Another element they wanted to improve upon was character development. Naughty Dog's intention was for the new series to step up from Crash Bandicoot and other well-renowned platformers by creating a single, immersive world where each level was interconnected without loading times. Following the release of Crash Team Racing in September 1999, the rest of the team began work on the new title in January 2000. Throughout 1999, only the technical development of the game took place. The game, a platformer, was codenamed 'Project Y' in its earliest stages. Development of the new title started in January 1999 with only two programmers working on the game, as the rest of the team were still developing Crash Team Racing. Early sketches of the protagonist by Charles Zembillas.Īfter developing the Crash Bandicoot series throughout the 1990s, Naughty Dog planned to develop a new franchise for the upcoming PlayStation 2 console.
