As it turned out, fearlessness in turn drove production director Keith Pope and his team as they created the game. “Because Pixar is passionate about the characters and storyline, we had regular reviews with producer Brad Lewis and director Brad Bird, as well as frequent meetings with the film’s animators,” he explains. “They consistently provided great feedback on our versions of the characters and worked with us to bring them to life in the game.”

A Little of This, a Little of That. This mini-game tests your reflexes as you help Remy make soup.

The Heavy Iron Studios crew practiced Gusteau’s mantra by heading into territory seen only briefly in the movie. Pope provides an example: “During pre-production, we refine how the game story can be enhanced by the movie story and where they might diverge. In the film, Remy is in the sewer for only a brief period of time. We needed a game hub for Remy to get mission assignments, and the sewer was a great place for him to do that.”

“We made Remy master of his own skills, agile with cool moves, and a cook too.”

- production director Keith Pope

That concept also allowed Pope’s team to expand on a narrative thread introduced during the movie. “In the film,” he explains, “Remy is torn between helping his family that lives in the sewer and pursuing his dreams, so in the game Remy continually goes to see his dad in the sewer and get assignments.”

Yet Here’s a Spot. Remy needs to get past this vicious dog, but how?

Big Plot Points, Big Abilities

During development, the game paralleled the movie, a process Pope was familiar with, thanks to Heavy Iron’s work on the game based on “The Incredibles”. “When we approach creating a game based on a Pixar film,” he relates, “we really try to take advantage of their great storytelling skills by using their big plot points as the narrative that helps drive the game story. We typically look at the main story beats, settings, and characters from the film at the same time that we are prototyping gameplay and character moves.”

Fearlessness also inspired Pope and the team to use the movie’s unique star to their advantage. “We wanted to achieve a solid blend of action-platform gameplay, combined with more of a playground feel,” he says. “We knew we needed a navigation aid, so we focused on trying to get what we could from who Remy is: a rat with a great sense of smell. We thought of cartoon scent trails and drew on that to create a visual pathing system.”

Dream World. Help Remy make his way through this dreamscape while collecting stars.

And, voilà, you can use Remy’s keen nose to guide you through each of the game’s vast levels. With plenty of human-sized environments to explore, you can always take a side trip and uncover a few hidden delights before moving back to the task at paw. “There are very few games that allow the player to be a small character interacting in a world of very large potential enemies,” Pope notes. “We captured that feeling by capitalizing on the use of humans and a sense of danger in the game.”

“We really try to take advantage of [Pixar’s] great storytelling skills by using their big plot points as the narrative that helps drive the game story.”

- Keith Pope

Master of His Own Skills

Remy’s other skills play off the types of abilities you’d imagine from a rat: swiping at enemies and objects with his tail; climbing nets, cables, and anything else he can dig his claws into; running along pipes and wires; sliding through pipes; dashing across surfaces at high speed; and using everyday objects to survive, such as turning Gusteau’s famous book, “Anyone Can Cook,” into a raft. “We made Remy master of his own skills, agile with cool moves, and a cook too,” elaborates Pope.

He adds: “But he still has to deal with the realities of living in the human world.” To that end, Pope’s team employed Pixar’s concept art and digital renders to create the game’s 3D environments. They also turned to their own technology, “using the power of our engine to render fur and use a skeletal rig for the primary rats, giving us much more control over character animation,” Pope says.

Net Climber. Remy’s nose tells him where to go, as shown by that luminescent glow.

The last dash of spice was provided by many of the movie’s voice actors, who entered the Heavy Iron studio to lend their talents to the game: Patton Oswalt (Remy, and “a passionate gamer,” says Pope); Lou Romano (Linguini, the young cook who befriends Remy); Janeane Garofalo (Colette, a fellow chef); Brad Garrett (Auguste Gusteau); and Brian Dennehy (Remy’s father, Django), among others.

A Feast

The final result was a tasty mixture of video, audio, and gameplay that gives off the rich aroma of the movie’s main message. “It’s the ultimate fish-out-of-water story,” muses Pope, “but the underlying theme is: ‘Don’t let anything get in the way of your dreams, including yourself.’ In the game, we let the player go through the story of the film and take on the role of Remy as he becomes a chef.”

Heading Downstream. Make sure you grab those apple cores along the way.

Pixar reinvents itself with each movie it produces, pushing forward not only digital technology but also the bounds of storytelling, aiming its unique tales squarely at adults and kids. Pope agrees: “A typical Pixar story is driven by likable, flawed characters that people identify with as themselves, someone they know, or someone they aspire to be. They then bring that to life with great animation and art, along with jaw-dropping, benchmark-setting technical imagery.”

If you liked this game, check out:

• Cars: The Video Game
• Cars: Radiator Springs Adventure
• Disney’s Toontown Online
• Finding Nemo
• Monsters, Inc. Games
• Shrek 2
• Spider-Man 2
• The Incredibles
• The Incredibles: When Danger Calls
• The Incredibles: Rise of the Underminer