Prerelease:Disney's Toontown Online
This page details pre-release information and/or media for Disney's Toontown Online.
 | This page covers the pre-beta/alpha version of Disney's Toontown Online, not the beta Version. You can find the Beta coverage in the prototype section. |
 | To do: So much stuff.
|
Disney's Toontown Online was the Walt Disney company's first take on a MMORPG, aiming for a younger audience compared to others around that time.
It also had a rather enigmatic development phase which would be revealed by former staff that worked on this game, going through many different ambitious concepts before they were settled on.
It had become one of the most famous MMORPGs of the 2000s in its breakout era and appealed towards many different age groups, allowing for many updates to be released for the game's decade-long lifespan before it would abruptly close. Despite that, it still manages to have a following and some private servers to this very day.
Contents
Development Timeline
1998-1999
- circa. June 1998 - Toon Tag opens at Epcot, Innovations East, which would be the basis of the game. Also around the time of DisneyQuest's opening, Jesse Schnell started to focus on the idea of family-friendly MMORPGs because he was worried about the VR Studio closing down.
- 1998-1999 - Jesse Schnell starts to create a pitch for an MMORPG, titled "The Massively Multiplayer Online Theme Park" which would have 20 MMORPGs in one.
- circa. 1999 - Disney picks up the idea for the pitch, where they went with developing an MMROPG based on the in-progress movie Atlantis: The Lost Empire first due to high expectations. The project would be canned due to the movie not meeting the game's intended target audience.
- circa. late 1999 - Disney's Toontown Online is pitched, as the second of the 20 MMORPG plan which would be approved.
2000
- Early 2000 - Toontown Online begins development after the initial pitch.
- Mar 1. - The game is initially prototyped.
2001
- Aug. - Testing begins on Beta 1. The game then was very unstable at the time and a lot of differences could be found.
2002
- Jan. 16 - Testing for Beta 1 ended.
- Sep. 10 - Beta 2 Testing begins on this date. Unlike Beta 1, the game was much more stable and only lasted for one month. Also, a lot more Gameplay elements were implemented during the time.
- Oct. 21 - Beta 3 begins.
2003
- Feb. 20 - Development breaks ground on the first major feature to the game, Cog Headquarters.
- Jun. 2 - The game is finally released to the public.
2013
- Sep. 19 - Disney's Toontown Online closes down.
Sub-Pages
| Differences Lots and lots of cut and revised content...even in updates! |
Base Game
 | Early Development circa 1998-2000. The initial idea of how it came to be. |
2000
 | Early Alpha Builds circa. Jan-April 2000. |
 | Mid Alpha Builds circa. May-Aug 2000. |
| Later Alpha Builds circa. Sep-Dec. 2000. Where the Cogs come in... |
2001-Mid 2003
 | Pre-Beta Builds circa. Spring-Summer 2001. |
 | Beta Development circa. Summmer 2001-Spring 2003 |
Expansions
This section will mainly cover concept art that was posted around this period.
 | 2003 Cog Headquarters, Estates and Fishing. |
 | 2004 Doodles and Fish Bingo. |
| 2005 Cashbot Headquarters, Goofy Speedway and a supposed Doodle expansion. |
| 2006 Lawbot Headquaters, Gardening and Level 7 Gags. |
| 2007 Chip 'n' Dale's Acorn Acres and Golfing |
| 2008 Bossbot Headquarters and...SpeedChat Plus. |
| 2009 Toon Parties. |
| 2010-2012 The supposed revamp that never was. |
Unsorted
2001
Winter-Spring
Concept Art
Create-A-Toon concepts, showing the Toon in a workshop and a clothing store. Those background graphics can also be found in the Spotify leak.
| Parts Mockup | Clothing Mockup |
|---|---|
|
|
|
Later Playground Plan
A slightly later plan, but before the conceptual art was made.
Late Playground Renders
Between the Safe Zone Activities from September and the Designer's Atlas from February 2001, the renders of the Playgrounds are made, except in a very early state.
Toontown Central
- The plaza originally had hedge mazes.
- The designs of the Toon Hall, Bank and Schoolhouse were completely different.
Donald's Dock
Daisy Gardens
- There were no buildings present, instead with a visible Trolley track.
A slightly later version was found, though from an unknown source. This version now has buildings and a slightly updated flower.
Minnie's Melodyland
The Brrrgh
Donald's Dreamland
This appears to have not yet been rendered at that time, appearing as simple concept art with textures. But the Playground is still in a very early state.
April
Several clothing textures that were made on April 4, 2001. These appear to be after the "dresses" were scrapped at this point.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Unknown
Fighting With Other Toons
This artwork shows a concept of other Toons participating in Cog Battles, which details a rough idea of the setting and other appearances of Toon species. The gags present in the artwork appear in the final, with the exception of the fire hydrant, which may have been reworked into the Fire Hose. Interestingly, Toons are seen wearing Accessories there, which would not be added until very late into the game's lifespan.
Beta 1 Installer Screenshots
From the installer of Toontown Online Beta 1 in September, they show drastically earlier images of the game.
| Beta 1 Installer | sv1.0.5 | sv1.0.24.02 |
|---|---|---|
|
Create-A-Toon was slowly starting to take its final form in this build, in comparison to the Alpha leaks.
- The background was different, which had a Piet Mondrian painting in the background.
- The Mickey Mouse model looked lower-poly, resembling that of the Toon Tag build.
- There was a suspender-type outfit from the earlier builds that was available on the Create-A-Toon.
| Beta 1 Installer | sv1.0.5 (Recreation) |
|---|---|
|
- Toon Name Tags were yellow instead of orange.
- The font for Toon name tags used Comic Sans MS instead of ImpressBT.
- The Laff Meter had a slightly different design, and used the cat instead of a dog likely for placeholder purposes.
- The starting Laff Meter was originally 50 instead of 15.
- The shirt textures were different and brighter, some of them would end up being scrapped.
- Toons originally had colored gloves, a design that would remain on Gus Gooseburger and Chicken Louie NPCs.
| Beta 1 Installer | sv1.0.5 (Recreation) |
|---|---|
|
- The Trolley seemed to be unfinished, where it had placeholder-y blue textures on some parts.
- The Trolley games sign was different.
- The running on the trolley glitch seemed to be present in this build.
| Beta 1 Installer | sv1.0.5 (Recreation) | sv1.0.24.02 |
|---|---|---|
|
Quite possibly the earliest screenshot out of the batch, resembling that of the earlier builds.
- Donald's Dock looks very incomplete, where the foundation is set but the textures are in a placeholder state while the sky is teal rather than cloudy. The door, window and lamp textures are also reused from Toontown Central.
- The boardwalk textures are also placeholder, which can be found in the Spotify leak.
- The BigWig's outfit was purple rather than blue; that matches with an early draft of the Legal Suits (Lawbots) that had textures that would be used for Sellbot outfits. The outfit also lacks any screws and bolts, which would become a staple for Cogs to distinct them from real businessmen.
- The unused squirt animation is present in this screenshot except with the Seltzer instead of Fire Hose.
- The Toon was colored white, which cannot be obtained in the final except with the No Color Just For Fun ToonTask reward.
Summer
Developer Images
A few developer images were released.
| Beta 1 Installer | sv1.0.5 (Recreation) |
|---|---|
|
|
- Most of the final shirt textures have been implemented.
- The infamous "sign lamp" is seen in The Brrrgh.
- The ImpressBT font is being used for notices, while the text font still uses Comic Sans MS.
- The Laff Meter didn't show the health visually being decreased.
Later Scrapped Concepts
Scrapped Music
https://web.archive.org/web/20210128175208/https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1BIOD7XJ-1diHOzFqKCjhRhtQlKqfo9ev1HRevn50wj0/edit#gid=0 Context by Jesse Schell [here https://old.reddit.com/r/Toontown/comments/gaejax/i_decided_to_ask_jesse_schell_about_the_unused/]
The Toontown FY10-11 Story
https://old.reddit.com/r/Toontown/comments/ivz2aa/the_toontown_fy1011_story_taken_from_the_toontown/ From the Toontown Online Development Archives, there is a story diagram detailing the plans that would happen throughout 2010-2011.
Many of the plans had happened over the timespan, with the notable exception of the "Supreme Cog Leader" which never appeared at the end of the fiscal year of 2011. It was meant to be a prelude to Toontown 2.0.
Additional Field Offices
https://old.reddit.com/r/Toontown/comments/geysmx/in_light_of_recent_events_take_this_neverbefore/ Besides Sellbot Mover and Shaker Field Offices, there were planned to be ones for other Cog Types.
Scrapped Accessory
In the August 21, 2011 Design an Accessory Contest blog, a Pig Toon can be seen wearing Sneakers in a yellow color. This color was never released during the game's lifespan.
Resources
- Release Notes
- Portfolios & Stuff
- Interviews
| To do: Find a way to fix those links....they're not showing up. |
- Toontown Newsletter Developer Spotlight
- December 2006/January 2007
- Feburary/March 2007 (low-res unreadable scan, find a better one!)
- April/May 2007
- June/July 2007
- August/September 2007
- October/November 2007
- December 2007/January 2008
- February/March 2008
- April/May 2008
- June/July 2008
- August/September 2008
- October/November 2008
- December 2008/January 2009
- February/March 2009
- April/May 2009
- June/July 2009
- August/September 2009
- October/November 2009
- December 2009/January 2010
Other
- Toontown Newsletters, Developer's Spotlight
- Information in these articles comes from an e-mail by Jesse Schell, Toontown Online's director, which was sent to the YouTube user LoopyGoopyG.
- [1]
- [2]
- /u/TalesOfToontownPast - Reddit
- - Kickoff With Toontown Online Developers - ToonFest 2018
- [3]
- [4]
- [5]
- Toontown Concepts - April 2000
