Looney Tunes: Cartoon Concerto - Eidos Interview

Think Eidos's new music game looks familiar? You're not alone. We chat with the publisher about the new Warner Bros game and what differentiates it from Ouendan and its ilk.

By Alex Wollenschlaeger

Where does flattery end and cloning begin? That's a question many fans of Japanese developer Inis's recent spate of rhythm-action games asked themselves when the first images of new Eidos-published music game Looney Tunes: Cartoon Concerto were shown in March.

Inis has over the past two years built a cult reputation thanks to the extraordinarily playable Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan games and their English spin-off Elite Beat Agents, which was published by Nintendo in 2007. The relatively subdued sales for all three games belie the dedication of series fans, who spend dozens of hours to mastering the tap-and-drag gameplay employed so prominently by the developer.

Eidos showed the first screenshots for Looney Tunes: Cartoon Concerto in March, and they suggested identical mechanics and a similar interface to Ouendan - albeit painted in a style more befitting the Warner Bros license - and a change in musical genre from pop to classical.

In an e-mail to Kikizo, Keiichi Yano, creator of Ouendan at Inis, said he saw the similarities between the games too, adding that he had not been in touch with Eidos about the game and had not worked with developer Amaze Entertainment in any way.

According to Eidos the similarities are superficial, with differences between the games more apparent once you've got a DS stylus in your hand. To find out more about the game we approached the publisher, and Michael Souto, executive producer at Eidos, explained to us what makes Looney Tunes: Cartoon Concerto stand out.

Kikizo: Could you tell me about the development process of Looney Tunes: Cartoon Concerto? When did development start, and how many people are working on the game? What games have the team members previously worked on?

Michael Souto: Amaze Entertainment (a division of Foundation 9 Entertainment) developed the title. This started back in April 2007 and consisted of a development team of 15. Members of the Looney Tunes: Cartoon Concerto team have worked on a number of great titles, the most recent being the highly acclaimed The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night (GBA), The Simpsons Game (DS), Lego Star Wars: The Original Trilogy (GBA), The Chronicles of Narnia (DS), and Eragon (GBA).

Kikizo: The game is superficially reminiscent of Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan and Elite Beat Agents - a series of games from Inis. Did you work with Inis at all on this game, or is this merely a case of inspiration?

Souto: When we started out designing a Looney Tunes game we looked at the variety of genres that the classic characters would lend themselves to. Platformer, sandbox, mini game collection, etc. However we rapidly recognised the plain and simple fact that one of the most important elements present in the cartoons was the music. We then soon moved towards the idea of actually controlling the music and who better to do that than the conductor. Cartoon Concerto was born.

We're fans of Elite Beat and Osu but didn't work with Inis or Nintendo when designing Looney Tunes: Cartoon Concerto. We think they're both superb games and great fun to play but when we embarked on making a rhythm-action Looney Tunes game we just looked at what would be the best method to visually promote the fact that the player was actually "conducting" the music. Some will make comparisons with Elite Beat and Osu, based on the visuals alone, but once you play the game you'll see how the mechanics of input are quite different from those games.

The game premise is that Taz has broken into the Warner Bros vault, couldn't control his devilish ways and destroyed many of the classic cartoons. The player is tasked with leading the orchestra and recreating famous parts of the cartoons. Depending on how in time with the music the player is, the cartoon (which we recreate in 3D on the top screen) is remastered and the level is complete. If the player misses notes and falls out of synch different sequences are played on the top screen and the player will fail in their mission.

Elite Beat Agents was released in Europe in July 2007

Kikizo: What sort of music will the game include? Do you think this will help the game surpass what Elite Beat Agents was able to achieve with its pop soundtrack?

Souto: The mainstay of music featured in the Looney Tunes cartoons was classical. Once we started working on this game our ears became attuned to classical music and it's incredible how widely used these pieces are in everyday life. Their use in commercials, TV shows, popular music and movies mean that you may not recognise the title of the music but as soon as you hear the first few bars you instantly know where you recognise it from. "Hey, that's the commercial for a bank, that one's from that movie, wasn't that one used in that Kanye track?" I truly believe that the familiarity of the tracks will really enhance the player's experience. It's just instant recognition!

So we were able to dip into the vast Looney Tunes cartoon library and match music with the cartoons that they featured in. This has also allowed us to create new sequences inspired by classic and recognisable parts of cartoons. Again, it's all about recognising and re-living the classic moments from these world-famous shorts.

We have also chosen six of the classic tunes we feature in the main game and given them a modern twist. These special remix songs become unlocked as you progress through the game.

Kikizo: What new elements have you added to the gameplay that will differentiate it from the other music games already out there?

Souto: With many music games out there you find it's a real battle keeping up with what happens on the top screen as you're so focussed on the touch screen. As we're using cartoons we've recreated we can ensure that there are pauses in the action on the touch screen. We can therefore time it so you can see a gag play out on the top screen and not feel that frustration that always seems to occur.

I should also point out that we have a practice mode so players don't have to worry about hitting lots of bum notes and failing the song.

We also feel that we are able to appeal to young and not so young alike. We have four difficulty levels starting with Apprentice and ending in Looney difficulty (which has to be unlocked after Maestro difficulty). These difficulty settings actually change the way the game is played.

When playing Apprentice the gameplay is very much about dragging between simple notes that appear and just keeping time. We drastically reduce the number of notes you have to hit to make it easy for younger players (and players who typically don't do well at music games) to play the game, do well, and really have a fun time. However as you progress through difficulty levels the player will find that the movement is far more sweeping in nature, to replicate a conductors movement. Where three notes will appear in a sequence on Apprentice, the same sequence in Looney mode will feature fifteen that the player must link together in time to the music.

Looney Tunes: Cartoon Concerto will be released only on DS from June.

Correction: Amaze Entertainment is a division of Foundation 9 Entertainment. Article edited to reflect this. Original version here.

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