Concept Art Surfaces For Disney Steampunk “Epic Mickey”

Concept art from Warren Spector’s rumored Disney-does-steampunk project – code-named “Epic Mickey” – has been leaked onto the Internet. Really, really awesome concept art.

Back in December, we reported that Gamasutra had seen concept art from an unannounced Disney videogame in production by famed developer Warren Spector’s Junction Point studios. The concept art for the project, code-named “Epic Mickey,” featured some recognizable Disney iconography in a surreal, steampunk world.

Well, now the concept art has surfaced, and it’s pretty damn awesome. What’s particularly cool about it is that, despite being called “Epic Mickey,” the iconic Mouse is nowhere to be found in these drawings – instead, we see some other well-known Disney imagery. Ever imagine a seafaring dreadnought made up of a ruined Epcot Center and Monstro the whale from Pinocchio? You have now.

Posters on NeoGAF did some more digging, and found a second art portfolio of one Gary Glover that also had some possible concept art for the game – in particular, the mind-blowingly cool beach scene described in the original Gamasutra piece.

It’s almost surprising that Disney – which owns Junction Point – is allowing this sort of treatment of their fiercely-protected IPs. Sure, the company is no stranger to bizarre crossovers, but… well, take this image of a soulless zombie-Goofy. Ragged clothes, missing a limb, empty eye sockets? That’s kind of, uh, disturbing. (Then again, it’s not like the House of Mouse has ever been afraid of warping the minds of young children…)

All snark aside, this is actually a very cool new take on some of the Western world’s most famous and beloved characters and worlds, and it’s certainly ignited my interest in the project. The original Gamasutra article suggests that “Epic Mickey” is likely to be a platformer, and statements by another artist – Tony Pulham – suggest that the title will be for the Nintendo Wii, but there’s no way to know for sure until something more official surfaces.

(SuperAnnuation, via Joystiq)