VIDEO INTERVIEW

1.	Did you have a proprietary method for designing the main character ED  ?

Gregoire Gobbi  (Producer) : The main character design is absolutely central and we have a highly professional approach on this matter. To take an example : our next game is a sewing simulation so we will focus on the needle design and  I will immerse myself  into a family of needle, to feel like a needle, to react like a needle… to be a needle. Well, this is a professional approach ! For Tonic Trouble, we decided to focus on Ed, the main character, who is clueless about reality… a wannabe,  completely schizophrenic, paranoiac…. I needed to immerse. So I stayed a few month in my family ! 

2	What is the real concept behind ED ?

Gregoire Gobbi (Producer) : Tonic Trouble™ is absolutely autobiographic, but I can tell no more without the presence of my psychoanalyst… To be short, this guy, Ed, is really close to guy I am at the beginning of the game, and at the end of the game he is really close to the guy I would like to be... He’s a perfect loser and he saves the World…

3	What is your best souvenir of the production of the game ?

Sandrine Polegato (Project Manager) : well … I guess…my best memory is yet to come, it will be probably when Tonic Trouble will be on the shelves, at last. I guess I will stay one month in front of the shelves… just to enjoy
Julien Merceron (N64 Lead Programmer) : Well like all the parents to their children I can’t forget the day I saw the first steps of Ed in his own World… Ed was alive… He was born and I was so happy !!!
François Mahieu (Lead Game Programming Engineer) : Now… just now… right now !!!

4	Why did you choose this job ?

Sandrine Polegato (Project Manager)  :  My dream would have been to be an accountant. I will probably make it one day. I still work at night when I come back from work….
Julien Merceron (N64 Lead Programmer) : I always wanted to make movies… but I had no precise  idea for a scenario. So in fact I preferred to let the people organized their own adventures. That’s why I decided to make games !
François Mahieu (Lead Game Programming Engineer): Because this job allows to do great things and still keep my private life apart of the paparazzi !
Gregoire Gobbi (Producer) : I wanted to be in the movies too, but I did not have the physics to be an actor and I was not perverse enough, I mean sexually, to be a producer….

5	What is your global appreciation of the team ?

François Mahieu (Lead Game Programming Engineer) : all nuts… but me ! 
Sandrine Polegato (Project Manager) :  a real nightmare…  but me !
Julien Merceron (N64 Lead Programmer) : The revolutionary tomato is a great developer.
Gregoire Gobbi (Producer) : rather well balanced, me apart of course ! 

INTERVIEW E3

1- Q : 	What is the concept and storyline behind Tonic Trouble ?
A : 	A purple extra-terrestrial named Ed accidentally drops a mysterious can during a scientific exploration of the galaxy.  The can’s contents unleash a series of mutations that affect humans, plants and animals.  Ed must rescue the can from Grogh the Hellish, a down and out bum who harnesses the can’s powers to declare himself Master of the Earth.  Along the way, Ed will have to fight dangerous enemies such as killer vegetables, flying hot toasts,  threatening mummies and dozens of oddball characters… but he will also have to use his brain in order to solve all the puzzles he will encounter ! Tonic Trouble is a mix of Action, Adventure, Humour and Madness !!!

2- Q:	Who created Tonic Trouble?  How many people were on the team?
A :	Tonic Trouble was co-conceived by Michel Ancel, the primary creator behind Ubi Soft’s blockbuster Rayman action-adventure game, which was named one of Sony PlayStation’s Greatest Hits.  Ancel joined Ubi Soft ten years ago at the age of 17, and began 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 was comprised of 120 people.

3- Q:	What inspired Ancel’s vision of Tonic Trouble?
A :	As he demonstrated in Rayman, Ancel prefers fairytale worlds and fantastic Tolkien-like adventures to the metal and concrete cyberworld of many games.  For Tonic Trouble, he was particularly inspired by the storyline of LucasArts’ Day of the Tentacle and by the interface and travel-through-another-world feel of Zelda for the Super Nintendo.  The story concept for Tonic Trouble revolved around two central themes: the idea that the hero is the one to make the initial mistake rather than arriving on the scene like a white knight to save the world from a villain or a natural disaster; and the thought that a haphazard accident can turn conventional patterns of behaviour on their ear.  That is why the vegetables in Tonic Trouble start eating the animals, a deadbeat drunk rises to power, and so on.  It is also the motivation behind the surprise ending of the game.

5- Q : 	What sort of gameplay features can we expect to see that will set this
game apart from previous 3D platformers?
A : 		Humour is the real trademark of Tonic Trouble.  Ed’s universe (which he inadvertently created) is psychedelic soup.  There are mutant animals, psychotic vegetables (killer carrots, angry mushrooms, rancid turnips, etc.), rainbow colored rivers, pyramids guarded by mummies with designer handbags, guards in tutus, sangria flavored glaciers, magical flying polka-dot bow ties, crazy scientists with robot suitcases, false-teeth traps, and more. 
	In terms of gameplay, at the beginning of the game the character can walk, run and jump like any other character, but, during the game, he will get some special abilities like a flying bow-tie, a  pogo stick to jump on dangerous grounds, a blow-pipe to shoot enemies, a chameleon powder to turn himself into other characters, and a very special popcorn (when he eats popcorn, Ed loses his senses, and becomes his alter-ego, a Hulk look-a-like : Super Ed !!!).... 
This evolution in Ed’s power allows a real variety in the gameplay. But there are also puzzles to solve, in order to succeed in this adventure  !! This mix of Humor, Action and puzzle solving makes the gameplay of Tonic Trouble rich and challenging.

6- Q : 	Tonic Trouble was already presented at E3 last year, which improvements have you done on both the PC and the N64 versions.
	Last year we showed on PC the bundle version of Tonic Trouble which released in June 98. This year we present the retail version, which has very few things in common with the bundle version. The story line remains the same but the gameplay is completely different : game design is different (all the maps have been re-designed), the scenario is different as they are now much more characters to meet in the game, some of them will help the player for a more comfortable feeling while playing. There are more clues and puzzles to solve, there are more enemies to defeat. Ed has got more possibilities : he can attack with the stick while running or walking, he can direct platforms with his stick, he has also more specific animations making him more lively and likeable : he shivers when he is in a freezing place, he looks bored when waiting for the player and taps his fingers, he puts spray in his mouth…
	In addition to all those points, two new maps were added to increase the intensity at the end of the game : full of pace and action,  they will need speed from the player.
	For the N64 version, last year we showed Tonic Trouble  to say "hey, look at that ! we are going to make a N64 game", it was just the beginning. This year we are showing it to say "hey, look at that ! We have made a N64 game". 

7- Q:	How many worlds and characters does Tonic Trouble have? 
A:	Tonic Trouble contains 11 graphical environments, each split into several maps.  Each map has a very specific atmosphere built around a specific item :  these include an Egyptian pyramid, a ski slope, a factory in a giant cooking pot, a glacier full of giant fruits and sangria, a deep canyon…  On top of that, each map requires special skills and allows a new gameplay.  In the Ski Slope Ed must slide on a frisbee, in the Canyon map the player must fly very well with his bow tie, on the Glacier Cocktail he must be a good skater, and so on. But all the maps have got one common point : they are all completely crazy !!

7- Q:	What secrets and tricks are built into the game?
A:	As in the original Rayman, players are rewarded not only by bonus points and access to secret levels but with the gradual acquisition of tricks and powers that will be required later in the game.  For example, Ed’s main weapon is a stick that initially can be used only to hit enemies.  Through the course of the game, the stick transforms itself into various objects or weapons allowing Ed to: lift heavy objects, use it as a blow-pipe to fire bees, jump on it like a pogo stick, use it as a magic stick to transform himself into other characters or objects and so on...  The player must be clever to take advantage of all the information and objects he is given. This evolution in the powers of the main character makes the gameplay richer and allows it to evolve as well.  You can return to a map you’ve already played but you will experience it differently because of the different skills you will use.

8- Q:	Why is Tonic Trouble more of an adventure game than an action game?
A:	An action game centers around a player’s dexterity in surviving, jumping, killing and so on. You don’t need to know the plot in order to play.  Tonic Trouble is driven by plot and the player’s skill in getting information.  For example, the different mind-blowing characters in the story have the clues Ed needs to find the toxic can, and one fellow named The Doc has the magic stick Ed needs to survive.  Ed must interact with the characters to proceed. The player still needs good reflexes and control, but this is not as important as being curious, suspicious of why the designers placed certain elements in certain places, etc.

9- Q:	What innovations were brought to Tonic Trouble by Ubi Soft’s 3D integration tool?
A:	The game was built with a proprietary 3D integration tool and a 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 behaviour and expressions, game settings are richer, gameplay becomes more interactive.   

10- Q:	What were the game’s designers trying to achieve?
A:	Says game designer Pierre Olivier Clément, “Games like Duke and Quake were my favorite game, 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.”

11- Q	How large of a team has Ubi Soft allocated for the project?
Quite huge actually. This is due to the fact that TT was our first open space 3D game
Let's talk about figures : 
- developer : 60
- animators : 30
- level designers : 12
- 3D artists : 12
- sound designer : 1
- musician : 1
- sound effects : 2

12- Q:	How were the graphical worlds created?
A:	All graphical environments are texture mapped.  The graphic designers first did rough drafts on paper, then  scanned them into computer format and used software such as Painter and PhotoShop to define the colours.  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 set the lighting 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.”

13- Q : 	On what platforms will the game be available?
PC CD-Rom, PC DVD-Rom and Nintendo® 64

14- Q : 	Was Tonic Trouble designed for PC and then shoe-horned into the N64 ? Or have both games taken their own course ? Are they from the same team ?
We made a first PC version for the bundle market in March 1998. Then we made a totally new game (new levels, more characters) for the N64 and for the PC retail version. So the N64 version has been absolutely designed for the N64, by a separate team : we just kept the twisted spirit of the game and pushed it to the limits of the console.
One of the key points of Tonic Trouble was to have extremely rich textures.  The game engineers for the N64 version have managed to achieve textures that are higher than other N64 games, as one will see in the brightness of the color, etc.
The N64 version of Tonic Trouble was designed to utilize more abstract shapes, versus the typical geometrical, flat polygons seen in other N64 titles.  All characters, backgrounds, etc. have been manipulated to maintain the graphical integrity of the game.  The result is that although the polygons for the N64 are about half of what is found on the PC version, the player will be impressed!	

The PC retail version will have exactly the same gameplay as the N64 version, but a specific team has reworked all the graphics in order to have a graphic environement as rich as possible : textures are bigger and more colorful, objects have more faces which make them more realistic, there are a lot of detailed textures in the background … 

15- Q:	How will the DVD version of Tonic Trouble take advantage of the DVD format?
A:	DVD’s extra space permits the game’s longer introduction and additional music tracks. In addition, the DVD version will be encoded with 5.1 channel 3D Dolby digital (AC-3) sound.  John Loose, Multimedia Production Technician for Dolby Laboratories Licensing Division says, "Ubi Soft showed the world the immersive nature of Dolby Surround in ground breaking products like POD and now have gone one step further with Tonic Trouble. The cinematic sequences in Tonic Trouble, mixed in 5.1 channel Dolby Digital surround sound, are as good as anything coming out of Hollywood today. The soundtrack to Tonic Trouble is an excellent example of the convergence of the interactivity of the computer gaming industry with the production values and emotion of Hollywood films." 

16- Q:	What advances does Tonic Trouble offer in the game music arena?
A:	Typically, games have several tracks which repeat over and over. The music changes are based only on the player’s place in the game.  Tonic Trouble offers 10 long tracks, and the music changes 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.  

17- Q:	What are the minimum system requirements?
A:	For PC CD-ROM and DVD-ROM, a Pentium 166 with a 3D accelerator card.  

19- Q:	What are the target age ranges?
A:	Like Rayman, Tonic Trouble is designed as a cross-generational game.  Likely players will be ages 12 to 97.  Younger players will have fun with the game, but only experienced gamers will have the understanding and sophistication to do well.