PAUL DOUGLAS EXPLAINS SKATE KID'S ROLE IN THE ORIGINAL TOMB RAIDER
[ 14 October 2026 ]
Paul Douglas, co-creator of the original Tomb Raider, has shared details on Bluesky about the creation of Skate Kid, one of Jacqueline Natla's henchmen in the 1996 game. Douglas discussed the character's origins, the influence of 1990s skateboarding culture, the design of his encounter with Lara Croft and a reference to the film Taxi Driver. He also addressed changes to the game's storyline during development and revealed that players were given the option to avoid killing Skate Kid, although few chose to do so.
"The idea for 'Skatekid' came when brainstorming Natla's goons. The male characters in OG Tomb Raider were deliberately created as quite buffoonish (except PD of course). The encounter a means to recover the Uzis and for some silliness to lighten the mood before the tension ratchets into the finale."
"Cant remember exactly whose idea it was to make one of the goons a skater. Not mine. Probably Toby or Vicky, possibly Stu Atkinson who was enlisted to make his model and animations. X Games had started around that time and skateboarding was everywhere. He is *so* 90s coded..."
"The skating area was meant to be part of the concrete and pipes of Natla's excavation work but the engine never depicted that well so it feels incongruous, but that's part of TR's aesthetic. I gave him that catchphrase as nod to Taxi Driver, a classic movie about isolation (one of our themes too)."
"We really should have spent more time on creating Natla's minor sidekicks but they were created in haste before the VA session. I'd vetoed the Atlantis pyramid being a geoengineering machine which meant we needed some story changes for it being an incubator instead. Was the right decision though."
"We did briefly discuss Lara's decision to 'off' a kid on a skateboard, so the player is given the choice of running past and leaving him to his skating. But hardly anyone took that option. So you're all just as culpable as Lara. He *did* shoot first though..."
Paul Douglas regularly shares archival material and anecdotes about the development of the original Tomb Raider on Bluesky, including details about the game's characters, design decisions and production. Readers can follow him on the platform for further accounts of his work on the series.
