November 3, 2008
Disney Interactive Studios
Profiles Ultimate Band’s Skate Park Venue and Fashion Focus
Skate Park as rock venue? Just
because it hasn’t been tried before (can you spell collision?), the Ultimate
Band design team has mixed guitars and grinds to create one of their favorite
places to play. "From the beginning, we wanted the skaters to be part of the
performance of your band–so we put the performance space right smack in the
middle of the action," says lead designer Manfred Neber. "We’ve ‘built’ ramps
leading to jumps that go over and around the band, and rails around performance
area for the skaters to grind."
And then there’s the giant loop,
created by the team’s resident skateboard scholar, Cardy Godina, who knew the
feature is a rarity even within the extremes of extreme sport. “He came up with
the idea of a loop which pops up in the middle of stage,” Neber says. “The loop
is so large that it defies physics. That’s typical of a lot of the things we
design: just like real life, but even more over the top.”
From T-Shirts to Bat Wings: What
to Wear on Ultimate Band
There’s plenty to choose from when
picking costumes for your Ultimate Band performance. The character design team,
led by Colbe Acree, spent almost six months working out ideas in preproduction.
“We tried to blend genres, so that when you pick your top and bottom, you feel
like you can really mix and match,” Acree says. “For example, you can have a
nerd girl look of cropped pants, but combine it with a leather jacket–about a
third of our costumes are specifically for female characters. But maybe you just
throw on big leather gloves and a crazy hat, combined with a department store
polo shirt. None of this goes together, of course, but that’s the whole point.”
To keep things realistic, beginning
band members must watch their budget. “We didn’t just want to open up the
costume shop–you’ve got to earn your way to the cooler items,” Acree says. “So
while we’ve included everything from a 1980s hair metal band look to indie rock
pinstripe pants, sometimes a band may just wear what I wear everyday–t-shirts
and jeans, and we definitely put some of that in there, too.” As you progress,
you have more choices. And when you perform really well, the design team has
sewn up some surprises. “We saved some of our more radical ideas for special
occasions, including a space helmet and a pair of bat wings. The better you
perform, the more creative license we give you.”