Hello, Toons of the world! Welcome to another edition of Backstage: Corporate Clash, your one-stop shop for the details of Corporate Clash development. For this edition, we'll be taking a look at the development of the new taskline manager experience that debuted with the Hires and Heroes update! Whiles these managers were not the primary focus of the update, all six are important figures in the history of Corporate Clash. We made sure that these managers received the care and attention that they deserved, and we're excited to share with you how they came to be!

This is a two-part blogpost. Part 1 will cover the development of the Derrick Man, the Land Acquisition Architect, and the Public Relations Representative. Part 2 (which you can read here) covers the Directors instance.

A Brief History of the Taskline Managers

Before discussing the redevelopment of these managers, it's important to put them into context. The taskline managers were among the first nine manager bosses created for Corporate Clash. All nine released with the official launch of the game on July 2, 2018. At the time, managers behaved very differently from the way that they do now. They did not have cheats or custom health values. Options for characterized dialogue were nonexistent. Most notably, out of these initial nine managers, only two had unique head designs. The other seven used standard Skelecog heads. Despite this, these nine managers were marvels for their time. Nothing else like them existed in any version of Toontown up to that point. This was especially the case for the taskline managers, each of whom had unique instances. It is for this reason that we regard them as very important to the history of Corporate Clash.

The six taskline managers evolved over time. The 1.1 update added unique cheats for each manager. The 1.2 update reformatted these cheats into a new status effect system, and the 1.2.5 update added defeat taunts to all these managers. However, the game surrounding them had evolved rapidly. New instances such as Count Erclaim, the Litigation Team, and Count Erfit expanded on the groundwork laid by the taskline managers. As development of the Hires and Heroes update progressed and the Kudos managers came into focus, the six taskline managers looked more and more antiquated.

As a team, we agreed that the taskline managers as they existed paled in comparison to the Kudos managers. We began discussing how to improve these instances. We considered making changes to the mechanical design of these fights. However, the demands of the Kudos instances took priority over what would've likely been significant refurbishment of the taskline instances. We settled on the creation of animated Cog heads and overhauling the writing, which would give the taskline managers parity in characterization with the Kudos managers.

The Derrick Man

The taskline managers were developed to give each playground a capstone instance. As the first capstone and the first manager boss that the player is required to fight, the Derrick Man is a very important Cog. For this reason, it was crucial that the player experience be as positive as possible.

Rewriting the Derrick Man

Duke Trickyflip, the writer and developer of the cutscene, spoke about the goals of the new Derrick Man writing and characterization:

"Prior to the redevelopment project, the Derrick Man was the only taskline manager with any level of characterization or attention beyond the instance. For example, he appeared in a 2021 social media comic, a feat saved for characters with notable personalities such as the Litigation Team. I wanted to preserve and expand on his existing character while removing the more generic elements of his encounter.

Cutscene editor view of Derrick Man cutscene draft. A different caged Toon was used for testing purposes.

"One of my goals was to take greater advantage of the Derrick Man's environment. For example, during the opening cutscene of the Derrick Man instance, the Toons hide behind a set of chairs to avoid the manager's gaze. Stuff like this increases the characterization of the instance and creates a more memorable experience. This was a goal for all the taskline manager cutscenes, and I felt we achieved it in the Derrick Man instance."

One of the biggest changes to come to the Derrick Man in 1.3 ties into another component of the update. We felt that it was inconsistent for the Derrick Man to have a reward while the other taskline managers did not. We considered creating Rain-esque rewards for other instances. However, balancing these rewards around the rest of the game proved to be difficult. Our final decision was to tie the managers into the Sweetener system, which was already planned for the Kudos managers. This allowed us to give rewards that have some parity with the other managers in the game.

Redesigning the Derrick Man

The desire for increased characterization was also reflected in the Derrick Man's new animated head. As stated before, the Derrick Man and Derrick Hand were the only taskline managers to have unique head designs. We decided to use the existing head as a basis for the new one. As a result, the head design is very similar. The main difference is its increased expressiveness owing to the presence of head animations.

Derrick Man animation rig test. Textured and animated by Berkie.

Composing the Derrick Man

The music associated with the Derrick Man instance has changed a number of times, and the renovation project was no exception. MaxGreatness, the composer responsible for much of this music, spoke about his work on the instance:

"The Derrick Man holds a very special place in my heart as his music is my first contribution to Corporate Clash, so writing the new music was a great honor indeed. For the new lobby theme, I kept the feel of the original with a swinging jazz band while also making it sound more ominous, as if to say what's beyond the elevator won't be so easy to defeat. 

"Before covering the new intro cutscene, it's only fair to bring up the original because it served as inspiration. Back when I wrote it, I wrote a draft that sounded much different: 

"Many agreed that it didn't quite mesh with the overall feel of the Derrick Man. Taking notes from the lobby theme, I wrote something more subdued and jazzy. 

"With this theme as a foundation, I was able to compose a solid, more dynamic theme. The new cutscene Duke animated gave me a lot of ideas that I was able to implement For example, Rain and the Derrick Man have their own instruments playing as they speak. Rain's instrument is clarinet, and the Derrick Man's instrument is baritone sax. Another element of the cutscene was dynamic changes depending on what was going on, such as the music going quiet when the Derrick Man turned around to see who was laughing.

"Anyone who watched or played the Derrick Man battle during 1.3 QA testing will likely have noticed a change in the cutscene music when the elevator opens. This section referenced the original Derrick Man cutscene theme which in turn referenced the original Toontown Central Playground theme. With the introduction of Unfinished's new TTC playground theme inbound, I changed that part of the cutscene to reference this new theme. While the lobby and cutscene music are new themes for 1.3, the battle theme has been around since the 1.1.1 update. Being the first major threat that Toons faced at the time, my main aim for the Derrick Man's battle theme was to write something more intimidating than the average theme. The most intimidating theme I thought to take inspiration from was the original Toontown Online Cog Battle theme. The result, like the old cutscene music, was different to say the least.

"Back at the drawing board, I took a page from the cutscene music I was writing and came up with a jazzy arrangement of the Cog Battle theme which maintained the Toontown charm. 

"The cutscene that plays when the Derrick Man is defeated was a fun one to work on. Derrick Man may have been down, but he wasn't quite out, so I wanted the pace of the theme to match it as he spoke with Rain. It served as great practice more with matching instruments with the two of them as they talked. Last but not least is the ending cutscenes music. The Hall of Fame theme from Toontown Online was originally used for this cutscene, and while it's a good theme, I felt it could be improved on for this moment. A cutesy marching band arrangement to play off of Rain's bubbly personality seemed like the best approach, so I rolled with it. Building on the arrangement I composed post-1.1, I built on it further for the new cutscene and victory dance."

The Land Acquisition Architect

Next on our parade of taskline managers is the Land Acquisition Architect, formerly the Director of Land Acquisition. The DOLA and the Director of Public Relations (DOPR) were renamed as part of their redevelopment. This was done to avoid confusion with the Director of Land Development and the Director of Public Relations, two managers in the Directors instance.

Enoch, who did significant writing work for both the LAA and the DOLD, spoke about working on the LAA:

"Originally, the LAA didn't have a personality. At launch, he was just another Cog who threatened the Toons as so many do. Not much was shown of who or what he is. In other words, he was forgettable. When I was trying to figure out what to do with him, I wanted to make him stand out as a confident, efficient man. He would not be the strongest Cog, but intimidating to a weaker Toon with his ability to make the earth beneath him quake.

"The LAA's position conformed to an archetype with a special place in my heart. I modeled him after a Texan land mogul, which implied the confidence, position, and sheer passion for land development that I wanted to give him. On top of all of this, he needed a drive. While many Cogs are driven by profit and promotion, the LAA is driven by a higher purpose. He is convinced that land development is fundamentally important to the nature of Cogs, as shown in the speech he gives during his cutscene.

"However, the character needed a foil, so Duke and I developed his relationship with the Toon Council. Since he's not directly hostile, I thought it would be interesting if he was trying to legally acquire the lands of Toontown through the Toon Council. The Council would obviously refuse to cooperate from him, which exacerbated his frustrations and made for some of the cutscene's best quotes. For the ending cutscene, the original plan was for the LAA to merely slip and fall while stomping. This was ultimately scrapped on account of being too abrupt. Duke and I eventually agreed to have him crash through a floor due to the irony of being destroyed by one of his main characteristics. A comedic ending for a comedic character."

Cutscene editor view of the LAA ending.

Duke, who was also responsible for creating all the new taskline manager cutscenes, elaborated on different components of this development.

"Enoch did a lot to develop components of the LAA cutscenes, but there was still a lot of detail that I ended up filling in. For example, the camera shakes during the LAA cutscenes were my idea, as I wanted to foreshadow the crashing through the floor. LAA's twirls during the marching section, an homage to the Mover and Shaker turns in TTO Field Offices, were also something that I developed. Despite its age, the Executive Office room benefited the cutscene because it allowed for a lot of playable action and places to focus the camera on. This is most apparent in the opening shots, which showcase props in the office."

Designing the LAA

Unlike the Derrick Man, the LAA had no prior design to serve as a reference point. Mailman, one of Corporate Clash's art directors, designed the new concept based on that of the DOLD: "For LAA, I wanted to continue the “construction” theme I initially used for DOLD. LAA’s big eyes are supposed to look like the old headlights on construction equipment, I think that's the most unique design trait he has compared to the DOLD. Other than that, he's just a miniature and more abstracted DOLD."

The LAA was modeled and textured by Basher, and animated by Berkie.

Recomposing the LAA

Back to MaxGreatness, who spoke about composing the new LAA music:

"The music written for the LAA takes much inspiration from the DOLA themes. Being the second taskline boss, I felt the DOLA should have a more threatening theme compared to the Derrick Man.

I used the original DOLA cutscene music, composed by MasterFrasca, as a template. I attempted to write something more menacing: a dour arrangement of the Barnacle Boatyard Playground theme. While the new cutscene theme I composed at the time served its purpose well, as time went on, it started to feel a bit empty compared to some of the new music in the works for 1.3. My approach to the LAA cutscene remedied that feeling by mixing and arranging more BB themes and syncing the music to the action.

The battle theme has remained consistent since 1.1 and became the foundation for the LAA intro and ending cutscenes. I wanted to compose something that would reflect the DOLA’s strength at the time, so I took some BB themes, tossed in some choir, bells and strings, and mixed it all together to create something that would best represent him and eventually the LAA.

Given the humorous ending of the final cutscene, I had fun coming up with this one. It was only fitting that I’d write a theme that would grow more intense only cut off at the punchline."

The Public Relations Representative

Following the LAA in the taskline is the Public Relations Representative. The PRR is one of three manager instances that the player can access from a playground. This is the final playground capstone that does not involve a department boss. In this sense, the PRR represents a boundary between the localized threats of the early playgrounds and the greater implications of later encounters.

Rewriting the PRR

Timer, one of the writers for the PRR, felt that the character's established lore made them an interesting figure:

"I always took a lot of interest in the PRR and thought he had a lot of potential, even before 1.3. I thought the concept of a manager that had been "locked away" by Toons for Cog knows how long to the point of degrading over time and being, in essence, abandoned and replaced by the company was really interesting and I wanted to take it and run with it. I especially wanted to lean into the "glitchiness" and paint a character that came off as almost sympathetic, but also horrific. This is what happens when you let technology sit and degrade for a long time without any love or care: it breaks down. This is also what happens when you isolate a person for a long time. I wanted it to be front and center that what he was going through was pretty horrible and affected him deeply. This would not only make the Toon's actions at least questionable, but would also make COGS, Inc. look bad because they left him there.

"Beyond the bugginess, I wanted to emphasize that he's not just some fast-talking salesman, but a Public Relations Representative. His whole shtick is to try and gain your trust. I felt that it would lead to him being very charismatic, kind and chatty. He would be trying to relate and share experiences with you - which is exactly what he does, but it's very off-putting when combined with his bugginess. So it does the opposite instead."

Duke spoke about his cutscene development work on the PRR:

"The PRR was the second cutscene I made using the editor, and the first to be finalized. It presented unique challenges as a cutscene developer because the instance room is very bare. This limited the amount of playable action that either the Toons or the PRR could engage with. You can see the result of this in the final cutscene, which is that the Toons have very little to do and most of the action centers on the PRR's glitchiness. The bizarre animations of the PRR in the cutscenes were designed to evoke their lore as a glitchy, unmaintained Suit in isolation for a long time. The plethora of animations and the controls used on them would not have been possible without the editor.

Another challenge the cutscene presented to me was in the script itself. The original script was even glitchier than the one used in the game. However, because longer text requires the speech bubbles to be present for longer, the cutscene lasted over three and a half minutes. This was too long, especially for an environment as bare as the PRR's dungeon. I worked with the writers and produced a second draft that sold the glitchy effect while being shorter. This allowed for over ninety seconds to be cut off of the length of the cutscene. This cutscene, now two minutes long, was of a sufficient length for the game."

Designing the PRR

The Public Relations Representative benefited from another Hires and Heroes project: HD Skelecogs. The original Skelecog models used in Toontown Online were one combined model rather than the separated head system used by regular Cogs. This meant that it was impossible to have unique Skelecog heads. The HD Skelecogs rectified this problem, allowing for the creation of a custom head for the PRR. 

Animated PRR head. Animated by Polygon.

Recomposing the PRR

Developing the music for the PRR was somewhat different than the process for the other taskline managers. MaxGreatness, who wrote the music for this manager, elaborates on the associated challenges:

"Before the PRR, there was the DOPR, so I would be remiss if I didn’t talk about the DOPR music I composed. For the cutscene, I put together a cinematic theme for him. A simple harpsicord/tuba melody at the beginning as the camera panned to reveal the DOPR; a cut in the music during the ERROR and restart; a fuller instrumentation afterward to ramp up the intensity; a dramatic slowdown as the battle was about to begin. The DOPR’s ending theme was meant to be a triumphant conclusion congratulating the players for completing this battle, and by extension, the Ye Olde Toontowne taskline. 

The PRR’s music is among the most challenging music I’ve ever written, but also some of my favorite. Writing the intro cutscene allowed me to really test my skills. I started by writing down the timing of every glitch and twitch the PRR made and adding various audio effects including static, panning, pitch bends and more.

With some advice from the leads, I preserved a melody from the original theme MasterFrasca composed and created a new theme for the PRR that emphasized he was no pushover. This melody stands out as a beating taiko drum with low voices belting out the Corporate Clash Cog riff plays throughout. 

For the final cutscene, I was able to go all out with the audio effects. I also threw in a few bits of the intro as well to emphasize the madness of the PRR’s breakdown. In his final moments, the beat of the taiko drum slows and stops as he collapses.

While the old victory theme was good, I felt it didn’t quite mesh with the feeling of victory. The solution was simple: a YOTT rendition of the classic Hall of Fame theme."

Wrap-Up

That's it for today's Backstage Corporate Clash! Stay TOONed for Part 2, where we'll cover more backstage content related to The Directors!