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3D LEMMINGS
An Interview with Clockwork Games for REGIONAL press
For Psygnosis
By Mark Ramshaw
June 1995
(Please note that publication of this article in any form must include a credit to Mark Ramshaw)
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The Lemmings have already enchanted and puzzled millions of video game players around the world. Now Psygnosis are ready to unleash their latest and greatest adventure on the PC and Sony's new Playstation console. Mark Ramshaw visited Clockwork Games, the developers behind 3D Lemmings.
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The lemmings should need no introduction. This hardy band of cute little creatures with green hair have already marched, climbed, bounced and parachuted their way across a whole series of hugely successful Lemmings games. The mission has always been the same: to help the lemmings escape trap-infested levels, and to curb their suicidal urges, all via a clever point and click control system and various abilities which can be given to the poor little animals. Now new team Clockwork Games have taken the lemmings adventure where it's never been before: into the third dimension.
By venturing into the big world of 3D, the game instantly becomes a much more complex and visually impressive game than its predecessors. And the use of three dimensions is no mere sales ploy. Martin Hall, one of two programmers on the project explains: "I was delighted to get the chance to do a Lemmings game, but I wanted us to do it properly. There could have been the danger of 3D Lemmings just being a graphic gimmick. I think, though, that we've managed to create something very exciting. The puzzles couldn't ever work in 2D - the three dimensions are an integral part of the game. We knew the finished thing would be playable, but I don't think we realised that it'd be as good as it is now."
One feature to really highlight the 3D game style, is the way it's even possible to go right down into the action, and see what the lemmings sees - the view even wobbles as the green-haired one walks. "When using the lemmings' eye view all the usual controls still apply, such as selecting lemmings types", explains the game's second programmer James Thomas. "It's possible to assign roles to the lemmings as they walker past the current lemmings' eye view, which introduces even more playing possibilities." Four remote, and moveable cameras are also available, ensuring that the player always gets a comprehensive view of what's going on in a level.
Introducing a 3D element to the lemmings concept has meant some an extra degree of lemming control is possible. Now, when a blocker lemming is placed for instance, the player then selects an angle for him to stand at. In the original games a blocker simply blocked. Introducing the extra dimension wasn't a totally problem free experience, though. "One of the hardest things was to make it accessible," admits Martin Hall. "With the original Lemmings games it's possible to pick up and play straight away, but in a 3D there's not only the problem of solving the puzzles, but also control the views. By trying various control methods we've now got it so the player can concentrate on the puzzles within the game, rather than controlling the game."
Producer Greg Duddle: "The player can choose to use Doom-style controls, the mouse, or a combination of the two. This freedom ensures that they spend time solving the in-game puzzles rather than worrying about how to control the game."
Just like the original Lemmings games, there's rarely one set way to complete a level. And just like the original, lemmings can dig through blocks, act as blockers for other lemmings, parachute down to safety, and perform all manner of cute and useful tasks - all achieved by simple mouse clicks. Players won't be spoilt for choice when it comes to levels and terrain types in 3D Lemmings. There 10 different environments in all - including sweet lands, alien interiors, ice worlds (where the lemmings just can't help skidding along their way), and clown worlds. Plus, some of the levels introduce their own set-piece styles - Just wait until you see the spooky alien corridor levels, meet the 50ft lemming, or try getting to grips with ice levels that not only cause the lemmings to slide all over the place, but features interweaving pathways, jumps and slides which make Spaghetti Junction look like child's play! There are 80 game levels in total - that's 20 for each of the four skill levels. And then there are 20 training levels. "These are genuine training sessions, rather than part of the game proper," says James Thomas.
Clockwork have even addressed some design problems which people have occasionally criticised the previous Lemmings titles for. Martin explains: "The game features a highlight mode - this makes it possible to click on a lemming, whereupon an arrow will appear above his head. The player can then select a skill for him, at the appropriate moment. It gets over the problem in the original Lemmings games, where all the lemmings would group together on one part of the level, making it impossible to select the right one for a job." There's even an auto-replay feature, so if a player screws up a level right near the end, it's possible to jump right to the moment just before the mistake and then start playing again.
Thanks to a fast and powerful 3D system, superb in-game graphics by artist Neil Casini, and some genuinely funny rendered cut-scenes 3D Lemmings looks fantastic on both the PC and the Playstation. It sounds excellent too. In the original game the lemmings always had brilliantly cute voices, but this time there are a host of other sound effects to compliment their squeaky phrases. "We're really proud of the music," beams James. "It's real music as opposed to the usual in-game ditties you get on a computer game." In fact, neat touches abound in 3D Lemmings. "When the lemmings are tallied at the end of a level, if more were killed than survived, the remaining ones all boo emphatically," says Greg Duddle. Humorous ideas like this serve to stop the player becoming too frustrating, and they also give those mad little creatures just that little more character. The little tykes even make an appearance on the password entry, performing all kinds of acrobatics to use their bodies to form the letters.
The Clockwork team are understandably proud of their baby. It takes an already critically acclaimed series of games, then pushes it further into new and exciting territory, and even manages to further refine the basic concept. "We're already getting messages on the Internet from PC owners who've played the demo, saying it's the best Lemmings yet," says Jim. "3D just gives so much more freedom than trying to do a game with 2D levels. There are some levels our producer Greg hasn't done yet and he's been playing it for months! We started this at the beginning of 1993, and I'm still not sick of it!"
3D Lemmings will be available from Psygnosis for the PC and Playstation in September.
