Fantasia: Music Evolved

Fantasia: Music Evolved is a motion-controlled music rhythm game developed by Harmonix for the Xbox One and Xbox 360 with Kinect. It is the interactive successor to Walt Disney's 1940 film Fantasia and the 1999/2000 sequel, Fantasia 2000. It is expected to be released sometime in 2014.

Gameplay
The narration directly references the "Sorcerer's Apprentice" scene from the film. The sorcerer Yen Sid tasks his apprentice, the player, with animating the worlds he has created. Players generate life in initially desolate levels by moving in rhythm with licensed popular music, which unlocks gestures that change elements of the musical composition. In an example, a player traced arrows with her body in time with a song, and was rewarded with a selection of rock, orchestral, and brass music overlays that fit over the song. The Kinect's camera shows the player as an on-screen silhouette, which transforms other objects when the two touch. The game is able to read nuance in the player's body movements and change the visual animations accordingly.

Fantasia: Music Evolved is designed to emphasize creative control, and unlike previous Harmonix games, does not score or grade player actions. The player is unable to fail or lose the game. After completing a level, some musical elements are exported to the overworld. Players collect magical energy while playing, which is used to unlock items that can be brought into the levels.

The developers plan to let players share their final, saved mixes after the levels are complete. They also plan a two-player mode. Unlocked areas become available for arcade and party modes.

Development
Disney Interactive Studios first contacted Harmonix with the idea in 2010. The Harmonix team was invigorated from the success of its Dance Central and brainstormed about further intersections between motion control and music. Harmonix was not open to Disney's offer to meet at first since the team did not traditionally use third-party intellectual property. At the meeting, there was an instant connection when Disney mentioned Fantasia, since the brand connected with Harmonix's projects in development. Disney and Harmonix wanted a game more interactive for the player than simply participating in the actions of the film, so the Harmonix team began planning from Walt Disney's original intentions via his production notes instead of from the final film release.Disney Interactive Studios executive producer Chris Nicholls met with the Harmonix team to establish core principles upon which to base the game. The development team liked the "Sorcerer's Apprentice" dream sequence scene best, where Mickey controlled the weather and background orchestra like a conductor from atop a mountain. Its "reaching out" interaction is reflected in the gameplay. This scene, where "magic and the manipulation of music itself were woven into a single act", became a central narrative conceit and "creative inception point" for the team. While visiting the Disney creative teams, the Harmonix team was also inspired by Disneyland's World of Color show.

Fantasia: Music Evolved was unveiled at a press event just prior to Electronic Entertainment Expo 2013 as a modern update of Walt Disney's Fantasia. The game was designed as an interactive successor to the film. The team aimed to contemporize the film by connecting physical movement with music. They chose to emphasize freedom of choice instead of themes from their previous games such as imitation and scores based on performance. Harmonix cofounder and CEO Alex Rigopulos has called this evolution into "musical creativity" a long-term interest of the company, as well as its "creative responsibility". Project lead Daniel Sussman differentiated the game from previous Harmonix releases and added that the team was "trying to make something accessible and creative". The game is designed to read nuance in player gestures to afford for greater creativity. Harmonix also wanted the game to be a tool for making music similar to the experience of musicians. The team spent a long portion of its development period iterating through experiments before settling on the final combination of gameplay and creative elements.

Harmonix's CEO affirmed that the team was excited about the innovative aspects of the game, specifically its options for creativity. At the time of the game's announcement, creative director Matt Boch compared the creative spirit and innovation of the Fantasia film's team to that of the Harmonix staff. While internally testing the game, the team competed to perform the "craziest" performance of the songs. Disney and Harmonix have brainstormed about a theme park adaptation of the game as a future possibility.

The game is expected to release in 2014 for the Xbox One and Xbox 360 Kinect. Harmonix has plans for downloadable content (DLC), including additional music tracks and other game elements.

Music
Songs from more than 25 artists are included in the game, and each song is accompanied by multiple remixes. "Bohemian Rhapsody", specifically, has three mixes: the original, an orchestral mix, and an 80s metal mix. The licensed music includes compositions from the classical era, including Night on Bald Mountain by Modest Mussorgsky that is a feature piece of the original Fantasia film. The span of music is a first for Harmonix, and represents a fusion of music genres across music history. Classical songs are highlighted Italic. Rock, Hip-Hop, and Pop songs are highlighted regular. Only seventeen tracks were revealed: