I'm back on a research spree to try and fix my lack of enthusiasm/imagination drain when coming up with environments.

It can be hard to be interested in doing a random building out of context, for me its important that theres a reason for it, like 'this is the establishing shot of the spooky house which you have adventures in'. Just drawing a spooky house then saying that afterwards doesnt cut it, and that means I kinda stress out a bit when I dont have an Idea, and have to spend ages coming up with a random project to fit it. That is to say..i'm not interested in painting a pretty picture, i'm interested in solving problems, and its harder to come up with your own problems and stay interested in them than to solve someone elses.

So I ran out today after the dole and grabbed a handful of cheap 360 games- B.Katamari, Crackdown, Mirrors Edge. Closest things to platformers I could think of on 360 that I dont already own.

But It wasnt these games which has inspired me ultimately today. That title goes to Tomb Raider 2.

I've always thought of TR2, and the TR series in general, as a kinda Exploration
platformer for grown ups, with guns and boobs. Tomb Raider was the first 3d game I ever owned, and the first game I ever finished to credits (megadrive games were either too hard or had no save option, took too long to finish em) - but we're talking at least 10 years ago here, and my memories ended up being fleeting and marred a little by my less enthusiastic playthroughs of the sequels. The fact that all anyone remembers of Tomb Raider is LOL HER BOOBS GOT BIGGER and the dumbass glamour model 'Lara of the year' stuff also didnt help.


Evidently I forgot the cube moving puzzles(*), the spikes of death, the moving walls, the poison darts, the spinning blades, the giant fucking T rexes out of nowhere.

Replaying TR2 is very much like playing Portal on steroids, or at least, the first level is. Each section of the game is broken up neatly into rooms- it gets a bit sprawlier near the end, but in essence its still modular, linear. Most of it is get from A to B, be it by climbing, pushing blocks, or avoiding epic death. Give Lara a Portal gun and bobs your uncle. Its clear portal owes something to this series, if not games like it .

The 'uzzle room' nature of the game is something I must admit I completely forgot. Perhaps later levels are a bit less obvious and more sprawling, its been a while.

It feels like i've re-discovered a whole genre here, I know half life 2 has shades of puzzle room/exploring, and obviously portal, Zelda too i guess..but I cant think of much else, a lot of games now are all about the combat over anything else, even the Tomb Raider reboots.

Either way, I think I've learnt a lot in my playthrough of TR2, especially in regards to blocking out levels- something I kind of sucked at previously. Ironically, i find it easier to think up a boss foght, go figure.

So now i'm gonna whitebox me some balls basic PS1 style tomb raider levels,then give them a splash of contemporary with a tonne of concept art. Death spikes. Crates. Switches. Keys. Doors. Crumbly floors.

Oh yeah, and the fun bit- running from boulders jumping over death pits dropping down holes and escaping narrowly, all down to players skill, not a single fucking QTE in sight. Anyone who thinks QTE are a good idea,especially in action games, needs to get a PS1 emulator and play some tomb raider.


(* Companion cube!!11)