(This article was originally published on May 4, 2018 in the now-defunct Facebook page. Facts and opinions expressed in these words may differ currently.)
No need to beat around the bush on this one. Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly is quite the infamous game.
Released in November 2002 on the PlayStation 2 and Nintendo GameCube, this entry in the franchise would be the transition of Spyro towards the next generation of consoles and should advance the usual production value that has been set with the original games by Insomniac. There was huge expectations… and it didn’t deliver.
It received very mixed reception back when it was first launched in 2002, and retrospective reviews that are still coming out to this day are even more negative. It was criticized for its poorer controls, short length with barely any substance, subpar graphics with some areas being laughable, numerous bugs and glitches and a terrible performance.
From my perspective, this is one of those rare games where I instantly drop the controller down after playing one minute into the first level because the framerate was so unbearable. I would consider it the worst thing that has ever happened to the Spyro franchise, as it killed the series’ prime so hard and this soon.
And yet, for such a infamous game, there’s a great deal of mystery behind it. Very little is known about how the game came to be and even less is known about its developers, Equinoxe and Check Six, in which Enter the Dragonfly was the only game they developed before closing down.
But I won’t let this secrecy to go any longer, so I decided to get to the bottom. I’ve checked the game’s credits on the Internet to list the people that were involved in the development, and I managed to reach contact with some of them in the hope to uncover the origins of the project, what was planned during development and why it ended being so bad.
One of them got back to me. It’s Warren Davis, who was credited as the project coordinator and senior engineer at Check Six Studios. And now, he’s giving his insight.
1. To start off nicely, can you introduce yourself?
I’m Warren Davis. I started making video arcade games in 1982 for Gottlieb. My first game was Q*bert, and after that I programmed Us Vs. Them, a sci-fi B-movie themed laserdisc game featuring scenes with live actors interspersed with aerial fighting gameplay.
After Gottlieb closed, I went to work for Williams where I helped program Joust 2 and developed the digitizing system used in games such as NARC, Hi-Impact Football, Mortal Kombat, NBA Jam and more. I also was on the development teams for T2:Judgment Day and Revolution X (featuring Aerosmith). Other titles I worked on include Lotto Fun and Exterminator.
In the mid-1990’s I left the arcade industry to work for Disney Interactive, and then Check Six, followed by Equinoxe, VirtuePlay and ILM. Currently, I’m a software consultant for Sony.
2. In 2001, you joined the newly-founded Check Six Studios in California. Can you describe how the company was, from their values and philosophy to the working process?
It was a small company, loosely structured, which I was very excited about. My only experience in the home game market at that point was with Disney. I was happy to get away from a corporate monolith that required dozens of approvals before you could get anything done. Also, my primary job at Disney was writing tools, so I was glad to get back to working on an actual game.
3. How and when did you get involved with the Spyro project? Why did Universal Interactive approached your studio, or was it the opposite and instead it was Check Six who pitched to Universal?
I was brought in by Joel Goodsell, the game’s original designer. We had worked together at Disney. I was brought into Check Six as a programmer, but not the lead programmer. They already had a lead, a very technically proficient guy named Jimmy. At the time I started with Check Six, the Spyro project had already begun, at least so far as a proof of concept. For more information about the origins of the project, I suggest you ask Aryeh Richmond, one of the founders of Equinoxe.
4. Did you already have a personal connection with Spyro before you were working on this project? Have you played any of the original games on PSone?
I had no connection at all to Spyro, other than knowing that the character existed and that it was popular. Once I started at Check Six, I learned that Insomniac decided not to do a fourth Spyro game, which is why Universal went looking for another studio to do it.
5. Was the initial plans for the Spyro project any different from what the final product ended up being? Were they any scrapped ideas and concepts?
I’m pretty sure the design changed multiple times from its initial concept, but the person to ask about that would be Joel Goodsell, the game’s original designer. And there was a guy named Ricci Rukavina who worked for Universal and was the liason between Universal and Check Six. He had some pretty strong ideas about what he wanted in the game. My recollection is that he and Joel butted heads, and eventually Joel left.
6. How did some of the new gameplay features came to be, such as the multiple breath abilites, the wing shield and the various vehicles?
This would be a question for Joel. If they were not in Joel’s original design, they must have been added by Ricci after Joel left the project. My involvement in design decisions was minimal until the later stages of development, when the project almost fell apart completely. Then I took a more active approach in the interests of just getting the game finished.
7. It has been said that the original plot for the game involved Gnasty Gnorc and Ripto teaming up. Do you confirm this to be true? Can you tell about the original plans for the game’s story and cast of characters?
Again… a question for Joel.
8. How much content was cut during development, and what did the original world / boss structure of the game look like before it was overhauled and cut down?
My memories on this are minimal. Joel and Ricci would know more than me. I think the scope of the project was always more than we were capable of achieving. At some point we started losing content because we were just running out of time.
9. Were they any assets used from the original Spyro games that preceded it on the PSone? Did the original developer Insomniac Games lend any resources to help develop the game?
As far as I can remember, we developed our own assets. I may have gotten some notes from the original Insomniac programmers about Spyro’s movement and physics, but for the most part, I had to try to duplicate Spyro’s movement and physics just from playing the original games.
10. How was Check Six’s relationship with Equinoxe Digital Entertainment during development? For that matter, how was your relationship with your employer Universal Interactive Studios?
At the beginning, the relationship between Check Six and Equinoxe was great. Both companies were very excited to be working on this high profile title and optimistic as to what we could accomplish. Eventually, both companies moved into a single office space in Venice, CA, and were looking forward to a future of developing games together.
That optimism didn’t last, though. I don’t remember the details of what led to each company’s management distrusting each other, but it deteriorated to the point where one day I walked into the office and was told to go home because the project was dead. Everyone else had been sent home too. Instead, I insisted on putting the heads of both companies into the conference room and mediated between them all day until they agreed to continue. If I hadn’t done that, the project would have been dead on that day. Aryeh Richmond can fill you in more on the reasons why the relationship deteriorated.
11. In your opinion, how much additional time do you think was needed to get the game into a finished and polished state?
It would have probably taken a few more months to get the game into a reasonable state. Even then, I’m not sure all of the issues would have been resolved without some major revisions to Check Six’s engine.
12. What experience and lessons did you learn from working on Spyro? What was the best and worst aspect about the development process?
I learned a lot about the politics of having to please a corporate master, and about the compromises you make when development doesn’t go as planned. I also learned about feature creep, and the importance of not promising things you can’t deliver. The best aspect of any project for me is the ability to collaborate with talented people and the satisfaction of achieving goals. The worst aspect was having other people’s decisions make my job more difficult or impossible. And also being handed arbitrary deadlines.
When I worked at Williams, Eugene Jarvis would never release a game unless he thought it was ready. Management wasn’t so keen on this, but he held his ground. In the home market, you have stores holding shelf space open for a game, so you don’t always have that luxury, and you end up releasing games that aren’t ready.
Spyro:EtD may have sold well on the reputation of the previous games, but it also damaged the reputation of the brand by not living up to expectations.
13. Did the team already consider future plans after the game was completed, as in a direct sequel?
I think the hope was there that this would be a success and more games would come. As things fell apart, I think everyone realized that wasn’t going to happen. (at least not with Equinoxe and Check Six working together.) Both companies continued on their own for a while after Spyro:EtD was completed. Equinoxe hired some programmers (myself being one).
14. It’s clear that Enter the Dragonfly received mixed reception back when it was first released, and has gathered even more negative reception now. How do you feel about this?
Given the history of its development, and the fact that it almost wasn’t finished at all, I’m not surprised.
15. Enter the Dragonfly was the first and only game for both Check Six and Equinoxe before they closed down. Where they any other game projects you were working on at Check Six?
No, although when Check Six and Equinoxe separated, I went to work for Equinoxe where we developed a prototype for a game for Nintendo that had a lot of promise, but Nintendo elected to not continue funding it after one particular milestone.
16. According to the old website of Check Six, you had the intent to license out the in-house engine. Do you have anything to comment about this?
That would have been a decision made by the owners of the company. I was just a hired programmer, and don’t have any recollection or knowledge about that.
17. Do you have some of the original assets of Enter the Dragonfly that you could share to the fans, such as concept arts and design documents?
I have some sound files. And I do have some design documents although I have no context for where they belong in the timeline. I would have to think about whether to share them without that context.
18. Just recently, the Spyro character has been revived with a upcoming remake of the original PSone trilogy called the Reignited Trilogy, and before that, he was one of the leading characters in the popular toys-to-life franchise, Skylanders. What are your thoughts on those later games?
After my experience with Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly, I didn’t really keep up with the character or the later games.
19. As we mentioned the Reignited Trilogy, would you like Enter the Dragonfly to be remastered in the same fashion and in its completed form?
If there seems to be enough of a demand among players, then yes, but I have no personal desire for it.
20. Before we end up here, do you have something you would like to say to all the Spyro fans out there?
Sorry to have disappointed you. We did the best we could under the circumstances.
Well, this part of the investigation is now concluded. Overall, although no real details has been conveyed about what was planned for the game, Davis has given a good idea about the organization and the relations between the two development team.
Davis actually gave me the personal emails of Aryen Richmond and Joel Goodsell which he recommended me to reach contact as they would be a very informative resource, specifically about the origins of the project. I’ve sent them my interview proposal and I do hope they get back to me as well, as it is only the first step in this investigation.
I greatly thank Warren Davis for its participation.
WumpaGem 
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