Spector had "a four-game storyline arc" planned for Epic Mickey

Much-loved game designer Warren Spector has revealed that he had "a four-game storyline arc" and "at least three games worth" of gameplay innovation planned for Epic Mickey before work even began on the first game.

Talking to MCV about how much work it was to convince Disney to sign off on the second game, Spector revealed that he had grand designs for the Epic Mickey series from the beginning.

"Before the first Epic Mickey I actually had a four-game storyline arc, and I had at least three games worth of the ‘game innovation’ to introduce," he explained. "So the idea of two-player co-op and songs in the second game was something I knew I wanted to do before I started the first."

"We never really do the stories I come up with, because we can always come up with better ones once we’ve lived in a game’s world for a while. But I am pretty good at predicting the gameplay mechanics and innovations."

"I knew what it was going to be – in essence – in 2005."

Spector also talks in the interview about how Disney essentially green-lit a sequel based on pre-order numbers before the original title even released and praises Disney for its support of the studio and video games in general.

Epic Mickey had a middling response from the press, but Spector is clear that particular issue doesn't phase him. "We’ve got more fan mail about this game than probably everything that I’ve ever worked on in 29 years combined," he tells the trade magazine. "And that fan mail is completely different from anything I’ve had before."

"That’s what matters to me. I’ll take that over words and Metacritic any day. The gaming press were polarised, clearly, but the players were not. The players loved it."