"Tomb Raider III: Adventures of Lara Croft Remake" Interview with the autor

We had the pleasure to interview Jonny Harlow, huge Tomb Raider fan that has something special to share with us.
Among with the Tomb Raider II Remake (UE4) by Nicobass, we are looking foward also to the Tomb Raider III Remake by Jonny, this time in Unity Engine.
Let's know more about it with this special interview we made for this:

[You can know more on here: http://www.facebook.com/TR3Remake/ ]
[Down below some unseen screens from the BWTA ver. of the game]

-Hi Jonny,i will first say thank you for taking this interview with us, we are so glad to have you here!
Thank you for having me. Always nice talking to fellow fans.

-So, whene was your TR Passion born, and what was your 1st Tomb Raider game?
It all started at the age of 7 back in good old 1996. My dad bought my first game as the big breasted woman on the cover appealed to him. Little did he know it would provide his son with years of great entertainment and a passion for game development. I've been playing every Tomb Raider game religiously since the day they were released.

-That is awesome, and what is your favourite Tomb Raider and why? could you tell us a top 3 TR Games?
Oooh. I love all of them but my favourite of all time is Tomb Raider 3. The diverse locations, dinosaur, animal, human and mythical enemies. It had everything. To this day I battle to find any game as diverse as Tomb Raider 3. My other favourites would have to be Tomb Raider 1(As it was my introduction to Lara's world), Tomb Raider AOD (Even though the game was faulty, it had a fantastic story and Lara was at her prime) and Chronicles due to the diversity I craved after playing Tomb Raider 4. And for that amazing end part where Werner finds Lara.

-Speaking of Tomb Raider III, we all know that you are preparing something special for the TR Fans, what is it in particular?
Yes! My labour of love for the last 3 years. I been working on a remake project which I've kept very much under the radar as I was learning the ins and outs of the Unity engine.The project's title is "The Adventures of Lara Croft". It is a full remake of Tomb Raider 3 and Tomb Raider 3 Gold with a twist to connect the 2 stories as well as adding a lot of new features ranging from vehicles, melee fighting to intricate parkour.

-That is such amazing Jonny. So, tell us, how the idea was born and how did you work for the last 3 years?
It all started with the release of TRLE. I was absolutely obsessed with it as a child. So much that I wanted to delve deeper into game development and master all the complexities of making a game from scratch. I made a promise to myself that the first game I release once I master programming will be a classic styled Tomb Raider game. And that was 3 years ago. I work in the music industry as a cinematic arranger and composer. I'm classically trained in music. I have been doing this project alongside other work in my studio for the last 3 years and have been enjoying every bit of it so far.

-What new features has the game and Lara herself? Some new moves, cutscenes,puzzles or you are tending to leave the game as original as possible?
Oh yes. The cutscenes are all motion captured by myself and some friends who are studying acting. Lara's voice is provided by a very talented girl I'm yet to announce. Lara has an entire arsenal of new moves from wall running, Assassin's Creed like parkour, dynamic brawler fighting, martial arts, different ways of vertical climbing, a new swimming system and all kinds of gunplay ranging from automatic targeting to reticle and laser targeting. New methods of movement include snowboards, hang-gliders, abseiling, horse riding and deep sea diving. There are new puzzles along all of the old ones. Especially in London.

-So happy to see that. And about the enviorments and the locations thereselfs, are them changed in a massive way?
Yes and no. All of the levels are more connected this time with multiple ways to complete them. I've stayed faithful to their identities and scale after some reworking and also have added some open environments for Expedition mode which is a multiplayer survival mode for unlockables. The original "Stephen Barr" fmv is now a playable level set on that island to introduce survival elements to the classic system.

-Let's now talk about Lara's model in game, what model did you choose for your new remake ? was it designed completly by yourself?
My favorite model is Lara AOD model. There are 5 playable Lara's to choose from after completing the main game. AOD, LAU, Reboot, Classic and original ingame. The main Lara is making her first appearance later this month and she is made by the talented Fredels from the Tomb Raider community. She boasts with a completely new, badass look!

-We can't wait to see her, are there any special features, relics and secrets in the game, how is it structured?
Everything is structure as before. I really enjoyed Time Trials in Tomb Raider Legend so I made my own spin on it. Race to the Relic mode randomly places an artifact in a level and you have to race an NPC to it. Croft Manor comes with loads of secrets and easter eggs related to Lara's travels prior to 1998.

-About Croft Manor, how is it structured, new manor and new areas?
Croft manor is exactly the same as the original. Including the manor grounds which is a huge forest around the Manor including Lara's personal "beach" next to a big lake where she practises her diving skills.

-On a rank to 1 to 10 how much do you rate your game build finished?
At the moment I'm standing at about 60% due to new features. 

-Which kind of?
"Now that's a secret... If I told you, I'd have to kill you"

-Intimidating. About the outfits in game, can  you give us some examples and if you have some new ones planning?
Everything she has ever worn. Including in the movies. In every style.

-In which languages will the remake be? If only english, do we have any kind of different subtitles languages?
The demo release will be in English but the full game will have French, Italian, German, Spanish and Japanese subtitles (quick note: Tomb Raider Drawings is actually working on the Italian Translation and we are so delighted)

-Speaking of the Demo..do we have a release date for it?
It's not set in stone yet, but I am aiming for October.

-Do we have some minumun and recommended settings for it?And why you choose to build the game in Unity instead of Unreal Engine?
The game is optimized for a wide range of setups and soon to be consoles. If you can run a TRLE level you can run it on low, If you can run Rise on medium, this game's Ultra setting will run flawlessly.
I love Unreal engine and I use it from time to time. But I learned how to make games with Unity and to me there's just something about the Unity engine that loves having Lara in it.

-What about the game OST?
The OST was completed first. In 2014 I rewrote the entire score to match my orchestral style. It was recorded with real orchestral instruments alongside electronic instruments. The Soundtrack has an electronic element to it mixing traditional Hindi, Arabic and classical styles with modern styles like Trap, Hard Rock and Ambient Electronic music. Loads of colors in the revamp and I am very excited to release it!

-Last question, what are your team members, who do you want to thank and what do you want to say to our TR fans and followers?
I would love to thank Frederik(Fredels), Yohann(Zellphie) and Tiernan(Lara's Dream). Without their support none of this would have been possible.I would like to thank each and every one of you for your continuous love and support. It keeps me driven and excited to  do the best I possibly can with this project. The last 3 years have been so nostalgic for me and I hope it will be for you too once I release this.

-Thanks a lot for your pacience and thank your for talking with me about your project, we all can't wait to play the demo. Looking foward for it!
Thank you!

We are so into this project and we can't wait for what is coming! Sure it's gonna be awesome. Here are some old/unseen exclusive screens taken directly from the project. We are excited to show them to you all!