Artists Give Software Distinct Disney Flavor

Outside, there is little to distinguish the industrial building from the hundreds just like it crowding a gritty Glendale neighborhood hard along the Los Angeles River.

But inside it’s obvious how much the place differs from its neighbors, manufacturers of ball bearings, heavy tools and car parts. Abstract art adorns the entry hall and a couple of video game rigs crowd the lobby.

This is the unlikely home of Disney Interactive, the software label of the studio/theme park giant/way of life, the place where games like Toy Story and Gargoyles take shape in cramped cubicles and dimly lit offices.

A few years ago, this same building housed the animators working on the animated film “Beauty and the Beast.” But now the eye-level cubicles that make the cavernous interior look like a carpeted honeycomb are packed with artists and programmers.

About 130 people work here and in another building, turning Disney’s stock of well-known characters into games and interactive CDs that generally live up to the Disney standard of quality.

Cubicles are stocked with monitors and videocassette recorders and, of course, computers. Some use top-end Silicon Graphics workstations, but others make do with regular beefy PCs. Much of the work is done here, but tasks like burning cartridges with the game code are farmed out.

So is specialized programming, like the creation of giant characters for Toy Story, which was all done by a small outfit in England. But the rest of the work--from story development and background design to code programming and beta testing--is all done on site.

Unlike other companies that churn out technically cool stuff just because they can, the folks at Disney Interactive say they want the technical end to support the creative, game-playing end. For that reason, many designers are fine artists or comic book artists, not strictly wire heads.

Kendall Lockhart, who is the vice president in charge of creative development, said comic book artists are particularly good at the video game business because they already know how to tell stories in graphic, nontraditional ways.

For CD-ROMs like Hunchback, artists actually create new animation cels and backgrounds. Some parts of the game will feature 32 layers of background artwork, Lockhart said. Even on fairly traditional games like Gargoyles, a premium is placed on look and atmosphere.

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Computer artist Adolph Lusinsky is part of the team that creates the three-dimensional environments for games. His training is as an artist first and as a technician second, a trait that allows him to design without thinking about the technical limitations beforehand.

“This is just like a tool,” he said, pointing to a Silicon Graphics workstation displaying a detailed rendering of Snow White’s castle. “It’s just like a pencil or a paintbrush.”

Almost none of the environment I saw looked like a traditional first-person-style game. The edges were rounded and misshapen and surfaces looked as if they had texture. Producer Craig Annis said artists will often create actual surfaces with putty or goo or whatever and then scan them into the computer to create a more realistic feel to a game.

“We set very difficult goals for ourselves,” Annis said.

It shows.

Staff writer Aaron Curtiss reviews video games regularly. To comment on a column or to suggest games for review, send letters to The Times, 20000 Prairie St., Chatsworth, CA 91311. Or send e-mail to Aaron.Curtiss@latimes.com.