Disney Illusion Island: A New Platforming Adventure
Dlala Studios has shared an extensive hands-off presentation of its upcoming game, Disney Illusion Island, which includes early cutscenes and a substantial gameplay demo. The presentation has answered a number of questions and presented some intriguing new ones. Firstly, the game can be played alone, and although Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and Goofy have different animations, they all play the same. They don’t run at different speeds or jump at different heights. The biggest surprises in the presentation were the glimpse of the gigantic Metroid-esque map and Minnie’s ride through an area without engaging in combat.
Is Illusion Island a Metroidvania?
In an interview with Dlala Studios’ CEO and creative director, AJ Grand-Scrutton, he admits that the studio is influenced by Metroidvania but says that while Metroidvania focused on combat, the primary focus of Disney Illusion Island is platforming. Grand-Scrutton explains that they’ve created a game with an open-world platform experience where players can master movement mechanics. While there are enemies in the world, players won’t encounter combat. The game’s emphasis is the joy of movement and abilities, which was more important to Dlala Studios than combat.
Is Illusion Island a Castle of Illusion sequel?
Grand-Scrutton admits that Disney Illusion Island is not technically a sequel to Castle of Illusion, World of Illusion, Magical Quest or any of those titles. While there is a lot of influence from those games, Grand-Scrutton calls Illusion Island an homage to them. The studio has injected new mechanics and created new characters, but it’s clear that the game only exists because those earlier games came before it.
Creating New Mickey Mouse Animation
Dlala Studios is making all the cutscenes in Disney Illusion Island and creating new Mickey Mouse animation, working with authentic voice actors. Grand-Scrutton admits that it’s been an amazing experience to work with the voice actors and wrap the animation in a new world with the new characters the studio has created.
The Relationship with the New Mickey Animated Shorts
Grand-Scrutton admits that there is no direct connection between the new Mickey animated shorts and Disney Illusion Island. Still, there are nods to all of Mickey’s heritage, including the modern shorts, which are seen as a key part of the timeline of what has come before.
How Did Disney Illusion Island Come About?
Grand-Scrutton describes the relationship between Dlala Studios and Disney as collaborative since before day zero. Although Dlala Studios had an existing relationship with Disney years ago, it never led to the release of a title. Grand-Scrutton emphasizes that the creation of Disney Illusion Island has involved a lot of collaboration between Disney and Dlala Studios, where the studio has been given creative freedom to create a new platforming adventure true to Mickey and friends’ heritage.
In conclusion, Disney Illusion Island is shaping up to be a new, exciting platforming adventure. While there are nods to the titles that led to its creation, Dlala Studios is also injecting new mechanics and creating new characters true to Mickey and friends’ heritage. The game’s emphasis on movement and abilities instead of combat may take some getting used to, but the joy of movement is ultimately what makes platforming games so enjoyable, and Disney Illusion Island seems to have mastered that.