Yoda a major Force in 'Disney Infinity'
"Do. Or do not. There is no try." It's the mantra of Yoda, of course, but it also came into play when bringing the popular Jedi master into the world of Disney Infinity.
The toys-to-life video-game platform featuring classic Disney, Pixar and Marvel characters are bringing personalities, vehicles and worlds from the Star Wars galaxy into its fold beginning with the Disney Infinity 3.0 edition, coming this fall.
Three different play sets will bring players right into the environments from the movies — Twilight of the Republic (available with the starter pack including playable Anakin Skywalker and Ahsoka Tano characters) is set during the prequel era of the Clone Wars, and developers thought that was the best place to show off what Yoda can do.
By the time of George Lucas' original Star Wars trilogy, old Yoda is "a guy who with a staff who's hobbling around, and we couldn't have that," says Jeff Bunker, studio art director at Avalanche/Disney Interactive Studios and the man in charge of the distinct visual look of everything Infinity.
"We want to convey the personality of that character in our game, and clearly we want him to be the one you see in the Clone Wars where he's kicking butt with his lightsaber."
Available as an add-on character, Bunker figures he's one of the most fun characters in the game to play. When he's completely surrounded, Yoda can jump from foe to foe doing aerial moves, while also using his Force powers to pull and push others in various situations. (The game developer Ninja Theory was brought in to help the swordfighting gameplay used for lightsaber wielders such as Yoda, Anakin, Ahsoka, Darth Maul and Obi-Wan Kenobi.)
Yoda did prove a challenge in finding the right design because he's had so many looks over the years, according to Bunker. He was a puppet in the early Star Wars films, a computer-generated character in the prequels and a cartoon warrior in Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
Disney considered concept art of cute, older Yoda but ended up backing into something akin to the Clone Wars iteration because it closely matched the Infinity style inspired by chunky, chiseled urban vinyl figures. "We took the best of all versions and ended up with ours," says Bunker.
They also had to think about Yoda as an Infinity figure, too. To make him look best, his eyes were separate pieces of plastic than the rest of the body, and because kids are playing the game, the toy's lightsaber blade needed to be somewhat soft and pliable so it wouldn't cut anybody.
"On the other hand, you clearly don't want that lightsaber sagging," Bunker says. In the end, research went into finding the right plastic that gave the blade "a nice clean look but also not break into shards."
Doing Marvel heroes such as Captain America for last year's launch of Disney Infinity 2.0 helped prepare for the coming of the Star Wars universe. Even though it made creating Infinity versions of Jedi, Sith lords and members of the Rebel Alliance a little easier from a technical standpoint, "there was clearly a lot of pressure from Lucasfilm and ourselves to get them right," Bunker says.
"And when you're working on Yoda, it's taken to another level."
