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Tomb Raider Legend Producer tells of a legend reborn
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Producer Morgan W Gray tells of a legend reborn, new Lara, new gameplay and hottest of all, Ms Croft's untold origins in an interview with CVG.com
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.
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 CVG.com discovered.
CVG: 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?'
CVG: 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.
CVG: 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.
CVG: 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.
CVG: 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.
CVG: 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.
CVG: 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.
CVG: 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.
CVG: 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.
CVG: 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.
CVG: Entirely predictable, but thanks for your time.
A large THANK YOU to the guys at www.computerandvideogames.com for the interview.
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