The Case of Dr. Lester
Games, like everything else, have their own life. They are born, live, grow old and die. But among them are those that overstep the verge of everydayness. They, like authentic works of art, are out of time and space.
When in 1993 I first met Another World, I immediately made a mistake. Having seen the Delphine Software logo at the beginning of the game, I decided that it was made by a large team of the company. Then it could not have occurred to me that this is an author's project created by a single person named Eric Shayi.
15 years later, I got into the disc with the film where I first saw it.
')
Jean-Francois Freitas, Eric's school friend and the man who wrote the music for the game, appear on the screen.
“I always knew that Eric was a passionate gamer,” says Jean Francois. - But being a very modest man, he never told me anything about his successes in this matter. And suddenly, I accidentally became aware that he makes games that are sold. But we have been familiar for 4 or 5 years.
Eric Shayi, who sits opposite, smiles and fine lines form around his eyes. He looks about 35 years old, thin, short-haired and confidential. In all its appearance modesty is felt, which, it seems, is about to turn into shyness. But as soon as he begins to talk about his work, a gleam of enthusiasm appears in his eyes, and his hands begin to actively gesticulate.
- Actually, I don’t like telling the story of Another World. - he says. - In my opinion, the game itself makes it much better. I just created the images, but they already create their own history.
Eric was fond of computers since childhood. At school, he got into an electronics study course where he began programming. At his disposal was a computer Oric 1, on which he after a couple of months wrote two very simple games, which, nevertheless, he was able to sell. The hobby turned out to be more serious than it was possible to initially assume. Eric even left his studies for the sake of it and began to develop a game called “Le Pacte” on the new Amstrad machine. And ahead of him even more ambitious work "Les Voyageurs du Temps". It was the first game released under the Delphine Software label.
By that time, Eric, who had mastered simple arcades, where the main task of the player was picking up the maximum number of points, was engaged in more serious things. Now he was more interested in the atmosphere of the game, how it affects the player, his emotions. Later this will be the basis of his main project - Another World.
Work began in 1989. Shayi was looking for a drawing technique in which the game will be created. He made sketches on paper, using a pencil and pen, tried to create images in Deluxe Paint on a computer. Neither the first nor the second satisfied. He wanted to do something unusual, going beyond the generally accepted framework, something that had not existed until now. But the Amiga computer on which the game was programmed had serious technical limitations inherent to the machines of that time. So, the RAM was only 512 kilobytes and it was impossible to fit large raster images into it.
Then Eric decided to use vector graphics in his work, where it was possible to depict anything using a set of polygons using basic coordinates and color numbers, thereby minimizing the amount of computer resources used. There was no suitable toolkit and I had to write an editor program myself in BASIC. She allowed to significantly speed up the work. In the editor, you could change the animation and see the result without recompiling the game code.
The most interesting thing is that for the revitalization of objects and characters, a rotocopic technique was used. Those. literally time-lapse manual redrawing of the video on which Eric captured his own walk. This was supposed to add to the game of cinematic. So Leicester and his Aboriginal friend learned to walk, run and jump. Rotocopy, in particular, helped create the introductory video of the game, which explains how the protagonist found himself in a parallel world.
At that time, Anothe World was the second game in the world, made with the help of this technology. The first, to the best of our knowledge, was Jordan Mahner's "Karatek".
- This is the car I repeated in the game. - Eric removes from the shelf mock black Ferrari. - On it, Lester at the very beginning of the game comes to the laboratory. And this is a model of a laser blaster, which he uses after teleportation. I glued it out of cardboard. It turned out a bit too big, but this is not essential, in this case the shape is more important, not the size. I shot it all on camera and redrawn it in the editor. Some objects I used in different episodes of the game several times. For example, parts of the landscape, doors, openings and walls of buildings.
Erik had only 16 colors at his disposal - the maximum amount his computer could display. It took a whole week to determine the original palette! It is thanks to such a careful selection of colors and a somewhat rough drawing of the game look so picturesque and conceptual.
- We created sound effects without any idea about the technique. For example, all the blows, the knock of bones, when a shot gets into the character and its skeleton explodes, we imitated as it would have to - pounded the table with wood, pounded nuts, crushed tomatoes. - says Jean Francois.
- I wanted the sounds to come out sharp, like in horror movies. We tried our best. - confirms Shayi. - I then had a matrix printer, he made terrifying sounds, and we gave him a crash for the noise of the prison elevator. And we recorded the voices in the language of aliens, in particular the famous Matsuba, as follows. They took an old tape recorder, and I carried a complete nonsense into the microphone, just a set of sounds.
“I remember how Eric told me then,” continues Francois, “that he needs to put music on an image, do you have any ideas?” This is where we could show our creative energy! I tried very hard to match the soundtrack video, and it was not easy to do, believe me.
Shayi enters the conversation again.
- At first, I myself did not know exactly what I wanted. I remember how I brought the music from the movie “Back to the Future” as an example. There was such a fragment when they were playing drums, creating an atmosphere of alarming inevitability and expectation. With the ending of musical accompaniment, we then tormented. I really wanted to have a guitar solo. Francois picked up a few notes, but it was not at all what was needed. Then we turned to a more synthetic material, and he lay down perfectly.
Jean Francois continues to talk about the memories of fifteen years ago.
- The main character is a small character Dr. Lester, this is of course Eric. He acts carefully, sometimes falls into melancholy - he is quiet and harmless. But if Eric starts doing something, he will not be stopped.
“That's true,” confirms Shayi — there is some parallel between me and Lester, this character who remains absolutely alone in an unknown universe. When I was working on Another World, I was very lonely in my heart, I think, unconsciously, and brought this feeling to the game.
The game has almost no bright colors. The most colorful object here is Leicester. His hair is red, an annoying spot looms on the screen. It is not surprising that almost everyone who meets him on the way, trying to grab him or kill him. Leicester looks like a stranger in this dark and harsh world. But appearances are deceptive. Despite his thinness and apparent weakness, he turns out to be a tough nut to crack.
“Behind the unsophisticated figure of Leicester’s doctor of physics, there is a real sabotage talent. - wrote Game.exe on its pages in 2000. - Attention! This person is fluent in defense and attack techniques, and is especially dangerous during detention.
In these words sounds undoubtedly true. Leicester is very strong in spirit. Imagine yourself in his place. What would you feel suddenly being in an unfamiliar, alien and aggressive place, where you are trying to be destroyed every second? But for this you need only one injection of a poisonous worm, one jump of a black toothy monster, or one shot of a blaster, whose energy beam turns Lester's body into a fragile, charred skeleton. In the world where the scientist got him, all the time something or someone is attacking, chasing him. He is seized and thrown into a cage. But he does not lose heart and runs out of his prison, with the support of his cellmate.
The pursuit of freedom and the love of life that lives in Lestor was depicted by Eric himself in the picture that graced the game box. Here, Leicester stands on the edge of a cliff with his arms spread wide apart. The wind develops his hair, and a storm is coming towards him.
Despite the cruelty of history, she is very sentimental. Another World is a story about true friendship, support and mutual help. Friends actually understand each other without words. In the last part of the game, when a sadistic overseer breaks Lester’s spine, his Aboriginal friend fights for his life to the last. In the final he raises the body of the doctor and carries him in his arms. And this is truly touching.
For 16 years of the existence of Another World, a huge number of people have played it. The idea of ​​issuing the anniversary edition was due to the fact that people are still interested in the game. The following are statements that were made in different years in reviews of various publications, websites and forums.
“Just an amazing game! At first, I saw her on the Amiga with my neighbor and was shocked to the depths of my soul, and then I played Another World on a powerful 286th from a friend - and I was shocked again! ”
Tomer Gabel from MobyGames
“This game is ahead of its time, we have an alien from the future! on modern technologies such a picture is IMPOSSIBLE! Aaaa! Help! Soon they will enslave the world! ”
Alex Bonehead, Gamer Grand Central Browser
“A game for all times. Another World is more than an arcade, more than an arcade adventure game, more than just a fancy hybrid. It will look at "five plus" and in ten and a hundred years, if then computer games are still alive. The author will certainly have other successful projects. But none of them will ever stand next to Another World, because the eternal game can only be made by chance (just like Lester got into the other world, by accident) and only once. ”
Masha Ahrimanova, Game.exe
“In splendid isolation, having shouldered the duties of a scriptwriter, artist, animator and programmer, he (meaning Eric Shayi) struggled with an ideal to which the soul had long sought. And after all, what a thing: the ideal has indeed been achieved. Moreover, immediately on the scale of the genre. At the very least, I cannot imagine anything more perfect than Another World. ”
Igor Artyomov, Absolute Games
PS In addition to this article on my site you can find 45 screenshots of the poster and demo version of the game .
When in 1993 I first met Another World, I immediately made a mistake. Having seen the Delphine Software logo at the beginning of the game, I decided that it was made by a large team of the company. Then it could not have occurred to me that this is an author's project created by a single person named Eric Shayi.
15 years later, I got into the disc with the film where I first saw it.
')
Author
Jean-Francois Freitas, Eric's school friend and the man who wrote the music for the game, appear on the screen.
“I always knew that Eric was a passionate gamer,” says Jean Francois. - But being a very modest man, he never told me anything about his successes in this matter. And suddenly, I accidentally became aware that he makes games that are sold. But we have been familiar for 4 or 5 years.
Eric Shayi, who sits opposite, smiles and fine lines form around his eyes. He looks about 35 years old, thin, short-haired and confidential. In all its appearance modesty is felt, which, it seems, is about to turn into shyness. But as soon as he begins to talk about his work, a gleam of enthusiasm appears in his eyes, and his hands begin to actively gesticulate.
- Actually, I don’t like telling the story of Another World. - he says. - In my opinion, the game itself makes it much better. I just created the images, but they already create their own history.
Eric was fond of computers since childhood. At school, he got into an electronics study course where he began programming. At his disposal was a computer Oric 1, on which he after a couple of months wrote two very simple games, which, nevertheless, he was able to sell. The hobby turned out to be more serious than it was possible to initially assume. Eric even left his studies for the sake of it and began to develop a game called “Le Pacte” on the new Amstrad machine. And ahead of him even more ambitious work "Les Voyageurs du Temps". It was the first game released under the Delphine Software label.
By that time, Eric, who had mastered simple arcades, where the main task of the player was picking up the maximum number of points, was engaged in more serious things. Now he was more interested in the atmosphere of the game, how it affects the player, his emotions. Later this will be the basis of his main project - Another World.
Graphics
Work began in 1989. Shayi was looking for a drawing technique in which the game will be created. He made sketches on paper, using a pencil and pen, tried to create images in Deluxe Paint on a computer. Neither the first nor the second satisfied. He wanted to do something unusual, going beyond the generally accepted framework, something that had not existed until now. But the Amiga computer on which the game was programmed had serious technical limitations inherent to the machines of that time. So, the RAM was only 512 kilobytes and it was impossible to fit large raster images into it.
Then Eric decided to use vector graphics in his work, where it was possible to depict anything using a set of polygons using basic coordinates and color numbers, thereby minimizing the amount of computer resources used. There was no suitable toolkit and I had to write an editor program myself in BASIC. She allowed to significantly speed up the work. In the editor, you could change the animation and see the result without recompiling the game code.
The most interesting thing is that for the revitalization of objects and characters, a rotocopic technique was used. Those. literally time-lapse manual redrawing of the video on which Eric captured his own walk. This was supposed to add to the game of cinematic. So Leicester and his Aboriginal friend learned to walk, run and jump. Rotocopy, in particular, helped create the introductory video of the game, which explains how the protagonist found himself in a parallel world.
At that time, Anothe World was the second game in the world, made with the help of this technology. The first, to the best of our knowledge, was Jordan Mahner's "Karatek".
- This is the car I repeated in the game. - Eric removes from the shelf mock black Ferrari. - On it, Lester at the very beginning of the game comes to the laboratory. And this is a model of a laser blaster, which he uses after teleportation. I glued it out of cardboard. It turned out a bit too big, but this is not essential, in this case the shape is more important, not the size. I shot it all on camera and redrawn it in the editor. Some objects I used in different episodes of the game several times. For example, parts of the landscape, doors, openings and walls of buildings.
Erik had only 16 colors at his disposal - the maximum amount his computer could display. It took a whole week to determine the original palette! It is thanks to such a careful selection of colors and a somewhat rough drawing of the game look so picturesque and conceptual.
Sound
- We created sound effects without any idea about the technique. For example, all the blows, the knock of bones, when a shot gets into the character and its skeleton explodes, we imitated as it would have to - pounded the table with wood, pounded nuts, crushed tomatoes. - says Jean Francois.
- I wanted the sounds to come out sharp, like in horror movies. We tried our best. - confirms Shayi. - I then had a matrix printer, he made terrifying sounds, and we gave him a crash for the noise of the prison elevator. And we recorded the voices in the language of aliens, in particular the famous Matsuba, as follows. They took an old tape recorder, and I carried a complete nonsense into the microphone, just a set of sounds.
“I remember how Eric told me then,” continues Francois, “that he needs to put music on an image, do you have any ideas?” This is where we could show our creative energy! I tried very hard to match the soundtrack video, and it was not easy to do, believe me.
Shayi enters the conversation again.
- At first, I myself did not know exactly what I wanted. I remember how I brought the music from the movie “Back to the Future” as an example. There was such a fragment when they were playing drums, creating an atmosphere of alarming inevitability and expectation. With the ending of musical accompaniment, we then tormented. I really wanted to have a guitar solo. Francois picked up a few notes, but it was not at all what was needed. Then we turned to a more synthetic material, and he lay down perfectly.
The main character
Jean Francois continues to talk about the memories of fifteen years ago.
- The main character is a small character Dr. Lester, this is of course Eric. He acts carefully, sometimes falls into melancholy - he is quiet and harmless. But if Eric starts doing something, he will not be stopped.
“That's true,” confirms Shayi — there is some parallel between me and Lester, this character who remains absolutely alone in an unknown universe. When I was working on Another World, I was very lonely in my heart, I think, unconsciously, and brought this feeling to the game.
The game has almost no bright colors. The most colorful object here is Leicester. His hair is red, an annoying spot looms on the screen. It is not surprising that almost everyone who meets him on the way, trying to grab him or kill him. Leicester looks like a stranger in this dark and harsh world. But appearances are deceptive. Despite his thinness and apparent weakness, he turns out to be a tough nut to crack.
“Behind the unsophisticated figure of Leicester’s doctor of physics, there is a real sabotage talent. - wrote Game.exe on its pages in 2000. - Attention! This person is fluent in defense and attack techniques, and is especially dangerous during detention.
In these words sounds undoubtedly true. Leicester is very strong in spirit. Imagine yourself in his place. What would you feel suddenly being in an unfamiliar, alien and aggressive place, where you are trying to be destroyed every second? But for this you need only one injection of a poisonous worm, one jump of a black toothy monster, or one shot of a blaster, whose energy beam turns Lester's body into a fragile, charred skeleton. In the world where the scientist got him, all the time something or someone is attacking, chasing him. He is seized and thrown into a cage. But he does not lose heart and runs out of his prison, with the support of his cellmate.
The pursuit of freedom and the love of life that lives in Lestor was depicted by Eric himself in the picture that graced the game box. Here, Leicester stands on the edge of a cliff with his arms spread wide apart. The wind develops his hair, and a storm is coming towards him.
Despite the cruelty of history, she is very sentimental. Another World is a story about true friendship, support and mutual help. Friends actually understand each other without words. In the last part of the game, when a sadistic overseer breaks Lester’s spine, his Aboriginal friend fights for his life to the last. In the final he raises the body of the doctor and carries him in his arms. And this is truly touching.
Reviews
For 16 years of the existence of Another World, a huge number of people have played it. The idea of ​​issuing the anniversary edition was due to the fact that people are still interested in the game. The following are statements that were made in different years in reviews of various publications, websites and forums.
“Just an amazing game! At first, I saw her on the Amiga with my neighbor and was shocked to the depths of my soul, and then I played Another World on a powerful 286th from a friend - and I was shocked again! ”
Tomer Gabel from MobyGames
“This game is ahead of its time, we have an alien from the future! on modern technologies such a picture is IMPOSSIBLE! Aaaa! Help! Soon they will enslave the world! ”
Alex Bonehead, Gamer Grand Central Browser
“A game for all times. Another World is more than an arcade, more than an arcade adventure game, more than just a fancy hybrid. It will look at "five plus" and in ten and a hundred years, if then computer games are still alive. The author will certainly have other successful projects. But none of them will ever stand next to Another World, because the eternal game can only be made by chance (just like Lester got into the other world, by accident) and only once. ”
Masha Ahrimanova, Game.exe
“In splendid isolation, having shouldered the duties of a scriptwriter, artist, animator and programmer, he (meaning Eric Shayi) struggled with an ideal to which the soul had long sought. And after all, what a thing: the ideal has indeed been achieved. Moreover, immediately on the scale of the genre. At the very least, I cannot imagine anything more perfect than Another World. ”
Igor Artyomov, Absolute Games
PS In addition to this article on my site you can find 45 screenshots of the poster and demo version of the game .
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/22986/
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