Prerelease:The Simpsons Game (PlayStation 3, Xbox 360)

This page details prerelease information and/or media for The Simpsons Game (PlayStation 3, Xbox 360).

To do: Images

Daytime

All episodes took place in daytime during initial development. Screenshots captured on a development Xbox 360 build during this stage can be found in the Wii prototype from July 6, 2007.

HUD

Energy Meter

In the E3 preview, the energy meter was blue instead of purple.

Timer

In the E3 preview, the section showing the remaining time in timed sections and the amount of flags left to collect doesn't have a white background. The font has also been changed.

Target

The lock-in target texture has been modified since the E3 preview.

Concept Art

John Bell (Art Director)

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(Source: https://www.johnbell.studio/games-1#/simpsons/)

Keith Webb (Concept Art Artist)

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(Source: http://www.kokopolo.com/HOSTS/WEBBSTA/PROJECTS/SIMPSONS/SIMPSONS_CONCEPT/simpsons_concept.html)

Joey Spiotto (Concept Art Artist)

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(Source: https://jspiotto.blogspot.com/2011/04/leftovers-from-springfield.html)

Animatic Cutscenes

Thomas Richner

An early animatic of the ending cutscene of Around the World in 80 Bites by Thomas Richner.

(Source: https://thomasrichner.blogspot.com/2011/10/igc-animatic-for-simpsons-video-game.html)

Springfield Hub

Early Springfield Layout

An early iteration of the Springfield Hub by Stone Librande that was created during the prototype phase. There are alot of differences.

• Originally there were drivable cars to get around faster (which explains the highways). There were plans to include many iconic cars and vehicles (Homer's Car, Marge's station wagon, Bart's skateboard, Lisa's bicycle, Wiggum's police cruiser and many more).

• In addition to the main area of Springfield, players were originally able to visit the Industrial/Power Plant areas.

Early Springfield Layout 2

An even earlier iteration of the Springfield Hub. There are a ton of differences between this and the finalized version.

• There is an entire area behind the suburbs with a lake.

• Certain locations are moved to other areas.

Early Springfield Interiors

Early Industrial Zone

An early iteration of the Industrial Zone/Lard Lad Bossfight.

Marge's Meals

 = Cooking Boosts =

Designer - Stone Librande

== Overview ==

Marge's main activity in Springfield will be to cook for the family. Marge can combine 3 different food items together and then bake them into a tasty meal. Any family member (including Marge) that eats the food will be temporarily altered.

The cooking game is not random, but follows rules similar to the board game ''Mastermind''. Each meal will produce results, but many of the effects will be minor. By carefully substituting ingredients in successive meals, the player can "shape" the results, making them more or less pronounced.

As part of the cooking game, Marge must find food in different places throughout Springfield. Common items can easily be acquired at the grocery store while rare items are hidden in less obvious places.

 * **Category:** Boost

 * **Simpson:** Marge

 * **Location:** ''Ingredients'' can be found all over Springfield. Cooking occurs in the Simpson's kitchen.

 * **Trophy Room:** Recipe book in kitchen

 * **Reward:** Temporary gameplay bonus

 * **Objective:** Marge cooks meals which give boosts for family members.

== Details ==

=== Ingredients ===

The secret to any great meal is the ingredients. Marge can find a wide variety of food items as she explores Springfield and those items can be combined in nearly limitless ways. There is not a fixed list of food items; rather each food item in the game is described by a small number of underlying parameters (which are not exposed to the player). This lets us add in new ingredients at any time without affecting the recipes.

 * When Marge touches an ingredient it instantly teleports to the Simpson’s refrigerator and a message appears, “[Food name] collected”. In smaller text is the message, “Use your refrigerator to prepare a meal”.

 * All ingredients are stored in the Simpson’s refrigerator. When Marge walks near the refrigerator a contextual message, “Press X to open” appears. Confirming the message causes a full screen image of an open refrigerator to appear. This is similar to an inventory screen in a typical RPG, with slots to hold items. A little number next to each item shows how much of that food you have (up to 10 each). The main compartment holds common items, the door shelves hold uncommon items and the freezer holds rare items. There are exactly enough food items in the game to fill up each slot. In this way the refrigerator acts like a trophy case, letting the player easily see if they have a complete collection.

frig_UI.png

 * If ‘’i’’ is the total number of ingredients available in Springfield, the total number of unique recipes can be calculated with the formula:

   : total_recipes = ‘’i’’ * (i+1)*(i+2) / 6

 : This means that if there are 30 food ingredients then there will be about 5000 meals.

==== Ingredient Rarities ====

Ingredients come in three rarity levels. The rarity level determines where the item is found and how often it appears.

 * **Common:** These ingredients are found at the grocery store. While inside the store Marge can collect the ingredients that are available for that day. The grocery store is re-stocked nightly. There are 10 common items.

 * **Uncommon:** These ingredients are slightly harder to find and are located in restaurants, vending machines and food carts throughout Springfield. These items are re-stocked on a random interval schedule (averaging once a week). There are 10 uncommon items.

 * **Rare:** The most powerful type of ingredient could be anywhere at anytime. They may appear within episodes or as rewards for performing special actions. There are 10 rare items.

==== Ingredient Categories ====

Each ingredient is rated on a scale of 0.0 to 1.0 in 6 major categories.

 * **Sugar:** Candy, donuts and syrup. Sugary ingredients tend to affect the head.

 * **Salt:** Pretzels, chips and beef jerky. Salty foods affect the feet.

 * **Spice:** Hot sauce, curry and jalapenos. These items have fire effects.

 * **Animal:** Bacon, steak and sausage. Ingredients rated high in this category affect the body.

 * **Vegetable:** Carrots, apples, potatoes. Organic ingredients affect "air" traits such as jump height.

 * **Color:** All foods have a base color (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple) and a saturation value 0.0-1.0 (dull to bright). If the meal is high in a color value then the character’s skin will change color after eating it.

=== Preparing the Meal ===

 * Marge begins the cooking activity by selecting an item from the open refrigerator and pressing the A button. That item appears on the counter in “Slot 1”. She selects two more ingredients for Slots 2 and 3. When all slots are filled the message, “Press X to prepare meal” appears.

 * After confirming the action a brief cut scene shows Marge cooking and placing the meal on the table. (Alternatively, the food could just magically appear on the table.)

 * At any time you can press the Cancel button to exit the cooking activity. All the food that was on the counter teleports back into the refrigerator.

=== Eating the Meal ===

 * When a meal is on the table any family member that you are controlling can eat it. Simply walk near the plate and confirm the contextual message, “Press X to eat”.

 * Autonomous characters never eat “boost meals”. However, when Marge is in autonomous mode she may play a simple skit that causes her to cook and place food on the table. These “auto-meals” have no special properties. Autonomous characters can eat this type of meal. There will be some sort of graphical effect (such as particle sparkles) around boost meals.

=== Meal Effects ===

 * Meals have effects based on the ingredients. In general, the traits of all the ingredients are added together and the one trait with the highest score provides the boost effect. So a jalapeno (spicy = 0.8, vegetable = 0.3), plus a carrot (vegetable = 1.0), plus hot sauce (spicy = 0.9) concoction would score 1.3 vegetable and 1.7 spicy. This means the dominant trait of spicy would be in effect. The vegetable trait would be ignored.

 * If the dominant color of the food scores 2 or higher than the character that eats the meal will have their skin color changed to match the food. Skin color reverts back to yellow when the effect wears off.

 * [Insert effect table here]

=== Effect Time Out ===

 * Food boosts time out based on the quality (rarity) of the ingredients. The better the ingredients, the longer the effect will last.

 * When you are in an episode the effect’s duration timer continues to count down.

 * All effects need a graphical indicator to show that they are in effect. This might be subtle (sparkling particles around the character’s feet) or pronounced (flames coming out the character’s ears). When the effect goes away an “all finished” sound effect plays and the graphical effect disappears.

 * Characters keep their effects even if the player is not in control. The graphical effect remains (to remind the player) but the effects don’t work as long as the AI is in control. For instance, suppose Bart drinks a speed potion. As long as the player is controlling him then he runs faster. But if the player switches to Marge then Bart will begin moving at regular speed.

== Raiding the Refrigerator ==

To get a quick calorie boost, Homer can eat directly out of the refrigerator. When Homer is near the refrigerator the contextual message, “Press X to eat”. Confirming the message causes a cut scene to play showing Homer bent over (with his face hidden behind the open door) and making “Chomp” sounds. Homer’s calorie meter begins to rise as random ingredients are subtracted from the refrigerator. (Alternately, he eats common items first, uncommon second and rare last.)

Homer eats until either the player cancels the action, he gains maximum calories, or the refrigerator runs out of food.

=== Open Questions ===

REVIEW NOTES:

 * Define power ups per character

 * Add list of foods to objects page (link to from here)

== Assets ==

=== Models ===

 * Various food icons

=== Visual Effects ===

 * [List effects based on food types]

=== Sounds ===

 * [List sounds based on food types]

=== UI ===

Full screen refrigerator inventory with 3 nearby countertop “slots”.

Full screen cookbook

Images

Shadow of the Colossal Donut

Screenshots of an early version of Shadow of the Colossal Donut from a development build of the game. There are some differences:

• The Home of the Colossal Donut sign is a Powersauce ad. This is also present in the Wii Prototype.
• The baseball buckets are red.
• The helium tanks have a different design.
• Homer's icon is different.
• Neither Homer or Bart have an Power Meter present.
• In some screenshots, the skybox is daytime.
• The box placements are different.
• There are some phone booths around the level.
• On one of the Cranes, there's a Girdir with a collectible on it.
• You originally needed to climb a ladder to get ontop of the first factory.
• There are also crashed trucks full of helium tanks around the level.

(Source: http://artbrigadasimpsons.blogspot.com/)

Videos

May 2007 Conference Preview

Footage of the Around the World in 80 Bites level from a development build of the game shown to the press.

• Homer's running animation is different.
• There are 25 Duff Caps to collect instead of 6.
• The font is different.
• The Power Meter has a different design.
• Homer's Burp Stun doesn't seem to be implemented.
• Bart doesn't have a Power Meter.
• There's no timer.

May 2007 Conference Preview 2

More footage of the Around the World in 80 Bites level.

To do: Review footage.

May 2007 Conference Preview 3

More footage of the Around the World in 80 Bites level.

To do: Review footage.

Gamespot Johnathan Knight Interview

This is an interview with Senior Producer / Creative Director Johnathan Knight.

(Source: Evan Hanley)

AMN Scott Amos Interview

This is an interview with Scott Amos at the EA Summer Preview, showing off Around the World in 80 Bites (and briefly Bartman Begins) from the aforementioned preview build.

• The loading screen icon is a Duff Beer instead of Itchy and Scratchy.
• Bartman Begins' intro cutscene is unfinished and seems to use this cutscene.
• Around the World in 80 Bites' intro cutscene is a placeholder.

EA Summer Preview 2007

More footage of the Around the World in 80 Bites level from the aforementioned preview build.

To do: Review footage.

E3 2007 Footage

This is footage of the Day of the Dolphin level from E3 2007. There are quite a lot of differences.

• There is no HUD.
• There is no action bubble when Bart goes to pull the lever at the start of the video.
• There is a poster on the side of Tipsy Balls that's not in the final game.
• There is no blue orb on the bouncy ring-buoys.
• A part of the pier debris is much closer to the pier than where it is in the final game.
• Bart and Lisa don't talk.
• There is no barrier visible when using the Hand of Buddha.
• The Hand of Buddha has a different sound effect when used.
• There is no sign underneath the pier.
• The ferris wheel plays music.
• There is no lock on target when Bart uses his slingshot.

(Source: Tekkenlord05)

Gamescom 2007 Footage

This is footage of the Lisa the Tree Hugger level from the 2007 Gamescom Convention in Germany. It's dated 23rd August, two and a half months before the game was released. It has some differences.

• The Saxophone Spin text was different and a different colour.
• There is no Clobber Girl power up text screen.
• The Hand of Buddha text was different and a different colour.
• None of the characters talk.
• The energy meter was blue instead of purple.

(Source: Tekkenlord05)

Gamescom 2007 Footage 2

This is more footage from Gamescom 2007, this time looking at the Grand Theft Scratchy and Shadow of the Colossal Donut levels. It only has one difference.

• The energy meter was blue instead of purple.

(Source: Tekkenlord05)

Gamescom 2007 Footage 3

To do: Review footage.

(Source: Evan Hanley)

Gamescom 2007 Greg Rizzer Interview

Even more footage from Gamescom 2007. This is an interview with lead game designer Greg Rizzer, showing off the Shadow of the Colossal Donut boss fight against Lard Lad.

To do: Review footage.

(Source: Evan Hanley)

E3 2007 Scot Amos Interview

This is an interview with executive producer Scott Amos, showing off many parts of the game.

To do: Review footage.

(Source: Evan Hanley)