From Oliver Wade

Misa · Jul 13, 2008 12:00 PM

Why did Mr. Wade design 3 different designs of fauns?

Razz · Jul 13, 2008 4:52 PM

I think he reasoning for that was because the different fauns fit their worlds. He designed all the characters in each level around the general theme of the level.

Cyndersparx · Jul 13, 2008 4:56 PM

Wow! So...did he ever help with the other character designs, old and new?

Razz · Jul 13, 2008 5:57 PM

Oliver Wade designed all of the secondary characters for RR and YotD. Since those were the only other two Spyro games Insomniac worked on, those were the only games he's worked on in the franchise. He moved on to do lots of work with Ratchet and Clank and his latest released game was "Secret Agent Clank" for the PSP. So, basically, Oliver designed everyone except Spyro himself and anything that was in the first Spyro game.

Razz · Jul 17, 2008 12:10 AM

Good news everyone! Oliver Wade got back in touch with me. It turns out he's being eaten alive by World of Warcraft and that "work" thing I keep hearing about. But mostly Warcraft. big_smile I'm trying to fish him out with Portal. I sent him an e-mail today with your questions. Hopefully we'll hear from him soon.

Also, a bit of fun new info he told me: Oliver wrote the script for both "Ratchet and Clank" and "Ratchet and Clank: Going Commando". They named Clank after the sound the machine that made him was making in the opening scenes. Ratchet got his name because he was holding a wrench and "ratchet" sounded good when combined with Clank. big_smile

JasonLovesKelsey · Aug 04, 2008 1:38 AM

If you two are still in touch Razz it'd be nice if you could ask him if Elora was designed to be Spyro's love interest and if she wasn't how he feels about the fandom pairing them together. Okay that last question might be a little much...

Meepster · Aug 30, 2008 4:19 AM

That Oliver is awesome~

Razz · Aug 30, 2008 6:51 PM

Yes he is. smile I haven't heard back from him yet, but when I do I will forward your other questions. All you Ratchet and Clank fans might want to get in on this too; he wrote the scripts for the first two games and knows a lot more about them than he does about Spyro.

Razz · Oct 11, 2008 7:01 PM

I got another e-mail from Oliver this past week and he answered the two questions from SpyroForum I sent him.

"'Spyster and Adam wanted to know where you got your inspiration for character designs'

"Most of the inspiration came directly out of my imagination. I would listen to the character descriptions that the game designers needed and then just draw whatever came into my head. I tried to give all the designs a sense of fun and playfullness to keep them in tone with Spyro but other than that it was just pure imagination. I have always been influenced by Warner Bros. cartoons so I'm sure some of that influence is in there. I also worked on the Ren and Stimpy cartoons so some of that is probably there as well.

"'Misa wants to know if you miss working on Spyro.'

"I definitely miss working on Spyro. Mostly I miss working with a small group of people on something we really believed in. Today's big titles take 100 or so people to make but we were making the Spyro games with 20 or so. When you have that amount of people it's easy for everyone to feel involved. I do miss working on the characters too and having the freedom to really go crazy with the designs."

I'll be sending him the newer questions soon.

Cokuruscana · Oct 16, 2008 1:05 PM

What an honor! *w* ♥

dorrin · Nov 03, 2008 8:11 AM

wow, this rocks. i have to admit i think i've had more fun playing the ratchet & clank games, though i like dragons more, so spyro still wins, heh.

Razz · Nov 24, 2008 11:37 PM

I recently heard back from Oliver and he's answered your questions! smile

"JasonLovesKelsey at SpyroForum is wondering if Elora was designed to be Spyro's love interest and if you had any thoughts in regards to the fandom's tendency to pair them up together. "
That's a great question which brings up an interesting point. One of the founders of Insomniac, Brian Hastings is always trying to get love interests in for the main character whether it's Spyro or Ratchet. So, yes, she was originally going to be a love interest for Spyro, eventually. After we created her though it didn't really seem to fit and the interspecies thing was kind of worrisome, so, we dropped the idea.

Cynder794 · Nov 25, 2008 12:43 AM

Cyn here wants to know: Have you ever met Stewart Copeland? His music was one of the highlights of the game! Plus, I couldn't help but notice that some of the crew members put their names on the hatchlings in Year of the Dragon, including one named Oliver in the skateboarding challenge in Lost Fleet.

Starscream · Dec 13, 2008 8:17 PM

If I was writing an e-mail to him it would probably consist out of 5 pages of me sucking his b***s over how awesome Ratchet&Clank series is XD

Can I ask R&C questions since I'm more interested in that than Spyro?

Razz · Dec 13, 2008 8:42 PM

Certainly! Oliver knows more about the first two RnC games than any of the Spyro games since he did a lot more work on them.

spyros#1fan · Jan 06, 2009 10:51 PM

You are EXTREAMILY lucky Razz!
XD
I have wanted something like that to happen my entire life.

~cornys~ · Jan 13, 2009 1:47 AM

Well guys I think I'm a whole year late at getting here but it is a very rear opertunity to get a crew memberof the original games...

My question is of his opinion of the new Spyro games. (tLoS) What is is overall opinion of them and has he played them.

Also who was it that had the original idea of Spyro?

Hope that isn't asking too much. I understand that what he is doing is unheard of for any game maker of staff thereof.

Tell his that I appologize for the inconvenience also please since it's been a while since we've bothered him.

With all due respect,
~cornys~

Also if it's not too much of a nucence ask him how his experience with R&C & Spyro differed

[Stormy: Don't double post.]

Sheep · Jan 26, 2009 9:42 AM

I have a question or two to Oliver Wade smile
What was the hardest character to model? And do you have any sketches for some of the inhabitants in the levels?
I really love all the characters in the first three Spyro games

Razz · Feb 25, 2009 5:51 PM

Bwaugh, looks like there were some questions I didn't see. I'll be sure to ask him when next I e-mail him.

In the meantime, I actually had dinner with Mr. Wade on Sunday (Feb. 22). He's a very nice guy in person, has some really awesome stories, and brought a bunch of great art to share. Also, he knows how to pick great places to eat. If you ever encounter an Oliver's Eatery (no relation big_smile ) stop by. Their sandwiches are incredible.

Yes, he does have sketches of a lot of the incidental critters and enemies he designed for most of the games he worked on, but I don't know if he's up for scanning all of them (the folder he brought full of concept art was quite thick XD)

Some fun trivia he said I could share:

Oliver is the only person to ever make it into the "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" hot seat with a wrong answer (the show had it wrong, too). He won $32k.

Not only has he worked for Insomniac, but Oliver has also worked for Disney, Don Bluth, Nickelodeon, and EA Games.

Ahg. That's all I can remember off the top of my head. I'm afraid I was a bit nervous and shy when I met him and it shorted out my brain a bit. big_smile

Spyro YoTd · Feb 27, 2009 10:59 AM

awwwwww Razz you are so lucky i've always wanted somethnig like this to happen to me (it will never) :'( pluss i was listening to this at the time tongue http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M65zI9LH-as yeh as i was saying you're really lucky im just bad luck sad a couple of months ago my best friend died in aphganastan Ben Forde so im in army now to remark him

Spyro YoTd · Feb 27, 2009 11:23 AM

go to http://fc99.deviantart.com/fs15/f/2007/ … unachu.png really good picture

Razz · Feb 27, 2009 8:42 PM

Ah, I like that song (though I loathe Lady Gaga's name). Sorry to hear about your friend, though. He died a hero and I, at least, am very proud of you for joining the service in his honor.

re: the picture
That is a good picture (I think just got back from an emergency eye doc visit and I can't see for a dang) but please stay on topic here.

BOT
It was sheer luck that Oliver and I started talking, yes, but not luck that we met up. He just happened to be re-playing the original Spyro and needed some advice. He came here looking for help on a level and saw my topic asking for Elora art and sent me that e-mail. From that point on, it's all been work (and fun; he's a very nice guy). We both got a laugh out of my re-telling of my reaction to getting that first e-mail though. I think I just stared at it for a good half hour or so trying to absorb what had just happened. XD

Razz · Mar 08, 2009 4:39 AM

I haven't had a chance to e-mail Oliver again yet, but a few of the questions that have been asked here I can answer for you guys.

Cornys: Oliver hasn't played the LoS games yet (he's a busy fellow). If he ever gets the chance to play them, I'll be sure to ask him what he thinks. He couldn't play much of EtD (gave up after about two hours of trying to play) and he's said before that he likes to see what other artists have done with his character designs.

The original idea for Spyro came about before Oliver was hired (he came into Insomniac near the end of production on the first game). Universal's video game department commissioned an artist (I can't remember his full name, but his first name is Chalres) to design a dragon for a video game.
http://www.theanimationacademy.com/spyromenu.htm

I will be sure to ask him about the differences between working on R&C and Spyro.

Sheep: Oliver has a ton of sketches of the enemies, inhabitants, and random characters from all of the games he worked on. He doesn't have many of them scanned, but I got to see a lot of them in person. The ones I remember are early concepts for Ratchet himself, the hula girls in Idol Springs, the Sorceress, the wizards and warlocks from Cloud Temples, and a bunch of others (he came to the eatery with his portfolio and a giant folder stuffed full of art from all different stages of his career).

I'm trying to organize my thoughts enough to send Oliver another e-mail soon and I'll be sure to ask him the questions he hasn't already answered (or I didn't know the ansers to). smile

Oh, one more little bit of Spyro trivia I remembered from meeting Oliver: he showed me Zoe the fairy's original design. She was, initially, supposed to be a younger character. She was very childlike and cute. Ted Price talked him into making her sexier (apparently, Ted had a thing for making sexy female characters and pairing up as many of the male leads as he could in all of his games big_smile ).

Razz · Mar 13, 2009 7:02 PM

Okay guys, I'm leaving these forums. If you have any questions for him, I will still be reading my PMs so just PM them to me or send me an e-mail. Keep checking Just for Faun as the full interview with him will be posted there in the future.

ember_da_dragon · Mar 14, 2009 12:26 AM

so shouldn't this be locked then razz (pwease dont go)

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