Girl Gamer

Dragon's Lair and Space Ace are Back

By TheDCD 2 years, 8 months ago • 1 Comment

Dragon’s Lair and Space Ace are back, people.

Years after the introduction of these laser disc favorites in arcade form, Digital Leisure and Don Bluth’s production company are enjoying a comeback with several re-releases, including the games on Blu-Ray (Dragon’s Lair II: Timewarp just came out last week) and Space Ace on iPhone (get it- it’s only $5!).

To commemorate the occasion, we caught up with animation masters Don Bluth and Gary Goldman to chat everything Dragon’s Lair, including a rumored film and the possibility of Dragon’s Lair III. Enjoy!

Q: Dragon’s Lair II: Timewarp is so vastly different from the original game. What prompted the change?

Gary Goldman: It was to be a “time travel” game. The change was to offer something much different than the original game, and with more production values. There was a lot of discussion with the creative team at Rick Dyer’s company, RDI and us, and they came up with a rough script and Don storyboarded the continuity and branching links for production. The gameplay was basically the same, but the environments were going to be, hopefully, a lot more interesting with more variety and well executed artwork and more sophisticated special effects. It’s difficult to make a sequel to a “first” in any medium. The “first”, if it is a hit, is pretty much hard to beat.

Q: How did the idea of the “hidden items” come about? Was it tough to implement?

Gary Goldman: The “hidden items”, “bonuses” or “power ups”, were something that RDI suggested; as they were something the players would be familiar with. So, between us, we came up with the items and added the flashing effect to bring the players’ attention to the items. They had to figure out what to do to obtain the item. And, it wasn’t difficult to add this feature.

Q: Out of all the stages in Dragon’s Lair II, what was your favorite to put together? Beethoven’s Studio? Alice In Wonderland?

Don Bluth: That’s a tough one, as I had a lot of fun designing the environments for both of those sequences, but I do have a soft spot for classical music, and, as it happened, I could be more original with the design of the Beethoven sequence. In 'Dirk Through the Looking Glass’ or, 'Alice in Wonderland’ sequence, I used the original Lewis Carroll designs for the ancillary characters, the Jabberwocky, Queen of Hearts, Cheshire Cat, Twiddle Dee and Twiddle Dum, et al. However, I also had fun with the Heaven/Garden of Eden sequence with the overweight Eve, the two-headed serpent and the little, old gate-keeper angel. The animators had fun with that sequence too. Eve was fun to animate.

Q: How did you come up with such outstanding stage designs? Was there a lot of planning involved?

Don Bluth: There’s always a lot of planning. We have a saying, “No matter what it is, everything’s a 'project’.” Just getting up in the morning can be a project! So, yes, when we came up with the ideas for each location, we would do some research, pull photos or illustrations done by others on the same subject. Then, hopefully be inspired to come up with something visual that would be new and different for the game audience.

Q: Describe the feeling you guys felt when Dragon’s Lair II: Timewarp finally came out in arcades through Leland, years after it was originally intended.

Gary Goldman: We felt a lot of relief. The game had sat in our vault at Technicolor for 5 years (it was almost complete when it was shut down in March of 1984. It was 100% animated, 80% of the effects were complete and it was 75% in color. We were close but it wasn’t done). It was great to pull all the art and get the final bits completed. It took about 3 months of production time to finish it. We were located in Ireland at that time, just finishing the feature film, The Land Before Time and starting All Dogs Go to Heaven. The problem was we had a lot of color negative which was like 5 years old and the new color negative was just that, new. So we had a difficult color-timing session, matching the scene to scene continuity with scenes from the old negative hooking up to scenes from the new negative. The best color-timing came together in the electronic process used by Digital Leisure when going to DVD Blu-ray. Digital Leisure was able to not only digitally clean the continuity, frame by frame, but also color correct so that the game is now color perfect, giving the viewer seamless color continuity. So, in the end, we were very happy to see Leland step up and make Dragon’s Lair II: Time Warp available to the arcades.

Q: What do you think about the re-release of these games on the high-definition Blu-Ray format? You must be thrilled.

Don Bluth: I am. It is always gratifying to see that your work can translate well to the latest technology. By doing the original product on 35mm film, we have an advantage when it comes to high resolution, DVD Blu-ray is still considered “half-res” compared to film. Can’t wait for the next generation of digital technology.

Q: Have we seen the last of Dirk the Daring? Could Dragon’s Lair III be a possibility somewhere down the road, even for nostalgia’s sake?

Don Bluth: We certainly hope so. When we get the film financed, there should be an opportunity to do a game based on the film. If not, there may be other possibilities. I don’t like to predict the future.

Q: Speaking of which, we also wanted to check in on the progress of the Dragon’s Lair movie. We know it was announced some time ago at the Classic Gaming Expo, but haven’t heard anything since.

Gary Goldman: See, that’s what Don is talking about. It’s not good to announce things too soon. We get that question often on our info page at donbluth.com. We’re going to stick with “run silent, run deep” then surprise everyone. We’ll say something more later, when we’re actually in full production. For now, mums the word.

Q: Digital Leisure recently released Space Ace for the iPhone platform. How do you feel about seeing your games on such a popular handheld format?

Gary Goldman: You mean like, last night? (grin) It’s great. From a huge arcade box to the tiny sliver of a 2 1/4” X 4 1/4” electronic device like the iPhone or the iPod Touch. We feel privileged that the game has such a fan base that excited about it, and will be able to download to this unique platform to play the game and share it with friends.

Q: Finally, what’s your favorite Dirk the Daring death sequence? We know we have our favorites.

Don Bluth: Were there deaths in the game?!! (smiles) Hmmm…probably the electric floor room, life is all about choices.

Gary Goldman: The death scenes were the most entertaining part of the game. I vote for the falling platform in the elevator shaft sequence….BAM!

We’d like to thank both Don and Gary for their time. Check out more about the Blu-Ray releases and Space Ace on iPhone at www.digitalleisure.com. Thanks also to Paul Gold for helping us out!