PC Gaming World - Adrian Smith Interview - Tomb Raider Chronicles
Interview appeared on Gamespot UK website, dated to 20th October 2000
PC Gaming World's Cal Jones talked to Adrian Smith from Core Design.
Cal Jones:
With Lara apparently buried under the pyramid at the end of the last game, how are you going to resurrect her?
Adrian Smith:
We never actually saw Lara die. She became trapped in the pyramid and her body has not yet been recovered, so Chronicles begins with a memorial service rather than a funeral. The game starts only a few days after the end of Last Revelation.
Cal Jones:
After four Tomb Raiders with no revolutionary changes to the formula, what are you doing to persuade gamers that they need to add a fifth Lara game to their collection?
Adrian Smith:
If we were to make such changes to the formula, it would no longer be Tomb Raider. We always listen to feedback from fans and look at the Tomb Raider sites extensively so that with each game we can make the most frequently asked for additions and changes.
Due to the nature of the Tomb Raider engine, it's impossible for us to change the formula too drastically - we'd have to create a brand-new engine to do that. Funnily enough, said engine has been in development for about 18 months now so next year you can expect to see Lara Croft in an entirely different game which will bear little, if any, resemblance to Tomb Raider as it's currently known.
What we are doing with Chronicles is consolidating the very best elements of all previous TR adventures and also adding new features. The result is four separate adventures, each from Lara's past and each with its own gameplay style. The engine has advanced, particularly for the PC version, and we're basically looking at what is technically the very best Tomb Raider game to date. Chronicles is also the best-looking Tomb Raider yet and we feel that the different styles of gameplay give it great balance. We wanted to finish the Tomb Raider series with a game that stretched the limits of the engine to the max so that we could round off knowing that we have given Tomb Raider our very best.
We're also including the level editors with the PC version so that fans who buy the game will be fully-equipped to create and play their own Tomb Raider levels at home. The editor will be supported via the Eidos site
Cal Jones:
Will the next-generation Tomb Raider game be available on PC as well as the next-gen consoles?
Adrian Smith:
Both.
Cal Jones:
How will the gameplay compare to previous games?
Adrian Smith:
The Irish levels, The Black Isle, played as the 16-year-old Lara, depend on the use of cunning and guile rather than weaponry to deal with their puzzles and traps. The German U-boat levels have an X-Files feel, filled with action, while the Rome levels comprise classic Tomb Raiding adventuring. Finally, the New York-style Tower Block features hi-tech systems that require stealth, strategy and continual guidance from your companion, ZIP.
Cal Jones:
Have you made any changes to Lara's appearance?
Adrian Smith:
No, not to the actual dimensions of the 3D model but we have given her two new outfits - a Matrix-style black leather catsuit with headset, and an arctic camouflage suit. The other outfits are Young Lara, plus the standard kit.
Cal Jones:
Is there going to be any sort of a tie-in to the Tomb Raider movie?
Adrian Smith:
No, Chronicles is an entirely separate entity to the movie. We are, however, hoping to include a feature whereby if the player collects certain numbers of secrets in the game they are treated to special areas on the disc that feature the trailer for the movie, maybe information on the cast and so forth. This is still to be confirmed but we're certainly hoping to include it.
Cal Jones:
What aspect of Tomb Raider Chronicles are you most proud of?
Adrian Smith:
Probably the fact that it consolidates the best bits of the whole series, while still including new features. In some ways, the fifth game has enabled us to put the Tomb Raider series to bed knowing that we have given it our absolute best. We're also very happy that we are finally able to give dedicated fans a present in the shape of the level editor.
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GameSpot UK Adrian Smith Interview - Part One - Tomb Raider Chronicles
Interview appeared on Gamespot UK website, dated to 12th September 2000
In part one of our interview, Core Design's Adrian Smith talks about Lara's last adventure on a current gaming platform, Tomb Raider Chronicles.
GameSpot UK:
So tell us about the Tomb Raider Chronicles?
Adrian Smith:
It's the fifth in the series, I'm sure you know that, but it follows on exactly from the end of The Last Revelation. The Last Revelation for us was the last of the story of Tomb Raider and we ended TLR intentionally with Lara Croft missing, trapped in a pyramid in Egypt and presumed dead.
That gave us a clean sheet to start working with the next generation of Tomb Raider Games, which we've been working on for some 18 months now. So for a long time our focus has been with not only the current TR, but also with the future of the series, which may not even be called Tomb Raider at all, but may be called something entirely different.
GameSpot UK:
So what's the storyline behind Chronicles? Isn't Lara supposed to be an ex-Tomb Raider?
Adrian Smith:
The whole idea of Chronicles is to continue on with this premise that Lara is dead, which meant that we could have a little fun. The fact that Lara's body has never been found is the starting point for Chronicles and the game picks up three or four days after Lara's supposed death in the pyramids of Egypt.
There's a memorial service for Lara outside of Croft Manor and there are some very familiar faces there. There's Father Dunstan the family's priest, Pierre, Jeeves the butler - all the characters from the old series of Tomb Raider games. Everyone's there at the memorial service for Lara Croft sitting around a table, talking about her life and experiences. These stories form the four episodes of what player will actually play in Chronicles. The whole focus has been to do four episodes, four adventures from Lara's life. So you will have four very different looking and very different playing games. Each of these adventures is standalone and linear in so far as you start it, you finish it and the overall game is roughly the same size, which is about 15 - 20 levels. It's no smaller than we've done before - we've just done it a different way.
GameSpot UK:
Where will these four new adventures take place?
Adrian Smith:
We start off in Rome. It's a very familiar Tomb Raider game and the Rome level actually starts as a training level and then moves into a little adventure in its own right. The game mechanics are just as we know them, Lara running around doing what she's always done: running, jumping, climbing and looking for artefacts.
The next level is in a Russian submarine base and this whole section of the game is based around Lara being a little bit stealthier. It's not actually solving so many puzzles - it's more moving around trying to evade people using her wits and skills and then shooting them. So it features new weapons and it's more action-focused.
The third level is actually in Ireland and it features young Lara. So there's a whole episode played with young Lara which is something we've never brought in before - we had the training level in TLR but that was a very small part of the game. But, this whole level, you take control of young Lara and play her from beginning to end and it brings a different kind of game mechanic to it. You haven't got any weapons, so she has to use her cunning and agility to evade and trap all the baddies.
The fourth and final level is in an office tower block and again it's very different to the other three. It's got a different look, a different feel and very different game play. It's a very hi-tech level and this time Lara has a companion called Zip. Zip is there to guide her, give her information and help her through the levels and again it draws on using elements of stealth and the new AI. There are quite a lot of areas where she can't take guns because of X-ray machines and stuff, so Lara will be able to sneak around behind people more easily and knock them out, as opposed to running in all guns blazing.
GameSpot UK:
Why did you take this very different approach?
Adrian Smith:
The four levels are very independent and stand up on their own. Chronicles is also about combining all the elements we had in all the earlier TR games. I am pleased to say this will be the last one on the current technology. The reason being that, for the PC people, we will actually include all the level editors and all the tools we used to use to create the Tomb Raider series so far. So the consumers will be able to create, share and even pass around the internet the levels that they have created. We'll also be able to give out some of our favourite levels on the website that have never been seen and some of the old levels from previous games.
It is going to be the last game and is the focus of all the games combined together. This is not a new game - the new game is Next Generation. It's an evolution of TR4 into Chronicles. On the PlayStation we've pushed the technology forward, not so that the average consumer will see, but Tomb Raider experts will notice a difference. We've changed what was sensible to change and improved what we can.
GameSpot UK:
What major gameplay differences can we look forward to in Chronicles?
Adrian Smith:
In the game itself we've put in a couple of new moves for Lara. There's a tightrope walk, which we'll see in a moment, so Lara can actually negotiate her way across a tightrope. We've put in some parallel bars swinging so she can use parallel bars. We've put in a lot more interaction with the environment. She has new weapons. She has a grappling hook so she can throw the hook into the scenery and then grab the rope and scale it.
What we've also introduced is a lot more things that Lara can use and interact with. So she can go through drawers, she can open filing cabinets, she can look in cupboards and she can search all these items. The baddies have far more interaction with the environment too. They will walk round, sit down, move chairs and furniture. They might sit down and go to sleep, giving Lara the opportunity to sneak up behind them and maybe chloroform them or pull out the cosh and knock them unconscious.
We have also focused a lot on the inventory system. It was introduced in the Last Revelation but we've tried to make more use of it in this game. There's far more combining of items, collecting of items, looking at and investigating items and seeing how they can be put together and used. An example: getting some chloroform, retrieving a cloth, putting the chloroform on the cloth and she knocks them out rather than shooting them.
GameSpot UK:
Will there be much difference between the versions on different formats and will they be released simultaneously?
Adrian Smith:
Most of our focus has been around the PC version and the Dreamcast version. By virtue of all the changes for the PC version it means we're going to bring a much better Dreamcast version to the market. I should just say that it will be a simultaneous launch for the PC, PlayStation and Dreamcast, which of course it wasn't last year. You should expect to see it around about November 18th, Thanksgiving weekend in the US.
GameSpot UK:
So the big question is: is Lara really dead and will Chronicles resolve that issue after we've seen the first four episodes?
Adrian Smith:
I'm happy to say that at the end of the game we're going to have someone like a crony of Von Croy's come dashing out of the pyramid with some artefact of Lara, her rucksack or something, just to sow the seed that she isn't really dead. Which funnily enough leads me right on to Next Generation, which we think is going to be very different to what you'd expect to see.
Join us for the thrilling conclusion when Adrian Smith fills us in on the next generation of Tomb Raider games in part two of this interview.
All rights belong to GameSpot and/or their affiliated companies. I only intend to introduce people to old articles and preserve them before they are lost.
