Breaking Out

NetGeneration's reporter raised a hand and nudged the recorder forward.

"In the trailer, we saw Buzz Lightyear gliding on the updraft from a desk fan, and using a remote-control car to weave between desks. Was this level design led by Pixar, or by Sega?"

Lasseter leaned forward slightly, his hands folded on the tabletop.

"This was the result of both sides striking sparks off each other," Lasseter explained. "Mr. Yuji Naka is extremely good at handling physical collisions during high-speed movement. He brought Sonic's smooth platform-jumping feel into a 3D environment. And our Pixar team was responsible for providing the everyday logic of toys."

He picked up a ballpoint pen from the table and twirled it between his fingers.

"To a normal human, a desk is just a place to write. But to a plastic toy barely a dozen centimeters tall, that desk is a cliff, an AA battery fallen on the floor is a power source, and the dog chained up in the backyard is a deadly monster. We provided Sega with these microscopic conflicts based on a toy's point of view, and Sega's development team then transformed them into solid, tangible obstacles and stages in the game. Their recreation of the film's world and their grasp of its style were extremely on point. That's exactly the feel we wanted."

A soft ripple of laughter sounded in the conference room.

The reporters rapidly jotted down this splendid remark in their notebooks.

"To be honest, when we saw the final real-machine demo, several animators at our studio almost wanted to kidnap Sega's development team," Catmull added, spreading both hands. "Because with so many years of game-development experience behind them, they could very quickly write the logic for how toys moved. Although we use similar handling methods ourselves, this is, after