Ratz: The Lost Level of Dragon's Lair

[BigDream64]

Not bad!

[jimbrown257]

I remember finding this game in an arcade around 1990, when I was 12. I had heard about it before and seen pictures and I always wanted to play it.

I remember being extremely disappointed when I found you had virtually zero control over the character.

It was the same thing with that Time Traveler hologram game. It looked really awesome (if you've never seen it, check out some of the YT videos) but you really didn't do much playing the game except try to hit a button at the right time.

[Cap285]

Cool. I'm sure I would have died on this one too!

[wxscooter]

Very nice. I'm sure most are unaware as to how much time/effort goes into animation. Creating this in 3 weeks by yourself is quite an accomplishment!

[madaman90]

@wxscooter thanks:) It was a lot to do, but I had a mission with making it which helped give me strength

[TheXBladeist]

well fpr me hes the unluckiest

[TheXBladeist]

did ythe guy just happened to eat the unfortune hertb for being so unlucky?

[madaman90]

@TheXBladeist say what? Dirk? He's born lucky!!!:D That's why he's my favorite animated character of all time

[coyotemoon722]

cool vid!

[madaman90]

@coyotemoon722 thanks man. I didn't know much about how to animated at the time, but I tried. Made this in about 3 weeks total:)

[coyotemoon722]

@madaman90 Wow, cool demo reel. I think I've seen a few of those. You're good!

[madaman90]

@coyotemoon722 Thanks! "a few of those"? Wish I knew what u were referring to, but I'll assume it's a compliment:) Traditional animation in the old school method is still the way that I approach everything. Computers are fine and good for budgets and time, but I still believe that the old fashioned method is the key to the hearts of the masses....but only if it's a concept worth while. KIT anytime!

[hilarioph]

This i never seen on the dvd game Dragon's Lair

[madaman90]

@hilarioph I can't speak for the man, but I think if he saw another mouse/rat animation, Don might explode:)

[SATURDAYateSUNDAY]

@madaman90 i remmber seeing something like this to dude idk......i was a child maybe 10 when i seen something like this

i dont think it had any thing to do with rats though

[MaxxLegend]

The "RATS" animation is from Space Ace.

FAKE!

[madaman90]

what's from Space Ace? nothing from this short is fake. I definitely animated all of it frame for frame, though I may not understand what you mean:)

[MaxxLegend]

RATS: the animated rats are very similar to the "giant horned rats" in space ace. Anyway I checked and you're right, they're not the same rats.

FAKE: I did't read the descriprion and I meant the whole video is not a real "scrapped scene", it's made up. But now I see it's a sort of homage.

[MaxxLegend]

Anyway some of the animations are taken from the game. IE: when dirk get scared! it's from a death scene in the original game.

[madaman90]

that is the one part of the animation that I did literally go frame by frame with a VCR to get to look right. Good eye Maxx:D

[madaman90]

ahhh, I see what you're saying:) and this 100% fake and was strictly an homage.  That's kind of the reason it's not colored and finished. I had an objective with the animation and I didn't have time to do the post when I gave it to Bluth at a convention. never went back to finish the job.

[Wilfilco]

you should get the app on the iphone or ipod touch.

[madaman90]

that's about the right age to remember DL, and it's been in circulation about every year for new consoles, computers, etc. This was a great influence on me to animate:)

[BiffsGamingVideos]

nice work. you had me fooled. although, it wouldn't be too hard now to do a new dragon's lair game on your home computer.

[madaman90]

this is true. This video here is actually interactive with the same unfinished animation. Wasn't my goal to make a finished piece. It was to give to Bluth at a convention years back. I did:) Thanks man:D

[OracleYori]

That's pretty snazzy!

If you wanted to fool more people though I wouldn't have had the gold flash as much. That happened a lot more in DL2.

[madaman90]

you're absolutely right:) I didn't think of that until you said it. It did have flashes, but not at every move. true true:D

[mikeferr107]

That was pretty cool. You had me fooled. I thought this was really a 'deleted scene'. Thanks for the sharing the creative work.

[madaman90]

I wasn't expecting so many comments on this since I did it so long ago. DL will always have a place in gamer hearts between ages 25-35 surely. It did for me. It's one of the reasons I wanted to be an animator:) Thanks for all of the comments everyone!

[gnetix79]

Nice job dude! If you or anyone else are interested, come and check out a vid I made about this game.

[natlinxz]

Nice! It actually looks like a deleted level.

[soundrone]

why did they not use this sequence? i thought it was cool!

[madaman90]

I think I was 15 years too late to suggest it:) This is just a fan film.

[amenachan]

Wow,nice! :)

Could I know what programs you have used for it?

[madaman90]

After Effects, Photoshop, and good old fashioned penci and paper; still the best looking way to animate in my book:)

[maninwhitedress]

dragons lair was the bomb!!!

[TServo2049]

If only all of Don Bluth's animation were as good as his laser games. The ugly facial poses (what's with those goddamned pouchy cheeks?!) and gratuitous rotoscope work ruin his later work.

[madaman90]

Amen to that Mr. Mage. I wish I knew what Don and his team were up to. I've met him a couple of times. I think he's simply going to conventions, giving lectures, and drawing fan favorite drawings of his characters (for a fee). He's done his part for animation in my opinion. He's earned his place whether he knows it or not:)

[WhiteMageMentality]

What really gets me about Bluth is his animation of the little things-

Hops, crawling, etc. Most animators only know how to follow a certain, overused pantimime for a character's movements. He has a complete spacial understanding of his characters and their physical capabilities.

[djjohnmartin]

strangely i think i remember this scene popping up on the original arcade version. It has been almost 25 years, so my memory could be wrong.

[SegaVsNin]

Yeah I think you may be mistaken or maybe recognize some of the tie in areas but this was made by the poster of this video.

[madaman90]

I love it that I trick so many into thinking this was an actual level in the video game!

I made it all up. I storyboarded the thing, made an animatic, studied Bluth's character designs and of course the game itself. The rest is all me. Thanks for the comment:)

[JimSweet]

I like it. I've haven't tryed to much Don Bluth style animation yet. I like how you mimiced it.

[madaman90]

Bluth is a master in my book. He is not afraid to animate the grit Disney chickens out at. He knows gravity and kinetics like nobody I know. This film was me trying to be him. Long way for me to go I think

[baalpeteor]

remember this on my win 2.1 pc

[FBM098]

shiz

[MRDOWNLOADS]

very interesting

[montecristo73]

This is pretty darn good. Very nice effort.

[ace942]

Thanks for posting. My favorite of the Laser games was Space Ace but I did enjoy playing Dragon's Lair. I was not aware that there was parts that were not used.

[madaman90]

if you would like to PLAY this video as an interactive game, I did a halfassed version of it that utilizes the keyboard:

email me if you're interested. Apparently I cannot paste a URL here

[NoOoOoR54]

thnx for ur comment, im still first year student in animation, and glad to hear that im good from u =)

and about his boot they have to flip its follow through , hehe

and urs is nice too, i like it, keep it up

[samh09]

very cool.

[madaman90]

thankyouthankyou. Wish I had the strength to finish the cleanup and coloring.

[AnalogX]

wow where did you get this from? I have the Dragons lair 20th anniversary dvd but dont remember this footage on there.

[madaman90]

I made it all up. nuff said. Hope you liked it

[LongBeach2SanDiego]

that was the bomb right there. i was three when space ace and this came out in arcades. i played the shit out of this game when it was on sega CD.

[igbosco]

How did you know about this? I thought the gargoyles scene was the only one that didn't make it.

[madaman90]

This scene was made about...oh about 15 YEARS after the arcade game came out. It was my first animation based on other art. Hope you liked it:)

[neilsystem32]

Hey, that's superb. I'm into CG animation and i have total admiration for anybody that can produce animation in the traditional style. It's just so bloody difficult! At least with CG i can animate a walk, for example, and then save it, and i can use it again and again from any angle. But yeah, superb stuff. I thought it was original stuff that never got used at first!

[madaman90]

Thanks man! I'm not against the computer. I just wish it could catch up to the all mighty pencil. So far, I'm not convinced short of a 2500 dollar wacom monitor. Someday....someday

[glutammate04]

Very good.

[lypslykemrphn]

*very* cool!