In 2018, GamesIndustry.biz told the story of a small, Essex-based indie studio that landed a $3 million deal with Disney – only to have the project cancelled before launch, forcing the team to adapt their entire business.
In 2022, Aj Grand-Scrutton – the CEO of that same indie – sat on stage at Disney’s first ever games showcase to debut Switch-exclusive Disney Illusion Island, a co-operative platformer starring Mickey Mouse and his friends. Dlala Studios had landed yet another life-changing deal. But much has already changed.
Grand-Scrutton informs us, “We were arrogant” in 2014, 2015. We were five men in a garage that signed a $3.5m Disney deal to make this game. It seemed like a guarantee. We believed we would make it. Even if it flops, Mickey and his friends have always trusted us. That IP was good enough to make a game out of, but if it doesn’t work for some other reason then who is going to knock on the door?
“As long it was a good Disney game then why shouldn’t others be knocking on the door?
It’s seven years later, and the industry is still not what it used to be. This will accomplish the same thing as what it did in 2015. I hope that it tells people “Hey Disney, these guys have trusted them with these characters.” They are trustworthy with your IP. Mickey is undoubtedly the most famous of icons. But, I don’t believe that anything is ever guaranteed. It’s not clear if it was ever.”
The deal for Disney Illusion Island began in 2019, a year before Dlala released its revival of Rare classic Battletoads – another established IP with which the team had been entrusted. Battletoads was still the most popular game in the studio’s history. Grand-Scrutton was talking to Dlala, the agent at US-based Creative Artists Agency about what the next step might be. It was suggested that Disney could be contacted again.
“We laughed, then stopped and said, “Why don’t we go speak with Disney?” Grand-Scrutton recalls. “There was no bad blood. They’re licensing now, even though they aren’t publishing. We have excellent relationships with publishers and can likely find a publisher to license a Disney IP.
A meeting was set up for October 2019 by the agent who reached out to Grand-Scrutton. Grand-Scrutton said that even though he had a Disney contract years prior, he was still nervous.
“We wanted to show the world how far we’ve come since 2015. 2015 was a different studio. This does not mean that we are small, but in our maturity. We were not ready for the first deal. We would have not been able to do the IP and us any justice. We felt ready now.
“I knew that I wasn’t good at giving feedback on the initial project. That was the biggest thing I knew. I was extremely defensive. I thought I was protecting the team. But it was always a matter of ‘we know better’. We didn’t like the fact that the publisher was sending us notes. So I decided to tell Battletoads about how we have improved, and how our processes are changing. It was wonderful. Everyone left the call feeling positive and inspired.
Grand-Scrutton drew up a new concept for a Mickey & Friends game, a four-player explorative platformer. Although the title was a Mickey-based platformer and Dlala and Disney had an amicable split, the former would have been allowed the opportunity to continue where it left off. However, there were practicalities.
“We weren’t ready for the first deal. “The IP and we wouldn’t be able to do justice to the game then”
“4K was not a concept back then, so it’s nothing we did [on the original game] Grand-Scrutton says that she was in the 4K range. We would have needed to redraw all assets if we were ever going to transfer this to other platforms.
“What we did in 2015 back then was great and enjoyable, but it wasn’t like this. The way we did it back then felt very similar to the cartoon version of Mickey, Minnie and Donald. We’ve created something that feels cartoon-like, but is playable. With this in mind, we decided not to reuse anything.
It was also less practical to finish an unfinished project due to the growth of Dlala. One internal artist was available to the studio when they were working on the game. Disney Illusion Island was the first company project to have a dedicated art director.
Grand-Scrutton states that Lucy is a world-class character creator. “So, when we decided that this was the right thing to do, I wanted her to put her stamp on these characters. Because how often can you say you have done a retiteration four of the most famous characters ever created?
At first glance it might seem like Mickey, Donald, Minnie, Donald, and Goofy were lifted from the 2013-2019 series Mickey Mouse Shorts. The shorts featured an unusual style that tries to be modern yet hark back to the characters’ roots. Kyriakidou takes us on a tour that explains the iteration process and the use of colours and shapes. She also demonstrates how each of these characters is instantly recognisable, while still being subtly unique for the game. These truly are the Dlala versions of Mickey & Friends.
Grand-Scrutton explained that “Disney wanted this.” “Disney told us that this was a Dlala game, so how does a Dlala version look? It’s a great honour, even though it sounds silly. There will always be a Dlala version Mickey, Minnie and Donald. [in the Disney vaults] – and that’s absolutely insane.”
Dlala’s signature on the series has been extended beyond Disney’s archives by Disney’s Archiving Process. We learn more about animation, audio and art, and we discover that no footstep sound effects have been recorded for any of the four iconic characters. Although it isn’t as noticeable in cartoons, the absence of footsteps is something that players subconsciously expect to see in video games. Dlala created the first such effects in Disney’s animation.
“There will always exist a Dlala Mickey, Minnie and Donald version of Goofy, Donald, and Donald.” [in the Disney vaults] – and that’s absolutely insane”
Another reason the team started from scratch is because it had learned a lot from working on Battletoads – principally, Grand-Scrutton says, “just how the hell you make a game.”
“Everything that we did before wasn’t a finish-to-end. Even Overruled was just five of us creating this small, fun event where we won it. Battletoads was with Microsoft – you can’t wing a game for Microsoft.
“We made a lot mistakes on Battletoads. We paid the price for that at the end. Although we didn’t experience a Battletoads crunch, we definitely had more hours than we did if I made better or braver decisions earlier on.
Cutting to scope was one of the most important lessons. Pre-production on Illusion Islands was completed. The production and artistic management had established the timeline and Grand-Scrutton made the difficult decision to reduce the scope of the game. Dlala wanted his open-world 2D platformer to launch exclusively on Switch. This impacts optimization.
He admits that he did not do this on Battletoads, and that he suffered. “We were still changing design 2 weeks before certification. We had to pry Battletoads from our dead hands in order for them to become certified. We knew that we couldn’t do it this time.”
The studio now has a stronger management structure than the Battletoads work. Previously, Grand-Scrutton sat above the only audio designer, as well as people who didn’t have a lead, and was handling a lot of the art direction – “And I can’t do art direction,” he laughs.
“At one stage, I had 20 people reporting into my game and it was impossible to manage a game with this many people,” he said. “Battletoads was great, but we made it difficult. It was crucial to get the scope right early. Understanding the importance of character design and how simple it is, Battletoads characters were complex. Animations took a while. When we designed Mickey, Minnie and Donald, we knew they needed to be iconic. However, simpler designs allowed us to create more animation. It is crucial to have fidelity in a Disney game.
“Battletoads was an amazing experience, but we made it worse. It was crucial to get the scope set up early.
“We haven’t made this game any more like Battletoads. The only thing that hasn’t been lost is the Battletoads team, which includes our 2D toolkit. Rest of it was destroyed and we started over.
It is also a significant step forward that Disney Illusion Island has been revealed. The previous game was not even announced. Dlala’s presence at D23 not only shows that Disney continues to trust the UK indie, but that it is open to working with indies of all kinds – something the company’s Sean Shoptaw recently reiterated to us, saying no IP is off limits to smaller studios.
For Grand-Scrutton, finally being on stage to show off the Mickey Mouse game his team had been working so hard on was a career highlight – not least because he was sharing a stage with Mike Bithell, who was presenting Tron: Identity, which amused the Dlala CEO because “ten years ago, we were just two guys working at Bossa together.”
Grand-Scrutton finds it significant that Disney is giving some of the most important IP in the world to one of the industry’s smallest studios. AAA titles are slower and more expensive to develop, he states. However, not all IPs warrant a high-end title. What does an AAA Mickey Mouse game look like?
“Epic Mickey was our closest, but we have had it. Grand-Scrutton said that it would be just another Epic Mickey. I think a smaller studio is better because it eliminates many of the clichés. While we are able to make changes and take decisions faster, I think we bring a different perspective.
“I won’t be waiting for it to come out before we do our next deal. I won’t take 2015 arrogance and place my bets on it for the team.”
“As an owner of a business, I want Disney lots of cash because Disney should think that we are great at making profit. This is not what drove the decisions to create this IP or this video game. We are all Mickey Mouse lovers who talk about Mickey Mouse when we walk into a room. And what we would do with the IP. It’s not clear that this is what AAA would do. AAA may approach it with the following: “Here’s some important data about how we can work together to be a successful partnership.” Indie and smaller studios can bring a different approach: “This is why you love it and this’s what we’d do for this love.”
“Mike, Bithell Games team, they are so into Tron. They are so excited about Tron. They were just like little kids at D23 when Tron announcements came out. I won’t say ‘passion’ just because it is the most cliché answer. It is meaningless. AAA studios is full of passionate people. But, I believe what we bring to the table is love. They can guarantee that people who sign this IP will care about it. It is easier to obtain that guarantee if you take your entire studio to dinner than it would be to sit down with 250 people in a large studio.
Dlala has made great strides since the cancellation of its original Mickey Mouse Game. Grand-Scrutton believed that he wouldn’t get another chance to work for Disney, but he now reports that the relationship is much better. He’s even happier that the previous game was cancelled than he was in 2018.
He says, “We needed that reality-check.” “The worst thing that could have happened was it came out, did not mediocre, and we signed another deal that was okay. We probably would have been 12 people for the rest our lives. It should show the quality and growth of the team.
“I won’t wait for this deal to be published before I can get the next deal done. I won’t bet on 2015 arrogance.
Grand-Scrutton gave indies advice at GI Live London in September on how to pitch established IP. You can find this information on the GI Academy.
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