why are the levels set indoors

[greendayfan]

ive just thought of something.Have you notaced that there are no outdoor enviroments in the first tomb raider!.

Wots up with that?

[EscondeR]

2 words: engine limitations :)

TR1 was released in 1996, so consider...

[ace_85]

Simple; originally, Core had not been able to optimise the game engine to handle large-scale 'outdoor' rooms. At the time of TR1 it was using too much internal memory, and I believe that it used to cause slowdown in the game, so Core decided to leave it out. The technique, however, was perfected between TR1 and TR2, which is why the sequel does contain the 'outdoor' rooms :)

EDIT - Beaten to it. Damn you, Alex :D

[Minifigs]

The lost valley was supposed to be outside but it didnt look like it because of the bad draw distance.

[Trevor_M92]

I also believe the engine limitations resulted in keeping Lara inside her mansion.

[kooky]

The game engine was not able to put lara outdoors, outdoor rooms came when TRII came out. In this game Lara could not get out of the house. ;)

[CAISACO]

I also believe the engine limitations resulted in keeping Lara inside her mansion.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure you are right :)

[Legends]

I always imagined that all the levels were underground, or somewhat underground. After all, a tomb is dark. Like in the Lost Valley, I never thought it was night, just a dark forgotten tomb.

[biohazard1379]

If you play Unfinished Business though you do go outside in the 2 Egypt levels, which is cool. ;)

[mattlsu]

Like everybody else said, they just hadn't perfected the horizon at the time.

[Chug a Bug]

The early game couldn't generate "sky" so all the scenes had to be set indoors. If you look through the windows of Lara's Mansion you can see out the window and see a "sky" of sorts.... but it looks like a ceiling. :)

[mathew9r]

The early game couldn't generate "sky" so all the scenes had to be set indoors. If you look through the windows of Lara's Mansion you can see out the window and see a "sky" of sorts.... but it looks like a ceiling. :)
the sky is a room textured with a horable sky texture :vlol:

[amalitsa]

i always thought that that was how the game was supposed to be..i mean, it tomb raider, so i believed it was supposed to be indoors...that was back then though...now i realise that that was because of the limitations then...

[Paul H]

I always think of Sanctuary of the Scion as being outdoors at night (apart from the opening part) hence the dark sky. You can hear the sounds of the wind blowing, and the higher up Lara goes, the louder the wind seems to get. It might be just me imagining it getting louder as she climbs further, but there is definitely the sound of strong winds.

Where does all the light come from? I know you can't see the moon, but where would it have come from if it had been set indoors?

[TRBabe]

I was thinking the other day about what people say about the ambience of TR1. I think it's because of the "bad draw distance" which I reckon creates the ambience - that darkness that doesn't come into view until you move closer, and then there's more dark beyond that.

So in a sense, what the makers couldn't do because of technology has played in their favour in my opinion....giving it that feel and sense of spookiness that's missing in Legend and TRA.