© Nintendo LifeHow to follow GoldenEye 007?
In the summer of 2000 – that's 20 years ago this month – Rare presented his answer: The Complete Darkness, a sci-fi spy thriller focused on a fraudulent attempt. It has provided a cool, talented heroine, a single-player campaign with ideas for prominence, and a wide-ranging multiplayer experience on Nintendo 64. To date, it stands as the highest rated Rare game Metacritic, gaining an average of 97 percent. So how has the team not only followed, but surpassed GoldenEye 007? For Martin Hollis, the director of the game in the early part of the development, the crucial decision came from the famous British secret agent.
"The first question was, & # 39; Did we want to do another Bond game? & # 39; And Nintendo offered that option but it was easily submitted," Hollis said. "Personally I had no desire to play another game in that universe, spend enough time – three years, in fact – in Bond's world to my taste."
The first question was, & # 39; Did we want to do another Bond game? & # 39; Personally I didn't like doing another game in that universe, we spent enough time – three years, actually – in the Bond world for my taste
David Doak (yes, we're a scientist everything (shot at the Center) adds: “We were looking really good. There are a lot of Soviet-era things you can only tolerate. And at that time we were competing for things like Turok, and they all had carte blanche to do whatever they wanted with badges and weapons and so on. If we did another Bond game, it would be like a second album and people wouldn't think we were done a better job. ”
The party didn't want to dump everything it did with GoldenEye 007, of course. For many of them, James Bond striker was the first game they ever made. They had developed a brand new engine, so it made sense to build on that and build a new theme in the same vein, with the same gameplay and the same "great weapon", as Hollis put it.
From the beginning, Perfect Dark was scheduled to be a spiritual success for GoldenEye, with the goal of the game ending within one year. In theory, a lot of effort can go into creating new levels starting from previous game technologies. But the team's passion has grown throughout the project, with many GoldEye projects being developed and refined.
"Perfect Dark was like a GoldEye sequence, and it's always hard to make a series," remembers Mark Edmonds, who led the development in the end. “Can you make it better than the first? That should be e asy, but often, it's not easy. So everyone was in the mood for & # 39; What can we do to make this better than GoldEye? & # 39; There are lots of ideas for new features and everyone had thoughts of what went into that game but I didn't. ”
Spy-fi
The group was studying a lot of science fiction at the time, as well as posters from films such as Nikita they hold the walls of their office. This inspired this decision to make a sci-fi shooter, and one with a female protagonist. The group was willing to lean on the idea of solidarity around aliens, finding inspiration in such things X-Files, and other similar type columns Blade Runner.
But the game would remain soft. This was partly due to an imminent future arrangement (the Perfect Dark events are expected to take place in 2023, just around the corner for us), but also came from the GoldenEye tech running in the background. The James Bond game is built to be realistic and this is still felt in Perfect Dark. It is for this reason that most firearms still use guns rather than lasers or other fun sci-fi boats – except for the obvious, as is the X-ray sight of FarSight.
© David DoakOn the other hand, GoldEye persevered in the decision to take the Perfect Dark explosive spy. While the team was done with Bond and his entire world, the gameplay opportunities gained by being a secret agent were too tempting to be overlooked. "By the time we reached the end of GoldEye, we had developed a characteristic of non-combat gameplay, such as things to go down and slack," said Doak. “And we've seen that there's a lot of potential there, but there was no time to go back to do more with GoldenEye. At the beginning of GoldEye, jumping was not one of the key modes of gameplay – other than the fact that you could clear alarms. We just became a gameplay mechanic when we first released that level and found it to work. ”
There were many compliments of 1998 Metal Gear Solid, which clearly showed that there was a desire for more shooting. Duncan Botwood, who helped shape the multiplayer for both GoldEye and Perfect Dark, revealed that the team wanted to do more with the gadgets, a desire that could lead to Data Uplink, as well as CamSpy and its variants.
Of course, the problem was that if it hadn't affected blood by the time we were done, we were determined to fall
“With GoldEye, we've used gadgets in a very sophisticated way because we're building something so fast,” he says. "It was & # 39; t throw something into the thing and that, purpose, was done & # 39;. We wanted to explore what other things we could do related to guns and that would help us do other things.
“There are games that can do this but they don't do that often, and I think it's small because of it – although I still enjoy it. Shooting itself is good if you fix it, and most games you find good. But when it all happens, longevity becomes a problem, and I don't think it's really helpful for a player to do just that. As an actor, I'd rather be doing other things. ”
The first job title was Combine Ops, but this later evolved into Alien genius and finally to the Complete Darkness. Brett Jones, who designed and illustrated most of the model's models and spearheaded participatory efforts, says this was achieved through a very scientific process: the team wrote many descriptive words, many names, and put them behind the door in different combinations. They tried hundreds until they found one that felt right. "Of course, the problem at that time was if the blood had not been completed by the time we finished it, we were determined to fall," Jones laughs.
Introducing Joanna Black
As Bond stepped out of the picture, the team began to create a new spy icon. Determined to lead women (but also knowing that some Ms. Croft was still an example of the heroine's tenacity in the video game), Doak says there was a real drive to build a non-actor & # 39; tits and ass & # 39; ”
It was once said that Joanna Dark was seen as the historical character Joan of Arc, but Doak admits that is not entirely true. "I think that's a good thing. I don't remember whether Joanna Dark or Perfect Dark came first. I think Joanna came first, but as I recall, Joan of Arc's thing was kind of retro-fit. Joanna Dark sounds like a good name, and then, & # 39; Ooh, sounds like Joan from Arc. That's great. & # 39;
Joanna Dark's interpretation was Jones' first project in the project. In an effort to move away from the heroes of the transsexual women at their core, she intends to use something positive. “We're all happy Ghost Eshelf
© Brett Jones“Through Joanna, we also found a woman artist Laurie Sage. He arrived one day and we did most of his stuff at that time. She was the right size for Joanna Dark, short and respectful, so we had a woman caught in a women's movement, unlike Duncan Botwood (with high heels). ”However, Joanna Dark was not cast in the Sage but in the most famous face.
"He was totally based on Winona Ryder," Jones admitted. “I was collecting face pictures, we had a huge collection of pictures to look at and we just chose her. She had the best pixie haircut and completed the look we wanted for Joanna. ”
The lead of the game was not the only character shown to celebrities. His boss Daniel Carrington was based in James Robinson Justice, which has been known for movies since Navarone guns in order Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. NSA director and fellow second villain Trent Easton are on the stand Titanic actor Billy Zane, while the mysterious Mr Blonde was founded by Götz Otto, who played Tomorrow Never Dying henchman Mr. Stamper. Finally, the president of the USA was imitated Babylon 5 co-star Richard Biggs, who is a friend of Jones & # 39;
It had a more humble background of other characters. Older female bodyguard Cassandra De Vries relied on the teenage girls used in the E3 game announcement. Jones designed the appropriate outfit for the show and later used it in the play. Even the girls' faces were used by the guards. Jonathan, another agent for the Carrington Institute, was also banned at E3: he was the one who gave Jones several star Wars T-shirts as part of an in-group competition to see who can find the best-selling from the show.
Projects in the future
Jones' rise to where he coined the original characters reflects one of the biggest challenges the Perfect Dark team faces: creating a new universe. In addition to being banned from the restrictions on the Bond license and banning the trust received from Rare executives, the working class had complete creative freedom.
“It was shocking and frightening,” says Hollis. “Creating a new atmosphere takes a lot of work. There are plenty and details to fill out. The authors say this – you end up creating a lot of background characters for your characters and they are actually not done in the end. There's a lot we've done that doesn't really show in this game. We don't want long and clean cutscenes because it's all about action. ”
There's a lot we've done that doesn't really show in this game. We don't want long and clean cutscenes because it's all about action
Jonathan was an outstanding example; he was originally from Jonathan Dark, Joanna's brother. Likewise, Velvet Dark – the second-person actor in the co-op, basically Joanna with a blonde wig – was also supposed to be developed as a character but, like Jonathan, this was left on the cutting room floor.
Even the aliens were not completely in the limelight for the game as they were still behind the scenes. Botwood had given the evil Sharks a deep backstory to make them sympathetic, explaining that their planet was shattered – which is why its appearance was shattered in the last hope. At the time, alien Elvis initially had more questions. “Elvis has been through a lot of times because he was initially a big fan of Elvis,” explains Jones. "I was with her in blue suede shoes, and she was a crude person so I had her paintings in Union Jack waistcoats. But we were getting into all kinds of copyright issues, so we had to put it down a bit."
Other team members realize that, looking back, they probably have and more freedom. The game has expanded far beyond its original limit, which has made it very difficult to press on the N64 box (more on that later). Chris Tilston, who eventually became the lead designer, notes that unlike games today, Perfect Dark "didn't have a producer telling people when to stop."
"The management of the illegal vehicles was not working well, because they saw the progress the team was making and Tim (Stamper, co-founder of Rare) was very supportive," he said. “I am sure that after the ordeal he was doing his best to protect the party from any external pressures. Mark Edmonds is probably the gate to stopping too much chaos. He would say, & # 39; Maybe we should finish this first & # 39 ;, but he also joined us in finally designing and organizing all the multiplayer challenges after we had been added for six months. It was a very collaborative environment outside of nature and when one came up with a good idea it was easily incorporated, which is what made the development environment unique. ”
Botwood admits: "It was a fair process done there, and it was a democracy. Nobody said, & # 39; I'm a creative director, we'll do this and that. & # 39; The party structure was decorated – Martin was in charge, but everyone was talented and had ideas. GoldEye teams and the first Perfect Dark teams are some of the most collaborative teams I've worked with. ”
Rare was a strange place to work in other ways, always seemingly overwhelmed with debt
Edmonds explains that this is part of the reason why there were no work contracts on the final routes (or, in fact, in this regard). Since everyone is logged into many aspects of the game, no matter how it was created, it was wrong for them to label themselves in limited ways. There was also another factor, a constant amount of studio.
Edmonds says: “It was a strange place to work in certain places, it seemed like a miracle. “Maybe because they are worried if people have their names down below certain names, the hiring agents may suddenly try to contact the person and steal from another company. I don't know if that was the real reason. But most of the games had no credentials. I know that has been a problem for GoldenEye. You can almost pick the names of the people who made it, though. ”
Jones, for example, was named & # 39; Organ & # 39; as he invented all the characters and creatures, and managed their images. Chris Darling, who designed many guns, was listed as a & # 39; Weapons Specialist. & # 39;
This has led to problems for one team member. Beau Ner Chesluk, who actually organized the credits, had to give Nitendo an official ID to verify his name – his & # 39; Guns and Visual Orgasms & # 39; s work title was mixed with his first words that sounded like & # 39; bonus & # 39; aroused suspicions back in Japan. What is most impressive is that Chesluk reveals that the first set of standard words is inserted consistently. This has been a team consensus; since everyone had an equal role in building the game, random would be better than the alphabet.
