro game concept. Under Toys For Bob, the game idea had gone through several stages before evolving into concepts similar to its successor, Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure.

Development

Ideas for the Spyro license

In 2007, after Vivendi Games merged with Activision, Toys For Bob began working on ideas for the Spyro license. There were different early concepts for Spyro, including a "realistic, gritty" Spyro, a tiny Spyro that ran around the real world on book shelves, and an origami Spyro that can take shape.

File:Early spyro concepts.png
Toys For Bob's early ideas for the Spyro license after The Legend of Spyro series

In fact, Activision first approached Toys For Bob about doing a Spyro title; Paul Reiche and his company originally aimed for something much darker than Spyro has ever been before. "It was going to be for an older audience, a darker take on it for the next-gen systems," Toys For Bob Producer, Alex Ness, says.[1]

One of the concepts for the gritty "realistic" Spyro reboot idea was a post-apocalyptic, exploration toy story where there were no humans and Spyro, his friends, and other characters were 6-inches tall. Enemies would use surrounding objects like forks and knives as weapons. The main mystery for the premise would have had players wondering what happened to the human race.[2]

"Let's blow Spyro out," Paul Reiche said at the time. "Let's raise up the age range for him, let's appeal to the kids over 16 up into young adults, let's make it tough and bloody. And we did all of this concept work and just lost our enthusiasm. That wasn't Spyro. That isn't what our passion was about. It was much more joyous and active, and so we sort of stepped back from that."[3]

Activision wanted to do more with the character, so Toys for Bob kept coming up with imaginative ways to use the Spyro license, with toys being the way to do this. One of those ideas included playable little toy dragons that hatched from eggs for users to play with. Eventually, Spyro's Kingdom came into light.[4]

Developing Spyro's Kingdom

Spyro's Kingdom was the original concept for Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure, its successor. It started life as a project, which Graham says still featured "the toys-to-life idea - taking your toys, putting them on a magic device, and having them come to life in the game. Spyro was going to be a full-grown dragon and the king of Spyro’s Kingdom. You would go to him for quests, and he'd tell you where to go and help you on your adventures.

File:Sk homepage 2c jc 01.jpg
A scrapped WIP webpage of Spyro's Kingdom with early versions of Skylanders Spyro and other Skylanders

Graham says this version of the game "was very close to something we were going to go forward with. I think it was April or May of 2010 where we were almost ready to hit alpha with Spyro's Kingdom, and it was time for the go/no-go call. That’s where we said, ‘this is fun and cute, but it can be so much bigger.'"

At this point, one of Skylanders' key elements - "toys with brains," which remember your characters' progress as you level up — wasn’t in the mix. If the action figures had memory inside them, the save functionality would be hassle-free and invisible, plus they’d be platform agnostic — a huge win for kids who might not own the same game system as their friends. "The goal was to make it very reminiscent of something you would do as a kid," says Graham. "You could put your toys in your backpack, go to your friend’s house after school, and you could play with your Star Wars characters with your G.I. Joe characters with your Transformers characters; it didn’t matter that they were from different worlds. We looked at consoles that way too: How great could it be if you could share in an experience regardless of what console you were on? So there was this big idea of what this game could be."

With Spyro's Kingdom nearly at alpha but an ambitious alternate plan on the table, the decision was up to the top brass, including Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick. But as Graham reveals, "Bobby believed in it completely. He said, 'What do you guys need?’ And from that point on, it was this little idea that continued to grow to what we have now, which is a team of fantasy superheroes - Skylanders."[5]

Helios Interactive's Game Proposal on Spyro's Kingdom

In 2010, a MMORPG game concept for Spyro's Kingdom was proposed by Helios Interactive with the game based on The Legend of Spyro series. It was rejected by Activision, who proceeded to continue on with Toys For Bob's Spyro's Kingdom. However a playable demo of this version of the game was available for download on the Helios website for the game, but was deleted sometime after the website was discovered by fans.

Spyro's Kingdom (Helios Interactive)/Gallery

Gallery

Trivia

  • Helios Interactive proposed Spyro's Kingdom as an MMORPG game. If that idea of Spyro's Kingdom had been approved, it would've been the first Spyro MMORPG game made, the first eventually being Skylanders: Universe, which has now been cancelled.
    • Spyro's eyes are blue in one of the concept art images by Helios Interactive, unlike in the original Spyro series and The Legend of Spyro series where his eyes are purple.
  • Whirlwind, Bash, Ghost Roaster, Eruptor, and Stealth Elf can be on their elemental respective islands on the Spyro's Kingdom main menu.
  • Zap's earlier character design, Cyclops Snail, can be seen on the Spyro's Kingdom main menu.
  • The latest elements of Light and Dark were in the early pitches of Spyro's Kingdom, including their elemental realms.

References

Template:Reflist Template:Games

  1. ↑ Dark Horse: The Secret of Skylanders' Success
  2. ↑ Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure DEVELOPER COMMENTARY - Episode 1: Studio Head, Paul Reiche, 4:14, 23:16
  3. ↑ Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure preview: Babes in toyland
  4. ↑ Mike Stout Skylanders GDC Speech 2012 (w Paul Reiche)
  5. ↑ The Secret Skylanders You’ve Never Seen
  6. ↑ Game design
  7. ↑ Michael Ebert's page
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