THE MAKING OF BIOFORGE
Retro Gamer|Issue 248
EVERYONE KNOWS ORIGIN SYSTEMS FOR ITS WING COMMANDERS AND ITS ULTIMAS BUT THE ONCE GLORIOUS GAMES COMPANY HAD MANY OTHER GREAT TITLES UP ITS SLEEVE, SOME OF WHICH HAVE BEEN LOST IN THE MISTS OF TIME. LIKE BIOFORGE FOR EXAMPLE...
PAUL KAUTZ
THE MAKING OF BIOFORGE

There are some buzzwords, like ‘multimedia’ that dominated the gaming culture in the Nineties. But the one word that was even more ubiquitous than that was ‘interactive’ – absolutely everything just had to be interactive and, if possible, an ‘interactive movie’. Which in reality usually meant cheaply produced postage-stamp-sized, direct-to-video quality level clips on CD-ROM, giving the player only the lowest possible level of actual interaction.

Ken Demarest, who started work at Origin in 1990, had a different point of view on the matter, as he came from the technological side of things: as a coder on Wing Commander and the lead programmer on Ultima VII: The Black Gate, he saw interactive movies as a chance to create games that were as movie-like as possible without reducing the players to mere spectators. The key element for him were ‘synthetic actors’ – virtual characters who behaved like their realworld counterparts, only exactly when the players wanted them to. Logically, the game’s working title was Interactive Movie 1 – later to be changed to Green Guns and ultimately BioForge, with Ken taking on the roles of director, chief programmer and motion-capture model.

この記事は Retro Gamer の Issue 248 版に掲載されています。

7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。

この記事は Retro Gamer の Issue 248 版に掲載されています。

7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。

RETRO GAMERのその他の記事すべて表示
Cabela's Dangerous Hunts 2009
Retro Gamer

Cabela's Dangerous Hunts 2009

Initially debuting on the PC in 1998,games began appearing on consoles from 2001 with the release of Cabela's Big Game Hunter: Ultimate Challenge for Sony's PlayStation.

time-read
1 min  |
Issue 267
ModRetro Chromatic
Retro Gamer

ModRetro Chromatic

Meet the new handheld aiming to provide the ultimate Game Boy experience

time-read
4 分  |
Issue 267
ULTIMATE GUIDE Project Rub
Retro Gamer

ULTIMATE GUIDE Project Rub

OF ALL THE GAMES THAT LAUNCHED WITH THE NINTENDO DS, NONE WERE AS INVENTIVE, CHARMING, OR OVERLOOKED AS PROJECT RUB. TWENTY YEARS LATER, SONIC TEAM'S DS DEBUT REMAINS ONE OF THE SYSTEM'S MOST ENJOYABLE AND ENDEARING GAMES

time-read
5 分  |
Issue 267
Wii Balance Board
Retro Gamer

Wii Balance Board

During the era of the DS and Wii, Nintendo didn't just want to sell games consoles - it wanted to sell the dream that self-improvement could be fun, whether you were exercising your mind in Dr Kawashima's Brain Training or your body with Wii Sports.

time-read
1 min  |
Issue 267
THE MAKING OF JACKIE CHAN STUNTMASTER
Retro Gamer

THE MAKING OF JACKIE CHAN STUNTMASTER

MOST GAMES WITH A REAL PERSON'S NAME IN THE TITLE HAVE ACTUALLY VERY LITTLE TO DO WITH THEM. BUT THERE ARE SOME STARS WHOSE INFLUENCE ON A GAME GOES FAR BEYOND THEIR FACE AND VOICE. ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT OF THESE IS THE GREAT ACTION GOD HIMSELF: JACKIE CHAN

time-read
9 分  |
Issue 267
Future Classic
Retro Gamer

Future Classic

Modern games you'll still be playing in years to come

time-read
4 分  |
Issue 267
SUPER VEHICLE-001 METAL SLUG TACTICS
Retro Gamer

SUPER VEHICLE-001 METAL SLUG TACTICS

SNK'S METAL SLUG SERIES IS ONE OF THE MOST ICONIC RUN-AND-GUNS AROUND WITH A LEGACY AS RICH AS ITS METICULOUS 2D ART. SO WHAT CONVINCED SNK TO GREENLIGHT AN ISOMETRIC TACTICAL RPG? WE SPEAK TO LEIKIR STUDIO'S CREATIVE DIRECTOR AURÉLIEN LOOS TO FIND OUT MORE

time-read
4 分  |
Issue 267
MAGAZINE CRAFT PAUL DAVIES
Retro Gamer

MAGAZINE CRAFT PAUL DAVIES

In the first of a brand-new series, we interview the game journalists behind the most iconic gaming magazines of the past. We kick off by speaking to Paul Davies about his time as editor of CVG. We discuss the videogames that hooked him growing up, his time in the industry, and how he became an unlikely hero in revamping the iconic multiformat mag

time-read
10+ 分  |
Issue 267
THE MAKING OF Wizardry PROVING GROUNDS OF THE MAD OVERLORD
Retro Gamer

THE MAKING OF Wizardry PROVING GROUNDS OF THE MAD OVERLORD

THE CREATORS OF THE INFLUENTIAL 1981 RPG WHICH WENT ON TO INSPIRE COUNTLESS TITLES, FROM DRAGON QUEST TO FINAL FANTASY EXPLAIN HOW IT HAD ITS ORIGIN IN SOME OF THE EARLIEST ONLINE EXPERIENCES, AND WAS ONE OF THE FIRST COMPUTER GAMES TO COME IN A BOX

time-read
8 分  |
Issue 267
20 Years of The NINTENDODS
Retro Gamer

20 Years of The NINTENDODS

NINTENDO'S QUIRKY HARDWARE DESIGN MAY HAVE RAISED A FEW EYEBROWS TWO DECADES AGO, BUT THE BRILLIANT GAMES IT ENABLED DREW IN PLAYERS REGARDLESS OF AGE OR GENDER. RETRO GAMER SPEAKS TO THE PEOPLE WHO MADE, SOLD AND DEVELOPED GAMES FOR THE DS AS WE CELEBRATE THE BEST-SELLING HANDHELD EVER

time-read
10+ 分  |
Issue 267