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How did the game come about? Did Eidos request a
remake specifically for the 10th anniversary or was
the game concept left to Core Design’s imagination?
During the making of Freerunning, about 3-4 years
ago, I remember me and Rich having a talk about how
good it would be to do a remake of Tomb Raider 1 for
the PSP. We approached the ( then ) studio manager
Gavin Rummery ( original Tomb Raider coder ) with
the idea and he immediately took it and told us he
had in fact been looking into the idea himself and
had done a few tests on the PC to see if it was
viable.
The timeline of events has
been subject to much speculation among the fans.
When did work first begin on Tomb Raider Anniversary
Edition?
This was the next project to be done
after the completion of Freerunning. However the
company was going through a lot of turmoil at the
time with SCI buying Core from EIDOS and the release
of Freerunning was put on hold at which time the
team was put to work on TR TAE.
At the time you were making
this game was Toby Gard already working with Crystal
Dynamics on Tomb Raider: Legend? Was it ever a
possibility that he’d be working with your team?
I don't think there was ever a chance that Toby
would return. I do know he saw our version of TR TAE
a couple of weeks before it got canned and I was
told that certain events, like the T-REX cut scene
brought a wry smile....but I wasn't there so I can't
confirm that.
A lot of fans are confused as
to why the project was actually cancelled, it seemed
as though it was almost complete. Was the
cancellation because of the series changing
developers? If so, why was the game commissioned in
the first place?
Initially we were totally confused as to why it was
canned also. Whilst we were making the game there
was never any hint from EIDOS that Crystal were also
making a version and it must have been developed in
parallel. When the news came that our game was
canned it was pretty devastating to the team. It was
quite well advanced along its production schedule
and everyone on the team was really happy with the
game we had created thus far. Personally I felt very
angry towards EIDOS, not because they canned us,
that's something you learn to accept in this
industry but because they had strung the team along
for so many months knowing that they had Crystal
producing their version and that they would eventual
end ours...In my books that's pretty disgusting
and unprofessional behaviour.
In the end I think all the decision making was
political, EIDOS didn't want their biggest franchise
being developed by a third party developer, which of
course Core-Design had then become.
Other than the graphics, how does the Anniversary
Edition differ from the original Tomb Raider game?
Was it a priority for Core to stay as true to the
original as possible?
Being real fans of the series ourselves
we wanted to make it instantly recognisable to
anyone who had played the original but with enough
of a twist to keep players on their toes. So a room
might look familiar but it would play quite
different, after all game play has moved on somewhat
in the last 10 years and we had to make sure that
the game play would keep today’s gamer engaged as
well as providing those moments of nostalgia.
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