MediEvil's design history

The art and design of Sony's MediEvil. A behind the scenes look at the game design work archived from the 1995-7 Playstation game.

[@Gunnvideos]

Thanks for all the lovely comments. When I uploaded this work I had no idea the game was about to be remade for 2019. It was fun to see it remade.

[@doze_d]

You should scan all of these into digital form to preverse them. There's so much great stuff that should not be lost or degraded over the time.

[@SMG4_SMGD]

you are a legend want your own ideas came into my work

[@Dahpie]

Honestly this is amazing. I love Medievil and the concept art you have here is a priceless treasure, and to think Sony would've thrown it away. Shame you and your team won't be working on the remake. Honestly I don't think they will understand the design principles and inspiration required to recapture the magic of the original, after all Medievil Resurrection was pretty lackluster.

[@TheSilverplierBackup]

They were talking with the original team all allong the development for the Remake. They wanted to keep the feelling of the original and "exaclty the same thing" without changing anything without a good Reason.

[@maksimsverdlikov4185]

@Madness Why people seem to hate Resurrection? I thought it was great. My favorite game on PSP for sure

[@hillhank3380]

Stredwor Rowderts because the game didn’t focus on its dark humor and rather make it more cartoony than dark basically it wasn’t as dark as the original

[@maksimsverdlikov4185]

@@hillhank3380 | I see. Actually many PS1 games seem to be darker than their sequels on newer platforms.

[@DalazG]

You're literally holding GOLD! I love this kind of stuff, any background, lure, details about Medievil. I'm here for it! My top favourite game of all time

[@PrimusP5Mansson]

Amazing... Just AMAZING♥️ MediEvil is one of my ALL time favorite games! Thank you so much for sharing and making this game! Love your artwork!! Would also love 2 have all those books of MediEvil! You should do a MediEvil comic ♥️

[@brendanbarnaville2534]

Just bought your book Coal Face. Medievil was my first introduction to fantasy worlds and it remains my favourite. Thank you for sharing the concept art and Film Architecture references.

[@Nasoreeno]

I'm salivating at each and every piece of paper in those books. I'm so glad that you kept this material

[@JeNn0mic0n]

As a fan of Medievil since I first bought a little more than two decades ago, I not only want to thank you for sharing this treasure trove of art and creativity, but for your excellent contribution to one of the greatest games I've ever had the pleasure playing. I wish you and the rest of the team could know just how much this game, the art, the music, the atmosphere and of course, the story as well as its characters influenced and affected me as an artist. Again, I express my eternal gratitude to you for sharing this, I hope you're doing well and still kicking ass with your amazing creative genes!

[@Matfen815]

As 10 year old this was my favourite game of all time, and now as a 29 year old in my 2nd year of university studying Computer Science, getting to know some of the behind the scenes information about how the game was made is fascinating. It makes me miss the good old days when games were made by creative people who just wanted to make things they would enjoy themselves rather than farmed out for money in massive developer assembly lines

[@mitsota101]

This is incredible. I love looking at design documents and concept art, and this is still one of my favorite games! Thanks for uploading this!

[@ellaellaeheheh]

As a lifelong Medievil fan I can't believe I'm just seeing this. Please release this as an art book, ala the book of Gallowmere. It would be such a nice gift for fans, perhaps for an anniversary.

[@PaulMurrayDesign]

This is absolutely fascinating. I've been a huge fan of Medievil ever since I first played it when I was about 12. I'm so glad you were able to save all this artwork. I'd love to see it in a Medievil artbook one day.

[@swoopnscoop]

Wow! I keep pausing this video to look at the drawings. Thank you for sharing your collection. I would totally buy a book with this artwork in it...

[@pumpkinpatch5]

When you said 'everything just gets thrown away', as an artist myself it made me feel a little ill! Never say goodbye to the artwork and so glad you kept it all!

[@P33b4Ugo5omwh3r3]

It would be amazing if this could be thrown together into a presentable artbook/document type of deal.

[@UKURR]

Do you have any MediEvil 2 artwork you can show us?

[@levoGAMES]

The MediEvil games are my absolute favorites and they gave me so much inspiration. Your and the teams work means a lot to me. Thank you for your service!

[@OverlordMortiroth]

Thank you so much for showing these! I can never get enough of concept art (especially for games that hold such a warm and nostalgic place in my heart).

[@pgcroonerva3256]

My favorite 1st party PS1 title of that consoles generation, and one of my favorite series of all time. I wish this series continued on to it's cancelled 3rd game concept and didn't fall into obscurity. I know there is still an audience for this type of game and hope that if sony wont make a new one, that an indie dev can come up with something that can capture the feel of this series sometime in the future. Thanks for sharing this, it's amazing to see how the design of this game came together, and how beautiful the art is!

[@otterspoolstudios]

Thanks for taking the time to go through that - absolutely loved it, both from a nostalgia point of view but also as a look behind the scenes. ;-)

[@RetroDeathReviews666]

This is just amazing that you've kept this after all these years. And also amazing that you decided to share it with everyone here. Thank you so very much for making this video. As someone who is working towards being a game designer and plays Medievil at least twice every year, this was a huge treat to watch. :) I would also do some very questionable things for a replica of that art book. *chef's kiss* beautiful stuff.

[@SodomaMuikku]

Thank you for this! Medievil is the game that I love, a truly modern masterpiece. You can feel the passion while playing: the art, music, stage design and dark humor works so well. You can really feel being in Gallowmere, there's no doubt of that.

[@anthonygarrido4269]

Fantastic video very informative I have played and beaten Medievil 1 many times it was cool to see the concepts for it,my favorite level will always be scarecrow fields.

[@LPgamedev]

Hello! Absolutely love MediEvil and want to thank you for your fantastic work on this fantastic game!! Secondly, it would be super cool if you would upload a series of videos where you revisit the game and talk about it as you play!

[@Fantasma_Ghaf]

Wow! I always loved to see the artwork in the credits of the game, but was so intrigued in what happened to all of that. Im Happy is in good hands, Thank you so much for sharing it

[@datjondoe4043]

Amazing! Really digging the hand-drawn graphic tiles, they remind of of the Rpg Maker 2003-tiles cept hundred times cooler ofc ;P

[@jayvman1311]

Your artwork is amazing!!! Absolutely fantastic Jay gun I am very proud to be an artist who shares the same 1st name as you xD

[@moescatobotcollects]

This was so amazing! Thank you for this! I was naming the locations as soon as I saw them! I really hope Morten the worm gets a second chance! Those segments sound so amazing! I can just picture it now controlling Morten as he slides across a table while imps are doing imp things in the room lol and you have to hide and wait for moments to progress. Almost like little Nightmares or The Batman Arkham scarecrow sequence! This always interests me to see how things are made. I always watch the bonus features of movies! Would love a Medievil Documentary!!!

[@joshuapalmer7613]

After playing the remastered Medievil for ps4, I couldn't help thinking why the original version still captivated me MORE. After watching this video I understand why... It was the pioneering days, you put your heart into these designs, everything was intensely "journeyed" through... The remaster is great, but it just didn't have the soul the original had. It feels buggy and the atmosphere lacks the wonder and mystery of the original. Love your work mate, you've forever inspired me

[@toadart4232]

Culminative moment here. Thanks for sharing this, your original vision for art combined with the music and design of Medievil is my foundation for the entirety of my own visual library. Aswell as the most underlying reason as to why I'm pursuing to be an artist for videogames. All the best!

[@ekaalvarez8504]

I love your artwork

[@nathanrawling4353]

Incredibly cool. Still my favorite game of all time and what an amazing thing to be able to see and hear from someone that created it. Thank you

[@BiggBad]

Wow why did I not find this earlier, thanks so much for sharing this Jay.

[@michaelrock]

I definitely would buy an artbook with all this drawings. Shame Sony would not let this man make money with his art.

[@joltagegyronicthehedgehog4911]

Wow I like them all

[@Grind_Productions]

Preorded your medievil comic and the remake, can’t wait. the information presented here and your thoughts was really interesting to listen too, thank you for your hard work on this series, medievil 1 and 2 truly are unforgettable experiences. I’m interested to check out your other comic work now because it looks really awesome 👍

[@TheGoldenPS1]

This was a journey back to the 90's when things were fresh. I still remember that "making of MediEvil" I watched from a demo disc and was very intrigued and impressed by the game. Some of those sketches you showed here was showed in the interview video. It was a very creative era from Sony's british studios. I don't really know what happened in the PS2 era. Chris Sorrell regret today he didn't worked on MediEvil 2 which he thinks could have led to MediEvil 3 if he didn't made Primal. And like you said technology evolved going into the PS2 era when we started to have more ambitious projects. Cambridge was very unlucky with Primal and Ghosthunter for being overlooked by the market. The demise of Sony's british studios started in this generation. It was unfortunate a legacy had to die so quick by a mismanagement from Sony Europe. I read Chris wasn't happy about Sony put his team on 24: The Game instead of the MediEvil Remake for PSP. The team that got to make Resurrection ended up doing anything new after that. By the time James Shephard and Chris left the studio there wasn't much creativity left in the studio. No new concepts and new ideas. Piers Jackson's team was put on other Sony projects until the studio become a part of Guerrilla Games and changed to Guerrilla Cambridge to make Killzone Mercenary. The studio was already dead to me when their next project after Resurrection was Little Big Planet for PSP. The spirit of old Sony Cambridge was totally gone. So when quality lacks and many underperforming titles under its belt Sony will in the end close the studio.

[@JohnSmith-ip6kc]

I loved and I’m American. I wish this game was so much more popular then it is

[@terabitez3374]

The original production bible

[@naturesquad9174]

Absolutely gorgeous, inspiring work.

[@Cardiopazia]

Thanks for sharing this with us. And making it of course.

[@IamMeIam]

i do hope you are working with the remaster! Id love to see morton the worms level in all his squirmy glory! And the jabberwocky!

[@GuestOfGregoryHouse]

You should have went through every page instead of just quickly flicking through! This stuff is gold. Especially since Medievil is getting a PS4 remake now.

[@UKURR]

Thanks for the memories!

[@00Kuja00]

One of my all time favorite games. Really love it.

[@GraceofGod247]

Thank you Jason!!!!

[@Intars5d]

Good one on choosing good old color pencils for drawing concept art. Let this serve as inspiration that gameDev could be not only computers, computers, wacom tables and mouse clicks and automated tools :l Patient, dedicated and spiritual artists know what pencil is and how to use it.

[@kupskiarts]

WOW this game made me want to start off as an artist in the game industry. been working now for about 13 years so thanks for that =) thought all of this was lost. Maybe release this as a collection in a book?

[@JohnSmithson999]

Thank you!

[@remycombes39]

I was such a big fan of your work when I was a child. I even drew concept arts myself (with my veeery limited drawing skills). Maybe i sent you some but I can't remember. I remember I thought you had to add vampires to the sequel, so when I played medievil 2 I was happy that you added vampires ahah. I'm a developper now (for web applications, which is great but less catchy than designing Tim Burtonish graveyards in 3d), and even if it's 2018 I also draw a lot on papers to conceive application interface.

[@erickwinchester783]

Your voice is of the narrator in Medievil´s opening

[@netsonmusic]

hope they make animated movie , imdb 8/10 , hope.

[@jjohnson71958]

they can still go back and make medievil the way it was ment to be

[@ritzallsep6668]

how come there is no artbook of Medievil with documents like this still existing?! The original crash bandicoot managed to publish its development archives very much like this one :O

[@maksimsverdlikov4185]

This is so cool. Is there any place where we can view these digitally?

[@elzabbul]

That was just amazing! Do you have anything more to share maybe?

[@Johanproducties]

Could you publish this as an art book? I would certainly buy it and with the popularity of the game at an all time high I think you will be able to work out something with Sony :)

[@ekaalvarez8504]

I love medievil historey

[@slyfoxfan0799]

Jay gunns appereance and voice changed alot in 20 years :v

[@riferwestern]

Amazing..

[@riferwestern]

Thank you sir ❤️💀❤️ MediEvil is part of me

[@jjohnson71958]

Who told the history of gallowmere voice over in medievil

[@ale90s]

Wooow incredibile!!!

[@ignaciopizarro1115]

The Design and draws book by MediEvil can we buy it???

[@megaziah]

Hey man will you please get in contact with me I would love to ask to buy this from you. I’m a huge PlayStation collector. I would love to talk more about this!

[@megaziah]

Even if it’s just one page this would be an amazing piece for me to own. Hell I’ll even take a copy! Please let me know!

[@reginaldforthright805]

I love the medieval artwork but hate surface tension style 🤷‍♂️. I don’t think they have anything in common