A Sound of Thunder

Q&A with the Managing Director (of Mobius Entertainment) about an upcoming Action Adventure, based on the movie. You can also see 13 screenshots here.

Developer Q&A – Mobius Entertainment Ltd

A Sound of Thunder – Game Boy Advance

Name: Gordon Hall
Position: Managing Director
Development Studio: Mobius Entertainment Ltd
Game name: A Sound Of Thunder
Platform: Gameboy Advance
Genre: Action Adventure

Please describe your game:

A Sound of Thunder is an isometric 3D arcade adventure game based around the upcoming film of the same title. Set in a future where time travel is the latest thing for holidaymakers a disaster has befallen the world. A hunting trip to the early cretaceous period has gone disastrously wrong resulting in a change to the very fabric of the present; ‘time waves’ are crashing over New York, changing the ecology of the planet into that of an alternative future that has no place for humans. Playing Travis Ryder, our hero protagonist, you must save the inventor of time travel – Sonia Rand. Teaming up with her you begin a headlong race to return the status quo. Battling across New York through seven massive levels in both single player or cooperative multi play modes, on foot and in all terrain vehicles or just shoot it out with your friends in four player one cartridge tournament link mode, either way Sound of Thunder marks a new level of complexity for hand held gaming.

Does the game include multiplayer modes?

Yes, Multiplayer multi cart cooperative story mode and up to four-player single cart tournament mode.

What separates this game from others in its genre?

A Sound of Thunder pushes the boundaries of hand held gaming in two ways. Firstly the technical and visual challenges we have overcome to bring Sound of Thunder to the GBA make the design brief for this game look more like a high-end console title. Secondly the character interaction scripting system enables the designers to setup much more involving story lines not normally seen on any other hand held title.

What technical challenges did you face on this project?

Well, we already had our fully 3D character engine complete with full texture mapping, skinned & boned animations and lighting so we really pushed the boundaries in regards to special effects and character interaction. Take a look at the Timewave effect for an example of how far we are pushing this lovely piece of kit.

How have you found working with this platform?

The AGB is a dream; it’s like having an Archimedes in your hand only it’s more than twice as powerful. The things you can get up to once you’ve had time with the system are quite astounding. We have been AGB developers since day one and are on our third version of one of our titles on AGB so we have had plenty of time to get to know the inner secrets of the beast.

What parts of the game are you most proud of?

Probably the way we can now develop plot and non-player character interaction although the special effects in the game make us all very proud also.

What were your influences on this project?

The team, we try not to look at other titles as it clouds judgement and we certainly don’t look at other AGB titles when deciding what to develop. I’d say Half Life was the one title that inspired us, it pushed the story telling boundaries on the high end titles in a way we are now doing with A Sound of Thunder on the Gameboy Advance.

What products have the team previously worked on?

On the hand held side here’s just a few of the titles we have developed:
Cubix Scramble (In Development)
High Heat Baseball (GBA) - 2002 & 2003 (2004 in development)
Secret Project – High Profile Film License (GBA)
Alfred Chicken’s Adventure (GBC)
Secret Project (High Profile license) (GBC)
40 Winks (GBC)
Yogi Bear (GB)
Flintstones (GB)
Rod Lands (GB)
Alfred Chicken (GB)
Zoop (GB)
Eddy’s Puzzle Time (GB)
Cool World (GB)

How long has the game been in development?

Six months, at the time of writing (April)

If based on a licence, how closely have you worked with the licensor?

We have had regular script updates but in essence we like to concentrate on developing a fun to play, exciting and rewarding game that whilst being based on a film license really is more interested in being a good game than anything else. I’ve seen too many games based on licences that forgot they were games, that isn’t Mobius’ or BAM!’s way of working.

How closely is the game based on the licence?

It has a lot of the story in there. We’ve concentrated on using some really cool aspects of the film such as driving the ATV’s around the devastated Manhattan streets and fighting huge dinosaur-like creatures alongside bringing all of the main characters and their personalities to the title, so I’d say we have stayed pretty faithful to the essence of the film.

Share on Twitter or Facebook

Comments