Richard Morton was a level designer for Tomb Raider 2-6, an artist and writer for Tomb Raider 4-6, lead game designer for Tomb Raider 3-6 and environmental artist. Richard kindly took some time to answer a number of questions. The questions were devised with the help of Tomb Raider of the Unforgettable Core Design.

How did you start working in Core
Design?

I started working at core after being made redundant from Hi-Tec in Sheffield,
myself and a coder called Gary Antcliffe were given an interview after our boss
at Hi-Tec had a round of Golf with Jeremy Heath-Smith.

What was the most challenging part
of when you first started to work on your first Tomb Raider game?

I’d say it was learning the Editors, both the level editor & Anim edit had to
be mastered along with importing models, animations and textures into Anim edit,
there models would be textured and the animation behaviours set-up ready for
coding. Part of this process also involved learning 3DS Max and Photoshop.

What was the inspiration for the
very first level you designed?

Myfirst TR level was in TR2, it was the Tomb of Xian. I drew most of my
inspiration from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Big Trouble in Little
China and The Golden Child.

Left to right
Upper Row: Darren Wakeman, Richard Morton, Andy Sandham, Lara, Martin Gibbins, Tom Scutt, Chris Coup.
Lower Row: Richard Flower, Jamie Morton, Peter Duncan, Phil Chapman

What parts of mythology and architecture inspired the design of the levels and the artwork? For example, what
parts of Egyptian mythology inspired you for levels in TR4.

Weheavily researched ancient mythology for all relevant locations throughout the
TR series, AOD was the exception to a degree as we were writing our own
mythology with Murti. With TR4 we drew on many different aspects of Egyptian
culture and Mythology, by using real locations and adding a mythical twist or
exaggeration of reality to make a more interesting level for the player. We
drew on the legends of Seth (Set) vs Horus as the main story backbone of TR4,
also taking cues from the typical ‘Curse of the Mummy’ legends right down to
creating our own mythology with Creatures like the Sphinx.

Which was your favorite game that you worked on and why?  

TR4 was my fave for sure, I felt we were in a very good place as a team, we were
firing on all cylinders, we knew what the engine could do and what else we
wanted from it. We nailed a great story set in only two geographical locations
(Cambodia and Egypt) so we could really focus on the characters and how their
storylines unfolded. We also had a kick-in-the-balls ending which was planned,
not an afterthought (as some articles may suggest)

Richard Morton at the Core Design offices circa 1998

What was the most challenging?

AOD for sure, we were working with unfinished PS2 hardware for over a year so we didn’t
fully know what it was capable of. We didn’t have the same world editor from
the PS1 TR games so we were building a way more complex game on new hardware
without the robust and reliable editors. It just took too long to get where we
needed to be, I’m still proud of AOD, I think we accomplished so much in that
game that has laid the groundwork for what has come afterwards.

We were told that Tomb Raider
Chronicles had levels that were conceptualized for Tomb Raider Last Revelation.
What levels from Chronicles were originally to be in Last Revelation?
How did the story originally go to involve them?

I’m not sure where you were given that information but it’s untrue. The Last
Revelation was always designed to be set in Cambodia and Egypt. I think some ideas
were thrown around for older concepts as to what TR4 could have been before we
settled on The Last Revelation.

Towards the end of Chronicles,
we are put in levels in which stealth is very important to get through them.
Was this to prepare the gamer for the release of Angel of Darkness?

Yes, in a way it was, we were under pressure to include stealth gameplay more and
more as the series progressed.

Peter Connelly released a video that had a woman named Putai, a Shaman, that awakens Lara in the design
from AOD.  Originally, was there to be a level to explain how Lara was
resurrected from the tomb crumbling around her in the Last Revelation?

Yes, the Shaman was to play a big role in AOD, as you can see from the video we got
far enough into production that fully rendered and musically scored movie
sequences were made with her in them. Demean Sequences showing how the Shaman
nursed Lara back to health. We had a training level planned which was set
inside a giant cave, the Shamans den. In this cave the Shaman would guide Lara
through her new moves and controls, the Shaman could take the form of a woman
and transform into a spectral Hawk, the hawk would show Lara the way if she was
lost. This gameplay was to extend into the story levels of the game too, with
the Shaman contacting Lara through the Scarab Pendant Lara now wore around her
neck. As Lara came across a new move in the story levels the player could
choose to practise the move in ‘dream time’ back in the Shamans cave.

In the Angel of Darkness there are many locked doors.  With cheats you can go through them and are able to
see portions of the game that were unfinished or not used in the marketed game.
This leads us to wonder how much was removed and if you had examples of
such?  

We chopped and changed the level layouts quite a lot in AOD, especially in the
Parisian street levels. I wouldn’t say there was much that was removed, but
certain assets may have been swapped around. The big level that was partially
built but removed was the Parisian scrapyard.

Murti told us that there was a glitch after Lara and Kurtis are knocked out outside the Louvre as there
should be another cutscene to explain how Lara got the periapt shard.
Any details on the cutscene?

I’ve included a document which should explain the list cutscene and many other bits
and bobs. For the answer to this question please look at cutscene – point 6.21
at the bottom of page 9 continuing on page 10

What was the original concept of having Von Croy’s stick? Why is it an item that you can pick up? 

The stick was meant to be a link from Last Revelation to AOD as its the head of Set. Originally there was meant to be
another flashback cutscene showing Lara getting trapped beneath the pyramid and
her rescue by the shaman, the end of that scene was meant to blend into the
shot of the stick.

Using money in the game you can buy the gun from Luddick and can bribe the bouncer to get to Bouchard.
What else could you originally do with money in AOD?  

The currency was to play a much bigger part, with energy in the form of food being
bought, ammo, information. The plan was to have much more of Parisian life
being interactive to the player, allowing Lara into shops to buy or barter
items she needs to succeed.

There were also many animations that were not used in the final game.  Were there any notable uses of
these you wanted to see happen?  

Kurtis had many moves that didn’t end up in the final game. In the FMV sequences
we see Kurtis using Psychic powers do control his Glave weapon. I had many more
powers designed for Kurtis… He could Farsee, which was an ‘out of the body’
flying power. You can see very similar powers to Kurtis in the game Beyond Two
Souls.

With the advancements of graphics and technology there must have been a lot of changes in workflow and creation
between Chronicles and AOD.  Can you describe the changes you felt?  

The gap in detail was huge, we’d gone from
creating levels from boxes and pyramids to creating free form geometry that
could look exactly like the real thing (within poly limits of course) this took
way longer than we thought, especially when we added the collision maps. We
originally intended to have a streaming engine too, but we couldn’t get it to
work efficiently at the time, so levels had to be redesigned and restructured
to compensate.

There was a video leaked that was for Tomb Raider Anniversary Edition for PSP.  This was designed
and created by Core mirroring the original game more than TRA that was released
by Crystal Dynamics.  With so many similarities with the original TR1
what were the main differences between TRAE and TR1?

We had a completely new control system for Lara, very similar to the Free Running
controls, which allowed her to be far more athletic and agile when traversing
the levels, especially the jumping and climbing. Lara could lock on two
independent enemies at once or concentrate her firepower on a single target. We
had a new character Melissa Croft who was Lara’s cousin, the player could
choose to play Lara or Melissa in single player. In co-op mode the two
characters would work together to solve puzzles. We reimagined the levels so
they were familiar but not a carbon copy of the originals, so the player would
still be challenged. We added a totally new last level called Escape from
Atlantis – Atlantean War Machine.

Was TRAE meant to be made just for PSP or for PC and consoles as well?

It was developed on PC and PSP but also ran on PS2 as well. So could easily have
been released on all of those formats.

In concept form and even once the levels are drawn out there are many differences to the completed
project. What are some of the notable changes on the games you worked on
from concept to finished project?

Each and every level I’ve worked on or managed ends up getting modified in some way,
most only require small tweaks but others need larger modifications. Sometimes
what feels right on paper just doesn’t work in the engine. Nowadays most of the
design work is done on paper and in the white box prototype phase but back in
the TR Editor it was far quicker and easier to plan on paper then build.

My Temple of Xian in TR2 had to be cut in half because it didn’t fit in memory.
Pretty much all of the first couple of level of AOD were chopped and changed
around especially where the game actually started (originally on a rooftop,
then in an alleyway. Finally, in the courtyard)

Have you played the newer Tomb Raider games by Crystal Dynamics?  What are your thoughts on them?  

I love the last two crystal games Tomb
Raider [2013] and Rise of the Tomb
Raider. For me they capture the exploration aspects of the originals that
precious Crystal TR games just didn’t have. It’s a shame that most of the
actual tombs were side missions rather than being in the main story.

As the level designer and an artists you had a lot of input on the feel of the Tomb Raider classics.
How do you feel about the direction the story of the new games has taken?
What would you have done different?

I love how the newer games look, I actually love how they’ve taken a step back
and showed us the very beginning of her adult tomb raider career. The weapons
work well especially the bow. Maybe the survival aspects could have been
enhanced, but only in certain chunks of the story, maybe at the start give her
nothing and force the player to craft weapons from the surroundings, the same
mechanic could be used if Lara got captured and all weapons taken from her. I
also mentioned earlier about the tombs being treated as side missions rather
than the main story.

In theory if you had your team then with the same projects with MODERN technology what advancements in level design
and art would you take advantage of?  What ideas you wish you could have
used were thrown out because of technical limitations?

Streaming technology and the sheer amount of memory and power would allow us to create
some truly gobsmacking levels. In AOD the whole Parisian location was designed
as one big streaming level with multiple routes through it, but it was far
ahead of its time and couldn’t work on ps2.

A persistent world with night and day moving in cycles would be an amazing tool
to have in TR, shadows casting on objects at certain times of day would be a
cool puzzle mechanic.

Fans analysed Phil Campbell’s notes on the cancelled TR4:Gold and created their own vision of the game,
some are still improving the controls, graphics and other aspects for the AOD.
What are your thoughts on such fan dedication? Any particular fanmade TR project that impressed you? 

All TR fan made projects and material impresses me greatly because it’s from the
heart, it’s what drives the fans. I take my hat off to them all. The AOD sequel
project that was running for a while looked awesome, TR4-Gold looks cool. The
AOD novel was great. There are way too many great projects to mention.

Kurtis was an interesting character with great potential, but there’s still a lot of mystery around him. Probably
many of his abilities were cut out of the final build, so could you tell us
more about this?  Did you want to implement an upgrading system for his
special powers in The Angel of Darkness (or in the following entries) a bit
like RPG games? 

Kurtis was my biggest regret in AOD, we had so many great things planned for him, I
designed so many cool gameplay situations around his powers. When we were told
that we just didn’t have time to implement any of his powers my heart sank, I
had to redesign all of Kurtis’s gameplay sections to use just a gun instead of
all his abilities such as his Chirugai Blade (glave weapon) as seen in
cutscenes, his control system was to allow Kurtis to target on multiple enemies
in slow-mo and ‘tag’ them with a psychic marker, then throw the blade which
would arc through the air and take all the baddies out, the trade-off being
that Kurtis was vulnerable whilst targeting the enemies before theoing the
blade. Another ability was his Farsee ability, which again rendered Kurtis
vulnerable as he meditated and performed a ghost walk or out-of-body
experience, which allowed him to fly through curtail doors and walls (a lot
like the ghost powers in beyond two souls)

Rumour has it the players could play as Eckhardt for brief segments of the game in the Alpha version. Where
these sequences flashback about the Black Alchemist’s past or were they set in
the present days?

Sorry but there were no plans for Eckhardt as a playable character in AOD, we did toy
with the idea of Lara or Kurtis wearing his Glove at some point though.

Is it true that, in the Beta version, the player could move the camera, and do the classic 180° flip as
described in the official guide of the game?

Yes, this is true, about 6 months before release we designed and implemented a
different control system for Lara, it worked really well and was a bit like the
modern 3rd person controls you see today, given more time I’m sure we could
have made them work perfectly, but we had to revert back to the system that was
in the released version of the game. Please play Free Running on PSP and PS2
for an idea of what we had running.

While creating the game world and the various environments, did you take inspiration from real existing places
(for example, the urban streets of Paris and Prague)?

Yes, we took much inspiration from existing places and had quite a few ‘research’
trips to various locations including London with its many Museums and street
architecture and also Paris with the Louvre as its centrepiece. The team almost
got kicked out of the Louvre because someone took pictures of the security
systems, camera equipment was also in danger of getting stolen in the Parisian backstreets.
It would have been nice to visit some of the more exotic locations but tight
schedules didn’t allow for this, our substitute was the internet and many trips
to the library to research the many reference books

Kurtis and Lara were initially meant to collaborate in some levels of the alpha game to achieve some tasks. Was this
collaboration only in relation to the puzzles or was it extended to the
combats, too?

It was mainly for puzzle purposes and would have worked very similar to the latest
Uncharted game, with Lara helping Kurtis onto a ledge, Kurtis opening a door
for Lara, etc… the difference being that the player could switch between
which character they controlled as the level progressed.

Had Core kept the franchise and still be in charge of developing the sequels, how would you picture Tomb
Raider today? Do you believe it would be similar to what we have now or not?

Not really the same as what we have. I believe the AOD story arc would definitely
have been fleshed out as a trilogy as was always planned, there was so much
more to reveal about the characters and locations it would have only got better
and better. Kurtis was planned to have his own spin off series of games too,
with him dipping in and out of future Tomb Raider games and vice-versa with
Lara. I think we would have ended up with either a full blown game or a
scenario within a game depicting Lara’s early adult Tomb Raider adventures kind
of like what Crystal have done with the latest two games, we’d always had
elements of our storylines that show the history of Lara’s life.

With regards of the 20th anniversary, of course it’s hard to tell, but do you think Core would’ve made
another remake (TR2 this time) like they planned to do with 10th AE?

Not sure about TR2, I think remaking the first one was the Anniversary everyone wanted to see. If it
had sold well enough it would have been difficult to refuse remaking the whole
set of games ala Uncharted Collection.

Do you feel today’s games are less challenging to players due to more linear level design, more forgiving traps
and puzzles, built-in help, etc.? And, if so, is that a good or bad thing?

I think games on the whole are way less hardcore than they used to be (with a few
exceptions) Tomb Raider is not different. Even in the PS1’s lifecycle we had to
make adjustments for the more casual gamers that were emerging, people just
don’t want to retreat the same ground they’ve just played through if they’ve
died, so we put either lots more invisible checkpoints in or allow save anywhere.
In the 80’s and 90’s games were mostly played by children and teens, but as the
demographic got older and the teens became adults with more responsibilities
and less time to play games, the nature of how games are played had to change.

Please discuss how you and the team found the “sweet spot” when setting the difficulty level of the
classic games. Were there places you feel you missed the mark or levels you
might have done differently in hindsight?

Difficulty is always the most difficult thing to balance and get right. After levels were
completed I’d sit down and play each level and write notes on how it could be
made clearer to the player, or harder depending on how far the level was in the
game. We’d get pages and pages of useful feedback from the test department and
further adjustments were made. I always hated the instant deaths that certain
traps would demand, I still hate them today but you just can’t get around
certain scenarios such as jumping off a cliff or into a bottomless chasm, the
player has to die. In hindsight I’d say quite a few levels were too hard, such
as The Kayak level in TR3, Temple of Xian in TR2.

Most of the classic games include at least one level where Lara has no weapons. Did these present any special
challenges in terms of level design?

Yep, we liked to use this mechanic. It allowed us to perform a reset on Lara’s
weapon cache and also force a bit of sneak or stealth gameplay. It was actually
nice to design these levels because they broke up the gameplay and allowed us to
breathe a little before ramping up the difficult again.

Can you clarify the Chronicles timeline? Where did each chapter take place in relation to the events in TR1,
2, 3, and 4? Young Lara sure got around, and it seems like Larson and Pierre
have died more times than most mortals are entitled to.

This is a tricky one… Rome I think was set before the first Tomb Raider game.
Russian Base & Sub was set between TR2 and TR3. Black Isle was set before
TR1. VCI Headquarters was set Between TR3 and TR4 I think.

Without necessarily getting into the politics, could you talk about what was going to be included in the 10th
Anniversary Edition from Core?

Basically we wanted to remake the original but as mentioned earlier, put a twist on each
level to make them different and give the player a fresh challenge. We had new
moves such as wall running and a far more fluid control system to reflect
Lara’s athletic abilities more accurately. We also had a whole new final level
planned with Lara battling against a huge Atlantean War Machine piloted by
Natla.

Have you played the 2013 reboot and Rise of the Tomb Raider, the LC games, Lara Croft GO? Impressions? And if you
are following the new games, as a player, what would you like to see next?

I am a Tomb Raider fan like the rest of you guys now, I’ve played all of the new
games after Core, including Anniversary which was difficult for me because I
knew our version was better. The first couple of Crystal D games were a very
mixed bag, which looked pretty but just didn’t feel like tomb raider. Lara
Croft GO is amazing, I loved how they stripped it right back to the essential
puzzle gameplay, the graphical style was awesome too. The last two Crystal D
games have really impressed me, I think they’ve finally got Tomb Raider on the
right track, maybe it can regain it rightful place as top of the Action
Adventure games, after all Lara would kick Drakes Ass right? As a player I’d
like to see another TR game following the choose the next location as used in
TR3, with today’s tech they could really go to town on it, allow for a
storyline versatile enough to allow the player some choices that take the game
in different directions, I don’t think open world would be the right path, but
a world map with a branching story path would be cool, allow Lara to really
explore the globe.

The post The Interview with Richard Morton appeared first on Tomb of Ash.

“The Anniversary Edition had been worked on for quite a while and looked great. It wasn’t
finished but a huge amount of very good work had been produced (as you probably
saw from the video that was leaked). There was some peculiar politics going on
at the time which meant the Anniversary team had no idea there was another
version being made at the time.”

“I come from more of a Fine Art background than many of my colleagues so
my influences were pretty broad, from renaissance art to the paintings of
Francis Bacon (there is even a Bacon-esque painting I created in the Prague
level”, explains Kenny,

“Working at Core was however my only experience of
working in the games industry, even though it was for four years and AOD was
the only game I worked on so I will always have an affection for it, for all
its problems”.

The post Tomb Raider – the Angel of Darkness and Tomb Raider – Anniversary Edition concept art by James Kenny appeared first on Tomb of Ash.

The post Drawings by Murti Schofield appeared first on Tomb of Ash.

We are delighted
and honoured to present you an interview with one of Lara’s voice over actresses,
Jude Gibbins. Jude voiced Lara in Tomb Raider II and Tomb Raider III, along
with adverts and trailers for the game.

Hello Jude. Thank you so much for agreeing to this interview!  

Hello Ash, Thank you for your interest in wanting to know about my time as Lara Croft. I hope you find my answers an enjoyable read.

How did you find out that the Tomb Raider developers needed a voice actress for videogame icon Lara Croft?  Were you approached or cast?

I had a phone call from my brother, who was a programmer working at Core Design, and he said they were holding auditions for a voice to a character in a computer game, I asked who it was and of course it was for Lara Croft, to which I replied “who is that and what does she look like?” (well you can imagine the disgust in his face). Anyway I thought about it and decided to have a go. I was given a page of script and they recorded me at their studios in Derby… If I remember rightly, there were about eight other girls who turned up too. I recorded one evening and got a phone call the next day to say I had got the part.

How did you react when you got the position?  What were you first reactions?  

When I got the part I was so excited I could not believe it. My first reaction was to shout it from the roof tops because of course by then I knew all about Lara Croft. However, I was not allowed to tell anyone, the directors wanted it to be a secret. The only person I told was my son.

Prior to you being cast as Lara Croft did you play Tomb Raider at all? If so, what were your thoughts on it?

I’m afraid as for playing the actual Tomb Raider games… I am useless at it. But I think it is fascinating and I admire anyone who has the patience for them.

Have you done voice acting before or after you were Lara Croft?

Lara Croft has been my only voice over work. Before that I had danced and sang in my local amateur dramatics society based in Derby, “The Good Companions” where I stayed for 32 years. Wonderful memories. So I suppose that helped with the acting. I would love to do more voice over work, I loved it all.

What was most unusual about this role?  What parts did you like or dislike?

All my experiences as Lara Croft were varied and challenging but exciting and enjoyable. The only thing I disliked is the fact I had to keep it a secret. Although the press soon got wind of it and as result I did a lot of interview’s for television and radio. They were nerve racking I can tell you!

Where did you have to go to be recorded and was there anyone from Core Design there at the time to direct you? What directions did they give you? 

Most of the recording was done either in London or at Core Design. I had a lot of instructions on how they wanted her to sound and sometimes I could do a line many times until they were satisfied it was right. I did however have a lot of help from Nathan McCree, as you might know he wrote the music for Tomb Raider, He was really kind and gave me a lot of advice and help. We are still friends today.

Have you integrated quotes from the script of either Tomb Raider games you have worked on into daily life?

The only time I quote as Lara Croft in my real life is if i am asked to, otherwise not really. Although I did do an answer machine message once as Lara for a friend!

How different was it to voice Sophia Leigh compared to Lara Croft?  How was it to voice both halves of a conversation since both of them interacted?

What happened with Sophia Leigh, as I remember, I was asked to do the lines at a separate time than Lara and they didn’t know if they would actually my voice so my honest answer to that is I am not sure if it is my voice, although I have heard it and it does sound like me!

Who did you like to voice more Lara or Sophia?

I loved voicing Lara Croft and I am very proud and privileged to have had her in my life.

Does anyone recognize your voice in real life to be that of Lara Croft?  

I don’t get recognised by my voice, I am sorry to say.

Do you recall any funny moments or outtakes that occurred during the process?  

I had a lot of fun in the studios and yes there were many outtakes and laughter. The hardest thing to record was the breath she took coming out of the water… that took some time and it was so funny to hear some of the sounds, we were in stitches! Oh and I am afraid I used to swear a lot too!

Have you followed the Tomb Raider series since your work was done?  If so, how do you feel about the adjustments and the direction of the development?  

I think the direction of the Tomb Raider games is fantastic. The graphics are superb. How Lara has evolved too is fantastic and that goes for her voice today as well. I think all the Lara voices have done a brilliant job and of course she has changed with the times like most thing do.

Thank you very much for your time!

Well Ash I hope this is a good read and I look forward to hearing more about the [Special project – TBA soon]!

The post [Exclusive] Interview with Jude Gibbins – Lara’s Voice for Tomb Raider 2-3 appeared first on Tomb of Ash.

Nathan McCree is a music composer and sound effects editor
for various multimedia projects. Nathan wrote the iconic music for Tomb Raider
1-3 and a few weeks ago I had the pleasure of speaking with Nathan about his
work at Core Design.

Here is a full transcription of the interview.

First of all, thank you for giving me this chance to discuss your work on the iconic soundtrack for Tomb Raider! How did you become a musician and how did you start working at Core Design?

I grew up in a family which was musical. Particularly my Dad and I began singing in a church choir when I was just a little lad. So I did a lot of singing. I started learning the piano when I was nine and started writing music when I was about 13. I wanted to be in a band; leave school at 16 years old and do the rock and roll lifestyle but that wasn’t to be. My dad said I had to go to university so off I went. I studied music along the way; did O level and A level music and all the grades on the piano but at university I studied computer programming; software engineering. I was quite into maths, I quite liked that. And so, when I finished my degree I was applying for jobs as a programmer. As luck would have it my first programming job was at the games development company, Core Design in Derby. The first project by boss put me on was to code a music sequencer for the SEGA Megadrive – like Cubase or Protools but obviously a much smaller, condensed version. I finished that a little ahead of schedule and so I said to Jezza (Jeremy Heath-Smith, owner of Core Design), I’ll write some music on it and show you what it can do, so I did that. When listened to it he said, “Wow that’s brilliant mate, do you want to do the music for our next game?” Of course I said yes. So I started working as a composer with them four months after I’d started, writing music for Asterix… “Asterix and the Great Rescue”, I think it was. So that was my first project, well, first music project anyway.

Well no. I mean, there’s always that chance and I guess that was always in the back of my mind. Whenever you’re writing music for a project, there’s always a chance that, if it’s going to be sold publicly, that it’s going to be picked up by a load of people and then you get catapulted into fame and fortune. So yeah that was always in the back of my mind but it wasn’t something I consciously thought about with Tomb Raider at all, it was just another project like all the others I’d been working on. I was doing quite a lot of projects at that time, certainly in excess of 6 projects a year. I think, a year before that, we were turning out about a project every month. Myself and Martin Iveson were really busy, we were writing music like crazy in all sorts of different styles so it was just another project. Previously, for two years before Tomb Raider, I’d been doing a lot of orchestral projects; Soulstar, Heimdall, Swagman. So I’d been practicing or perfecting my orchestral ensembles and when Tomb Raider came along it was given to me automatically because I was doing all the orchestral stuff. Martin was doing mostly electronic, dance and rhythm based music, I tended to do mostly orchestral, story-telling music. Toby was looking for orchestral music so he automatically came to me. But no, I had no idea it was going to be big, I don’t think any of us did.

Tomb Raider is largely inspired by Indiana Jones. What was the inspiration for the soundtrack? Did your inspiration change from game to game?

Well for the first game the inspiration was Lara Croft’s character. I talked to Toby quite a lot about what she was like, what her personality was like and from that I tried to describe her musically wherever we were in the game, whatever was going on. I tried to add some sense of beauty to the music. Lara is also classy, intelligent, confident and quite a powerful woman so I was trying to get all those “buzzwords” or emotions into the music. So that was the kind of raw inspiration or direction for the Tomb Raider music.  I think most composers draw from their own experiences with music, things that they’ve listened to throughout their life and they are influenced by that music and those influences come out in the music that they write. I think every composer does this. For me with Tomb Raider, I drew a lot from my choral background singing in churches, which is why you hear choral voices in Tomb Raider in many places. I’m quite a big fan of what we call “four-part harmony” which is soprano, alto, tenor and bass. As for how the inspiration changed between Tomb Raider I, II and III… it certainly did change for a number of reasons.  I guess the first reason was that technically we’d done the first Tomb Raider game and so now I had a better idea of how we could structure the music better, how we could trigger it better, how it could be more interactive than it was before and how it could be closer to a film score. So I was working more with the technology in mind with Tomb Raider II. You will notice that many of the cues are smaller and there are more of them; they’re triggered more frequently when enemies jump out from the corner or something like that. There was much more of this in Tomb Raider II than in Tomb Raider I, because with Tomb Raider I we were just chucking stuff in you know, there was very little time, it was a case of ‘get it in and get it working’. With Tomb Raider II we had more time to develop that technology so the music changed accordingly. It became more location specific, the Venice tune is a good example… We had this new product and this new technology where you’re looking at the character on screen interacting with a 3D world, that had never been done before…and to my knowledge it was the first time music was being used to describe specific locations in a game. So the music was gradually taking shape, I was gathering music for specific moments in the game; for when Lara uncovered something new, when she was climbing a wall, when she was surprised… I was building the repertoire. Then Tomb Raider III came along and there was even more of that going on – in Tomb Raider there were 7 music cues, Tomb Raider II had 27 cues and Tomb Raider III had 48. The number of music cues was almost doubling with each successive game, and as a result I was able to describe the game better each time. I had more musical content to select from and use to describe particular moments in the game. With Tomb Raider III the technology again affected the style of the music. It was becoming more and more fragmented as I could position the music in many more interactive situations than in the first one. It became more flexible. The location specific themes were more apparent too with Tomb Raider III.

Yeah the called me and I went to Core and saw all my old friends. At this time Gavin Rummery who was lead coder and designer on Tomb Raider 2 and a coder on Tomb Raider1, he was now studio head! He was running Core Design! So you know he was my mate, so I went in to see him in his office and I said “Alright Gav, you’ve got Jezza’s desk!” [he laughs] So yeah he was sitting at Jezza’s desk which was quite funny. So we talked about the project and I prepared an audio specification for them and a quote and it was all set to go into production but before I’d actually done any work the project was moved to Crystal Dynamics and that was the end of that!

How many Tomb Raider themes (for all the games) did you create before the team decided which one they’d use?

One. You know, the team didn’t decide what music to use. I decided what music to use. Games were made very differently back then; it was 20 years ago. Basically if an artist drew a picture and he wanted it to go somewhere in the game, it went in. Nobody said “oh can you change it or can you draw it a bit more like this”. He was the artist and he decided what went in graphically. Similarly I was the composer and I decided what went in musically. And that’s how it worked. It was quite a small team. We were all pals with each other and we trusted each other to make the right decisions.

We know now how difficult it was for Core to push out a Tomb Raider game every year. How difficult was it for you to come up with a new soundtrack?

Well personally I didn’t find it a problem creatively. The main problem I had was lack of time. On Tomb Raider I, I think I had a month only to write all the music. On TR 2 I think I had 2 months and on TR 3 it was a little bit over 3 months, maybe 4 months because there was quite a lot of video work in TR 3 as well which took quite a bit of time. So it wasn’t difficult in terms of thinking of material. That was just no problem at all. I’ve never really had a problem thinking of ideas or thinking of melodies and harmonies. That’s just not a problem for me at all. The problem was how I was going to get all of this music written and implemented in the time that I’d got. That was my problem.

If you had the chance, would you change anything about the final versions of your soundtracks?

Yes. I’d change everything in terms of production because the equipment that I had and the budget that was given to me to make the soundtracks was really small. I just had a couple of synthesizers and that was it. If I was going to do the same thing again I would hire a live orchestra and I would do it properly. Jeremy didn’t give me that budget and he didn’t see the value in doing that while I was on the project. It wasn’t until TR 6 [the Angel of Darkness] that he decided to pull in a live orchestra. That’s okay. It was a good move, but I think a little bit too late because, you know, after 6 the project was moved.

If Lara Croft would have been a male character (as it was planned at some point) would the soundtrack have changed significantly?

It would’ve been very different. I wouldn’t write a beautiful piece of music for a man or a male hero. I’d write something tougher, more handsome than beautiful. If you could describe the difference musically that would be one way of doing it. When you think about franchises like James Bond, Indiana Jones or any other male character theme tune, you wouldn’t say those pieces are beautiful, would you?

No, not really.

Exactly. They’re not beautiful pieces of music. They’re strong, courageous, adventurous pieces of music and those are the kind of emotions that they push forward. They don’t push forward beauty. So, had Tomb Raider been a male character, the music would have course been different.

Do you have any thoughts on the Female Icon album?

Yes, I heard about this when it was being made. It was quite a long time ago, wasn’t it?

1997 I believe?

Yeah, I remember I was still at Core when it was being made and I remember hearing one or two tracks that had come to us for review. They were pre-production mixes I believe, not final mixes, but yeah, I did hear a couple of tracks. I can’t actually remember what they were like. I remember I wasn’t overly impressed though [he laughs].

I wrote that in 2000. I was doing a lot of writing then but not for any specific projects. I had left Core because I wanted to work for myself. I wanted to create my own music and try to make a living from that. So around this time I was just writing music – and lots of it. And to be honest, I thought quite naively, “Oh I’ve just done three Tomb Raiders I’m bound to get loads of work now”, well, that didn’t happen. I just sat in my studio for about two years and wrote loads of music. I had a few contracts during that time, but nothing financially significant. Eventually I realised that I was running out of money and I thought, “Shit maybe I should go and try to find some work”. So I did! Anyway it was in those two years, you see when I was just writing music that I wrote “In The Dark”. It was Tomb Raider inspired, but it wasn’t written for a particular Tomb Raider project. I was thinking about Tomb Raider when I was writing it though. I was enjoying being creative and being free I guess. I wasn’t being told what to write or having to write in a particular style, I was just sat at my keyboard thinking “okay let’s just start writing something and see where it goes” and that was one of those pieces.

Were there any tracks were cut from the games?

No. Everything I wrote went in. There wasn’t much time Ash, so I had to write stuff as fast as possible and I really had to use everything because even using everything, there still wasn’t enough material to properly cover the game.

Were there any limitations put on you as a composer?

Yeah, the equipment I was using. Everything I wrote for Tomb Raider was recorded using synthesizers of the time. With these machines, there is a limitation in the number of voices that they can produce simultaneously. It is known as polyphony in the trade. Each sound on the synths that I used could utilise up to four different voices. Some sounds used all those four voices. So when I pressed one note on the keyboard, four voices were being used. If I played a triad – a three note chord, with a sound that uses all four of its voices, I was using twelve voices just with those three notes. The synths I was using had 64-note polyphony which means they could play 64 voices simultaneously. Now, if I play a 10 note chord (with a 4-voice sound), if I’ve got all of my fingers down on the keyboard, I’m using 40 voices. You can see now that very quickly I am going to run out of voices. When the synth runs out of voices, once I’ve used all 64 voices and they’re all playing, if I try to play another note, the machine has a priority policy which determines what happens when the machine gets full. This policy can be changed and edited by the user. It can be set to kill the oldest note first in order to play the new note, or it can be set to maintain playing the current notes and to only play the new note if there is a free voice. So what happens when you fill up the keyboard you start losing notes somewhere, either new notes don’t play or old notes get cut off. This is one of the limitations so you have to be careful about how many voices you are using. What I will do sometimes to save voices if I’m overusing my keyboards, where I’ve got big chords playing some string pad for example, if that string pad is made up of 4 voices for each note, I will edit that patch and I’ll deactivate 1 or sometimes 2 of the voices that I don’t need. They might be some kind of detail in the sound like the scratch of a bow when it hits the violin string for example. Depending on how I use that sound I might not need this detail so I can delete it by deactivating that voice saving myself 10 voices in my 10 note cord. Then I can play my violin solo for example over the top because I’ve freed up some voices. So these are the kind of limitations I had to work with and sometimes that slowed me down because I’d be writing, writing, writing, adding lots of instruments and suddenly I’d notice that the oboe is not playing all the notes of its melody for some reason, so I’d start diagnosing the problem. The oboe is playing on its own, but it’s not playing when everything else is playing. Why is that? Usually it’s because the synth has reached its 64-note polyphony limit. I’m overusing my keyboard! So I would check the function on the synth which monitors how many voices are being used – it’s basically a real-time diagnostics function. I’d check the diagnostics and this would show me which sounds are using the most voices and then I could plan how to fix the problem in order to get all my instruments playing at the same time. Sometimes that would involve deactivating voices in some of the sounds, sometimes it would involve changing priority settings. It is also possible to reserve a certain number of voices for a particular sound, so that a particular sound is guaranteed to play no matter what how many other voices are playing at that moment. By the time I’ve tested which strategy produces the best result I may have spent one or two hours programming the keyboards to get all my instruments to play properly. So those kind of limitations cost time and it was time I didn’t really have.

Oh wow I didn’t know all those details

Yeah, there’s a lot that goes on with producing a piece of music, there are thousands of things to think about. It is quite a complicated process. The actual music composition itself is relatively simple compared to dealing with the technology to make the bloody thing sound right!

Peter Connelly worked on soundtracks for TR 4-6 and he plans to do a remaster of those, are you going to do anything similar?

All I can say at this point in time is that I will be making a public announcement very soon [at PAX]. Just a little teaser – it’s going to be something big!

Did you listen to the Tomb Raider Anniversary soundtrack?

Yes I did.

What was your impression?

Well, it’s really lovely to hear someone else reproducing your music, because you hear their interpretation of your work which is fascinating and humbling at the same time. It is really a wonderful experience. I thought that Troels’ rendition of my music was done really well. It is quite clear that he had a lot more expensive equipment to use than I did… His interpretation was much grander than mine, I think if I had to do it again I don’t think I would make such a grand production like Troels Folmann, I think I’d still keep it quite minimalistic and intimate because that’s my style and personally, I think that my style fits Lara Croft better [he laughs], that’s just my personal choice, there’s nothing wrong with Troels’ music, I think it’s brilliant and I really enjoyed listening to his interpretations, I think they’re really well done.

It’s a personal thing really isn’t it? Some people like the original because it’s the first thing they heard. The first interpretation of a track that you hear carries all the memories and associations that you had at the time of hearing it. Maybe if I’d have heard Troels’ covers first I’d have thought that they were better than Nathan McCree’s, who knows.

Have you heard the new Rise of the Tomb Raider soundtrack by any chance?

The very latest one? I heard what I understand to be the main theme which was on Soundcloud, because they released it ahead of the game

Yeah I think so.

Yeah. Again, it’s a really good production, the composition is good as well. I’m a little bit surprised though, that Crystal Dynamics have decided to change the theme again… I find myself trying to understand Crystal Dynamics’ direction with what they’re doing with Tomb Raider, they’ve wanted to take it to somewhere new since 2013 and they’ve certainly done that. Their latest game is absolutely amazing, but it’s almost unrecognisable as Tomb Raider. So yep, it’s somewhere new. Is it Tomb Raider? Is it what people recognise as Tomb Raider? I don’t know. Some fans think it is a completely different product but with the same name. Whether that’s good or bad, again, it comes down to your personal choice… so I’m trying to understand it. Obviously Crystal Dynamics is trying to make money, everyone is trying to make money… from a musical perspective I am a little bit confused, because when you take something like James Bond for instance, I can’t imagine a James Bond film without [he hums a James Bond theme], it wouldn’t be a James Bond film if it didn’t have that, it has to be there, that theme is James Bond! So I am a little confused why Crystal changed the theme tune, and not only once, but twice. I’m not sure what’s going on with Tomb Raider at the moment.

I actually think it was more than twice? Because Legend had a different tune and Underworld as well, then 2013.

I’m not so sure. Legend and Underworld did use my theme tune. It is definitely in those scores. Maybe only for the theme tune but it was certainly there and it was until the Reboot in 2013 when they dropped it completely. Jason Graves was hired to write a completely new theme and then Crystal made Rise of the Tomb Raider with another composer and another new theme again. I don’t understand…

I know you’ve been to Derby recently, have you visited Lara Croft Way?

Yeah I was passing through Derby a few months ago, I went to Andy Sandham’s wedding actually and on my way back I popped into Derby and drove pass my old house.

What were your feelings, you know, being there?

[he laughs] I have lots of good memories about being in Derby. We had lots and lots of great parties. I remember hanging around with Andy Sandham, Stuart Atkinson and Martin Gibbins to name a few, it was just hilarious. It was just non-stop fun. We all had a fair bit of money because we were working on Tomb Raider so we were just going out constantly [he laughs] partying, enjoying life. So yeah, it was a good feeling visiting Derby again but I tell you what, I would never go and live there again, and it’s not just Derby I’m talking about, I’m talking about England. I’ve relocated now to the Czech Republic and every time I go back to England it’s raining, raining, raining and then it’s windy and it’s cold and I think “Sod this, I’m not coming back here again” …

I know this question has probably been asked before, but say Crystal Dynamics or some film production company asked you to work on the new game or film, what would you say to that?

I’d say yes, I’d love to!

Have you heard the soundtrack from Tomb Raider films?

Yes, I watched them both… I didn’t like the first one, because the soundtrack bared no relevance to Tomb Raider whatsoever.  It was just like watching a film cut to a load of dance music and that couldn’t be further from what Lara Croft is all about. She was brought up in this aristocratic family, very high-class society… she didn’t listen to dance/pop music, she listened to classical music. This is why we picked classical music to describe the game. She was a classy woman; she wouldn’t have listened to dance music. Not that I’m saying that listening to dance music is in any way derogatory but it’s just not her… The second movie’s soundtrack was written by Alan Silvestri – one of my heroes, so I was overjoyed to read an interview with him where he stated that his score was heavily influenced by the music that I’d written for Tomb Raider games!… I enjoyed listening to his score. It was a very grand production, but that’s typical of Silvestri. His score for Back to the Future used that massive brass ensemble. He’s into big orchestral productions… That’s his style. If they asked me to do the third movie, of course I would be very honoured!

Have you heard Lara Croft Go! soundtrack then? It has some motifs in there.

Yeah I heard that and I’ve played it, and I really, really like it! Yeah my Tomb Raider theme is in there and they used some of my ambiences as well… I think it works brilliantly.

It won the best mobile game recently

Not surprised at all, it is a really good game. I was totally hooked when I played it. I couldn’t put it down.

You auditioned the actors for Tomb Raider I, what made you choose Shelley Blond as Lara?

She sounded right. The way it worked with the VO back then, and today, there are agencies that have hundreds of actors on their books. I gave the agency the character brief, and then they found five or six people for each character. They then sent me a CD with the actor’s show reels. After listening to the show reels I’d call the agency and tell them who I want to interview. I’d then call the actors directly, chat to them, hear how they speak and interact, then ask them to read a few lines from the script. I remember I had a loudspeaker on my phone in the studio at Core and I had a mic right next to the phone and I recorded my conversations with them. Later, after going through all the recordings I picked the one which sounded most natural and fluid, and the one that I thought would be the easiest to direct at the recording session. I made my choice, told the agency which one I wanted, booked them, and we met at the studio where we recorded the script.

Shelley said there was someone directing her at the studio, was that you?

Yes, it was.

Why did you decide to make her sound rather mono-syllabic and expressionless?

Yeah! I remember that! When Shelley performed her first few lines we (Vicky Arnold (script writer) and I) felt she was too emotional. Lara Croft is emotional person but she doesn’t display her emotions, she is really cool, calm and collective. Shelley was too expressive and playful with her lines on the first few takes. So after the first test recording I remember Vicky saying to me “No that’s not right, that’s too much, Lara is cooler than that”. So I suggested to Shelley that she make it a bit more monotone to give Lara that cool, intelligent delivery which, hopefully, is what we got in the end.

The New York Times said that Lara’s voice in the first game is as sexy as Jessica Rabbit’s

Shelley Blond was great. Her voice really worked. It was a shame Core didn’t continue to hire her.

You know about the alternative intro for Tomb Raider I, did you write the music for that as well?

Yes I did. The music to that was taken from a game that I’d written a couple of years before Tomb Raider called Heimdall 2, because I hadn’t written any music for Tomb Raider at this point. I think I had had a talk with Toby about the style of music but I wasn’t yet officially working on the project, I was still working on another project. So when this trailer came along, someone came running into my office and said “Nate we need music for this trailer, it needs to go out tomorrow!” This often happened at Core, so I thought “What do I have lying around that I could use?” I was doing primarily orchestral projects at that time and so I looked back through the projects I’d previously done at Core and found a track for Heimdall 2, which kind of made sense for that trailer. So I edited it to fit. As far as I remember we may have shown that trailer for our Core Design stand at E3 but I don’t think it was ever made available to public officially.

What advice would you give to someone who’s just starting as a composer for video games?

For someone who is already working in the industry, I would say to try and keep your writing as flexible as possible. Don’t narrow your style. Be prepared and be open to any style that’s requested.  If you’re a composer already working for a company, for one thing, you are very lucky. To make sure you stay working for that company you need to be as versatile as possible. Don’t be precious about what you’re writing either. You also need to be a good communicator; you have to help people to describe what is it that they want.

For somebody trying to get into the industry, well, that’s quite difficult. I am reminded of the phrase “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know”. If you’ve got a friend that can recommend you that’s ten times better than sending in a show reel. And talking of show reels, don’t send a show reel with an hour of music on it, nobody has an hour, they have got about two minutes, if you’re lucky. Try to get to know somebody who could open the door for you. Try to get a meeting with people if you can, like down at the pub, meet the producer… show him your personality, your character and your passion for music and video games, get them to like you.

Do you think this applies to any creative industry?

I think so. I’m in a fortunate position now where I can practically choose who I work with. I do have a lot of work. So I tend to work with the people or projects that I like. Then I have more fun… it doesn’t matter how much money I’m being paid, I don’t want to work on a project with people who treat me like shit. I’d rather work with the other guy for half the money and be happy in my work.

What are your current projects and future plans?

I’ve got a lot of projects going on. Two of my regular clients are people I used to work with at Core Design. That’s great, because they’re like my pals – we understand each other really well. I’ve got lots of mobile games, that’s the thing at the minute. It’s nice work for me as they are quick turn-around projects – maybe 2 weeks’ work. I write 5-6 tunes in those weeks, a bunch of sound effects, maybe do some voices and job done. It’s exciting and varied and I work on lots of different things – I don’t get bored. Aside from that there are a number of film producers that I’ve been working with… I’m working on a film trailer at the minute and the Producer wants me to write the full score when they go into full production. There’s also a very special project which I will be talking about at PAX on Friday – that is set to complete this year.

Thank you so much for your time!

You’re welcome!

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Coming soon, an interview with the composer of the first three Tomb Raider games, Nathan McCree!

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Charlesworth Street

Let’s start with the loading
screen where Lara is walking down Charlesworth Street. We’ve
confirmed that it is a tiny Easter egg left there by one of the artists –
Matt Charlesworth.

Thames Wharf

The first level is set in the streets of London. Lara has to
climb onto the roof of St Paul’s Cathedral. I projected Lara with an LED stick
and used slow shutter speed photography.

SEE MORE

Aldwych

Aldwych is an
abandoned tube station populated with thugs and rodents with whom Lara must
fight in order to reach a small Masonic Temple and advance onto the next level. Survivor Reborn and
I recently visited the real Aldwych Tube Station, located in the City of
Westminster where Surrey Street meets Strand. Once known as Strand station upon
its opening in 1907, it closed in 1994 due to lack of use.

READ
FULL ARTICLE ABOUT THE ALDWYCH LEVEL 

Lud’s Gate

And here comes the big one.

It was long speculated that the Lud’s Gate level in Tomb
Raider III is set in the Natural History Museum. I recently visited the place
and found very few similarities to the level. 

In fact, it was rumoured that the
level is a mix of inspirations from the British Museum and the Natural History
Museum. Today the legendary Andy Sandham, the creator of the London levels,
confirmed that it is indeed “…set in the
British Museum, down at Bloomsbury. We used it as it has a prominent Egyptology
section (and I wanted to re-use some of Toby’s original textures to save meself
some bother) – the team spent 2 days
down there taking photos of floors and walls (instead of the actual exhibits)
with our antiquated digital cameras.”
(Sandham, 2016).

We will never know why
it was believed that Lud’s Gate is set in the Natural History Museum,
especially because Andy “…built it so it was geographically correct –
the abandoned tubes align underneath the British Museum as opposed to the Natural
history museum” (Sandham, 2016). Most likely the reason is this cutscene; perhaps the script writer didn’t consult with the level building department at the time? Additionally, the TR3 launch
party was held in the Natural History Museum could further suggest that it was
the location of the level. .Andy “…spent many hours (like a loon) working
out the actual geography of the level – it should all actually, physically,
make sense in the reality of the real world positioning of the locations in
London” (Sandham, 2016).

See Also:

Visiting
Natural History Museum

Visiting
British Museum

All Hallows

All Hallows is a bonus
level which only unlocks if you collect all the secrets. Andy
“…originally made this as part of the inside of St. Paul’s” (Sandham,
2014). The real All Hallows Church is situated near the Tower of London and this is
how it looks inside:

SEE
MORE PHOTOS

Special Thanks:

Andy Sandham

Stefan Klim (for pointing out the cutscene)

The post Your Ultimate Guide to the Real Locations in Tomb Raider III appeared first on Tomb of Ash.

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We’ve just confirmed with Andy Sandham that the famous Charlesworth Street that’s featured on the loading screen in London levels, was made up by one of the artists!

The post Confirmed Easter Egg in Tomb Raider III appeared first on Tomb of Ash.

Met the legendary Peter Connelly, composer for Tomb Raider 4-AOD! Peter also did music for such AAA titles like The Crew and Watchdogs.

The post Met the legendary Peter Connelly appeared first on Tomb of Ash.