Tonic Trouble

Some development history and other trivia from the official homepage:

Q: Who created Tonic Trouble? How many people were on the team?

Tonic Trouble was co-conceived by Michel Ancel, the primary creator behind Ubi Soft's blockbuster Rayman action-adventure game, which recently was named one of Sony PlayStation's Greatest Hits. Now 27, Ancel joined Ubi Soft when he was 17, designing early games such as Pick'n'pile and Jeu des Bêtes. He originally handled both programming and game design himself. By the time he developed Rayman, he headed up a 16-person creative team. For Tonic Trouble, which required the development of a new 3D integration tool, the staff ultimately comprised 120 people

Q: How long has the game been in development?

Pre-production began in July 1996.

Q: What innovations did Ubi Soft's new 3D integration tool bring to Tonic Trouble?

Says Grégoire Gobbi, World Wide Project Manager for Tonic Trouble, "The game was built with a proprietary 3D integration tool and modular, scaleable engine developed by 50 Ubi Soft developers over an 18-month period at a cost of $4 million. We have since named this tool 'Architecture Commune Programmation (ACP)' which puts creative control in the hands of the game designers rather than the programming team." The result produces more complex characters, graphical environments and problem-solving challenges. Characters change behavior and expressions; game settings are richer; gameplay becomes more interactive.

Q: What were the game's designers trying to achieve?

Says game designer Pierre Olivier Clément, "Games like Duke and Quake are my favorite games at the moment, but even in these games, the main goal is only to kill the enemy. As a gamer, I want to be able to think, to rationalize my every move. I want characters who are more intelligent than any other game. I want to engage in puzzles that require trial and error and deep thought in order to solve. With Tonic Trouble, the game design team was able to do whatever we wanted to reach these goals."

Q: How were the graphical worlds created?

All graphical environments are texture mapped. The graphists first made roughs on paper, then they scan them into computer format and used software such as Painter and PhotoShop to define the colors. The team then used two 200MHz PCs with 3D Studio Max to modelize the maps. The textures were created on PhotoShop. The last step was to settle the light in each scene. Says team member Geoffroy DeCrecy, "Our inspiration came essentially from the cartoons of the 60s. We wanted the simplicity, energy and efficiency you can find in this kind of graphic universe."

Q: What advances does Tonic Trouble offer in the arena of game music?

Typically, games have several tracks which repeat over and over. Typically, the music changes based only on the player's place in the game. Tonic Trouble offers 10 long tracks, and the music changes to reflect the character's responses to the action. During fighting scenes, the music is intense and nerve-wracking; when the player is frightened and alone, the music is slow and melancholy. The Tonic Trouble music is the product of one musician, five in-house sound editors, and six months of work. In addition to these features, the PC version of Tonic Trouble utilizes Dolby sound to further the game's "total immersion" process.

Q: What is different about the game's introduction?

Tonic Trouble begins with a six-minute introduction that looks like an animated film for the PC version. For the N64 version, the introduction is approximately 2 minutes, and one of the only N64 titles to boast such a sequence.