Prerelease:Spyro: A Hero's Tail (GameCube, Xbox, PlayStation 2)/Concept Art
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Spyro: A Hero's Tail turns out to have quite a treasure trove of concept art, with most of it accessible in-game as a reward for collecting 10 of a certain type of dragon egg, with the only downside being the fact that the images are rather compressed.
Fortunately, some of the artwork can be found in slightly higher resolution within press kit discs, inside the game's design documents, as well as posted on the website of some of the artists who worked on the game.
Contents
Characters
Concept art for Blink, who is shown here with a slightly different shoe design. His gloves also don't appear to have lasers on them.
Concept art for Bentley, who is shown here with a slightly different horn shape and an extra tuft of hair. He is also seen holding his trademark icy club, something which is never seen in the final game.
Concept art for Fredneck, who is shown with a slightly different hat design which is more frayed on top, has a more detailed feather, and features a cut on the brim not found on the final model. Fredneck is also seen smoking, while in the final game he only holds the unlit pipe in his mouth. He is also seen holding a fishing rod while sitting on a tree trunk which rests atop a body of clear water. Meanwhile, in the final game the fishing motif was removed, Fredneck is sitting on a rock on dry land, and Crocovile Swamp ended up with only green murky water.
Concept art for Lily, who here is seen standing on the edge of a pond, as evidenced by the cattail reed in the corner. This may reveal that she was to be originally be found in a different location, as in the final game she is found in the Sunken Ruins, which are deep within the ocean. This theory could also be supported by the fact that a lotus flower is part of her design, with those actually being freshwater flowers which usually grow in ponds and rivers. Her clothing here has more detail than is seen in the final game, and she is also seen wearing an ornate bracelet on one of her arms which didn't end up making the cut.
Concept art for Otto, who is shown with a different design for his shirt, as well as his surfboard, which namely lacks the "OTTO" logo on it.
Concept art for Peggy, who is seen wearing a plain bow instead of a spotted one, as well as having a pearl necklace around her neck that is never seen in the final game. Also worth noting is that she isn’t wearing her ice skates, while in the final game she is never seen without them. As for Phil, his jacket is plain instead of checkered, and has pockets which aren’t seen in the final design.
Concept art for Turtle Mother, who is shown here with a smaller shell and less spots on her arms.
Concept art for Wally, who here is portrayed with a rather different early design. Namely, he’s wearing a pirate hat instead of a tricorn, he’s wearing a jacket, his shirt has blue stripes instead of red ones, his mustache is gray instead of blonde, and his tusks are longer and sharper.
Concept art for Mergatroid, who here is seen sitting next to a blowtorch, a tool never seen in the final game. The wrench he is holding also appears to be quite larger.
Concept art for the hermit crab fodder, which here is seen with a different shell design, this one having spikes, as well as wavy stripes instead of spots.
Concept art for the seahorse fodder, which here is seen with spots and a dark circle around its mouth which are nowhere to be seen on the final design.
Concept art for the rabbit fodders, which here is seen with fur that is grayish instead of white, all the while seemingly missing the dark ear tips seen on the final design.
Concept art for the spider from the Sparx minigame as well as the standard overworld one, both of which having different abdomen patterns when compared to their respective final counterparts.
Concept art for the Mountain Goat, which here has a goatee not seen in the final game.
Concept art for the Liz-Hard, which here has an earlier design showing it with a small horn at the end of its snout as well as face, arm, and leg markings which are missing from the final game, meanwhile, the body markings are represented as darker than the main body here, while in the final they are lighter (with the being yellow against the blue of the body).
An earlier version of the Liz-Hard can be seen in a pre-release screenshot of Crocovile Swamp, showing it with the snout horn from the concept art, as well as face, arm, and leg spots which also resembles the sketch more closely.
Concept art for the Tree Dweller, which here has no stripes nor darker fur, making it look like a bland cartoony baboon.
Concept art for the Snapper Crab, which here is seen with a dark face and no spots on its shell.
Concept art for the Pygmy Cannibal, who here is seen wearing bracelets not seen on the final design.
Concept art for the Balloon-a-Rang, whose balloon is shown here to have thinner stripes and a missing net on top.
Concept art for Ineptune, who here is shown with six antennae instead of five.
Concept art for the Yeti and the Eskimole, the former shown with a dark patch of fur on their torso which isn’t seen in the final game. As for the latter, their face is less covered in fur than what is seen in the final design.
Concept art for the Wizard, who is shown with an elaborate pattern on his sleeves as well as a different design on the front of his robe. As for the Skeleton, its shield has extra stripes, that and its tunic has a circular motif which isn’t seen on the final design.
Concept art for the Ice Elemental, which here is seen with an earlier design which shows it as being much slimmer, wearing tunic and shoes, and using its weapon more as a spear rather than a club. Its overall body and face is also much more angular and spiky, while the final game went with a smoother design more reminiscent of the Rock Monster.
Concept art for the Rock Monster, which here is seen with an earlier design which is much more human-like. In comparison, the final game removed their pupils, gave them stylized swirly nipple markings, and removed the rather questionable-looking rocky underwear.
Concept art for the rolling Mining Robot, with it almost being identical to its final design, albeit with a different "belt" design.
Concept art for a cut enemy based on an archerfish, which would have been found in Dragonfly Falls as revealed in an early layout sketch for this level.
Drawings made by young children representing characters who never show up in the final game. It's likely those were drawn by the kids of one or several of the game's artists, possibly in hope their creations could end up in the video game their parent was creating. Alas, as said earlier, those characters ended up as nothing more than heartfelt drawings.
Levels
On the 17th of April 2020 an Australian Spyro: A Hero's Tail press kit was uploaded on Archive.org. This disc contains a bunch of concept artwork, including never-before seen illustrations as well as design documents. These images were all last modified around the end of April 2004.
Dark Realms
The following illustrations shows alternate versions of the Dragon Village, Coastal Remains, Frostbite Village, and Stormy Beach. The first appears to be representing the standard version of those levels, while the second appears to be a dark and twisted version of them.
Indeed, it appears that early on in development levels were meant to have both a "Dark" version as they were under the influence of the Dark Gems, as well as a "Light" equivalent for when they would have been destroyed. The final game keeps a very basic version of this concept, with only the area around the individual Dark Gems being corrupted until they are shattered, as well as the skybox being the only main thing changing once all the Dark Gems have been shattered in a realm. interestingly enough, this concept appears to have been the basis behind the game's original name, "Spyro: The Dark Realms".
Dragon Village
A very early map sketch of the Dragon Village, which in the portfolio is described as "First level (HUB) preliminary idea / layout." As seen in early concept art, this area was also potentially originally called the "Dragon Realm".
Various scenery in Dragon Village, which much like the early hub map shows a much more open version of the Dragon Village than what is seen in the final game.
Elder Thomas' cave before and after its Dark Gem is destroyed. Interestingly, as seen in the demo, the cave originally looked identical to the one is seen in these illustrations, however the layout was ultimately overhauled for the final game.
A slightly earlier layout sketch for Sgt. Byrd's "Island Speedway" minigame.
Crocovile Swamp
Three sketches showing a swampy area which likely served as the basis for what eventually became Crocovile Swamp.
Early concept art for Crocovile Swamp, with it showing the area as much more jungle-like instead of swampy. Moreover, the ruins here are using the same design philosophy as the buildings in the Dragon Village, while in the final game they have their own style.
A very early map sketch of Crocovile Swamp.
Dragonfly Falls
Conceptual sketch for Dragonfly Falls which show more extreme, slender hills with trees growing on them. The final game made the hills less tall, and traded the trees for giant flowers.
A very early map sketch of Dragonfly Falls, which in the portfolio is described as "First draft."
A later version of Dragonfly Falls' map, which in the portfolio is described as "Second draft in FreeHand."
Yet another map sketch for Dragonfly Falls, and while it is unknown whether this one is earlier or later than the sketch in Terry Lloyd's portfolio this map shares the open sea area seen in the first draft.
An early level sketch for Hunter's section in Dragonfly Falls which shows a very different layout from the final one seen in the final game.
Sunken Ruins
Early concept art for the Sunken Ruins which shows the entrance to the ruins, something which is never seen in the final game as you enter this level via a lift found inside some domed ruin on the surface.
Cloudy Domain
An early map sketch for Cloudy Domain whose filename is terry-lloyd-levels-maps-realm2c-part1-skycity, revealing that this level was originally called Sky City.
What appears to be a later iteration of the early Cloudy Domain map, with its layout matching the final one more closely.
Frostbite Village
Concept art for Frostbite Village which show ice structures out in the open. In the final game, such ice structures are only found inside caves. Also seen here, as well as in other concept art, is an early concept for the level's skybox which shows it with aurora borealis waving about, something never seen in the final game.
Stormy Beach
Early concept art of Stormy Beach showing a cliffside village made out of wrecked ships. While wrecked ships are still an important aspect of the final version of Stormy Beach, the level ended up featuring no such village and no such cliffs, with the level instead set at sea level.
Molten Mount
An extremely early isometric level sketch for Molten Mount, which according to the sketch was originally called "Volcanic Ascent". As seen here, it appears that the player was to originally enter the volcano from the top instead of from a cave at its foot. The sketch also shows cut obstacles, such as boulders rolling down the sides of the volcano, as well as fiery rocks shooting out of it and raining down on the ground below.
Concept sketch for Molten Mount, showing a swinging spiked log obstacle which didn't make it into the game.
A very early map layout for Molten Mount, which as seen in its filename, terry-lloyd-levels-maps-realm4b-volcano-ascent, is still referred to by its early name.
What appears to be a later iteration of the early Molten Mount map, with its layout matching the final one more closely.
Magma Falls
Early level layout for Magma Falls.
Red's Laboratory
Concept art for Red's Laboratory showing a spacious room featuring catwalks, and while the final game does have one or two rooms of such scale no catwalks can be seen anywhere.
Storyboard Art
Cutscene storyboard for the scene that plays after beating the first phase of the Ineptune boss fight. While the scene plays out exactly as described here, in the final game Spyro wasn't given an indignant expression, and instead keeps his neutral one.
Cutscene storyboard for the scene after Ineptune is defeated. In the final version of the scene Spyro doesn’t let out an annoyed huff, and instead of "All right, now you're over doing it!" he says "Okay, see, now you're over-reacting!" The water also doesn’t immediately change color after Aqua emerges from it, with that happening progressively as the cutscene plays. Moreover, Aqua's dialogue got its end exclamation mark replaced by a standard period, meanwhile the gate doesn’t open up as the cutscene ends, Spyro instead having to open it by activating the valves with his newly-acquired Water Breath.
Cutscene storyboard for the intro scene which plays when first entering the Icy Wilderness Realm. Here Red is seen standing in front of pine trees, while in the final he was relocated to the area leading to Gloomy Glacier.
Cutscene storyboard for a scrapped end scene where the newly shrunken Red would've been seen thrashing around in his jar as it sits in the Professor's lab at the very end of the game. Interestingly, the design for the Professor's Lab appears to be in an intermediate state between the version seen in early unused map of the Dragon Village and the one used in the final game.
Indeed, the storyboard shows only one crate, with the machine having a screen on it, meanwhile the final game added some of the detailing missing on the early map but seen in the sketch, albeit adding an extra crate and trading the screen for two pressure gauges. More evidence that this storyboard depicts an intermediate version of the Dragon Village comes in the design of the exterior of the lab, with the outside area matching the final game, but the telescope more akin to the one seen in the unused map.
Miscellaneous Art
A sheet full of HUD icons which comes from the portfolio of Henk Nieborg, an artist who worked on environmental and HUD design. As it turns out, this image shows not only the template for the boss health bar icon, but also icons for a metal crate and a hornet which are never used in the final game. Interestingly, the metal crate resembles the one seen in the Blink sections, while hornets are enemies in the Sparx ones.
Concept art for some of the shop items. In the final game the Sparx Keychain was made more on-model, the gem of the Double Gem Value was made pink instead of red, and the cork of the extra hit point jar was made blue instead of golden.
Concept art for the breath ammo and breath ammo magazines, with the latter shown here with extra particle effects not seen in the final game.
| Early Designs | Final Design |
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Early designs for the Professor's Teleporter. Interestingly, the design on the left can be seen in the final game on the clipboard that the Professor carries around with him, the developers having chosen this early design rather than the final one due to it taking up less space horizontally, allowing it to fit on the clipboard.
Concept sketch for an ultimately more complex Ball gadget than the one we ended up getting in the final game. Indeed, the description and sketch show that the ball originally had an outer shell which had lights that would be red when stationary and then green when the ball was moving. The final design, while similar, ended up ditching the outer shell and light aspect.
An early level layout conceptual sketch for the turret minigame "Iced TNT", here called "Peggy's Penguin Playground" (Peggy being the NPC who lets you play the minigame even in the final game). This sketch appears to be from rather early, potentially even a proof of concept given the primitive Light Gem design seen in the legend. While the overall gameplay outline is there, a lot ended up being refined for the final game. Namely, the terrain was expanded and made into a park with a playground and the Eskimoles were made to only throw spears (with the Yetis being the ones doing the snowball throwing).
Moreover, the ice blocks and "Mutated Penguin of Death" ended up not making the cut, while the TNT crates were replaced with TNT barrels (which are once again thrown by the Yetis). Also worth noting is how it is shown that Spyro would have originally gained gems after defeating enemies, something which never happens in the final game’s turret sections.
A handful of basic platform hazards concept sketches intended for the battle against Ineptune. As seen here, the main platform was going to feature a central cavity from which a laser-shooting pole likely would have emerged. Two cut individual platform hazards are also showcased here, with one revealing that spikes were to emerge from the platforms, and while the other is less straightforward the game’s design documents reveal that enemies were to also appear on the platforms.
In-progress concept sketch for the first boss fight against Red in Frostbite Village. In the final game, the homing ice tornadoes were replaced with ice spheres shot in a set pattern, the Metal Snapper Jaws were replaced with the small dragon-like critter enemies, the mechanic where Spyro would light up nodes with his Electric Breath was scrapped, and so was the part where the icy platform would teeter and tip Spyro in Round 2.
The description of each phase is also both visibly incomplete and quite different from the final one, as Red only uses his fire breath in Round 3 instead of Round 1, all the while Round 1 lacks any mention of the ice sphere attack. Round 2 doesn’t bring up Red spawning enemies, and Round 3 lacks any reference to the scepter ice beam attack as well as the TNT sliding mechanic. Interestingly, Mecha Red is listed as the one Spyro would fight here, though in the final game this powered-up form of Red is reserved for the final fight against.
To be removed
