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Old 19-02-18, 01:59   #1
mossy_11
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Default Podcast documentary on the Tomb Raider grid

Hi all,

Some of you may remember my past articles on Tomb Raider — I wrote the Fall of Core Design piece for Ars Technica (which had a discussion thread here), the TRLE article for Rock Paper Shotgun (here's the corresponding discussion thread), and the AoD modding story for Eurogamer (also discussed here).

I've just finished a two-part podcast on the importance, legacy, and development of the grid that was central to the original five games. I interviewed Gavin Rummery and Heather Stevens (née Gibson) and packaged it all together like a documentary — with scripted voiceover and background music and the like.

You can listen to part 1 here or here — I get paid a couple of cents or so if you get at least 60% through listening at the first link, while the second has further links onto all the major podcast apps/directories.

And likewise, part 2 is here or here.

Hope you enjoy it!
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Old 19-02-18, 07:04   #2
Craig Michaels
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Cool! Looking forward to listening!
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Old 19-02-18, 11:51   #3
Alex Fly
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I always enjoyed your articles, thanks for these new podcasts.
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Old 19-02-18, 12:47   #4
The Great Chi
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"Unwieldy controls" .................What, are you kidding?

"Lara moves like a remarkably agile tank".........agile or a tank, cannot be both, and the controls are not like a tank

That first five minutes with the above statements put me right off.

I have only ever played the PC edition of the first five TR games, and Lara Croft movement is just perfect, and you can move her like you move yourself, without thinking about it, and that is genius.

After 21 years of moving Lara, we should all be good at it by now

OK, I give in that AOD using the PC is a different situation and the controls are like driving a tank, a tank that's lost its tracks and the driver is driving blindfolded. You get at the idea

But all previous classic TR game controls are fine.
My rant is now over
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Old 19-02-18, 13:46   #5
Dustie
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Sounds interesting!
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Old 19-02-18, 17:15   #6
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I think that with "tank controls" they meant about the rotating system instead pushing left and walking left like the Spyro or the Doom systems.

I don't think they are stating that Lara is slow or uncontrollable, you can do lovely things with her once you managed the controls.
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Old 19-02-18, 19:25   #7
The Great Chi
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Anakzunamuhn View Post
It don't think they are stating that Lara is slow or uncontrollable, you can do lovely things with her once you managed the controls.
OK, I accept he might not be a constant gamer of TR games, and his wording was not quite the right words to explain Laras movement. You put it far better

'The grid is God' was an interesting topic, where he talks about how the square grid system (the size of a movable block) in each model room in the map, controlled the whole design of the game, and made a stable way, of controlling baddies, controlling puzzles , doors and traps, etc.

Though sometimes many a TR custom game designer, might disagree when something goes wrong and somethings go weird and unstable .....
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Old 20-02-18, 00:46   #8
mossy_11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Anakzunamuhn View Post
I think that with "tank controls" they meant about the rotating system instead pushing left and walking left like the Spyro or the Doom systems.

I don't think they are stating that Lara is slow or uncontrollable, you can do lovely things with her once you managed the controls.
Yes, this is what I meant. Well put.

Lara's precise handling is fantastic, and it's part of what makes the grid so effective, but it's also idiosyncratic and even back then it took most people a lot of getting used to.
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Old 20-02-18, 02:07   #9
The Great Chi
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mossy_11 View Post
Yes, this is what I meant. Well put.

Lara's precise handling is fantastic, and it's part of what makes the grid so effective, but it's also idiosyncratic and even back then it took most people a lot of getting used to.
Took me 100 seconds to get used to the controls, and I loved it

Been hooked on the TR classics ever since.
Plus not forgetting AOD (for its brilliant story)and all the way up to Underworld.

After that it no longer became Tomb Raider to a lot of us, as it moved onto gore and realistic violence, but that's another story, which maybe worth you doing another podcast about on that subject
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Old 23-02-18, 23:37   #10
Famicom
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Cool! Thanks for sharing! Is there any way to download the audio files for an offline listening?
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