Interview from: Nowgamer

It's dropped the 'Tomb Raider' name, evolved into a co-op enabled twin-stick shooter and will only be available as a digital download. Karl Stewart, Global Brand Director at Crystal Dynamics explains why sometimes, a little change can be good for a long-standing series and the ethos that has driven development of Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light.
The game no longer carries the “Tomb Raider” tag line. Is this a brand new start for the series?
Yeah it certainly is. About 18 months ago when we finished Tomb Raider Underworld we made a decision to kind of step aside as a studio and re-evaluate who we were and where we needed to go. Obviously the gaming space has come a long way in the past couple of years and we felt we need to take a fresh look at where we were taking the Tomb Raider and Lara Croft IP. We split the studio up into two groups; one group were firmly fixed on building the next big pillar release which we can’t go into detail on now, but when it’s ready we’ll get you guys in. It’s exciting.
The other team were all focused on basically developing something new and creative, trying to push the boundaries and see where we could have some fun with the IP. We spent some time looking at the handheld space, Wii and DS, but ultimately we felt that, in anything we built, it would have to be driven by the platform and the experience to make sure the two of them fit. You know, in the past we’ve built too many games that were ported across all platforms where the same experience is brought across them all, and it doesn’t really work. So we made a decision that the arcade space was something that we wanted to get into. It was an opportunity to be a bit more creative, a bit fresh.


And because it is a purely downloaded title, is that liberating? Is there more room for creativity and risks in that sort of marketplace?
It’s kind of a tough one because that space has its limits as well you know? 2GB is the maximum that you can build to, so you’re trying to build the best possible game in that space. You have to sacrifice certain things but we were fortunate that we had our engine, the CDC Legend Engine that we used on the last three games, so we were able to push the verticality and push the exploration. So it wasn’t limiting from a creativity standpoint but it was certainly limiting from the size of the experience you can build. I think everyone has those restraints.


How did the CDC engine transfer to the new isometric viewpoint you are using in this new game?
There were certain things we knew we had to bring across, and certain things we wanted to be creative with. From the heritage of Tomb Raider and Lara Croft it’s about puzzle-solving, exploration and combat. No matter what we are building we needed to keep those three pillars correctly balanced. Of course the balance is slightly different given that it’s an arcade game. In some levels are combat-heavy and some are more puzzle-solving heavy.
We had the opportunity to take the heritage of Tomb Raider and keep it in this game and in another sense, we had the freedom to create something new and different. We were able to do things like co-op for instance, you know, this is the first instance we’ve been able to add co-op inside of the universe.


Well, the two biggest things we wanted to do was one; we coined the phrase ‘True Co-Op’, in that when you play the game it’s about making sure that it’s not like a multiplayer where you still feel isolated. You know you’re playing with other people but you’re not really working together. And then from a co-op standpoint we wanted to make sure that, when you get to a puzzle, people talk, they communicate, they have fun and they discuss with each other how to solve it. This is the first time inside the universe that we’ve ever done that. Historically, it’s always been a single player, isolated experience but now you have the opportunity to communicate with other people, whether it’s the community or it’s a stranger who wants to play with you.




But if you play in single player, will the game change at all?
Yeah, we’ve built a unique game for both co-op and for single player. So in co-op, the puzzles are built so that you have to work together and in single player we’ve changed all the puzzles so that the physics and dynamics that Lara carries are unique to the single player. In essence when you play the single player game, you’re looking at about six hours minimum and another six hours in co-op. If you take in that this is just straight gameplay, but if you take in some of the challenge tombs, which are more puzzle-solving heavy, you’re then looking at about seven hours, seven hours-plus for both experiences.


That’s a generous play-time. A lot of arcade games focus on burst-play, but seven hours is a significant length. Do you see this becoming a new trend for Crystal Dynamics? Is this indicative of a new trend in distribution methods for premium content?
I think it’s an exciting area for everyone to look at. Digital downloads offer new opportunities to push the boundaries a little bit, allow shorter development times and price points, you know it’s easily accessible at £10 or 1,200 Microsoft points. So I think it’s interesting but the fortunate thing is being able to use our CDC Engine, so we’ve been able to push the limits a little bit.
So what we’re trying to do is raise the bar compared to what people have played or seen before in the arcade space and because it’s our engine and we had the tech side down, we were able to spend more time on the size of the game and about the experience. We’re not building something here from a new IP or from an IP we don’t know, like Batman for instance. That wasn’t our game, it wasn’t our IP so we spent a lot of time trying to understand and getting everything right. Tomb Raider is in our veins, so it was easy for us to extrapolate and build something a lot longer.


It must be helpful that you have been there to see the series grow and develop. However, your last title Underworld, while critically well received didn’t sell very well.

That was a tough one because it was the end of a trilogy and I think we were trying to put an end to the whole story and really put that to bed. It started with Legend then we went back to tell a bit of the origin story in Anniversary and then we finished it off with Underworld. So for the hardcore Tomb Raider fan it was a great end to a trilogy but from a gameplay standpoint and hitting a broader audience it just didn’t do what we wanted it to do.
That’s why as a studio we’ve taken a step to the side and asked how do we really drive forward and create something new and unique. Together we re-tooled the studio from the ground up so we started to rebuild the level of development and infrastructure needed to build a hugely competitive game in the future. I think that’s what we’re doing here in the arcade space, creating something a little more risk, a little bit new and bold to create a new adventure.


It definitely seems like a logical way forward for the series. Obviously if the game succeeds in this new space, the possibility of a sequel could be there.
We’ve said that our focus is on making the best possible game, making sure that we get it right and if, at the end of that we sell enough and people accept it and it’s fun then we’ll look at doing a sequel or building a little story arc. But right now because it’s new and fresh we want to make sure we put all our time and energy into getting it right first and foremost before we get too big for our boots as they say.


Between these potential named or numbered sequels would you be looking at DLC?
Never say never. At the moment, again our focus is on delivering the best game. We’re just passed beta, we have submission in a few weeks and we have some time between the time we submit the game and when it gets released on XBLA and PSN. So if it gets good coverage and people are looking forward to it, then there’s always a possibility of adding something new. It doesn’t take that long to create additional content, but it does take time to make sure your first game is playable. Irrespective of whether it’s a digital title or not, it’s still a game, it’s still something that so much time and effort needs to go into.


You’ve mentioned the word ‘arcade’ quite a lot. The game has often been referred to as a twin-stick shooter. Would that be fair to say?
Yeah, it certainly is. When you get your hands on it you’ll see that it really is a twin-stick shooter. Left stick is for direction, right stick is strafe and your trigger shoots. It’s extremely intuitive, we spent a lot of time focus testing the controls and the game, and making sure that when people pick it up, that it really is a pick up and play title, playable in bite sized chunks so you can play it for six hours or 16 minutes if you want. It’s up to you. It does feel really intuitive for this space.


Although it’s a six to seven hour campaign, do you feel it still has that ‘one more try’ addictiveness that comes with arcade title?
Oh yeah without a doubt, so far I’ve been on the road showing this game a lot and we’ve done a lot of focus testing. Complete strangers have picked it up and come together literally asked me and begged me to keep playing it from start to finish. It has that addictive nature and I think this is the most researched and focus tested game we’ve ever done because it’s new and different for us.As a result we’ve balanced the game and made sure that it’s not the same thing over and over again, each level has something unique. It certainly is something that has a lot of replayability. You can go back in and try a level a second time but differently. There’s tons of room for exploration.


You say you’ve been on the road with the game for a while. How much usability testing and focus group screening must to go into relaunching an IP as revered as Tomb Raider?
Tremendous, absolutely tremendous. Like I said, we’ve spent an enormous amount of time researching and focus testing and as a studio we have this brand model where the brand is managed and the game is developed in one place. No longer are there a hundred fingers in the pie because, given the size of the IP, that approach dilutes it a little. At the studio we sort of agreed that when we’re showing the title or talking about the title in a particular way, we have to be sure people understand and trust the direction we’re going in and to make sure they know it’s been well thought-out.
Hence me going on the road and showing it to people. So that when you get your hands on it and like when I’m talking to you now, we’ve made our best efforts to make sure that whether you’re a Tomb Raider fan, an avid gamer or you’re just an arcade game player, you’ll see that we’ve spent a lot of time making sure we’ve got that balance right.
Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light is due for release in Summer on PSN and XBLA. For now, check out our preview.