The Hobbit is being developed for the GameCube by Inevitable Entertainment. GamersPulse recently had the opportunity to speak with Chuck Lupher, the game's Lead Designer, and Cyrus Lum, Art Director and the company's co-founder.

Tolkien. That one name evokes images of epic adventures, wizards, dark and dangerous lands, and hairy-toed heroes with a penchant for pipe-smoking and rich food in anyone over the age of five. In addition to his written works, a plethora of computer games, feature films (and two truly horrible Rankin and Bass cartoons) have brought Middle Earth to enthusiastic audiences worldwide.

The license for games based on Tolkien's books now rests in the hands of Vivendi Universal, and the publisher has a number of titles in the works for a variety of platforms.

The interview was conducted by: GamersPulse

Tell me a bit about the background of the development team. Who are they and what have they done before?

Lupher: The dev team is pretty diverse, but we started our company having just left Acclaim (Iguana), so a large portion of the team had worked on games such as Turok, All-Star Baseball, and even the new Acclaim game, Vexxed. They are very strong at 1st and 3rd person games and also have a firm grasp on the new technology the Gamecube has to offer.

How long has the game been in development?

Lupher: It has been 18 months now and we still have a lot of time left to get the game just right.

What is the release date?

Lupher: The game will be out in 2003. We can't say when exactly as Sierra is amazing at allowing a very long tweak time at the end of a project to make sure everything is polished and the game plays perfectly.

Does the game follow the plot of the book?

Lupher: The game follows the plot of the book very closely. Each of the gameplay sequences corresponds to a chapter of the book. The narrator covers the story elements between the gameplay sequences. While not every aspect of the book is covered, the majority of the locales Bilbo visits in the book are represented in some fashion.

Taking on the Tolkien license is an awesome responsibility. Fans of his books have such a clear idea of how Middle Earth and its denizens should be portrayed. How do you plan to address the expectations of Tolkien fans worldwide?

Lupher: One thing we discovered early in the project was that each of the team members had a different mental image of the Tolkien universe. Sometimes these differences were slight, sometimes they were significant. Through much debate and discussion we eventually settled on a vision for our game. While it's impossible to live up to every individual's expectations of how Middle Earth should be presented, we feel we've done a good job of capturing the essence of Prof. Tolkien's universe.

What will the gameplay be like?

Lupher: The Hobbit is a third person action RPG. The player will control Bilbo through a number of levels that follow the story of The Hobbit. Gameplay within the levels will vary widely, including exploration, environment navigation, combat, stealth, and puzzle solving. Towns such as Hobbiton, Rivendell, and Laketown will be explored. The player may talk to the inhabitants, shop, and solve quests. As Bilbo advances through the game, he gains courage points. These courage points allow the player to customize Bilbo's skillset. Having a hard time sneaking past the guards in the Hall of the Elven king? Put more points into Stealth. Are the spiders in Mirkwood too tough? Put more points into Sting or Rock Throwing. Are those pesky locks too hard to bypass? Increase your Lockpicking skill.

What's the player's perspective?

Lupher: The game is played primarily in 3rd person. The camera's rotation and pitch may be controlled by the player in most instances. The player may switch to a first-person camera to get a better look at the environment and for purposes of targeted stone throwing.


Do you plan to include a multiplayer component?

Lupher: Yes, there will be a multiplayer component. The details are still being worked out, so we can't go into more detail at this time.

The Brothers Hildebrandt, Tolkien himself and many other artists have created a substantial body of work relating to The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings trilogy. Does the art direction in the game reflect any of that work, or does it take the license in a new visual direction?

Lum: We believe we are taking the license in a new direction.... most of this is based on the fact that we are bringing the Hobbit to a new audience and to the newest video game platforms. We wanted to bring a lush and visually exciting world to the gameplayer as well as bring a classic book to life.

Much of the environmental designs are colorful and curious - we want to entice the gameplayer to explore and lose themselves in the fantasy. We're adding life with trees, grass and plants that sway in the wind. You'll see shadows cast onto walls as characters tend to a makeshift dinner by campfire. As you work your way underground, you'll find working gears, pulleys, and machines that aid the lowly creatures tunneling in the caves. If you are lucky, you might even stumble upon a large underground lake with
a layer of fog that hovers above the surface and stalagmites that seem to hide and disguise a creature and his secret gift...

The character designs themselves, while remaining true to the spirit of Tolkien, also give the gameplayer a new look at the characters which we all know so well. Imagine traveling with the mysterious wandering wizard Gandalf, with his cape and robes dramatically blowing in the wind as you make your way up Lonely Mountain. With the power of the new game platforms, we've added more detail and secondary animation to really bring these characters and their costumes to life. We are adding richness to the
textures with our new shader technology to bring out the look of various materials from woven cloth, to magical elven chain mail, to the wrought iron of Goblin armour.

We feel that all of this does come together to bring, not only a new look to the Hobbit for the gamer to experience, but to also allow Inevitable Entertainment to contribute to the growing works of art based on JRR Tolkien's fantasy worlds.

Will there be full voiceovers to accompany NPC encounters or text dialogue only? A combination?

Lupher: We have over 125 NPC's all with full voiceovers. Text for all dialogue will be displayed as well.

What is the demographic you are shooting for with this title?

Lupher: Well, the Hobbit is such a great story, we believe we will be able to hit people from all ages, starting around 8 years old and going all the way to our oldest player. We feel it can have the same type of cross-demographic as a game like Zelda simply due to the fantastic storyline and excellent gameplay.

How much involvement, if any, does the Tolkien estate have in the execution of the title?

Lupher: Tolkien has to approve every aspect of the game to make sure we do not deviate to far from the world, but they have been great to work with and have given us a great deal of creative freedom in areas that we needed to detail for the game, but were not explained in great depths in the book.

Will the game include all of the major characters from the book?

Lupher: All of the principle characters in the book are represented in some fashion.

In the book, a secondary character is responsible for the death of the dragon Smaug, rather than Bilbo, which is contrary to the way games and their heroes function. The same holds true for the Battle of Five Armies following the death of Smaug. How does the game design deal with issues like this?

Lupher: While Bilbo is not directly involved with Smaug's death, the player must perform a quest while in Laketown that allows for the eventual slaying of the dragon. As for the Battle of Five Armies, you will have to wait and see what we have planned .

What's the best aspect of working on a Tolkien title?

Lupher: The story!!! We grew up reading about Middle Earth. Now we get to create a gameplay experience based on Bilbo's adventure. It's been a hell of a lot of fun.

Is The Hobbit required reading for all of the members of the development team?

Lupher: Required? No. Most of the team members had read the book before the project started, many of us multiple times.

There are several other Tolkien license games in the works at Vivendi Universal. Is there communication between development teams about how to bring the license to life, or do you all act independently?

Lupher: Vivendi has gone to great lengths to makes sure we are all making games that fit nicely into the Middle Earth universe. Beyond that however, they have also given us a lot of creative freedom to guarantee we all have very fun, entertaining games that aren't all clones of each other. When the various versions come out, you will be pleased that each game is its own entity and is a lot of fun to play.

This is a GameCube title. Are versions planned for other platforms as well?

Lupher: We are currently working with the Gamecube because the type of game we are making fits so well with that machine. However, there is always the possibility of the Hobbit being on more than just the Gamecube. Stay Tuned!

Are you developing the title completely as an internal project, or are you outsourcing any component of it?

Lupher: The game is being developed 95% internally. The one area that is outsourced is the Music. The Music in a game this epic has to be done perfectly and absolutely it has to be recorded using a live Orchestra. We have hired Slackmates, and excellent studio to take care of all of our Composition needs.


Source: http://www.gamerspulse.com