Notes from the Director, Laird Malamed

IT ALL BEGINS WITH THE ART
Beautiful graphics are key to any adventure game. Considering that gameplay is often paced at a slower tempo than an action sim like Interstate 76 or our new strategy game, Dark Reign, it is even more imperative that every image we display be of the highest quality possible. And, every screen you will see in Zork Grand Inquisitor is a separate art asset. Each asset has to be rendered, processed and compressed. Plus, we have to keep track of screens that will need to be localized (translated) for foreign languages.

In Zork Grand Inquisitor, we have a variety of different environments, ranging from the heights of Flathead Mesa to the depths of Hades. One of the greatest joys I have in directing is setting up the views that the player will see. This is particularly enjoyable when working with the cut scenes and live action components because that is when the spaces come alive as characters move through the environments we created.

Further, when we start to put images together in the game, and the game becomes playable, it is almost like magic. Art begins as a collection of ideas, rough sketches and storyboards. To be able to pop in a CD and navigate through these spaces, cast spells and experience wickedly cool animations is an indescribable high.

To create these large quantities of art, we contract with outside firms who lots of artists and lots of rendering stations. We have worked with Pyros Productions here in Southern California (they also did this website art), Silicon Knights in Canada (near Niagara falls - which I saw for the first time when I went to visit them) and Creat Studios in St. Petersburg, Russia. (Yes - former Leningrad, USSR, and no, the producer would not let me go there.) We are also working with two independent artists who live close by.

When you navigate through all the cool spaces in Zork Grand Inquisitor, you will see the awesome work of all of these artists.