Metrics in Tomb Raider: Underworld
Jun 16, 03:24 PM
Looks like the developers at Crystal Dynamics have learned to embrace metrics for game development. From the Tomb Raider: Underworld post mortem in the June/July 2009 issue of Game Developer Magazine:
[What went right:] Metrics. In a game like Tomb Raider: Underworld, where the player can interact with so many different elements of the environment in so many ways, metrics are hugely important. They form the basis of getting Lara Croft off the grid and eliminating the tractor controls that kept her from evolving into the fluidly moving character we have today. Tomb Raider: Legend suffered from changes in jump distances, ledge parameters, and other metrics until late in development, resulting in countless hours of rework for both designers and artists (it was the most painful for the latter), and we were determined to avoid this issue in the sequel. Our lead level and systems designers collaborated to establish metrics for every aspect of player interaction until a full set was defined early in development. Some changes where made later, and holes were discovered and needed to be filled, but on the whole the degree to which we maintained and enforced metrics without major changes was a huge improvement over past efforts. If not for this success, the amount of game real estate we included in the game would have been significantly reduced.
