Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/19812
n n n n Gaming ily defended yacht wher e Greco is closing a deal. Bond kicks a guar d into the water as a firefight, mixed with hand-to-hand combat, erupts across the deck. Te action unfolds in third-person perspectiv e, making the most of Cooke’s choreography and C raig’s brutish physicality; he applies choke holds, pulls off stealth takedo wns, fires headshots with his P99 semi-automatic, all the while diving and rolling for cover. Later, Bond gives chase in a speedboat, racing through an Athens harbor cluttered with ocean liners and ferries. U nder fire from Greco, Bond dodges RPG fire from a helicopter that brings a lighthouse and other waterside buildings crash - ing down amid spectacular water effects. Bond shoots some gas tanks, bringing the chopper down in the explosion with some amazing phys- ics-based destruction courtesy of Bizarre’s newly revamped game engine, H orizon. E ventually, Bond’s boat launches onto the pier , and a r un- and-gun segment betw een par ked cars culmi - nates at a yacht club mansion. I sequences—on r oad and on water . B izarre’s Horizon engine, designed around multiproces- sor hardware, provides physics, lighting, and other core technology, as it flexes its muscles in the chaotic, physics-based destr uction accom- panying the car chases through the busy cities, as well as with the spectacular lighting effects gracing the neon wonderland of Bangkok. nside, Bond tosses Production Design Awe-inspiring production design has always been a foundation of the Bond experience, forged bril- liantly in the past by legendary designers like Ken Adams in Te Spy Who Loved Me and You Only Live Twice (see “Bonded” on CGW.com to learn how the developer achieved a cinematic flair to the game ’s cinematics.) “ We definitely looked long and hard at the production design of both Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace, taking gen- eral lighting cues and feel from both. Of the two, we erred toward Quantum’s production design, feeling it was more in line with the br utal Bond we wanted to convey in the game,” says studio art an array of large, thin-v aulted entrance ways with spinning fan blades abo ve, acting like stained-glass windows as the light r eflects off them. Tey also made the primary water-flow pipes act as buttr esses, while another section has a beautifully cur ved ceiling with the lines accentuating other areas of the dam. “Tis sense of grandeur informs the player that this is the climactic battle, as Ken Adams had done in the past,” explains Tompson. Te production design was also hugely informed by Blood Stone’s cover-based game- play, which the title exploits to its maximum potential; like Craig’s Bond, the player is con- stantly ducking behind bulkheads, pillars, and walls. Tis style of gameplay depends on very carefully planned environmental design. “Ul- timately, the main goal of the lev el designers and ar tists is to cr eate contemporar y spaces that function as co ver combat areas while re- maining aesthetically pleasing to the play er,” says lead level designer Phil Nightingale. “Combat areas need to meld perfectly within Blood Stone features expansive sets, populated with many structures and objects that facilitate gameplay and provide cover during firefights. Greco through a plate-glass window before real- izing that his target—a bomb of some kind—is aboard a passing SUV. Bond finishes the chase in his Aston Martin, racing through tunnels and on a cliff-hugging, hillside road. “Te pre-credits sequence is a big splash that showcases a wide variety of interactions in a short space of time. Pacing is so important to any movie experience, and we wanted to apply that to the game,” says Davies. “Obviously, it calms down after that as the narrative leads the player through the adventure with opportuni- ties for stealth as well as high action. Te driv- ing sequences are a great way to punctuate the story with intense, high-octane thrills, in much the same way as they do in the movies.” “Tis is the closest we’ve ever come to putting you in the driver’s seat of a Bond action-chase sequence,” says David G. Wilson, Michael’s son and Bond’s marketing vice pr esident of busi - ness strategy. I ndeed, B izarre’s experience on Blur lent itself per fectly to Blood Stone’s chase 18 November 2010 director Neil Tompson. Te team also kept M’s office set the same, to show some continuity with Quantum and to help root the game in the film’s universe. By the same token, Tompson says, the artists weren’t “slavish” to the last two films. “As an artist, the opportunity to play in the Bond universe is an oppor tunity too good to miss, particularly when it comes to K en Ad- ams’ amazing set designs fr om the ’60s/’70s,” Tompson says. Te group paid homage to him in the climactic battle sequence at the Burmese Dam in Bangkok, with areas carved from solid r ock at a grand scale, in a nod to You Only Live Twice’s volcano base. Te dam’s grand scale was also influenced by cathedrals. “Living in Liv erpool, the city has two mag - nificent examples we looked at: par ticularly, the Anglican cathedral, which has a touch of Adams about it,” Tompson adds. In order to achieve a huge sense of scale and not just make the dam another uninteresting industrial facil- ity, the cr ew decided that it should comprise the look of the envir onment, so the lev el de- signers worked extremely closely with the ar t teams to r each the best balance, ” Nightingale continues. Te crew also dr ew up concept sketches and mood boar ds early on in the de - velopment cycle to create a visual guide for each level. Tese boards covered all aspects of a level, from lighting and ar chitecture, to inanimate objects and objects intended for gameplay. “It’s important that gamers can formulate a strategy when engaged in combat encounters, and have options on how to tackle each of the many fire- fights, so we made sure the placement of cover in these areas was eminently readable,” he adds. It was also vital that these cover objects fit visu- ally and practically within the o verall space, so that everything made sense and didn’t break the boundaries of an environment’s innate reality. Greek Playground According to Tompson, Athens pr oved to be one of the most challenging envir on- ments to model, texture, and light because the player transitions thr ough so many different