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TOBY GARD ON TOMB
RAIDER
Copyright 2001 www.tombraiderchronicles.com Source:
BBC Online
[ July 20th 2001 ]
Toby
Gard, the creator of Core Designs £650m Tomb Raider
series, talks to BBC Online about penning the
original Lara Croft character and her adaption
to the silver screen by Paramount Pictures:
What
influences helped you create Lara Croft ?
I was
a fan of movies such as Tank Girl, Indiana Jones
and Hard Boiled - the John Woo film. These helped
give me the idea for Lara.
How did
Lara's creation first come to you ?
I was
a big fan of an old first person game called Ultima
Underworld and I wanted to mix that type of game
with the sort of polygon characters that were
just being showcased in Virtua Fighter. I thought
by mixing that up we could make it a sort of real-time
interactive movie and that was basically the concept
for Tomb Raider.
How quickly
did the first sketches of Lara appear on paper
after your initial idea ?
The Lara
Croft character had a slow development process
of sketching and re-sketching over several months
and the same is true of my new character Rhama.
During this time I was actually in between projects
and pitching the idea of Tomb Raider to Core Design's
management when I came up with the first draft
of Lara. The game concept had come much earlier.
When
creating Lara, what materials did you use ?
When
I'm designing I tend to just use pencils and paper.
Then if I make a sketch worth pursuing, I'll scan
it into a computer to add colour.
When
you created her, did you think she would become
a fantasy model for men ?
No, I
thought that men would become, er, attached to
her, but not perhaps to this extent.
Why did
you provide Lara with larger than life physical
attributes ?
I think
exaggeration is the key to making clearer, more
recognisable characters. Caricature, for instance
can often communicate an idea faster and more
clearly than a realistic representation can. Lara
is a caricature of a feisty attractive women.
What
is your favourite movie ?
Probably
the Dark Crystal is still my favourite film of
all time. I didn't ever imagine that Tomb Raider
would make it back onto the big screen since it's
clearly entirely inspired by Indiana Jones, and
that's quite a legacy to live up to.
How suitable
is Angelina Jolie for playing Lara Croft on the
big screen ?
Although
I haven't met her, she definitely looks the part
and her attitude looks to be spot on. When did
you launch your new company, Confounding Factor
? I started the firm in 1997. I was 25 at the
time and set this up so that I could have greater
control over the new characters and games I wanted
to design.
What
is your new game all about ?
The Galleon
idea has been kicked around for a while but it
didn't really take shape for a while. The game
is based on old Ray Harryhausen Sinbad movies
and things like Jason and the Argonaughts. It's
a sort of over-the-top big voyage, Sunday afternoon
TV adventure thing. You get to play a captain
called Rhama Sabrier and you get involved in stories
and adventures on each of the islands you go to
and along the way, you meet two girls who are
vying for your attentions.
There
will be lots of Kung Fu action, giant monsters
and amazing situations and we are developing it
for the Nintendo GameCube, Microsoft X-Box and
PC.
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