Finding the sweet spot between nostalgia and newness is a delicate balancing act – a challenge that the folks at Toys for Bob embraced as fans themselves of the beloved Crash Bandicoot franchise, seeking to bring to the world a true and authentic sequel to the original trilogy that spoke to gamers new and old.
Join four lovely folks from the Crash 4: It’s About Time team [Creative Producer, Lou Studdert, and Cinematics Lead, Andy Salvo from Toys For Bob; voice director, Amanda Wyatt; and Activision Associate Producer, Rylee Shumway], as they take you through their journey to bring Crash, his trusted companions and his greatest foes into the modern-day. They’ll shine some light on the process to breathe new life into old characters, drawing a precise line between the familiar and the unexpected, and how this dance carried them through all points of development – from the writers’ room to the VO booth to the animators’ desks and beyond.
A Q&A discussion will follow. And remember, with all THNEA Classes and Webinars, we encourage you to engage and ask questions. We are here to provide a learning environment for viewers and members to flourish and find value through dialogue and education.
Speakers:
Lou Studdert is the Creative Producer at Toys for Bob. Lou spent 11 years at Activision publishing in LA, driving quality in titles such as the Skylanders franchise, Destiny 2, Crash Bandicoot N.Sane Trilogy, Spyro Reignited Trilogy and CTR: Nitro-Fueled, before he (and his family), moved to Northern California to join Toys For Bob in February of 2019 to work directly on Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time.
Andy Salvo
Cinematics Lead, Toys for BobAmanda Wyatt is a voice director for video games, known for such titles as Death Stranding, The Outer Worlds, Mortal Kombat 11.
Rylee Shumway is an Associate Producer on Activision’s Emerging Franchises team. Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueled, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2, and now Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time!
Category: Interviews
All kinds of interviews related to the Crash Bandicoot series, especially the ones that have people ask speculative questions.
[LINKED] GameSpot: Interview with Walter Mair, music composer on ‘Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time’
After working on the soundtracks for mega-franchises like Grand Theft Auto, Killzone, Total War, and Splinter Cell, composer Walter Mair was brought on to write new music for Activision’s Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time. The music in Crash 4 does a good job at staying true to the origins of the franchise–you’ll hear lots of marimbas and percussion instruments–while updating the music for a more modern feel. We recently spoke with Mair about this an a number of other topics about Crash 4’s music.
In our interview, Mair speaks about how he became attached to Crash 4 in the first place, how much access he had to the development team and what the collaboration process was like with Toys For Bob, and the varied instrumentation he used to score the game.
Other tracks embedded: Give It A Spin – Out For Launch
The Bam Box: BAM! Welcomes Brendan O’ Brien, the voice of CRASH BANDICOOT!
Brendan O’ Brien. stopped by to sign a few thousand CRASH BANDICOOT Funko POPs for us at BAM!, and also took the time to sit down and talk with us.
O’Brien voiced nearly every character for the original Crash Trilogy, and has appeared in a number of different movies and television shows over a three decade career.
[LINKED] CNBC: The creators of Candy Crush are banking on the Crash Bandicoot franchise for their next mobile hit
LONDON — King, the mobile game developer behind the wildly popular Candy Crush franchise, is banking on a new Crash Bandicoot mobile game being its next big success.
The London gaming studio — acquired by Call of Duty maker Activision Blizzard in 2015 for $5.9 billion —announced last week that it is planning to launch Crash Bandicoot: On the Run! next spring.
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[LINKED] Lad Bible: Interview with Paul Yan and Josh Nadelburg (Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time)
Toys For Bob just get what makes classic 3D platformers tick. The Novato-based studio showed a real knack for breathing new life into both Crash Bandicoot and Spyro The Dragon through its work the N.Sane Trilogy and the Reignited Trilogy… so much so that publisher Activision gave them the dream gig: a license to develop a completely original Crash Bandicoot game.
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DestinationMarc: “Crash-N-Burn:” Big Red Button’s Crash Concept Pitch?
While “Crash 4: It’s About Time” is challenging players with some very innovative levels and tough collectibles, another cancelled project from the series’ hiatus has surfaced: a pitch by “Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric” developers Big Red Button Entertainment called “Crash-N-Burn,” and it looks absolutely stunning! I e-mailed the team a few questions, and fortunately got some answers, so in this video we’re going to look at what this project was and why it was cancelled! I hope you enjoy!
Once again, a gigantic thank you and shout-out to Bob Rafei for getting back to me with answers to the questions I presented!
Check out Big Red Button’s website here.