Interviews with Eidos
The idea of getting back to the basics with Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Legend sounds simple - at first. But in reality, there's nothing basic about raiding ancient tombs with living physics, or creating a character that can move through dynamic environments with athleticism and intelligence.
Back when Crystal Dynamics was making games for the 3DO console, we created a technique for streaming data from the disk to the console's memory, which removed memory restrictions that other game engines suffered from. Over the years, we've modified and improved our streaming technology to handle the increasing demands of the gaming market.
Today, the streaming technology we're using in Tomb Raider: Legend sets this title apart from previous Tomb Raider games. For example, it gives us the ability to create a much more finely detailed world. The content creators can spend as much effort in a few rooms that previously would have been spread over an entire level. It also eliminates load times by continually rotating relevant data into and out of the console's memory as needed.
In Tomb Raider: Legend we're using streaming technology for more than just textures, animations, sounds and logic. We've improved the resource sharing and added several new types of resources that can be streamed, including cinematic data and physics information. This is important when you consider that a typical TRL level requires 5-times more memory than the PS2 console offers.
One of the hurdles we faced with TRL's streaming technology was with the memory management system. It became more complicated, since more data is moving in and out of the console's memory. Developing automated tools that could tell content creators exactly how much memory they are allowed to use in a particular section was key.
TRL's streaming technology helped us close the gap between the original concept of Lara Croft and how she actually expresses her personality in the game. And it allowed us to make each environment much more detailed, interactive and realistic.
As you continue to see more of the code leading up to launch, you'll start to see more of the advantages of streaming technology in TRL.
Source: softpedia.com, 1st of August 2005
Producer Morgan W Gray tells of a legend reborn, new Lara, new gameplay and hottest of all, Ms Croft's untold origins
A legend reborn, that's what SCI/Eidos are promising with the new version of Lara Croft, Tomb Raider: Legend. After the back street abortion that was Angel of Darkness, the long running Tomb Raider series certainly needed some kind of rebirth; post-Angel, one of gaming's enduring icons could easily have sunk without a trace.
Yet with both a new developer and a new direction, there were strong hopes that Crystal Dynamics could inject new life into a fading franchise. We didn't hear much for ages after the initial announcement and then as fellow hacks first began to encounter the title, the whispering campaign began. "Have you seen the new Tomb Raider?"; "No really, it looks amazing, Legend could be Lara's reincarnation."
Despite their most convincing entreaties, we still maintained a healthy scepticism, as Public Enemy once noted, "Don't Believe The Hype." That scepticism endured until last week when we encountered Tomb Raider: Legend first hand behind closed doors at the Leipzig Games Show. Although we only saw one level based in Africa, by the end of one stunning 20 minute presentation we were more than half way to being convinced. Legend could indeed signal the rebirth of Lara Croft as gaming's premier icon.
You can read more about the actual game itself by checking our exhaustive coverage through the links up there to your left, but we nabbed the chance to speak to Legend producer, Morgan W Gray, to hear the very latest on Lara's re-launch, new gameplay elements and of course, that untold origin.
Here's what we discovered.
Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Legend is obviously a very new direction for the series, almost a rebirth, was that the way you looked at it when you were designing the game?
Morgan W Gray: All along, all along, that was the entire goal. We realised Lara Croft was very strong and the franchise was very well loved, but we've had some disappointment from the fans [over the previous version]. We looked at the core of the game, some of the best things we've done in the past and we wanted to make sure we propel them forward and bring in some new additions that the fans want. We also asked 'what if we were back in 1994, Tomb Raider one, what would we do with that as a starting point?'
So you've adopted a very back-to-basics approach with Legend?
Morgan W Gray: Exactly, we feel Lara Croft is an adventurer and the game is called Tomb Raider, so we wanted to get her back into the exotic locales where the game was based in the first place. Exploring places that no other person has ever been - let's focus on the tombs. We do it throughout multiple environments, that's one of our cornerstones. That's not to say we don't have a few urban locales but our main focus is on bringing you to corners of the world to do adventuring Croft-style.
One of the main draws is obviously the new Lara Croft model. Could you fill us in on some of the design decisions on the look and feel?
Morgan W Gray: Our new Lara model was obviously a very difficult undertaking. How do you re-define an icon, how do you make her modern and get the right look? So we spent a lot of time going back and forth but we're pretty happy with her athletic build, her facial features. We think she's still sexy and sensual, but without being cartoony. She looks like an adventurer.
We also really wanted a low interface in the game, we wanted everything to be natural so her equipment is all on her body, that's all she uses. She always has her dual pistols and her new magnetic grapple, which allows her to do numerous things like pull objects toward her, or use it like a rope. We've got a digital imaging device, her binoculars which have a host of new modes and functions. Grenades, weapons she picks up from her enemies. We wanted to keep the tools simple but give a lot of functionality and multi-purpose use. We felt like if we overloaded you with 80 million single-use type things, we'd diminish the overall experience.
Lara's movement style and animation system has obviously also had an extreme makeover too, can you tell us a little more about that process?
Morgan W Gray: That's one of the cornerstones of our technology base, it's called the fluid movement system, it's sort of a marriage of animation technology, art and design. We've already said that she's got her own movement AI and that's not hyperbole, we're actually calculating on the fly aspects of her movement and her animations, so that she can blend seamlessly between different animations and allow her to link with objects in the world in a natural way.
It's been a long process of trial and error as we focus in on really how good a player character can look and move in a game and have that be a goal. Normally it's an afterthought to other things.
You also appear to have refined the gameplay in terms of movement and by getting rid of some of the frustrating aspects of controlling Lara, for example the pointless falling off ledges and other collision detection issues?
Morgan W Gray: Our philosophy with Tomb Raider is that we want to encourage exploration, we want to encourage fun. I think oftentimes by making things overly complex or overly difficult, the expectation is that you're creating gameplay. We think it's actually holding gameplay back when the player's worried every step of the way, they're not exploring, they're not giving it all it can have.
So we've given the player multiple ways Lara can save herself and be safe from the more stupid ways of dying. We have a very generous load and save checkpoint system to encourage exploration. You know we want the player to risk and have reward, we're very player-friendly. We can create much more action packed complicated sequences because we put in safety valves to keep the player safe and keep the frustration low.
Lara's new flair moves are certainly one of the more impressive advances...
Morgan W Gray: In this concept of fun, everyone identifies with Lara Croft in different ways and wants to do different things. We wanted to give players the chance to do something which could become repetitive - and then have options to make it fun or to show off. In the full game we'll actually have the concept of rewarding movement through the gameplay mechanic, so the riskier or more daredevil players will have a concrete gameplay benefit which we'll talk about more in the months to come.
One major advance this time around seems to be in the area of the camera system. How have you approached that aspect of Legend?
Morgan W Gray: The camera system is the platter on which third-person action adventure games are served so we spent a lot of time identifying not just the technology behind finding good algorithms for our run-time default camera but obviously giving the player easy control. Our cameras serve both gameplay and the presentation of the environments. We spent a lot of time finding a camera system that a) showed off Lara Croft in the most engaging way and b) filled in the player path and where you need to go but making both unobtrusive. 'If you notice the camera, we're doing something wrong' is our philosophy.
Talking of environment and locations, we start off in Africa, but tour around the world. What other locations are you talking about for Legends right now?
Morgan W Gray: Well there's Africa and Peru, we're going to go into some ancient ruins there. We're going to go to the Himalayas where you're going to get a little window peek into the birth of Lara Croft. We're also going to bring you across the globe to other locations but we're kind of piecing them out one by one. But you globe trot all over.
Lara's origin? Could you tease and tantalise us a little more on that?
Morgan W Gray: Well obviously Lara Croft didn't start life as a sixteen year-old adventurer, so you get to see a rather young Lara Croft for a sequence of the game and to see a bit of the family.
So Lara on Xbox, PS2 and PC - we realise you're probably gonna slap us with a 'no comment' here, but what about the prospects for Lara on the next generation and also maybe handheld systems?
Morgan W Gray: Heh, no comment.
Entirely predictable, but thanks for your time.
Source: Computer&Videogames.com August 23, 2005 by John Houlihan
Gamecore 's Chad Chamberlain and William Vitka sat down with Eidos to talk about Tomb Raider: Legend and the many anticipated upgrades. With a new developer, Crystal Dynamics, Eidos hopes to recapture their lost steam in this franchise.
"In 1996 a pixilated, blocky female version of Indiana Jones named Lara Croft was introduced to gamers.She made her debut appearance in Eidos Tomb Raider: The Scion of Atlantis, developed by Toby Gard of Core Design. At the time, Tomb Raider represented the pinnacle of design for action-adventure type games. What it introduced to all those who played was a game that was built on puzzle solving, exploration, suspense and discovery in a way no other game at the time had provided. But as this newly created franchise flourished in successful sequels, it also set off another trend, one that is still developing as more and more games get developed for the big screen. Lara was becoming more Hollywood.
In 2001 Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, starring the sultry Angelina Jolie, blazed across thousands of movie screens, leaving loyal Tomb Raider fans with mixed emotions. The movie clearly illustrated the direction that the games were going in, slowly moving away from the core concepts that made the franchise so successful, such as tomb exploration and lost civilizations.
Soon after the fourth installment of the game, two more Core Design-developed sequels followed. They were Tomb Raider Chronicles and Angel of Darkness, and while the latter set out to be an ambitious project, the delayed release dates and various bugs just added fuel to the fire for already-annoyed Tomb Raider fans.
Now two movies and six titles later Eidos is back at it again, this time harnessing the talent of Crystal Dynamics (the developers behind the acclaimed Legacy of Kain). Eidos has these folks hard at work trying to revamp the franchise and return it to its former glory, and they will do so by bringing Tomb Raider back to its origins. They are removing Lara Croft from her current settings (sky scrapers and high tech environments) and putting her back into exotic locales (it's called Tomb Raider for a reason, people).
Returning the Tomb Raider to actual tomb raiding is a concept that will lead to huge sighs of relief from gamers worldwide. That is, if they're still paying attention to the series.
For those that are, some good stuff awaits them in Tomb Raider: Legend. How do we know? Well, some members of the Eidos team stopped by the GameCore offices to give us a sneak peek at a demo. Here's what you can expect.
In Legend, Lara Croft has an electronic life of her own. She stretches when waiting for user interaction, and the animation rocks. Theyve managed to significantly bump up the titular character's pixel count to a ridiculously large number (upwards of 10,000 polygon count) making her edgeless and smooth even while shes moving.
The jumps, cliffhangers and all other moments where Lara narrowly escapes death are also pretty sweet. If Lara attempts a jump and the system in place detects that its going to be too shallow, she will either simply hang on to the ledge shes jumping from or stretch to grab unto the ledge shes aiming for with one hand. As per Eidos, youd really have to want to kill her in order for her to die in those circumstances.
Seeing Lara do flips, cartwheels, long jumps, pull-ups and splits, is like seeing a gymnast in action. That's because the fluidity of her movements was a huge emphasis for the Crystal Dynamics design and development team. We cant talk about movement without going into the "dynamic body physics" (coined by Eidos) that they have been working on. Lets just say that watching Lara breath will definitely be some kind of wonderful.
Dressed in her traditional green shorts, midriff-baring T-shirt, black boots and black fingerless gloves, Lara in a change from previous versions comes armed with little else. In an effort to add a touch of realism to Legend, Crystal Dynamics decided to only allow a minimal amount of accessible items that can be carried. Lara can carry an extra weapon aside from her trusty pistols, as well as limited items in her "utility belt" and her new grappling hook. The grappling hook gives Lara extra mobility when attempting to traverse chasms, avoid death traps and pull items. We'd love to see her use it to toss an enemy around, but that probably won't make the final cut. Keep your fingers crossed though.
One of the coolest new features appears to have been influenced somewhat by the Tomb Raider movies. It's a "com link" that looks like a Bluetooth-enabled headset, which Lara uses to communicate with her tech team back home. Eidos explained that this is a player help feature meant to provide the user with clues and direction as to where the next progression point is. I couldve used that in the Palace of Midas in the original Tomb Raider figuring out the trick behind those doors was a massive headache.
Eidos also made mention that there will be some sort of targeting system for dealing with those nasty enemies. Hopefully they get this right in the final version. One feature that seems promising is the user-controlled camera angles. Unlike the horrible camera placements and limited free movement of the camera in the first few titles, Crystal Dynamics managed to give the user full 360-degree control of camera placements. Again, we'll have to wait for the final version to see if this breakthrough holds true.
Remember the loading time problems in previous games, especially the second title? No longer an issue. The gamers frustration level has been brought down by single level loads. Only at the beginning of each level will you experience a load time, but a nice touch would be some sort of full-motion video so youre not stuck watching a progress bar fill up.
Perhaps its still too soon to call this a comeback, but Eidos and Crystal Dynamics have thus far showed us that the game might just be the comeback kid. With 15 to 20 hours of expected game play, Eidos might be onto something with this last-ditch effort to bring back a dying franchise. Laras got a new lease on life and the ability to seamlessly handle any obstacle and interact dynamically with any surface. She's been returned to the tombs and ancient realms that made us love the game in the first place.
We dont have an exact release date yet but it looks like Legend could hit stores as early as the first quarter of next year. If everything pans out, this has the potential to be a must-have title for '06, great news for Tomb Raider fans past and present."
Source: CBS News, Game Core, August 3 2005 by Chad Chamberlain
In an interview with the current issue of UK consumer magazine Edge, Greg Housnam, Riley Cooper and Toby Gard spoke about their high expectations for the game, and the burden of disappointments like Angel of Darkness.
Greg Housnam, Senior European Producer
On expectations:
"This being the seventh title that we've put out signifies how Lara, in many respects, is the face of Eidos. She is a videogame icon and a household name. The expectations are huge. We want to show that we recognize the need to push the brand and, indeed, the genre forward and Crystal Dynamics was the developer with the experience and ability to do that."
On Lara's fans:
They're still interested in Lara Croft. Her character is fine. The issues people have is that they like Lara Croft, but they have come to hate the franchise because of how the games have been done. That's because they haven't changed in six titles. The biggest hurdle is to overcome the backlash."
Riley Cooper, Lead designer
On the original Tomb Raider's influence:
"When we set out to do this we looked carefully at the original Tomb Raiders. What made them popular? Why did people like them? The accusation that we are looking at her heritage is correct. But I think we have brought modern day expectations to bear. We've gone for a more cohesive experience in terms of the game's systems, level design and story. Those things are more tightly interrelated than anything on the series before."
On Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness:
"I feel bad about how we slagged on [Tomb Raider 6]. But we have to be careful about that. If we compare ourselves to Angel of Darkness, we know it could lull us into a false sense of security where we beat the game by getting, say, a 5.6 in reviews. If that was the case, we wouldn't have accomplished anything."
Toby Gard, Senior designer
On working with Crystal Dynamics:
"I'm used to having to call all the shots and that's just not the case here at Crystal Dynamics. It's been a somewhat chilled experience because I've been able to apply myself to smaller, more detailed parts of the game across various different points. It's remaining interested without that need to pull the whole thing along."
On Lara:
"Tomb Raider is about a character who is extremely dangerous, very refined and who goes after mysteries. That's it in a nutshell, isn't it? The fact that it's not playing the sex card makes her more interesting. I'm not sure there are others like that - Jade from Beyond Good & Evil, I guess, but it's rare."
On tired IP:
"For six games Tomb Raider was just about different stories. I'm not sure that you can do that and keep people interested. It became just like playing endless mission disks with the odd extra character thrown in. that's not good enough. The story has to be new. The environments have to be interesting. You've got to mix up the actual gameplay."
Source: BusinessWeek-online
By Colin Campbell