Hidden Treasure: The Kingdom Hearts Design Document
- Details
- Published on July 7, 2015 @ 04:14 am
- Written by Sign
Earlier today, we posted an article featuring a piece of art from the long-lost Kingdom Hearts 1 design document, something we thought would never see the light of day. Frankly speaking, none of this was meant to be released to the public under such informal circumstances, and yet it was, and within it lay a treasure.
Here, you'll find what few records remain of the KH1 design document, back when it still possessed the tentative title "Kingdom of Hearts". You'll find a few interesting images, such as screenshots from a very early build of the game when Sora had silver hair and orange pants, as well as concept artwork for a Toy Story world, various costume changes unused in the final product, a Station of Awakening artwork for Alice, and much more.
We have edited the never-before-seen artwork as best we could for presentation, which you can view below.
All text in the document can be read below:
Story Synopsis:
This is a story that happened in a world that exists only if you believe it exists.The sound of crashing waves.
This is Destiny Islands, an idyllic island paradise.
The story begins when three of the island's youngest inhabitants, Sora (the main character), his best friend Riku, and a young girl named Kairi, decide to leave their home to go see the outer world.It happens on the night before their departure, with their raft fully loaded and bprepared: a black tornado, along with a storm like they'd never seen before, suddenly hit the island.
The raging tornado, as if it had some malignant will, destroyed everything in its path, blowing away and scattering the three children to three different worlds.Meanwhile, the Disney Castle was in turmoil over King Mickey's disappearance.
The only hint left was a message addressed to the court magician, Donald Duck, and the captain of the royal cavalry, Goofy.
The message read:
"Look for the holder of Keyblade."Upon receiving Princess Minnie's order, Goofy and Donald departs to search for their king with the King's friend and loyal dog, Pluto, at their side.
Traverse Town- a crossing point of people, items, information and memories.
Donald and Goofy come to this place hoping to find any kind of information that would give them a clue to their king's whereabouts, but they accidentally run into Sora, the holder of the Keyblade.
Sora, Donald and Goofy become acquainted with a robed man who tells them of the dark creatures called the Heartless, who steal the hearts of people and worlds.
It seems the Heartless are behind all the bizarre occurrences plaguing the worlds, including the king's disappearance and the black tornado that destroyed Sora's island.
Upon learning of the link between the Heartless, the black tornado and the king's disappearance, Sora, Goofy and Donald decide to join forces and board the SS GummiBlock, a ship able to travelthe sea between dimensions.Our heroes travel to many different worlds in search of Kairi and King Mickey. Among the strange lands they travel to are the worlds of "Alice in Wonderland," "Tarzan," "Winnie-the-Pooh," "Aladdin," "The Little Mermaid," "Nightmare Before Christmas," "Hercules," "Pinocchio," "Peter Pan," but there they find that the Heartless, in alliance with the Disney villains, have begun invading each of those worlds in order to steal their hearts.
It is now up to Sora, the holder of the Keyblade, to lock the gates to people and worlds' hearts before the Heartless get to them.
During his adventure acrsos the many worlds, and through meeting the denizens of those worlds and sharing joyful, sometimes sorrowful experiences with them, Sora learns that people can share a link between themselves, through their hearts. As he comes to realize this and through these many experiences, Sora begins to grow as a person.Meanwhile, Riku was also in a strange world searching for Kairi.
His way of searching for Kairi was different thank Sora's, however; he chose to take whatever measures necessary to find her, no matter how evil that may be.
The darkness growing within him eventually makes Riku a perfect target for the Heartless to prey on, and it leads him to stand in Sora's way as his rival.As their travels take them through a great many adventures, the three realized that their ultimate goal has changed from simply finding Mickey and Kairi to defeating the Heartless and protecting their universe.
When Sora and his friends finally arrive at "The Hollow Keep (tentative)" they find the place taken over by the Heartless and the princesses from each world being held as captives.
Together with the Disney heroes, Sora succeeds in rescuing the princesses.
Sora now finds him face-to-face with the boss of the Heartless, trying to put an end to this drama...Will they be able to bring peace back to the world and will they be able to find the people they've been searching for?
Game Outline:
This is an all-new game title with an original storyline, developed and presented by the first-ever tie up effort by Disney and Square.Square's top creators have come together to produce a title that fully utilizes the high-spec Playstation2, under direction of Tetsuya Nomura, known for his character designs for Square's Final Fantasy series.
The aim of this game is to travel across a beautifully crafted 3D CG world through the eyes of Sora, Donald and Goofy, cooperating with each other in action-packed battles with their own special skills such as magic spells, to clear various adventures.
The exciting battle scenes with the Heartless and the Disney villains will ensure, thanks to a new game system that incorporates magic and command-attack system often used in RPGs. The flexibility of the system will allow all level of players to customize the game play, such as choosing automatic/manual battle mode to suit the player.[Note on the contents:
All the contents of this style guide are works in progress and are subject to change without notice.]Sora:
The hero of this story. Sora is a fourteen-year-old boy who has his own personal issues like every other teenager does, but he always keeps a positive attitude towards everything.
Simple-minded at times, but his sense of justice is very strong.
"Sora" means "sky" in Japanese, representing his adventurous spirit.
Kairi:
The heroine of this story. Also aged 14.
A few years ago Kairi moved into the island where Sora and Riku live.
She may appear gentle and fragile, but inside she has a strong will that does not bend to any force.
Her name, "Kairi", bears the meaning of "sea", home of all life forms.
Riku:
Sora's best friend. He may seem a lot more collected and cooler than his same-age best friend, yet he remains expressive of his own thoughts.
Always curious towards the unknown, he begins to question the small, closed world in which he lives.
His name, "Riku" means "land" in Japanese.
Donald:
The court wizard.
With the order left by the king who disappears in the beginning of the story, Donald goes for an adventure searching for the hero. His vibrant character and quack-talk is sure to complicate things, adding even more fun to the story.
Goofy:
Captain of the royal cavalry.
Goofy, though a captain of his own troops dislikes battles and carries only a shield with him.
Goofy becomes Donald's partner in this journey, complimenting wacky Donald with his slow-talking, easy-going style.
Minnie Mouse:
King Mickey's queen.
As the queen she takes charge of the castle after Mickey's disappearance, appoints Goofy and Donald to search for the king in her place.
Daisy Duck:
A noble lady.
A sweet maid who fancies Donald, she collects her courage(?) to send him off to his mission.
Chip:
The mechanical engineer working for King Mickey.
The underground airship hanger is his working place as well as playing grounds.
It is Chip who designs the SS GummiBlock, allowing our heroes to reach other worlds.
Dale:
A mechanic working with Chip.
He maintains and, if necessary, primps up the SS GummiBlock which Donald and Goofy boards for the trip.Heartless:
As their name implies, they are the creatures without their hearts.
They are said to have come to an unknown dimension to steal away people's hearts, but their true motives are yet to be brought to light.
The Heartless vary in their sizes and shapes, and it seems some can change their appearance as they wish.Map Design:
Game Map:
The maps (backgrounds) in this game can be roughly categorized into two groups.Dimensional Map:
In this game, the universe that many worlds exist is called the Dimensions.
Sora and his friends travel this 3D universe in a ship to reach the worlds, and each of the world is represented by an icon (see diagram).
If a world is selected to enter, the player lands on the chosen world's field map.Field Maps:
These maps are where the gameplay actually takes place.
The setting of each world is beautifully recreated in 3D CG.
On these maps the characters will engage in battles, mini-games, clearing traps and entering different scenes within the world.
Only a small portion of the actual artwork can be shown in this package - Pinocchio, Winnie-the-Pooh, Alice in Wonderland, The Little Mermaid and Peter Pan are among the other stages to be used in the game.
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Source: mcmahon_nathan
COMMENTS
This is legit the most interesting and awesome thing that I've seen on this site in so long that I dont know when. Is that a proto-Sora battling Chernabog I spy!?
We'd known about the document for ages now, but it seems like nobody ever really took the time to really see what was in it besides the Alice artwork. The thing is literally a treasure trove of lost concept art and ideas ;~;
Yes, Incognito! That is proto-Sora! Never have I wanted to see that design get used more than right now.
We'd known about the document for ages now, but it seems like nobody ever really took the time to really see what was in it besides the Alice artwork. The thing is literally a treasure trove of lost concept art and ideas ;~;
This saddens me master of spocks. It saddens me greatly.
Yes, Incognito! That is proto-Sora! Never have I wanted to see that design get used more than right now.
It makes you kinda sad they went with a human design doesn't it?
Lion Sora and Riku would have been so badass the more I think about it. A whole island full of lion/human mutants. That would have been awesome
So if Alice originally had a station, i guess that meant she was captured by Maleficent before Sora left the islands in the first draft?
This saddens me master of spocks. It saddens me greatly.
At least now we've finally decided to give it a good look! If only we could get our hands on an actual copy to get better versions of the art, but the story goes that Disney threw most of them out and what is out there is really all that is left.
| It makes you kinda sad they went with a human design doesn't it? |
Yeah, but the human design isn't bad at all. Lion Sora had a lot of personality in the design, though.
Lion Sora and Riku would have been so badass the more I think about it. A whole island full of lion/human mutants. That would have been awesome
Oh gosh, it would have been amazing. Or just different animals in general!
| So if Alice originally had a station, i guess that meant she was captured by Maleficent before Sora left the islands in the first draft? |
Either that or the stations meant something different at the time they had been planned...
sadness fills my frail body when I realize that KH will never have this level of charm put into it again
Holy mother of Christ. This is just...
[video=youtube;t6MFR-gDIpY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6MFR-gDIpY[/video]
We should've gotten this as the KH 1.5 pre-order bonus instead of that lackluster artbook. I guessing copies of this document aren't available for purchase?
Honestly, I always have the opposite take-away from others in these threads, it seems. For me, proto-KH discussion is always rigged with signs of things that could have gone wrong (furry Sora with a chainsaw is silly, sorry) and this is why great minds like Nomura really need editorial supervision. It's a shame they didn't use Alice's SoA, though; I never knew that was a thing. And yeah a lot of this artwork is just mind-bogglingly gorgeous...can I ask the philosophers in the room what happens when a game based around childhood nostalgia becomes, in and of itself, a source of immense nostalgia? All that pseudo-Gothic and Classic Disney blended imagery like the PoH wrapped in thorns is just so KH1.
Speaking of which, man, it's gotta be such a thorn in the side of every Pixar fan here that Toy Story has been planned since KH1, included in KH2's coding, yet still never made it into the games. I feel for y'all.
Holy mother of Christ. This is just...
[video=youtube;t6MFR-gDIpY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6MFR-gDIpY[/video]
We should've gotten this as the KH 1.5 pre-order bonus instead of that lackluster artbook. I guessing copies of this document aren't available for purchase?
Well, we got that one piece of art with Sora, Donald, and Goofy on each other's shoulders...and I think the grinning one. That's about it. It really should have been, though. I'll never be so disappointed in an art book promoted as having "never-before-seen art", showing off never-before-seen art in the trailer (that Riku blindfolded art depresses me forever), then not having said never-before-seen art (like I said, that Riku blindfolded art depresses me forever because it was never shown except in that trailer).
The document was binned by Disney so only a few people have their hands on one. A few have gone on sale every now and then, like the one we sourced was eventually sold on ebay I believe.
this particular individual sold it for $175 and i am just APPALLED
Oooh, they were planning outfits for every world.
*sobs*
*whispers* f**** the kingdom shader, I want costumes for every world*
Looks like the summons used to show you "de-summoning" Donald and Goofy to power them!
"Automatic battle" mode? Maybe a more turn-based battle system at one point?
Sora and Kairi described as 14!
Here's my favourite find in this design doc: check out the winged Heartless in the corner of "08.jpg." Look familiar? No? Are you sure? It's probably supposed to be an early Air Soldier, but it looks to me like the Heartless from The Sceptre and the Kingdom! Otter Press must have been given some very early concept art to work from...
Looks like the summons used to show you "de-summoning" Donald and Goofy to power them!
"Automatic battle" mode? Maybe a more turn-based battle system at one point?
Sora and Kairi described as 14!
Here's my favourite find in this design doc: check out the winged Heartless in the corner of "08.jpg." Look familiar? No? Are you sure? Because it looks to me like the Heartless from The Sceptre and the Kingdom! Otter Press must have been given some very early concept art to work from...
They are kind of similar. Feel like we should feature the comic next. Maybe translate it into English with the bubbles cleaned up and everything...
OhmygodIvebeenwaitingofrthismoment. :|
How? Who? Where?
Is this in a KHInsider staff's possession? Is there any way we could get a clearer shot of proto-Sora in-game?
Ever since D23 Japan in 2013 I've been craving a good look at his design and put this together in Photoshop based on the small, blurry, discolored shots we had from the event.
[spoiler=Image]
[/spoiler]
This is so close, it's still small and a tad blurry though. It'd be incredible if we got some solid scans.
OhmygodIvebeenwaitingofrthismoment. :|
How? Who? Where?
Is this in a KHInsider staff's possession? Is there any way we could get a clearer shot of proto-Sora in-game?
Ever since D23 Japan in 2013 I've been craving a good look at his design and put this together in Photoshop based on the small, blurry, discolored shots we had from the event.
Unfortunately we do not have the doc, though I really wish we did so we could get some proper scans of the artwork. The person who first uploaded these images ended up selling his copy for $175 and as far as we know, no other records exist :(
Damn, thanks for the post, Master Spockanort! I'll be bookmarking this one :) I really don't want to be negative about these images, because most of them are absolutely gorgeous, but I can definitely see why a few were removed:
1. Goofy's Halloween Town form and Sora's Deep Jungle form. Those were good concepts, but didn't look like it would work. Sorry, silver-haired sora in a loincloth just doesn't appeal to me.
2. Now, I don't want to get into a huge argument like that logo thread from earlier, but I can totally see why that outfit didn't make it in. The contrasting colors of blue and orange just don't match at all to me, and the silver emo hair doesn't really help the matter anyways. If he had different colors, I would have been totally down for Lion-O over there :)
3. The old gummi ship design. Yes, I know that it was way different back then, but it just doesn't appeal to me like the kingdom model does. Sorry, got to go with the final product here.
4. The unused heartless. They look kind of bland and generic, glad they stuck with the ones we have today :)
However, here's my favorite parts of the concept art:
1. Toy Story world! Damn, that looks beautiful!
2. The world with the slides. I don't know which world this is, but I remember seeing it in other concept art, so if someone has a likely explanation to what it was meant to be to begin with, that would be great :)
3. That Chernabog Sora Donald Goofy artwork! Damn, it's just so well drawn :)
4. Sora's old hair design. Yes, I know I don't like the silver part of it, but everything else seems fine to me :)
5. Lion Sora!
6. Concept art of PoH and Goofy at Hollow Bastion. It's so well drawn :)
7. The artwork of Atlantica!
But honestly, I would have been fine with this game (and the other concept art that I think is on the main website under Kingdom Hearts) if they used all this :) Probably would have been a little more final fantasy-y, but hey, what are you going to do :)
Yeah, the Princesses look like lifeless dolls, which just adds more to the spooky factor.
2. The world with the slides. I don't know which world this is, but I remember seeing it in other concept art, so if someone has a likely explanation to what it was meant to be to begin with, that would be great :)
I'd wager a guess it was an old design for Destiny Islands. We actually have a better image of that:
[spoiler=pic]
[/spoiler]
I'd wager a guess it was an old design for Destiny Islands. We actually have a better image of that:
[spoiler=pic]
[/spoiler]This is the concept art I was talking about, thank you :)
Wow. What a huge and awesome find. Great to finally see Alice's Awakening artwork, and it's freaking awesome to see the concept art for the Toy Story world and early versions of each world. I'm also guessing, judging by the art of Sora taking on Chernabog, that this was back when he was supposedly the final boss and the Big Bad.
I'd wager a guess it was an old design for Destiny Islands. We actually have a better image of that:
[spoiler=pic]
[/spoiler]This looks like it belongs at Disney Land, just kidding. I am glad with what we got in Kingdom Hearts.
Unfortunately we do not have the doc, though I really wish we did so we could get some proper scans of the artwork. The person who first uploaded these images ended up selling his copy for $175 and as far as we know, no other records exist :(
When was it up on Ebay? I'm surprised it only got to $175. That's like a used Special Edition KH BBS PSP.
They are kind of similar. Feel like we should feature the comic next. Maybe translate it into English with the bubbles cleaned up and everything...
That'd be nice, I personally wasn't able to find a translated copy for my retrospective...
What an amazing thing to see the first thing you wake up. Huh, I have never seen some of this stuff before, except the one Lion Sora artwork in the art book. While I do like it, I enjoy his human form the most. Gotta love those iconic red pants and huge yellow shoes. The shadow of Mickey kinda emphasis how Sora clothes mimic his.
I really like this picture:
Sora is like: hah hah you are an octopus! I really wish they somehow could integrate the sharp style of Nomura`s drawings into the game. It really gives them personality in my opinion. Oh, and new pics about the Destiny Trio(really diggin the Sora one):
Uuh, I can`t take this, mys nostalgia level is over 9000 thousand! That does it. I`m gonna start KH1 again today. The normal difficulty is the only one I have not beaten, and that is a mistake I have to correct.
The Hollow Bastion kinda gives me an idea. There is fog in the one pic, do you guys think we will get weather effects like that in KHIII. In my opinion the fog really adds to the atmosphere of that scene.
What an amazing thing to see the first thing you wake up. Huh, I have never seen some of this stuff before, except the one Lion Sora artwork in the art book. While I do like it, I enjoy his human form the most. Gotta love those iconic red pants and huge yellow shoes. The shadow of Mickey kinda emphasis how Sora clothes mimic his.
I really like this picture:
Sora is like: hah hah you are an octopus! I really wish they somehow could integrate the sharp style of Nomura`s drawings into the game. It really gives them personality in my opinion. Oh, and new pics about the Destiny Trio(really diggin the Sora one):
Uuh, I can`t take this, mys nostalgia level is over 9000 thousand! That does it. I`m gonna start KH1 again today. The normal difficulty is the only one I have not beaten, and that is a mistake I have to correct.
The Hollow Bastion kinda gives me an idea. There is fog in the one pic, do you guys think we will get weather effects like that in KHIII. In my opinion the fog really adds to the atmosphere of that scene.
It would certainly add to the creepiness that is Hollow Bastion/Radiant Gardens.
this particular individual sold it for $175 and i am just APPALLED
This is from that Neogaf thread, isn't it? I couldn't imagine to have such a treasure in my possession and not scan it for the rest of the Kingdom Hearts fandom to enjoy, even if I bought it for $175. I'm still wondering why you're picking up this story now, these images have been there for years.
That'd be nice, I personally wasn't able to find a translated copy for my retrospective...
There is no need to, you can find the whole translated version (by Otter Press) here.
It's only too bad they didn't also design a Station of Awakening for Jasmine back then, too, just for completion's sake. :/ Hers would've been turquoise, I'd guess.
I wonder why they didn't feature any background designs for Atlantica like the others? The concept for the Oogie/Manor mutation is very nice. It would've been cool to have different clothes for every world, but I'm fine with the way things turned out as far as that goes. I wish there was art of the early storyline with the princes coming to Hollow Bastion with Sora.
They must've borrowed the early world icon design for Agrabah when making KH2. It's a shame; I've always liked the KH1 icon for Agrabah better myself.
It's only too bad they didn't also design a Station of Awakening for Jasmine here, too, just for completion's sake. :/ Hers would've been turquoise, I'd guess. I wonder why they didn't feature any background designs for Atlantica like the others? The concept for the Oogie/Manor mutation is very nice. It would've been cool to have different clothes for every world, but I'm fine with the way things turned out as far as that goes. I wish there was art of the early storyline with the princes coming to Hollow Bastion with Sora. They must've borrowed the early world icon design for Agrabah when making KH2. It's a shame; I've always liked the KH1 icon for Agrabah better myself.
They might have been rushed.
It really should have been, though. I'll never be so disappointed in an art book promoted as having "never-before-seen art", showing off never-before-seen art in the trailer (that Riku blindfolded art depresses me forever), then not having said never-before-seen art (like I said, that Riku blindfolded art depresses me forever because it was never shown except in that trailer).
I recently just imported all of the Ultimanias and only 4 of them have shown up so far, but in the Kingdom Hearts 1 Revised Ultimania, all of that never before seen artwork that was advertised in that artbook trailer for 1.5 is in that Ultimania, with the exception of the blindfolded Riku which is in a different one. A lot of the art pieces they showed in that trailer that never made it into the artbook are in the Revised Ultimania. There's even one I've never ever seen on the Internet which is this concept art piece showing the early design for those bubbles that Sora uses to transport up and down and Hollow Bastion.
Never have I wanted to see that design get used more than right now.
Someone on the interwebs actually did take the time to create a render of what Lion Sora would have looked like in-game.
Awesome. It's complete now. (Except for Limit Form)
^Where is that very first Lion picture from? I don't think I've ever seen that before.
^Where is that very first Lion picture from? I don't think I've ever seen that before.
He's a Moomba a creature from the Final Fantasy Series. Today I found out from Zephi that Sora was based on a Moomba.
I love The Little Marmaid
Good shit :) All of this and more (not necessarily the text) need to be in the KH III artbook
http://images.khinsider.com/2015%20Uploads/07/KH1%20Disney%20Design%20Document/08.jpg
I want to see that heartless with a spear, actually I want to see all of them but that was my favorite.
I remember seeing those princess pictures on a really small screen from some event that took place a while back (3D release in Japan maybe?). They're so fucking gorgeous.
So, he's based off of a Moomba? Great, now I'll never be able to get that image out of my head... Love the artwork though. Makes me all the more glad that in the end, the main characters ended up as humans.
Good shit :) All of this and more (not necessarily the text) need to be in the KH III artbook
http://images.khinsider.com/2015%20Uploads/07/KH1%20Disney%20Design%20Document/08.jpg
I want to see that heartless with a spear, actually I want to see all of them but that was my favorite.
I remember seeing those princess pictures on a really small screen from some event that took place a while back (3D release in Japan maybe?). They're so diddlying gorgeous.
They were shown off at the KH event during D23 Expo Japan 2013~
Wow! All this old concept art is amazing!
Man, seeing how awesome lion Sora is here almost makes me wish we got this instead.
It's hard for me to believe Sora almost had white hair (it does not look good on him at all,) but in a way it would've made sense. With "Sora" meaning "sky" the white might have been meant to represent that. I wouldn't be surprised at all if Riku was originally meant to have brown hair but then Nomura decided to switch.
So if Sora and presumabely the other Destiny Island residents were meant to be lion hybrids, then that means Xehanort would have been one as well. At least Young and Master Xehanort. Now I'm really sad that they stuck with the human designs :'(
The image with the princesses can also be found in the "Another Report" book that accompanied Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix+, there are also images of Kingdom Hearts II in there in a similiar fashion, meaning somewhere there is another cool design document to be found.
I definitely need to replay KH1 again now. Like, I all ready wanted to--in learning that apparently if you win the race against Riku, you can get Kairi to say "From now on, I'll say 'Aye, Aye, Captain Sora!'"--but this just sends it up to eleven for me.
Also, Sora was based off of a moomba? Aww. That's the cutest thing ever! And I could oddly see that somehow, too! And now I demand a scene in KHIII where moombas are in it, and we get to see them reacting to Sora like all the Dream Eaters did at the end of DDD :D
Btw, has anyone been able to read the character bios completely? By straining my eyes, I think I made out most of Sora and Kairi's, but trying to make Riku's is making me go blind. So if someone could possibly type that out and post it here, if they have better eyes than me, I'd greatly appreciate it. Thanks!:)
And now I'm wondering what lion Kairi would've looked like...
This book is a treasure trove to be sure, and how I wish to someday buy it myself. And I'm so, SO thankful that these scans have finally surfaced online. Thank you, all, for getting them here^_^
[strike]...My love for Sora is also making me suddenly not mind white-haired characters in anime or games as much, when usually that's not my favorite trope in the world.[/strike]
The image with the princesses can also be found in the "Another Report" book that accompanied Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix+, there are also images of Kingdom Hearts II in there in a similiar fashion, meaning somewhere there is another cool design document to be found.
WE MUST HUNT THEM ALL DOWN
Btw, has anyone been able to read the character bios completely? By straining my eyes, I think I made out most of Sora and Kairi's, but trying to make Riku's is making me go blind. So if someone could possibly type that out and post it here, if they have better eyes than me, I'd greatly appreciate it. Thanks!:)
Edit: Okay, I just ended up typing the entire thing 8D
Updated the OP as well~
| Story Synopsis: [FONT=Arial]This is a story that happened in a world that exists only if you believe it exists.[/FONT] [FONT=Arial] [FONT=Arial] [FONT=Arial] [FONT=Arial] [FONT=Arial] [FONT=Arial] [FONT=Arial] [FONT=Arial] [FONT=Arial] [FONT=Arial] [FONT=Arial] [FONT=Arial] [FONT=Arial] [FONT=Arial]The aim of this game is to travel across a beautifully crafted 3D CG world through the eyes of Sora, Donald and Goofy, cooperating with each other in action-packed battles with their own special skills such as magic spells, to clear various adventures. [FONT=Arial][I] [FONT=Arial] [FONT=Arial]Heartless: [FONT=Arial] [FONT=Arial]Game Map: [FONT=Arial] [FONT=Arial] [FONT=Arial]Only a small portion of the actual artwork can be shown in this package - Pinocchio, Winnie-the-Pooh, Alice in Wonderland, The Little Mermaid and Peter Pan are among the other stages to be used in the game.[/FONT] |
God bless you, Sign. God bless you. Thank you SO much for doing this! KHInsider, you rock as always!:)
And ahh! All the new information! Riku was originally fourteen, too? The gummi ship was called the SS GummiBlock? Donald and Goofy originally met Ansem and learned about the Heartless that way? The Heartless could change their looks? The worlds were called Dimensions at first?
...All of this is so amazing to find out. Dang! I'm so happy right now. I'm so happy right now:D -clutches information as she rocks back and forth-
It's also nice how they touch on Sora's character arc and how he grows here, I think.
The Kairi description also makes me very intrigued. "Life to all things", huh?
And that summary about "a world only existing if you believe in it" makes me worry that they might pull the "it was all a dream" thing in KHIII. Hahaha. Probably not at this point in the series, right? -is somewhat worried about that.
The Kairi description also makes me very intrigued. "Life to all things", huh?
And that summary about "a world only existing if you believe in it" makes me worry that they might pull the "it was all a dream" thing in KHIII. Hahaha. Probably not at this point in the series, right? -is somewhat worried about that.
Holy crap, this is AWESOME! I really loved the image where Lion Sora was fighting Chernabog. That image looked so...beast!
Holy mother of Christ. This is just...
[video=youtube;t6MFR-gDIpY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6MFR-gDIpY[/video]
We should've gotten this as the KH 1.5 pre-order bonus instead of that lackluster artbook. I guessing copies of this document aren't available for purchase?
Man, I would have loved for this to have been a part of the I.5 release. This was much closer to what I wanted from the artbook.
Honestly, I always have the opposite take-away from others in these threads, it seems. For me, proto-KH discussion is always rigged with signs of things that could have gone wrong (furry Sora with a chainsaw is silly, sorry) and this is why great minds like Nomura really need editorial supervision. It's a shame they didn't use Alice's SoA, though; I never knew that was a thing. And yeah a lot of this artwork is just mind-bogglingly gorgeous...can I ask the philosophers in the room what happens when a game based around childhood nostalgia becomes, in and of itself, a source of immense nostalgia? All that pseudo-Gothic and Classic Disney blended imagery like the PoH wrapped in thorns is just so KH1.
Speaking of which, man, it's gotta be such a thorn in the side of every Pixar fan here that Toy Story has been planned since KH1, included in KH2's coding, yet still never made it into the games. I feel for y'all.
That was one of the more interessting tidbits from this article. I've always known that they had plans for To Story elements since Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix, but to see it in here for Kingdom Hearts I is just bizarre.
Oooh, they were planning outfits for every world.
*sobs*
*whispers* f**** the kingdom shader, I want costumes for every world*
I think a lot of us wanted that since Kingdom Hearts I, or at least an option to change costumes for each world. The fact that we still don't have any form of customization beyond wearing a crown makes me a sad panda.
Yeah, the Princesses look like lifeless dolls, which just adds more to the spooky factor.I always found it even weirder that there wasn't a cutscene addressing this in the game. Sora and co. just walk right past them without even looking at them at all in the game.
I definitely need to replay KH1 again now. Like, I all ready wanted to--in learning that apparently if you win the race against Riku, you can get Kairi to say "From now on, I'll say 'Aye, Aye, Captain Sora!'"--but this just sends it up to eleven for me.
Also, Sora was based off of a moomba? Aww. That's the cutest thing ever! And I could oddly see that somehow, too! And now I demand a scene in KHIII where moombas are in it, and we get to see them reacting to Sora like all the Dream Eaters did at the end of DDD :D
Btw, has anyone been able to read the character bios completely? By straining my eyes, I think I made out most of Sora and Kairi's, but trying to make Riku's is making me go blind. So if someone could possibly type that out and post it here, if they have better eyes than me, I'd greatly appreciate it. Thanks!:)
And now I'm wondering what lion Kairi would've looked like...
This book is a treasure trove to be sure, and how I wish to someday buy it myself. And I'm so, SO thankful that these scans have finally surfaced online. Thank you, all, for getting them here^_^
[strike]...My love for Sora is also making me suddenly not mind white-haired characters in anime or games as much, when usually that's not my favorite trope in the world.[/strike]
What, Kairi actually says that?! How come it never came up for me? [strike]Unless it was just one of those things where I blow through the dialogue boxes like I'm trying to escape Kaepora Gaebora and I missed it there...[/strike]
Anyways, the Moombas showing up to and reacting to Sora would be interesting. I'm honestly surprised that we never got much in the way of Moogle interactions in cutscenes (aside from the one scene from Chain of Memories where a random Moogle just lands on Donald).
Amazing!
So they were thinking of Toy Story all this time, huh?
That early Destiny Islands icon is interesting. Was there supposed to be some big wooden slide over there?
And Agrabah's icon was planned to be shaped like the magic lamp even before KH2. Early Halloween Town looks similar to the final version, but much more...exaggerated, if that's the word.
Looks like the cells for the princesses were supposed to be in the Castle Chapel, rather than the Grand Hall...but maybe the two areas were planned to be one and the same.
Those pics with Oogie's Manor seem to be in 3D. The guy running along the wooden pathway...is it early white-haired Sora?
I hope they release all the room and area concept art (that they still have) eventually.
Oooh, they were planning outfits for every world.
Yeah, this is what I was hoping for in KH3. I don't see why they didn't go through with it in KH1, the designs seemed simple enough and it's just a few more models. Like the pointy shoes in Aladdin's world.
oh my god it is always bliss unearthing such relics 8D
Just looked at all that stuff again.
So, the game was titled 'Kingdom of Hearts' once...
Just looked at all that stuff again.
So, the game was titled 'Kingdom of Hearts' once...
It went through many name changes early, early on. They wanted to call it just "Kingdom" but the name was copyrighted.
The image with the princesses can also be found in the "Another Report" book that accompanied Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix+, there are also images of Kingdom Hearts II in there in a similiar fashion, meaning somewhere there is another cool design document to be found.
WE MUST HUNT THEM ALL DOWN
Are you guys talking about this?
Are you guys talking about this?
That is indeed Another Report. Small scans of the KH2 design document appear in Another Report, but what we're after is the original in all its glory :)
Just looked at all that stuff again.
So, the game was titled 'Kingdom of Hearts' once...
Whats sad is many people who dont play it refer to it as Kingdom of Hearts.....
Well, having an "of" there would make more sense.
Well, having an "of" there would make more sense.
Yeah, anyone (including myself) who just glanced at the logo would probably fill an "of" in there. I kinda did a double take the first time I really looked closely at the title.
I really wish they would release these things in a big art book. the little ones that came with the limited editions were cute but this content would be really interesting to have.
I really wish they would release these things in a big art book. the little ones that came with the limited editions were cute but this content would be really interesting to have.
While we know some of the art is still around in some archive, the other stuff could be actually lost or just forgotten. I would also love an artbook just full of art. I still don't get why Square Enix and Disney haven't done this yet. Just make it an anthology with every single art piece from KH1 to KH3. The Ultimanias are fine and dandy but they are obviously missing a lot of art.
I would pay good money for this. Nomura and the dev teams art should be admired and appreciated. Can't appreciate art when we have so little access to it.
Omg my nostalgia level jumped through the roof!
Like everybody else, I love the image with lion Sora, Donald, and Goofy fighting the Chernabog. And Sora's early costume in Tarzan's world is just hilarious!
With the Toy Story world and everything that could have been added, such as the Heartless with a spear as somebody mentioned, it makes me wonder why we couldn't have had some of that stuff! It seems like KHI had some of the most concept changes compared to almost any game aha
Zettaflare
July 7, 2015 @ 04:13 amOffline