| Nightmare Ned | |
| Developer: | |
| Publisher: | Disney Interactive |
| Director: | Walt Dohrn |
| Programmer: | Michael Sean Clement |
| Artist: | Christina Vann |
| Composer: | Patrick J. Collins Jim Owen |
| Released: | October 7, 1997 |
| Genre: | Action-adventure, Sidescroller |
| Modes: | Single-player |
| Platforms: | |
Nightmare Ned is a 1997 computer game for Microsoft Windows that was developed alongside the animated series of the same name.[1] [2] The game was based on a concept by Sue and Terry Shakespeare.[3] It was released on October 7, 1997.
Developed by Creative Capers Entertainment and Window Painters Ltd. and published by Disney Interactive Studios, Nightmare Ned was Disney Interactive's first video game release that was developed by a subcontracted developer.[4] The game was critically acclaimed and received various accolades.
10-year-old Ned Needlemeyer (Courtland Mead) arrives home after school and discovers that he has his home to himself, with his parents and sister away for the evening. After eating a large amount of junk food and playing video games, he hears a thunderstorm begin to brew. The power goes out, and he decides to go to bed. While sleeping, Ned envisions five terrifying nightmares and must gather his courage to successfully trek through all of them. Each nightmare features its own theme and cast of characters based on one of Ned's fears.
The game's main hub is on a quilt which resembles Ned's bed. From here, Ned can travel through adventure portals into five different nightmare worlds: Ned's Graveyard Nightmare; Ned's School Nightmare; Ned's Medical Nightmare; Ned's Nightmare in the Attic, Basement and Beyond; and Ned's Bathroom Nightmare. Each nightmare world has a corresponding representative "shadow creature" that, through exploration of the world, eventually reveals itself to be someone or something harmless. A player can travel back to the quilt an unlimited amount of times, but whether or not the player receives the "good" ending is dependent upon traveling back eight or fewer times. Each world features hidden passages between them.
The game generally features a sidescrolling interface, but utilizes multiple layers to create depth. A gamepad, joystick, or keyboard can be used as input options. Ned's yo-yo serves as the main weapon against enemies.
The idea for the game was pitched before the television show started production and the two were later developed alongside each other. Donovan Cook, producer of the TV series, described the collaboration: "We actually shared a lot of ideas as we went along. [...] There's some crossover. We sent them our graphics. [...] We had to have our art done right away and they ended up influenced by it along the way". Unlike the TV series, the animation in the game used digital ink and paint. The game was intended specifically for Windows 95 was designed to take advantage of Intel MMX technology. Nightmare Ned was the first CD-ROM to use full-motion video streaming technology.[5] At the time of release, the game was considered a "power- and space-hungry program" for requiring 75 megabytes of hard drive space. To remedy this, two versions of the game were included on the disc—the original and one with fewer cutscenes that uses significantly less hard drive space.
The game's art style uses an "eclectic" visual mix of underground comics, 19th-century woodcuts, and anatomical diagrams. Kendall Lockhart, who was then the Vice President of creative development for Disney Interactive, described the game as being Disney's version of "'Charlie Brown' in a children's Twilight Zone meets Beetlejuice". Much of the same voice cast from the show was also utilized for the video game.
Though the idea for the game was developed before the television show, the Nightmare Ned video game ended up being released months after the show had finished its run, which aired from April through July 1997. It was initially planned for a September 2, 1997 release,[6] [7] but this release date was evidently pushed back based on the most recent files on the CD-ROM being dated September 16;[8] it was eventually released on October 7. The game was promoted through print ads, advertisements on Disney VHS releases, and an online campaign on Yahooligans!.[9] [10] A preview of the game was included on a promotional disc as a cross-promotion with the online subscription service Disney's Daily Blast and the Microsoft Network ISP. An Adobe Shockwave program that presented sound files from the game was featured on the Disney Interactive website.[11] Sequels for the game were planned but were never released. An unlicensed localization by Fargus Multimedia was released in Russia in late 1999 under the name Один дома: Ночные кошмарики (Odin doma: Nochnye koshmariki; Russian for "Alone at Home: Nightly Nightmares").[12] In 1999, the full game was included as a free bonus with copies of Disney's Villains' Revenge.[13]
The Nightmare Ned video game was critically acclaimed and was nominated for two CODiE awards.[14] In 1998, it received a Parents' Choice Award.[15] In June 1998, it received a silver award from I.D. Magazine.[16] In October 1998, it received an award from Communication Arts magazine for "best in entertainment interactive design".[17]
The game received praise from Time, who noted the game as a departure from Disney's typical releases.[18] PC Mag described the game as "so packed with great graphics and original songs that it makes other kids titles look anemic by comparison".[19] SuperKids also praised the graphics, describing them as "slick" and using "state-of-the-art technology", but they also noted that the game had little educational value.[20] Popular Science wrote that the "detailed background imagery" made the game feel "especially chilling".[5] I.D. Magazine compared the game to works of Tim Burton and described it as "really sophisticated", writing that the game was "pushing not only gaming and illustration for kids, but also advancing ideas about game-space". They also praised the game's keystroke gameplay, writing: "There are no instructions required. It allows the user to step right into the interface." Superkids described the game's navigation as "initially a bit of a coordination challenge", but went on to note that "the keyboard is a perfectly satisfactory option". They also wrote that the game was well-received by both children and teenagers.[20] Despite the acclaim, it was reported that some parents thought the game's subject matter was too frightening for its intended audience.[21]