Archief - Tomb Raider

Earlier this week I posted an interview with the guys from IO Interactive about Hitman: Absolution. Well, Agent 47 isn’t the only Eidos game star returning to consoles – Lara Croft is also returning (albeit from a shorter absence) in a brand new Tomb Raider that takes the series in a grittier new direction. I recently caught up with Noah Hughes, creative director Crystal Dynamics, to explore this new adventure.

How does it feel to be bringing Lara back in a brand new take on the Tomb Raider series?

Noah Hughes: It’s an honour really, to be able to not only work with Lara Croft and Tomb Raider, but also to be able to reboot the franchise. I’ve been at [developer] Crystal Dynamics for a while now, and we’ve had the pleasure of making a few games starring Lara. We’ve learned a lot. To be able to distil everything we want to do with the franchise into an entirely fresh take is inspiring.

So it’s a totally new direction for the series?

NH: It is. It’s a reboot and not directly related to the timeline of Lara as such, but it will touch on familiar elements of her character. You’ll see her grow into the hero figure that fans know and love.

Is it going to reference the events of past games at all?

NH: It starts a whole different timeline. There’s not necessarily an assumption it will connect directly to past events. We are projecting our own Lara, taking this origins story, recreating and her launching her off into a new adventure. We love catering to some of the fan favourites, but we’re not beholden to all of the story points within the series. We like playing with the signature Tomb Raider themes from this new angle.

I saw the use of an Instinct system in the game, similar to [fellow Square Enix title] Hitman: Absolution. Is that the result of sharing between studios?

NH: We actually share a lot of assets between studios. The guys at [Hitman: Absolution developer] IO Interactive are such a talented bunch. Having said that, the idea of the Lara’s intuition, this detective-like ability, is something we’ve admired in a number of games, but what’s important to us is the way fans play through this tale of survival. We’re really going to be selling this idea of Lara fighting and scraping through the unknown.

Who’s the resident physics genius responsible for the grand puzzle set pieces?

NH: One of the great things about working on a game of this size is that you attract people with all kinds of different backgrounds. These people then step up and become champions of various disciplines. The environmental challenges that we present and the physics of any given situation determine how you interact with the world.

Devising these puzzles is one of the more complex level design problems that we tackle, so it is something that we will not only get our best minds on, but iterate a lot – that means we’ll put something in, play with the system, try to figure out what the players would do and go from there.

Is the climbing axe a tool Lara constantly has access to?

NH: Yes, that’s an example of one of our gear-ups. Lara gets a gear item and you’ll have that available to you for the rest of the game, along with whatever abilities that brings to the table. On the game design side of it, when we give you gear like that, it really is multifunctional. The obvious application of it is as a climbing aid, but there’s a heap of other uses for it besides.

So is Lara now a serious heroine, after the cartoonish adventures of the 90s?

NH: Rather than change her for change’s sake, we just decided to make her as real as we could. Everything then kind of came out of that – the character design, the story we were telling, the whole look of the game. We really tried to ground that in a human experience. That was the starting point.

You can see that once you start down the road of bringing her to life, it can influence so much of the rest of the game. So, yes, she is, but that was the result of the changes we made, not the cause.

Dramatic camera angles heighten the sense of claustrophobia in the game. Have you looked outside of gaming for framing techniques?

NH: Definitely. We have a lot of photographer talent, a lot of cinematographer talent, too, specifically for the gameplay. They share their ideas and techniques from all kinds of sources. It’s important to create this distinctive visual identity, but it also helps the gameplay too.

How far did you push Lara’s pain threshold?

NH: Pain and hardship are what help forge Lara into this hero – I mean, she’s a fledgling archaeologist who becomes the Tomb Raider. There has to be some trial and tribulation! Ultimately the boundary was: what delivers that sense of survival at all costs, without being gratuitous?

Where did inspiration for this environment come from?

NH: What we try to do is trace our initial ideas back to their roots. The idea we keep coming back to is that of survival being a core human instinct. We want the history of a place or a situation to really hook you in and pull you through the story.

We also take inspiration from a number of real world stories. You hear about these people who have gone through extraordinary situations and come out alive. Films like Danny Boyle’s 127 Hours are where we’ve been looking. That’s what we’re trying to capture, that core human spirit.

You can read more about the biggest and best games in LA this year in our Games of E3 feature over at eu.playstation.com.

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All the past games have had Lara search for an artifact. Will the goal of the game be an artifact, or survival?

KS: Lara has landed on an island that is shrouded in mystery, so obviously we want her to uncover that mystery. First and foremost she has to survive. There is a core discovery to be made, and that core discovery will unlock the mystery of the entire island and answer a lot of questions for you. There are items and artifacts that you have to pick up and find around the island, but everything points to this big discovery. [From forum Q&A session #1]

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Will Lara need food, water, or shelter in the new Tomb Raider?

KS: “Yes, because she’s not a robot. We’re actually deep in that now and fine-tuning it in terms of how much water and how much food; how long she can go before consciously you’re like ‘I’d be starving by now.’ We’re also exploring what it means to collect. I’m not going to detail it too much and spoil it. What I will say is that this is not a simulation game. You’re not going to be picking berries and drinking your own wee in order to survive, but there will be a sense of realism in that she will have to scavenge food to keep herself going. [Transcribed from Crystal Habit Podcast]

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Will the axe interact with fixed climbing points, or will we be able to free climb with it?

We have a very wide range of fixed points, guaranteeing you’ll have freedom of movement. There are limitations, however, like not being able to jump off the side of a cliff and hook onto the side at random to free climb. The real world doesn’t work like that. Like real life you can’t just walk up to a cliff and assume you can climb it. It may be too steep, or too rocky, or jagged. But then there will be other areas perfect for climbing. It will feel organic and natural. The path won’t be screaming at you. [From forum Q&A session #1]

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Will weather be scripted in Tomb Raider, or will there be a day and night cycle?

KS: “You will not stand in one place and over time watch the sun set and the moon rise. That being said, you will feel like there’s a persistent weather system. If you play in night hub and it’s raining and you fast travel back to another area, it will be rainy there too. It won’t feel like a dynamic weather system where you can stand on a cliff for hours and watch the sun moving across the sky. We have smart systems in place to help present it so that as you move around it will be the same time of day and weather as contextual to the narrative.” [Transcribed from Crystal Habit Podcast]

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The game will have any stealth system or it will be more action style?

KS: We’re working very hard to ensure our combat system has a variety of different play paths and play styles. Melee, ranged, and stealth interactions all play a huge part in this world. We’re looking forward to showing you our combat system around E3, when we’ll be unveiling it. [From forum Q&A session #1]

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A Message to the Tomb Raider Community

When Crystal Dynamics first set out to reboot the Tomb Raider franchise, there were two goals that we were extremely passionate about. The first was to create a modern Tomb Raider game that would surprise and excite gamers. The second was to make this the best game of our careers, something we would be really proud to be a part of. We truly believe that we have something very special on our hands and we can’t wait to share it with you.

Our priority now is to make sure we fully deliver the very highest quality game. In order to do this, we have decided to move the game’s release date by a few months, from Fall 2012 to the first quarter of 2013.

We’re doing things that are completely new to Tomb Raider in this game and the additional development time will allow us to put the finishing touches into the game and polish it to a level that you deserve. We believe this is the right choice and I guarantee it will be worth the wait. The game is looking amazing and we can’t wait to show it to everyone at E3 in a few weeks.

Darrell Gallagher

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SpArkLeS zei:

Inderdaad! Heb zonder geluid moeten kijken maar wow. Ik kijk echt uit naar deze game. Poor Lara though

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Goldrusher zei:

Het lijkt mij nog altijd een Uncharted-kloon waarvan ze last-minute het hoofdpersonage hebben veranderd naar "een Lara" om van de Tomb Raider bekendheid te profiteren. En dan noemen ze het een reboot, zodat we ons geen vragen zouden stellen bij het verhaal.

Dit is geen Tomb Raider.

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• Geen lineaire platformformule. Men geeft spelers de kans om zelf te kiezen hoe ze een bepaald gebied aanpakken, welke weg ze nemen. Enkel aan het begin van de game is er een tutorial met een B-52 bomber waar je wat bij het handje genomen wordt, maar daarna is alles eigenlijk open en heeft de spelers de vrijheid om te doen wat hij of zij wil.

• In het verhaal zal wel enigszins lineair zijn, in de zin dat je nu eenmaal van punt A naar punt B zal moeten geraken, maar tussenin zijn er stukken waar men wil dat de speler zich als een echte ontdekker kan voelen. Deze stukken zijn vaak niet lineaire "hub spaces" waar je op een later tijdstip nog naar kan terugkeren.

• Tijdens sprongen kan je, terwijl je in de lucht hebt, de nodige controle over Lara uitoefenen. Dit wordt "'air steering" genoemd. Je kan haar snelheid wat aanpassen en de richting beïnvloeden.

• Er is een XP-systeem dat je kan gebruiken om de mogelijkheden van Lara uit te breiden. Om haar uitrusting te versterken, zal je eveneens bepaalde materialen moeten verzamelen.

• Het upgraden gebeurt bij de base camps, waar je ook voor fast travel naar andere kampen kan kiezen die je reeds bezocht op het eiland.

• In het begin zullen de upgrademogelijkheden beperkt zijn, zoals Lara de mogelijkheid geven om meer pijlen mee te dragen of deze pijlen sneller af te schieten. Later zullen er meer upgrades beschikbaar komen die bovendien diverser worden. Op die manier kan je upgrades kiezen die bij je speelstijl passen.

• De verschillende context-gevoelige acties (QTE's) komen slechts één keer voor. De scène waarin lara vecht met een wolf bijvoorbeeld gebeurt slechts één keer. Wanneer je dit van de eerste keer tot een goede einde brengt, zou dit een bepaalde impact hebben op het spel.

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