We continue to publish exclusive Angel of Darkness documents from Murti Schofield, the writer of the game. This one reveals more details about Eckhardt

ECKHARDT AND BREEDING

KURTIS & LARA AS PRODUCTS OF ECK’S BREEDING COMMUNITIES (?).

1. The long term story arc for both     Kurtis and Lara would be fascinating to explore if they were the     contemporary results of some obscure branch of Eckhardt’s breeding     community experiments from the 1300s onwards. It would explain some of     their outstanding qualities and drives.
2. Obviously the Lux Veritatis     and other family trees could believably have ties with improved bloodlines     branching off from Eckhardt’s improved humans experimentation.
3. I’ve long felt that some deep     shadowy part of Lara’s past, as yet undisclosed, might link her to some     ancient historic forces that have been battling in the shadows of mythic     & recorded history. She might be more deeply tied into the ancient and     archaic world than has ever been hinted at before. And that, of course,     was the starting point of AOD, taking Cappadocian angelic myths and the     idea of ancient beings. But what if the links to her own genetic past (and     that of Kurtis) were to be explored.
4. After returning from his meeting     with the Nephilim in 1345 with the promise of 100x years of extended     life he forged ahead in his attempt to create a Nephuman bloodline     capable of becoming incubation vessels for the emergence of the     neo-Nephilim. Many improvements were bred into his human stock. Strength     and cognitive abilities would be enhanced as well as many other desirable     human traits.
5. Once the ‘improved’ human stock     began to exhibit stable signs of endurance and vigour Eckhardt would     introduce sample individuals into the population at large to ‘seed’ a     wider genetic pool. The development and improvement of such seeded     bloodlines would be closely monitored and selected individuals exhibiting     the qualities he sought would be reintroduced back into his more closely     controlled breeder communities. This would more rapidly enhance and     advance his genetic pool, his ‘…crucible for the flux of vitality and     transcendent celestial potential.’
6. Generations on there would be extraordinary     individuals appearing in the world at large but it would be almost     impossible to keep track of every emergent exemplar. The Lux Veritatis     would be constantly on the look out to recruit families with outstanding     abilities or potential as warrior mystics.  They would watch and nurture any specials     and Kurtis’ family tree could be one of these promising branches, a     line traced back to one of these ‘lost’ Eckhardt breeder-batches.
7. Lara too could easily be a     twentieth century product of a family line with roots deep in the dark days     of medieval genetic transmogrification. There would be a certain     cosmic irony there.
8. The coming together of Lara and     Kurtis in Paris could have been chance or possibly the culmination of     circumstances manipulated from the shadows regions by an ancient agency of     a malignant and undying force. To be explored…!

NB Reference Philip Jose Farmer’s Wold Newton Universe where he creates a common point of origin, a bllodline, for such eternals as Tarzan, Doc Savage, The Scarlet Pimpernel, Nathanial Bumpo (Hawkeye of Last of the Mohicans), Dr Syn, Bulldog Drummond, Sherlock Holmes, The Spider, James Bond et al. Also Warren Ellis’ Planetary for reinterpreted & revitalised heroes of yore.

FURTHER TO THE FOLLOW ON GAME:

1. Explore the bloodline of new     character Morgau Vasiley, daughter of the renegade LV Mathias     Vasiley as a part initiate into LV skills and know how. She will have gone     to the dark side and can go head to head with Kurtis wielding similar     weaponry and abilities in ding-dong smash ups! Yeah! Reference document on     alternate LV Chirugai-like weapons.
2. See document on revised last     meeting between Lara, Kurtis and Karel at the end of AOD. As a kick     off for game II this is one of those, ‘Oh, so you think you know what     happened at the end of AOD huh! Well…get THIS!’ For a precedent, see how     the third Bourne film fits almost completely into the tiny gap between     Bourne’s leaving the rail station in Moscow and turning up in New York to     have it out with Jessica Landy.

Clearly this all needs more thinking about and some timelines drawing up but the depth it gives to both L and K promises many exciting & worthwhile story possibilities.

The post KURTIS & LARA AS PRODUCTS OF ECKHARDT’S BREEDING COMMUNITIES appeared first on Tomb of Ash.

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.

We continue bringing AOD awesomeness to you. Richard Morton gave us this document for cutscenes from the game. This is a developers version so some of the stuff was removed from the final release.

CUTSCENES. IG-ANIMS etc LIST PARIS

TOTALS:

FMV’s                         4  [1 + 3 edited versions of FULL FLASHBACK]

CUTSCENES             7

=============================================================

THIS FIRST FMV IS TAKEN FROM THE FULL FINAL FLASHBACK LISTED AS POINT 15.14a IN PRAGUE.

IN PARIS, EDITED PARTS OF THIS FULL FLASHBACK APPEAR TWICE: FIRST IN THIS INTRO FMV POINT 1.1

SECOND IN POINT 7.6 AT VON CROY’S APARTMENT IN PARIS.

ZONE 1: PARIS BACKSTREETS

POINT 1.1: (APPROX TIMING =  DONE except for the Shaman dialogue.)

FMV

Start with a fade from black to a Jackal’s head blurring into focus. Camera rotates to show head is lying on the floor and it it’s the top of a walking stick.   Fade into a dark hallway as we follow a figure moving through an apartment (Von Croy’s.) The place is in disarray, messy symbols daubed over walls and floors. Something violent has happened here. The figure, Lara, picks up a smashed photo frame. It’s herself and Von Croy. She goes over to the wall and looks at herself in the a mirror.

Screen flickers into rapid intercuts showing Lara’s last scenes from the Egyptian tombs being abandoned by Von Croy and falling into the darkness. More intercut images of desert figures, Lara meeting the SHAMAN, talking to her and being given the amulet. Ends with Lara and Shaman stood on a cliff top.

Cut to: Von Croy being thrown about the apartment, violence half seen in the shadows. Von Croy lying mangled and Lara staring at blood on her hands.

SEE DIALOGUE: TOM-SHAMAN.

POINT 1.3: (APPROX TIMING = DONE)

FMV – OPENING CUTSCENE  #2- continue with Lara on the run pursued by police, chased by police dogs into a building, losing her backpack to a savage dog, leaping through a window and ending up in the courtyard for the start of the game.

POINT 1.6:

IG-ANIM – policeman checks on the door to the courtyard, then leaves.

Cop: open door, walk, search

IG-ANIM – policeman returns. Leaves the door open this time.

Cop open door, walk search

POINT 1.16: (APPROX TIMING = 25secs )

IG-ANIM Lara nears the apartments building. Spotlight from helicopter – Alerts Police to Lara’s whereabouts. Guards run up steps. Lara runs and kicks door open. She enters building, door closes behind her.

Lara:  Run, kick door, walk.

Cops: Run

POINT 1.19:

IG-ANIM – the helicopter attacks Lara on the rooftops.

Lara:  Run, lookaround.

POINT 1.22: (APPROX TIMING = 40secs)

CUTSCENE – A desperate leap across a gap grabbing at guttering on other side. It begins to give way. Lara hangs onto a collapsing drainpipe which falls into alley below. She crashes noisily into trash bins and bags. Lara recovers and checks the fax page with an address on it –  Mme Carvier’s address. CUT TO – Lara entering a much more salubrious quarter of Paris. She turns up outside Carvier’s apartment. Gets let in. CUT TO – Lara arriving at the front door of the apartment. Carvier opens the door and lets her in. Initial part of conversation between Lara and Carvier takes place.

SEE DIALOGUE: TOM-CARV-CUTSC

IG CONV – in game conversation with CARVIER. Possible two path split: Lara is given Von Croy’s notebook or has to steal it.

POINT 1.27:

IG-ANIM – Lara has the notebook, she jumps out of the open window and runs down the alley, Lara comes across abandoned railway she looks down on it. Fade to black.

Lara: Climb out of window, Run, Walk, Climb block, get up from duck

ZONE 2: PARISIAN GHETTO

POINT 2.1:

IG-ANIM – FADE UP –  next morning. It’s daylight but overcast and threatening still. Inside the derelict carriage Lara wakes up and reads Von Croy’s notebook. All kinds of details in here – to be finalised – but Louis Bouchard and symbols are definitely on the menu. Also the name Eckhardt, symbols, alphabets, Prague, The Sleeper-Cubiculum Nephili, buying a gun from Bouchard and Mathias Vasiley. Lara can also add notes of her own.

Lara: Take object out of backpack, getup, lookaround

POINT 2.4:

CONV – talk to TRAMP (Rigsby) in railway siding. Tramp tells Lara about the café.

POINT 2.6:

CONV – talk to DEALER. Dealer tells Lara that Bouchard runs a club Le Serpent Rouge.

POINT 2.6a:

IG_ANIM – Kurtis walks out of an alleyway, climbs onto a huge Harley and roars off. If Lara glances up the alley she will see a body groaning in the darkness. Lara walks on. [Kurtis is making the rounds asking questions].

Done

Dealer: Dead anim

POINT 2.7:

IG-CONV – talk to JANICE (Lili Savage) on the streets. She can put Lara onto the café owner Pierre or onto the old Geezer ex-janitor, both of whom know how Lara can find Bouchard’s new hideout. Janice mentions Carvier’s murder.

POINT 2.8:

CONV – PAWNBROKER Daniel Rennes #1. If Lara enters with nothing to sell. She checks out the pawnbroker’s willingness to deal discretely.

POINT 2.9:

IG-CONV – PAWNBROKER #2. Lara returns with a single item to pawn.

POINT 2.10:

IG-CONV – PAWNBROKER #3. Optional – Lara returns with another single item to pawn.

POINT 2.11:

IG-CONV – PAWNBROKER #4. Lara returns with several items to pawn. At the end of this exchange she may produce the BOX.

POINT 2.12:

IG-CONV – PAWNBROKER #5. Lara whips out her BOX.  She is told it is too hot to pawn. [In the last visit of all, after Lara has been to Bouchard, she finds the pawnbroker dead but this will all be ingame.]

POINT 2.14:

CONV – NEWS KIOSK. Lara can ask the vendor questions. Buys a newspaper with Prof Carvier’s death reported.

POINT 2.15:

CONV – THE HERBALIST’S.

POINT 2-17:

CONV – first conversations with CAFÉ OWNER #1 Pierre before having met Janice. She gets the brush off. If Lara returns to the café later, still without having met the girl with the heart of gold, Pierre’s response will be very abrupt/rude.

POINT 2-17a:

IG-ANIM – try to talk to KURTIS in café. Brief one liner responses.

Kurtis Anim

POINT 2.18:

IG-CONV – meet EX JANITOR. Get sob story about the stash at the old club, Le Serpent Rouge, being his. Lara might agree to retrieve it for him – or just keep it for herself.

POINT 2.17b:

IG-CONV – main visit to CAFÉ OWNER #2 after meeting Janice. Lara asks about Bouchard. Lara agrees to go retrieve his stash at the old club Le Serpent Rouge in exchange for information.

POINT 2.27:

IG-ANIM – at the club, as Lara is hanging from the lighting rigging her hand slips and her gun, the Desert Eagle she picked up in the club, falls to the floor far below.

Lara: Slip and drop gun, climb up anim.

POINT 2.27a:

IG-ANIM – very brief cutscene at the old club, Le Serpent Rouge where Lara recovers the Box, opens it and a golden glow lights up her face. This can also happen to three other characters in different situations:

Lara: Open Box

POINT 2.29a:

IG-ANIM – if the café owner gets the Box he opens it in the café and a golden glow lights up his face.

Café owner: Open Box

POINT 2.33a:

IG-ANIM – if the Janitor gets the Box he opens it in the park and a golden glow lights up his face.

Janitor: Open Box

POINT 2.52a:

IG-ANIM – if the Doorman gets the Box at the side of the church he opens it and a golden glow lights up his face.

Doorman: Open Box

POINT 2.20:

AUDIO-PROMPT – Le Serpent Rouge, On trying to open the trapdoor in the garage access to the Club – “I don’t think I’m strong enough.”

POINT 2.20a:

IG-ANIM – in Le Serpent Rouge club. Upstairs from Lara police are legging it towards the cellar door. Just sees shapes moving towards the door.

Cops: Run

POINT 2.29:

CONV – Lara returns to the CAFÉ OWNER #3 with the Box. She hears that a stranger (Kurtis) was asking questions. Conversation can go two ways; a) she hands over the Box and gets the Francine contact to Bouchard’s club. The address goes into the notebook. Lara exits to find Francine.

POINT 2.29a:

…or b) she keeps the Box and pisses the café owner off. [ NB if Lara keeps the Box the Pawnbroker won’t handle it and it can be used as part of the bribe for the doorman at Bouchard’s hideout.]

POINT 2.34: – 2.35:

CONV – Lara goes into the CHURCH/GYM. She bets the GYM TRAINER his gold watch she can take out one of the heavies in the ring. [NB This could happen before or after Lara finishes dealing with the café owner.]

SEE DIALOGUE: TOM-GYMTRAINER

Replaced -POINT 2.36: (APPROX TIMING = 15/20 secs)

IG-ANIM THE GYM – If Lara WINS the fight she saunters over to the trainer and holds out her hand. There is a pregnant pause as everyone waits to see if the trainer will stick to the bet. With a snarl he hands over his gold watch. Lara leaves without a word. They all watch her in silence. [The fight is IN GAME.].]

Lara: walk, Take money

Replaced – POINT 2.37: (APPROX TIMING = 20secs)

IG-ANIM THE GYM – Lara LOSES the fight and ends up on the canvas. She ducks out of the sparing ring and leaves the building by the church’s front door. They all watch her. No one makes a move.

Lara: Jump over ropes, walk.

Will now be using a scene where Lara bets on heads or tails with trainer. DIALOUGE NEEDED!!

Close up on hands when objects are being passed.

POINT 2.52:

CONV – BOUNCER BODYGUARD AT THE CHURCHYARD GATE – guard is never at the gate until Lara has a password or the box or money from some pawned items to bribe him with.

POINT 2.30:

Re-use animation we’ve used for Carviers apartment – textures may need changing

POINT 2.30b:

IG-ANIM – [possible] – flurries of birds throw Lara off balance as she negotiates the outside ledges of Francine’s building. It’s an oldish building with crumbly bits and slippery mould patches and stuff.

Lara: Balance

Birds: Takeoff, fly

POINT 2.31a:

IG-ANIM – [In game Lara has climbed over the spiky topped walls of the graveyard.] Doberman pinschers come bulleting out of the darkness from between gravestones. [Lara deals with ‘em in game.]

Dobermans: Run

POINT 2.32: Changed to in game

POINT 2.38a: Changed to in game

POINT 2.39: Change Dialogue

IG-ANIM – AT BOUCHARD’S #1 [Triggered after Lara has been scouting around a bit in the  lower part of the church, cramped catacomb type rooms and tunnels masked by darkness. In a small side room set up as a sick room.] Lara steps into the room and moves closer to a figure on the bed to have a closer look. The figure has weird stuff erupting all over his body. He stirs. Mr Melty opens and eye, sees her and starts to scream like the sloth guy in Usual Suspects. One of the sparing heavies from the boxing ring turns up to investigate why Mr Melty is screaming. [Lara and he slug it out in game.]

Lara: walk,

Melted guy: in bed anim

POINT 2.41: Change or ditch need to check with Murti

IG-ANIM – BOUCHARD #2. If Lara WINS the in game tussle with the heavy a second heavy, the doorman, suave and armed, turns up. He covers Lara with his handpiece, sneers dismissively at the boxer and ushers Lara along a corridor at gunpoint and into Bouchard’s inner sanctum. It is a small office space not much more than a bolt hole with boxes stacked up against the walls. Bouchard is sat behind a desk. SEE DIALOGUE.

Doorman:, walk, pullgun,

Lara: Walk

POINT 2.41a:

IG-ANIM – BOUCHARD #3. If Lara LOSES the in game tussle with the heavy the armed doorman turns up. He drags her to her feet and ushers her into Bouchard’s inner sanctum at gunpoint. Bouchard is revealed sat behind a desk. SEE DIALOGUE FIRST PART OF TOM-BOUCHARD.

Lara: Walk

Doorman:Walk, Point gun

POINT 2.43:

IG-CONV – BOUCHARD #4. Bouchard and Lara have an exchange that can end with Lara being SUCCESSFUL if she takes a friendly approach.

POINT 2.43a:

IG-ANIM – BOUCHARD #4a. Bouchard has his men guide Lara out of his office and to the door. CUT TO – Lara walking out of the church back entrance and out of the side gate where the doorman had originally been standing guard. The door slams behind her. She heads off to the Pawnbroker’s.

Walks

POINT 2.42:

IG-CONV – BOUCHARD #5. Bouchard and Lara have an exchange that can end with Lara being UNSUCCESSFUL if she takes an unfriendly approach. Bouchard surprises us all by…

Responding to Lara being unfriendly Bouchard whips out his handcannon and shoots her point blank… stone dead. Bouchard looks down at the body, “Welcome to Paris.” Turns to the henchmen. “Clear this place up.”

Lara, Stance Death

Bouchard : Shoot

POINT 2.44:

IG-ANIM – PAWNBROKERS #A. Eckhardt leaves before Lara arrives. Close up on hands dropping passports.

POINT 2.45a:

IG-ANIM – PAWNBROKERS #B – OR – IN GAME USING THE ‘EXAMINE MODE’ watching Lara’s hands searching Rennes’ body and finding a code on a piece of folded paper or a notebook. [It’s for the wallsafe.]

Lara: Crouch, Rennes body, crouch, pickup

POINT 2.46:

IG-ANIM – Exterior, grim streets of Paris, cold wet dusk light. From across the street in a recessed doorway a figure stands in shadow watching the shop.  [It’s Kurtis.] CUT TO – view from behind the figure silhouetted against the distant Pawnbroker’s across the street. He suddenly steps out into the street and heads out of shot. CUT TO – a long shot of the figure moving towards the river Seine glimpsed between buildings in the distance.

Kurtis: Walk

POINT 2.47:

Make totally in game – Add extra room into Matts area.  Room with objects and a large bomb.

POINT 2.51: (APPROX TIMING =  45 secs)

CUTSCENE – [IN GAME Lara has run down the escape tunnel from Rennes’ followed by a billowing ball of flame. She wears her original denims and has the new backpack from the pawnbrokers.]

We see an exterior view overlooking the Seine with a barge passing by. From a pipe overlooking the river comes a belch of flame and, just ahead of the fireball – Lara!  She clears the end of the pipe and drops onto the barge.

CUT TO – our shady figure stood somewhere on the bank watching Lara’s explosive exit.

CUT TO – view from his POV of the scene and the barge.

CUT BACK TO – long shot of the shady figure as he steps back into shadow.

CUT TO – INSERT SCENE – CABAL MEETING (see below)

CUT TO – view of the barge passing downriver from the river bank. Something drops off the barge into the river.

CUT TO – view from inside a large overflow pipe looking out towards the river. The barge is moving out of shot. Lara climbs up into view in silhouette and stands up surveying her surroundings. She pauses then drops out of sight inside the pipe system.

POINT 2.51a: (APPROX TIMING =  60 secs)

CUTSCENE – CABAL MEETING. Player privileged view: five silhouetted shapes round a table presided over by the figure we saw leaving the pawnbroker’s [Eckhardt, but we don’t know that yet]. He addresses the group as the CABAL. They have three of the Obscura Paintings already and thanks to Von Croy they know the fourth one is here in Paris. He points to a large screen showing the fourth painting. He tells them the fifth has been tracked down to Prague. They can proceed with extracting what they need from The Sleeper, in Prague. He dispatches Gunderson, his action deputy, to go and collect the fourth Painting. Gunderson leaves.

SEE DIALOGUE: TOM-ECK-MEETING

POINT 3-8:

AUDIO-PROMPT – Beyond the overflow chamber lies a large room that has a reservoir in it, the reservoir fills the entire bottom half of the room, on entering this room Lara will say “I can smell oil, I’d better be careful”.

POINT 3.10:

AUDIO-PROMPT – LOUVRE STORM DRAINS. Inside the storm drains Lara gets to a pipes room where she has to choose which pipes to blow. The player gets a prompt in Lara’s voice.

POINT 4.15: (APPROX TIMING =  10 secs)

IG-ANIM– [inside the Louvre. If Lara gets cornered by security gates slamming shut and caught she will be taken to a holding room.] BLACK SCREEN – a door gets flung open and Lara comes flying into the room, all in silhouette. The door slams shut. Black screen.

Adjust (uneccesary)

POINT 4.21:

AUDIO-PROMPT – Inside the holding room. The player gets a voice prompt after 3 mins if the way to get out of the holding room isn’t clear.

POINT 4.22: Scrap

POINT 5.5a: Cut Cam

POINT 5.9: Cut cam

POINT 5.16:

IG-ANIM – Inside the final Obscura Paintings chamber. Massive, heavy architecture and ancient dust and crud everywhere. There are 12 duplicate paintings gripped in the skeleton claws of guardian ghoulies arranged around the room. A large archway hidden in shadow is carved with an ancient Latin inscription. Lara gets out a flare/torch and reads the inscription out translating it as she goes. “THROUGH THE SPIRIT OF THE KEEPER BEHOLD THE TRUTH.”

Lara:  reach into back pack, walk, look with flare

POINT 6.2: (APPROX TIMING =  20secs)

CUTSCENE – Exterior of Louvre roof. A silhouetted figure drops a gas canister into a vent. Inside the Louvre a guard collapses in one of the galleries and we see gas coming out of a vent. Cabal soldiers drop from the ceiling on ropes.

CUT TO: Gunderson, Cabal dude, is inside the Louvre surrounded by an Agency/Cabal hit squad in SAS style gas masks. He is watching a playback of Lara running around the Louvre on a laptop. He patches in to the Louvre security system and signals the heavies to move into the corridors. “You have your targets. Move out!” SEE DIALOGUE: TOM-GUNDERSON (one line)

POINT 6.9:

AUDIO-PROMPT – in the X-Ray room the player will get a voice prompt for Lara to discover the hidden symbol in the painting.

POINT 6.16: (APPROX TIMING =  25 secs)

CUTSCENE – (meeting between Lara and Kurtis in gallery corridors.) Lara is about to turn and run when an object whizzes past her ear and sticks in the wall – some kind of bladed weapon. We see a shadowed figure emerge from shadows behind Lara and an automatic gets jammed under her chin. Hands remove her guns. Then the Painting is taken from the backpack. Lara turns to see the guy from the café. Still keeping the gun on Lara the figure glides back into the shadows. No dialogue. The scene is interrupted by Gunderson and goons crashing into view and blasting away at them. Kurtis legs it followed by the Blade weapon ripping itself out of the wall and zipping after him. Lara bolts for it too, following Kurtis.

CUTSCENE – POINT 6.21: (APPROX TIMING =  2 min 5 secs)

On the far side of the galleries, still pursued by Gunderson’s gun toting heavies, Kurtis operates his MIND POWERS and a gate crashes open. He cuts the supports on a massive gong with the Blade. It rolls sideways and starts to block the exit . Lara rolls under it but the gong crushes one of the pursuing Cabal dudes. Lara runs after Kurtis who jumps to a lower level of the Louvre and escapes outside.

Lara skids round a corner and sees Kurtis out cold on the floor. She bends over to check on him. She gets knocked out too. From Lara’s blurry POV we see the figure in guard’s uniform stride off with the painting. As he walks the guard shimmers and changes into the more distinctive of Bouchard’s thugs we have seen earlier, the armed doorman. Lara blacks out. BLACK SCREEN.

Lara comes to to find Bouchard slapping her awake. No sign of Kurtis. Lara spots a crystal Shard on the ground where the stranger/Kurtis was lying. Bouchard helps her up. She pockets the Shard without him seeing. They run for the car. Did he see anyone else when he arrived? No. She tells him she has to get to Von Croy’s apartment. He offers to drive her there. They run to his car parked nearby.

CUT TO – Inside the car. Bouchard explains he was monitoring the police/security shortwaves and thought she might be in trouble. He came to check she was OK. He tells Lara about a police report of another Monstrum killing, this time in Prague.

CUT TO – Bouchard’s car draws up outside Von Croy’s apartment. He waits in his car as Lara enters the building. As soon as Lara is out of sight Bouchard makes a mobile call (to the Cabal). He says ‘We have what we came for. Send in the cleaner.’ SEE DIALOGUE: TOM-BOUCH-LOUVRE

POINT 7.6: (APPROX TIMING = DONE)

FMV – we see the opening FMV (point 1.1) with Lara walking into the room, picking up the smashed photo and looking in the mirror (without the shot of the Jackal’s head walking stick or the flowing metal logo stuff).

[Then switch to IN GAME inside Von Croy’s apartment. When Lara finds the Jackal’s head stick – the Obscura Engravings are inside the hollow stick. Seeing the SYMBOL on the manuscript triggers an extra FMV that fills in details of what went on in the room in the opening FMV.]

FMV – FLASHBACK – (APPROX TIMING = edited from FULL FLASHBACK FMV  Gp-15.14a in PRAGUE)

We see Von Croy off his head shouting and waving a gun about. There are gunshots. Von Croy is clicking on an empty gun. In the confusion WE SEE THE GUN GO SPINNING OFF UNDER A HEAVY PIECE OF FURNITURE IN THE SHADOWS. Von Croy makes a lurch towards his desk but doesn’t make it. Then a face, fierce and menacing! Things swirl and judder, bleached out by cinematic flashburns. Someone else was there in the apartment stood behind Lara. At this point Lara is knocked unconscious.

NB In the Flashback Lara is dressed in her denims from the beginning of the game.

[The face in the apartment was the guy seen leaving the Pawnbroker’s. Lara doesn’t yet know that it’s Eckhardt!]

IN-GAME – she is jolted out of the flashback by sounds from downstairs. 

POINT 7.7b:

IG-ANIM – Inside the front door to the apartments. The Assassin draws his handgun(s). He looks meaningfully up the stairs.

Assasin anim

POINT 7.18a: (APPROX TIMING = 30secs)

CUTSCENE  – [In game the Assassin has been killed and landed at the bottom of the stairs. Lara is stood at the top of the stairs. The Assassin’s mobile is ringing. She goes down and picks his gun up.] She searches the body and takes his car keys and mobile. Bouchard’s voice asks ‘Is she taken care of yet? We’ve got to get back to Prague.’ Lara growls that she’s going to take care of him and stomps on the mobile. In her other hand she has a business card and the Assassin’s car keys. She presses a button on the keys.

CUT TO the car out in the yard. It’s lights flash.

CUT TO the Assassin’s bomb across the back door. It’s  deactivation light flashes. CUT BACK TO Lara looking at the business card. It is Mathias Vasiley’s premises in Prague. Lara says “It’s time I visited Prague.”

SEE DIALOGUE: TOM-BOUCH-LOUVRE, THE LAST BOX LABELLED

‘GP-7.18a’

The post Tomb Raider the Angel of Darkness Cutscene List appeared first on Tomb of Ash.

Here’s a very interesting piece about TRAOD. It underlines all the problems the devs faced with the game and how they were rushed by poor PR decisions.

The stress fractures were clear a long time before Tomb Raider: The Angel Of Darkness was released. In May 2002 at the E3 conference in LA, Eidos showcased ‘playable’ levels of the game which were little more than short animation demos. For a game due out ‘imminently’, it appeared woefully incomplete.

Fast forward to Sony’s PlayStation Experience at Earl’s Court in September the same year and the public was able to see the next-gen Lara for the first time. Able to play the opening level – set in a Parisian backstreet – the disappointment at Lara’s clumsy negotiation of a dumpster followed by some awkward ladder climbing was tangible. “We spent an inordinate amount of time on the animation of Lara and designed the controls around the animation instead of designing the animation around the controls,” explained Jeremy Heath-Smith, Core Design’s co-founder, shortly after the game was released.

“We got wrapped up in that whole beautiful big animation experience. I don’t know if we ever would have understood what we got wrong with the animation until the game was out. We could have easily used another two or three months. We could have used another year.”

Significantly, Heath-Smith had to present the game at a buyers’ conference several months before the game was released. It was an agonising experience both for the man himself and those attending. ”It was the worst opening level to any game,” an anonymous source tells Edge. “I had to sit through Jeremy Heath-Smith cursing through it while attempting to get Lara on top of a bin. It was unusual behaviour at a buyers’ conference to say the least.”

Read full article here

© Edge Staff at 11:04am January 17 2011

The post Making of: Tomb Raider – the Angel of Darkness appeared first on Tomb of Ash.