Sony granted 10 employees their independence from its San Diego studio two years ago and in doing so allowed BottleRocket Entertainment to take form. Today, that independent studio creates games for Sony's PlayStation 2 and is readying its first title, "Rise of the Kasai," for release early next year.

Four artists from the 24-member team working on the cel-shaded project came directly from the Hollywood animation business, previously working on such films as "Ice Age," "Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas" and "The Prince of Egypt." BottleRocket also contracted a lead artist for the game who came from Don Bluth's studio.

"Ten years ago, video games were being made for roughly $10,000; today, a game can easily cost $10 million," BottleRocket Entertainment producer and president Jonathan Beard says. "We can now afford the luxury of hiring specialized artists -- something that Hollywood has used for a long time."

Although they're a different form of entertainment than movies, games can benefit from the structure that Hollywood uses to create characters and story, says Erik Medina, BottleRocket's art director and lead animator. He notes that "Rise of the Kasai" underwent a preproduction phase in which the development of characters and the pacing of the stories were the focus. Then during production, there were other elements familiar to movie creators, such as writing and rewriting a script, storyboarding events and casting the voice acting.

"At the same time that the artists are working out the entertainment aspect of video games, a separate game design department is working on the video game experience, which, unlike film, can last 30 hours rather than two hours," Beard says.

One of the unique elements of this game is that it was designed from the ground up as a cooperative online game, which means that two friends can join together via the Internet and play alongside each other in the same universe. In the single-player game, the artificial intelligence controls the second character to provide the complete experience.

Beard says there's a need for quirky original games in the current marketplace, which is filled with Hollywood licenses and sequels. He also says that Sony respects the need for independent studios, which can bring a fresh new attitude to game development.

"There are parallels to what happened in Hollywood with the amount of independent game studios that are being purchased by bigger game publishers," Beard says.

He added that BottleRocket will remain a lean operation with 24 employees and will continue to blend always-evolving technology with fresh ideas and Hollywood sensibilities to bring gamers new game-playing experiences.

"Rise of the Kasai" is both a prequel and sequel to "The Mark of Kri," which Beard and the original 10 members of BottleRocket began developing at Sony Computer Entertainment America five years ago. The game retains a 3-D cel-shaded animated look thanks to the latest technological advances. It also introduces and features new playable characters, including the strong-minded female protagonist Tati. She is the sister of Rau, the hero of the first game, who is also playable in the new title.