Spotlighted: Return to Tombs
To understand Crystal’s vision for tombs in Rise of the Tomb Raider, I spoke to Jeff Wajcs, Senior Designer at Crystal Dynamics.
Showing posts with label All Tomb Raider Games. Show all posts
Showing posts with label All Tomb Raider Games. Show all posts
19 December 2010
Back in 1995, Toby Gard designed Tomb Raider, almost 15 years later she has become an icon. Not only has she survived so long in the gaming industry, she is often referred to as the face of video game heroines, the character has won six World Records recently and she's also been portrayed by Angelina Jolie in two Hollywood movies. Toby Gard talks exclusively to us about his experience while working on the Tomb Raider titles, who he wants in the role for the movie and what he is doing now after he has left Crystal Dynamics.
This interview took place on 19th December 2010.
This interview took place on 19th December 2010.
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| To celebrate the 15th anniversary of Tomb Raider, Toby created this fantastic piece of artwork which perfectly captures the atmosphere of Tomb Raider (2013). |
For Tomb Raider Underworld, you worked as the Cinematics Director, was it hard describing your visions of what needed to be in the cut scenes to actors?
Tomb Raider Underworld cutscenes were done in a weird way. We recoded the lines first with the voice actors, then the animators would block out the scenes with the audio in Maya. We then took those simple 3d scenes to the motion capture studio and plot out marks on the floor corresponding to the layout of the room and marks for the actors to hit. Finally after rehearsals the actors would mime to the audio to get the body motion.Next, the data would come back to the studio and the animators would edit for timing, pose and animate all facial expressions by hand. Bottom line is that for Underworld, the animators had much more to do with the final performance than the actors did.
Tomb Raider Underworld cutscenes were done in a weird way. We recoded the lines first with the voice actors, then the animators would block out the scenes with the audio in Maya. We then took those simple 3d scenes to the motion capture studio and plot out marks on the floor corresponding to the layout of the room and marks for the actors to hit. Finally after rehearsals the actors would mime to the audio to get the body motion.Next, the data would come back to the studio and the animators would edit for timing, pose and animate all facial expressions by hand. Bottom line is that for Underworld, the animators had much more to do with the final performance than the actors did.
How are the myths chosen for the games?
People just suggest them. The criteria used to pick was never hard and fast, but generally we avoided any religion that people still believe in, and focus on myths that people probably have heard of, and ones that feature a cool item. Then the deeper the myth, the more ideas you can plunder.
People just suggest them. The criteria used to pick was never hard and fast, but generally we avoided any religion that people still believe in, and focus on myths that people probably have heard of, and ones that feature a cool item. Then the deeper the myth, the more ideas you can plunder.
What is your favourite Tomb Raider game you have worked on?
The first one, or Legend.
The first one, or Legend.
Why did you first want to make a game like Tomb Raider
I wanted to make an interactive movie. I loved Ultima Underworld, and when I saw Virtual fighter, my mind exploded with the idea of what the two crossed together could be.
Did you prefer having Lara's movements created by hand or using motion capture.
By hand is the only way to go, but mocap is great reference and sometimes a handy starting point.
Who do you think should play Lara in the next Tomb Raider Film?
I always wanted Salma Hayek to play her, but she's getting on a bit now.
Recently Crystal Dynamics began teasing the latest Tomb Raider [Editor Note: The title mentioned here would later be released in 2013]. The game appears to be a retelling of Lara's origin story, with a survival element element. Of course there's not a lot that's been announced about the title, but are you're first impressions of the upcoming game?
It's going to be sweet.
What projects are you doing right now, or in the future?
I am making an iPad game, but mainly I am concentrating on my Otherworld Comic over at www.tobygard.com it's going to 'Epic' as Mr. Lindstrom used to say.
I am making an iPad game, but mainly I am concentrating on my Otherworld Comic over at www.tobygard.com it's going to 'Epic' as Mr. Lindstrom used to say.
Thank you to Toby for the interview!
16 October 2010
16th October
Does these matter outside the games?
One question has been thrown around the gaming industry for decades, it has been asked to presidents of companies, critics and developers as well as publishers, we often see forums mentioning this and professional gaming magazines but it's actually never been answered fully because a simple question of;
“What makes a good game?”
has so many links and aspects to it that you can't really answer “It must be fun” and go to lunch. So many people have different views on what makes good games. What made the Halo series good? Bioshock? Pyschonauts? Batman Arkham Asylum? Tomb Raider or Oblivion? We can all probably say one thing that each of the game can add to make it better or change something to improve it; whether it was to keep a character in the story longer or to have less boss battles so close together. I believe that a game appeals much more to a player when they finished the game and feel like they've got something from it. Whether that is inspiration, or knowledge about a topic.
Take for instance Tomb Raider Legend, the storyline was loosely based around the King Arthur myth, but I wouldn't be surprised if a percentage of the fans looked up on Wikipedia something about the myth afterwards, I sure know I did. What was rather awesome was up to that point in 2006, the Tomb Raider games didn't really focus on real myths or Legends (apart from parts of Tomb Raider 4, and Atlantis from TR1). And if you didn't look up the Arthurian Myth, perhaps you read up about the Norse Myth from Underworld, or Xolotl from Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light.
Does these matter outside the games?
One question has been thrown around the gaming industry for decades, it has been asked to presidents of companies, critics and developers as well as publishers, we often see forums mentioning this and professional gaming magazines but it's actually never been answered fully because a simple question of;
“What makes a good game?”
has so many links and aspects to it that you can't really answer “It must be fun” and go to lunch. So many people have different views on what makes good games. What made the Halo series good? Bioshock? Pyschonauts? Batman Arkham Asylum? Tomb Raider or Oblivion? We can all probably say one thing that each of the game can add to make it better or change something to improve it; whether it was to keep a character in the story longer or to have less boss battles so close together. I believe that a game appeals much more to a player when they finished the game and feel like they've got something from it. Whether that is inspiration, or knowledge about a topic.
Take for instance Tomb Raider Legend, the storyline was loosely based around the King Arthur myth, but I wouldn't be surprised if a percentage of the fans looked up on Wikipedia something about the myth afterwards, I sure know I did. What was rather awesome was up to that point in 2006, the Tomb Raider games didn't really focus on real myths or Legends (apart from parts of Tomb Raider 4, and Atlantis from TR1). And if you didn't look up the Arthurian Myth, perhaps you read up about the Norse Myth from Underworld, or Xolotl from Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light.
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