It’s been a wild year for VG247, so to celebrate we’re going to be republishing some of our favourite work published in 2018 – opinion pieces, features, and interviews, that we’ve enjoyed writing and reading, and which we believe showcase some of our best work. Enjoy! How Pixar and Square Enix collaborated to bring Toy…
It’s been a wild year for VG247, so to celebrate we’re going to be republishing some of our favourite work published in 2018 – opinion pieces, features, and interviews, that we’ve enjoyed writing and reading, and which we believe showcase some of our best work. Enjoy!
How Pixar and Square Enix collaborated to bring Toy Story and Monsters Inc to Kingdom Hearts 3 was first published on May 21,2018.
Bringing together Disney’s finest is a daunting task – and Kingdom Hearts 3 is crossing company lines more than ever before – a challenge for perfectionists at both Pixar and Square alike.
When the call announcing Square Enix’s interest in their films arrived at Pixar, one employee in particular was quite excited: Tasha Sounart, the Associate Creative Director at Pixar Animation Studios. Sounart’s resume includes A Bug’s Life, Monster’s Inc and Finding Nemo, but she also has a strong connection to games – in a brief break from Pixar, she directed Double Fine’s excellent Costume Quest.
“I’ve been a Kingdom Hearts fan for a long time,” Sounart explains to gathered press at the Kingdom Hearts 3 hands-on premiere event. “I played the first two games and a couple of the handheld games – and so just as a player I always wanted to see Pixar worlds represented.”
“Rob Rowe, our director in the interactive group, just came up to me one day and said that they were thinking of adding Pixar worlds to Kingdom Hearts 3, and what did I think of that? I was like… er, yes please! I really want to work on this! So, yes, I was super excited.”
In a sense, Disney and Square has always seemed a match made in heaven. Both companies are known for their creative drive and their perfectionism – something that has on occasion earned Square some criticism for game delays and lengthy development cycles. Kingdom Hearts 3 has been no exception – it was announced five years ago now – but hearing Sounart and Pixar Story Supervisor and Toy Story veteran Jason Katz talk about the game drives home just what a challenge melding different franchises together is.
“The person who designed Buzz is giving notes, the person who designed Mike is giving notes – all to try to make the integration of Sora and Donald and Goofy into Monsters and Toy Story feel right”
“Square Enix’s process is very similar to ours on films, where they’ll go all the way from script to storyboard to layout to blocking animation – y’know, it’s a very similar path that all the scenes take, and we were involved from the very beginning and giving notes on the script just to make the characters feel authentic to how they would actually act in those situations,” Sounart explains.
