An interview with Richard Morton
Richard Morton talks about Core Design's Anniversary Edition.
Copyright Planet Lara 24th July 2007

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Who was to be the voice of Lara Croft in the Anniversary Edition game? Was Jonell Elliot considered?

Richard: We intended to use Jonell for the voice of Lara, but the voice recording was never done, it’s one of the things we leave until late on in the production process.

Did the script undergo many changes? Was it ever considered to use the same voice track from the original Tomb Raider game?

Richard: We were going to include the original FMV sequences as unlockables, but redo the movie sequences as in-game cutscenes that allow the game and movie sequences to blend between each other seamlessly, this would have been cool.

It was said quite some time back that the level design for TRAE was built upon the original level structures of Tomb Raider 1. Could you tell us more about this?

Richard: We used the original levels as templates for the 10th Anniversary edition, but we then went in and tweaked and altered the critical path through each level to allow the player a new experience when playing it, instead of just playing the original game with better GFX.

The Angel of Darkness gave the player the ability to choose what Lara said to the other characters. Did you decided to include this feature in the Anniversary Edition as well?

Richard: No, we thought the player would rather get on with the actual game-play, Lara prefers her guns rather than talking her way out of trouble. Angel of Darkness tried to be too many games rolled into one, the Shenmue style conversation system was one of these.

Shortly after the leak of the TRAE trailer it was stated that the version used was that of the PS2 build. Is it true that Core were planning on releasing the game for the PS2 and PC as well as the PSP stated on the trailer?

Richard: The alleged trailer was actually from a running PSP version, we had a great PSP engine which could throw tons of polys and FX around, and it was looking very cool, the PS2 version was looking even better.

It was noted by quite a lot of fans that the Lara Croft model for this game is strikingly similar to the Tomb Raider Legend model. Could you fill us in on some of the design decisions on the look and feel?

Richard: We actually used a modified Legend Lara for our game to keep the two in the same style We made a conscious decision early on that Legend and 10th Anniversary should look similar in graphical style, especially Lara.

The double crosshair was spotted in the Anniversary Edition trailer. Was this an original idea from Core Design or something you were asked to incorporate from Legend?

Richard: We had already started working on the double crosshair before we really got a look at Legend, but after seeing it we changed the graphic on ours to look like theirs, Lara had true double targeting in our version of 10th Anniversary, it played really well.

We have seen animation of a bear performing a surprise attack on Lara. What other elements of improved AI would we have been treated to?

Richard: Most of the enemies were given the ability to climb and/or jump, which meant that Lara could no longer stand atop a pillar and blast the enemy to oblivion, instead she’d have to fight them properly. Enemies such as the wolves could hunt in packs, some would head straight for Lara while others would try to flank her from behind, it was all working very well.

In terms of the score for the game what was planned? Was it decided that an updated and re-composed version of the original Tomb Raider’s music was going to be used?

Richard: Yes, we had the original composer Nathan McCree lined up to compose a new version of the original score and other new pieces too.

As the game was being made to mark the 10-year anniversary were there going to be any special features (retrospective videos, imagery etc…) accompanying the game?

Richard: Yes, we wanted to include a 10th Anniversary making of video and the original FMV sequences, we also wanted to have a viewer to allow the player to see the original models and animations from the PS1 version. We also had lots of concept art for 10th Anniversary which would have made it to the disc.

What kind of camera control was there? Did it have the ability to switch between fixed-behind-Lara cam and user-controlled cam?

Richard: The camera and control system from Free Running was adapted for 10th Anniversary, it was quite a lazy camera system that never made sudden movements, the biggest breakthrough came when we forced Lara to rotate around the camera when the player pushed left or right on the controller, this was integral to Free Running and meant the player never had to make any awkward adjustment on the controller.

What excited you most about the game? What new features? Developers always have something up their sleeve with a new game that they don't tell anyone about in interviews and they wait for the players to see for themselves...

Richard: We had lots of stuff to play with on 10th Anniversary, the whole climbing system was great, she could jump sideways across gaps and reach levers that would drop down and become swing poles, there’s was lots of dynamic stuff like that, nothing was what it seemed. Pretty much every level had been re-imagined to give the player something new and refreshing to play. As mentioned before a new extended ending level was planned which pitted Lara against a huge Atlantean War Machine as she tried to make her final escape from the crumbling Atlantis down lava filled tunnels.

What are your future plans? Are you working on any exciting projects now that you can tell us about?

Richard: I have since left Core/Rebellion in 2006 and went to Sega Racing for a while, working on Sega Rally Revo. Me and one of my former workmates are now in the process of setting up a new sister studio for one of the big UK developers, can’t tell you any more than that at the moment.