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DEVELOPER: Crystal Dynamics
PUBLISHER: Square Enix |
INFORMATION TAKEN FROM MEAGAN MARIE'S '20 YEARS OF TOMB RAIDER' BOOK: Jeff Wajcs, a designer on Tomb Raider: Underworld, was on a team tasked with creating a third piece of DLC to follow after Lara's Shadow. "We fussed with it for a long time. Toby Gard was in charge of the project then. The first idea was to put Lara in London as all this Norse stuff began breaching through the ground and destroying the city. It was Lara's mission to climb through the ruins of London, to get to the top of this specific tower, and this was going to be the big climax for the trilogy before it was rebooted, she would die. She would sacrifice herself to save the world." The idea gained traction and saw several presentations internally, but the scope was ultimately decided to be too big for a DLC drop.
Raiders was a second exploration of a potential direction for the DLC, and laid the technological foundation for Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light. The initial concept involved an army of Lara Doppelgängers. They wanted co-op, but knew everyone would prefer to play as Croft. "We can't just clone Lara Croft. It was convenient that she already has a clone," recalled Wajcs. The theory was if there was one clone, why not two? The game focused on a melee system with Doppelgängers using their speed and strength in close-range attacks.
Mechanics were prototyped, and several camera systems were tested, landing on an isometric perspective, which was kept when Raiders was dropped to pursue the Lara-centric Guardian of Light. Little in the way of narrative was established, but the game was to unfold in a mission base in the American Southwest, as established by early concept art.
Raiders was a second exploration of a potential direction for the DLC, and laid the technological foundation for Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light. The initial concept involved an army of Lara Doppelgängers. They wanted co-op, but knew everyone would prefer to play as Croft. "We can't just clone Lara Croft. It was convenient that she already has a clone," recalled Wajcs. The theory was if there was one clone, why not two? The game focused on a melee system with Doppelgängers using their speed and strength in close-range attacks.
Mechanics were prototyped, and several camera systems were tested, landing on an isometric perspective, which was kept when Raiders was dropped to pursue the Lara-centric Guardian of Light. Little in the way of narrative was established, but the game was to unfold in a mission base in the American Southwest, as established by early concept art.
Development Shots - Model Concepts
The following images were given out as part of the official fansite program.
Development Shots - Early Menu Designs
These images are archived by monokoma over on Unseen64.net.
