The Animated Adventures Of Sly Cooper
January 28, 2013
Sony and developer Sanzaru Games have a new installment of Sly Cooper debuting next week for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita entitled Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time, and to make sure that you notice, the company has commissioned a short animated feature to [re]introduce master thief Sly, his gang, and the other major players in his world. Short excerpts have popped up online in the past week, but the PlayStation Blog has the complete feature and some commentary on what went into creating it.
One of the bigger goals artistically was to make sure our art integrated with what Sanzaru was doing in 3D. We took a cue from their elaborate models, detailed environments, and wonderful concept art to guide our cinematic work. We wanted to bring the whole 2D experience to a higher level. It’s a rare opportunity to do 2D animation in console gaming, so we had to make sure we did a great job.
Many fans, including myself, believe that Sly Cooper and the gang would make a fantastic animated TV show or movie. With that mindset, Ghostbot presented to Sanzaru and PlayStation the idea of doing an animated short that would reintroduce Sly Cooper and the gang in a big way. The animated short we ultimately ended up creating shows a story from Sly’s past that the fans haven’t seen. It also gives first time viewers a sense of fun and adventure that awaits them in Sly’s world.
Nicole and I have been playing The Sly Collection compilation of the original three Sly PlayStation 2 titles remastered for the PS3 over the past few months to prepare for the imminent Thieves In Time sequel. It's her first run through the trilogy, while it's my second. I don't think we'll hit the February 5 release date deadline (we're still nearing the end of Sly 2: Band Of Thieves), but that's fine. It's been eight years since Sly's last new adventure. I think we can spare a few more weeks.