As a member of the PC master race, I always was curious about Mac Gaming, so I backed this book by Richard Moss a few months ago. Can’t wait to get a quiet day and read it all and write a full review. However, I managed to skim through the pages and it’s actually quite impressive. The author himself states that he started working on this book about four years ago and it draws on archive materials as well as 60+ new interviews with key figures from Mac gaming’s past. 

This will undoubtedly be interesting for gamers , game devs and even some researchers (I did both of my dissertations on gaming culture ;)).

You can get a digital copy for only £10 here.

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Today we chat with Alexandre Serel, the author of L’Histoire de
Tomb Raider (The History of Tomb Raider).

Hi Alexandre, Thank you so much for agreeing to spare some time and speak to us today

No problem Ash, I hope everything’s ok in Manchester!

Tell us how you’ve got an idea to write this stunningly looking book.

When I was a child, I wanted to be a game designer at CORE
Design so, I think as an adult it was obvious to write a book about Tomb
Raider! More seriously, I had the idea in 2012 when visiting a french event
about the Japanese culture, Japan Expo. My publisher, Pix N Love, was there to
present books about video games. As simple as that, I told myself “There’s
something to do with Tomb Raider”. I started doing research and, in 2014, I
started writing a few things which would become this book.

I know you were writing another book, Lara from L to A, how different is it to “the history of Tomb Raider”?

That’s the same book ! « Lara From L to A » was the first
title of « The Story of Tomb Raider ». We (my publisher and I) thought that «
Lara From L to A » was a strange name. It became « The Story of Tomb Raider :
Lara Croft’s Odyssey». Why « Lara Croft’s Odyssey » ? Because « Odyssey » is
the name of the very first video game console and « Lara Croft’s Odyssey » is
my very first book. It’s a simple nod.

What readers should expect from this book

It’s a kind of story telling. I didn’t want to write
“Nathan McCree, interview page 56”. It was rather talking to CORE developers
so they could tell me their work, anecdotes and who they really are. Once I got
these information, I had to assemble them in order to tell a story.

The original script for Tomb Raider 1, provided by Core Design.

How long it took you to write this book?

It took me one year to “understand” the history of CORE and
another one to “assemble” the whole thing. After one year, a big draft was in
my computer. But, to be clear, I was unsatisfied with the results. So, I
rewrote whole passages. Then, one day, I received lots of documents from
Richard Morton. So, hundreds of documents had to be translated, a huge work
from Anaïs Orhant. It took a few months. While waiting for the translations, I
was finishing passages.

Alexandre, Célia and Pix n’ Love team

I’m sure you’re extremely proud of it. What was the most challenging in writing
“The History of Tomb Raider”?

No, I’m not really proud. Some people were able to read the
book, saying it was really good. But I’m an Eternal dissatisfied person and I
only find defects. The hardest thing ? Angel of Darkness without hesitation.
The game development was so chaotic that I spent weeks trying to put the right
things back in place. I had to manage lots of information. Pieces of stories
that were scrapped, things that were written by Murti Schofield or other people
form CORE Design… that was tiring. There were also incoherent game design
documents… I remember spending entire days telling myself « It will be hard to
put things back in order » The most important thing is to think of the reader.
So, trying to tell him / her a coherent story and to make him / her understand
that things were complicated with this game. I unfortunately believe that
there’s not « one reality » about Angel of Darkness but several. Each person
has a different version of the story and this is quite normal. Richard will
remember this point, Murti another one and another person has yet another
version… So many years later, I’m still very sad that this caused the fall of
CORE Design. Every employee of the studio is an immense artist. I would love to
see them working together again. Wouldn’t it be great ?

I know that there are plans on English version, could you comment on that? Any
other languages you might plan to translate it to?

We are in talks for the English version, but nothing is yet
decided. The other countries might have a « different » version because it
would not be fun just translate the book. Moreover, some passages talks about
the Tomb Raider phenomenon in France, so this not interesting for English
readers. It needs a few challenges. I would like to add a few things to the
English version, like a meeting with Meagan Marie, English Lara Croft voices,
etc… But nothing is set in stone.

The History of Tomb Raider has one of the best (if not the best) covers I have ever
seen. Who designed it?

Three of us have worked on the cover. With Célia Beauduc,
who is also the illustrator, we’ve got the idea of a cover that “calls for
adventure”. The first draft was showing Lara from back, looking at the horizon.
But I wasn’t convinced and found it a little too “classic”. So Célia, who is
very talented, started thinking about a concept, the idea of Lara turning to
the reader, inviting him / her to read the book and going on an adventure. Then
Luc Pétronille, who is the creative director of Pix N Love took Célia’s
illustration and reworked it into a final version. He then created the Atlantis
Edition all by himself. He is also really talented and he impresses me every
time.

One of the early cover designs

On behalf of an entire Tomb Raider community and Core Design fans, thank you for
your effort.

Thank YOU! Don’t change and please continue to make CORE Design life in your mind.

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Trsteno Arboretum  located in Trsteno is the only arboretum in Croatian Adriatic coast. With its uniqueness, it combines the natural and cultural heritage. It is known for the historical gardens and collection of Mediterranean and exotic plants. Formed in 1948 it is protected as a monument of garden architecture. Arboretum’s main goals are preserving cultural and historical sights, researching biodiversity, making living collections to protect genetic diversity and researching the history of garden architecture.

The Arboretum is one of the most beautiful and atmospheric places I have visited. Game of Thrones fans may recognize it as the setting of the Red Keep palace gardens in King’s Landing.

You are given a map at the entrance as you are free to walk wherever you want. I was really fortunate with the weather and got the experience the full vividness of the place. There are few bush mazes that have reminded me of Tomb Raider 2 whilst some specific plants reminded me very much of AOD’s botanical gardens in the

Bio-Research Facility level. Each plant has its own information tag. Walking through dark botanical corridors creates an amazing atmosphere, but the best treat for any Tomb Raider fan is discovering Neptune’s fountain along

with the ancient aqueduct which reminded me very much of the first Tomb Raider game. Not only is it a marvel to look at, but the fountain is a home to many fishes. 

There are few viewpoints that overlook the beautiful Elaphite islands. It’s a perfect place for easing anyone’s mind. 

If you ever find yourself in Croatia, I definitely recommend visiting the Arboretum! 

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As part of my degree I had to produce a detailed report for the Independent Study module. I wrote mine on Square Enix Europe. I’ve got 85% for it and decided to publish one chapter

Eidos was founded in 1990 by Stephen Streater. The
company initially focused on video-compression and non-linear editing software
for the Risk OS, in the process revolutionising the video editing industry.
This was helped in no small part by Streater’s use of his PhD research on image
processing to create a new video compression technology, a technology they sold
to Oracle for £36m.  “I thought we’d sell our technology to Larry
Ellison (Oracle)," says Streater. “Eidos had the only
technology that could do full-screen, full-motion video in software. And in a
$200 computer you can’t put in a $400 accelerator card.” 

After they got the £36m in 1996, Eidos bought
Domark and Centregold Group, with its subsidiaries Core Design and
US Gold. From this point on Eidos focused on video-games, completely abandoning
video-editing; the distribution element of Centregold was sold to focus solely
on developing and publishing.

In 1996 Eidos published Tomb Raider (developed
by Core Design) – the most influential video game in its history.

In 1998 Paramount Pictures acquired the rights to
Tomb Raider and its protagonist, Lara Croft.

By 1999 Eidos acquired developers Crystal Dynamics
and Pyro Studios.

Stephen Streater leaves, multiplying his original
investment – , £4 – by a million.

Streater set up Forbidden Technologies,
licensing video editing technologies from Eidos, which by now was almost
completely concentrating on games. 

By 2000 Eidos published a number of successful
games including Legacy of Kain(developed by Crystal
Dynamics), Hitman (developed by IO Interactive), Deus
Ex and five instalments of the Tomb Raider game
series. In 2000 Eidos also won two BAFTA awards for Deus Ex and Sydney
2000. In 2001 Eidos won another BAFTA forChampionship Manager.

Despite their other successes, Tomb Raider remains
the most important entity in the Eidos empire. Eidos shares regularly close
high on the NASDAQ and London Exchange before the release of a new installment
of the successful series.

Part of SCi

In late 2004 Eidos announced that it was in early
discussions with a small number of companies in relation to a possible
takeover.

In early March 2005 it was revealed that the
company’s pre-tax losses had grown to £29m.

A couple of weeks later Eidos announced that it took
the second takeover bid from SCi – another well-known British video games
publisher and developer. SCi offered £74m and a clear plan to restructure the
company in an attempt to cut annual costs. By May Eidos became a part of SCi.

In 2008 SCi’s annual report revealed that the
company had suffered a £100m in loss. CEO Phil Rogers linked this to the
organisation’s restructuring. SCi then changed their own name to Eidos Plc.
including changing their stock exchange index from SEG to EID.

Part of Square Enix and rebranding to Square Enix
Europe

In 2009 Square Enix acquired Eidos Plc for £84.3
million. It was announced that Eidos would remain independent. Contrary to this
it was then announced that the European Division of Square Enix would merge
with Eidos to form Square Enix Europe. All the studios owned by
Eidos retained their names including Eidos Montreal and Eidos Shanghai.

This merger was accompanied by some cuts in
jobs.

Despite this little changed in the routine of the
company. Phil Rogers remained CEO and Square Enix kept its promise not to
interfere with inner affairs of the former Eidos.

See this timeline for a brief history
of Core Design and Eidos

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Brief history of Core Design in key moments. 

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