Editing Lara Croft (section)

=== Developer switch to Crystal Dynamics ===
[[File:Toby Gard - E3 2005.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=A short-haired man with a beard standing in front of an advertisement poster. The man wears glasses and a light brown jacket over a brown top.|[[Toby Gard]], Lara Croft's original designer, left [[Core Design]] in 1997, but returned to work with [[Crystal Dynamics]] as a consultant.]]
''The Angel of Darkness'' was received poorly, prompting Eidos—fearing financial troubles{{efn|Eidos sought another company to acquire it due to poor financial health in 2004, in a response to which it was acquired by [[SCi Games]] the year after.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2015/03/it-felt-like-robbery-tomb-raider-and-the-fall-of-core-design/3/ |title="It felt like robbery": Tomb Raider and the fall of Core Design — PAge 3 |website=[[Ars Technica]] |date=31 March 2015 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161126210813/http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2015/03/it-felt-like-robbery-tomb-raider-and-the-fall-of-core-design/3/ |archive-date=26 November 2016}}</ref>}} from another unsuccessful game—to give development duties for future titles to [[Crystal Dynamics]], another Eidos subsidiary.<ref name="OPM-93"/><ref name="PSM-77">{{cite magazine |magazine=[[PlayStation: The Official Magazine|PlayStation Magazine]] |publisher=[[US Imagine Publishing]] |author=Staff |title=The Next Tomb Raider |pages=57–60 |issue=77 |date=November 2003}}</ref> The ''[[Legacy of Kain]]'' development team began work on a new title (''Tomb Raider: Legend''), which would essentially reboot the franchise, significantly changing her origin story, with Toby Gard returning to work as a consultant.<ref name="IGNhistory"/><ref name="GI-146">{{cite magazine |magazine=[[Game Informer]] |publisher=GameStop |author=Staff |title=Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Legend Preview |pages=80–81 |issue=146 |date=June 2005}}</ref> The development team reassessed the brand value of the franchise and its protagonist. Chip Blundell, Eidos's vice-president of brand management, commented that the designers understood that fans saw the character and brand as their own, rather than Eidos's.<ref name="OPM-93"/> With that in mind, the team retooled the franchise and character to emphasise aspects of the original game that made them unique.<ref name="OPM-93"/><ref name="GI-148">{{cite magazine |magazine=[[Game Informer]] |publisher=GameStop |author=Staff |title=Tomb Raider Legend Preview |page=87 |issue=148 |date=August 2005}}</ref> The storyline intended for a trilogy of games that started with ''The Angel of Darkness'' was abandoned and a new plot was created for ''Legend''.<ref name="OPM-93"/>

Crystal Dynamics focused on believability rather than realism to re-develop the character, posing decisions around the question, "What could Lara do?", and giving her action more freedom.<ref>{{cite magazine |magazine=[[PlayStation: The Official Magazine]] |publisher=[[Future Publishing]] |date=October 2008 |issue=11 |title=Tomb Raider: Underworld Preview |page=48 |first=Gary |last=Steinman}}</ref> The designers updated Lara Croft's move set to make her movements appear more fluid and continuous. The animations were also updated so the character could better interact with environmental objects.<ref name="GI-146"/> The developers introduced a feature that causes the character's skin and clothing to appear wet after swimming and dirty after rolling on the ground.<ref name="GI-146"/><ref name="PSM-105">{{cite magazine |magazine=[[PlayStation: The Official Magazine|PlayStation Magazine]] |publisher=[[US Imagine Publishing]] |first=Kaiser |last=Hwang |title=Tomb Raider: Legend Preview |pages=44–45 |issue=105 |date=Winter 2005}}</ref> Responding to criticism directed at the character controls in ''The Angel of Darkness'', Crystal Dynamics redesigned the character's control scheme to provide what it felt was the best third-person action experience.<ref name="OPM-93"/> The developers also introduced close-quarter melee manoeuvres.<ref name="PTOM-3">{{cite magazine |magazine=[[PlayStation: The Official Magazine]] |publisher=[[Future Publishing]] |date=January 2008 |issue=3 |title=Tomb Raider 8 Preview |pages=20–22 |first=Randy |last=Nelson}}</ref> Crystal Dynamics updated the character model to add more realism, but retained past design elements.<ref name="GI-146"/><ref name="PSM-105"/> The polygon count increased to over 9,800. More attention was paid to the character's lip synching and facial expressions to allow for dynamic emotional responses to in-game events.<ref name="GI-146"/> In redesigning the character's appearance, Crystal Dynamics updated Croft's hairstyle, wardrobe, and accessories. Her shirt was changed to a V-neck crop top, her body was given more muscle tone, and her hair braid was switched to a ponytail.<ref name="PCGamer-166"/><ref name="CVG-2008"/><ref name="OPM-93"/> The voice actor for Lara Croft was initially rumoured to be [[Rachel Weisz]], but the role was eventually given to [[Keeley Hawes]].<ref name="IGNhistory"/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.1up.com/news/rachel-weisz-voice-lara-croft |title=Rachel Weisz to Voice Lara Croft? |first=Scott |last=Sharkey |website=1UP.com |date=12 January 2006 |access-date=9 March 2010 |archive-date=17 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121017081854/http://www.1up.com/news/rachel-weisz-voice-lara-croft |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.next-gen.biz/news/news-snips-0224 |title=News Snips 02/24 |author=Staff |magazine=[[Edge (magazine)|Edge]] |date=23 February 2006 |access-date=9 March 2010 |archive-date=15 January 2013 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130115033913/http://www.edge-online.com/news/news-snips-0224/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Crystal Dynamics retained the design changes for the next game, ''Tomb Raider: Anniversary'', a remake of the first game.<ref name="IGNhistory"/><ref name="GI-165-Preview">{{cite magazine |magazine=[[Game Informer]] |publisher=GameStop |author=Staff |title=Tomb Raider Anniversary Preview |pages=72–73 |issue=165 |date=January 2007}}</ref> The designers aimed to portray Croft with more emotional depth, and focused on the character's desire to achieve the end goal of the game, culminating in killing one of the antagonists. The developers used the death to evoke guilt in Croft afterward and illustrate that shooting a person should be a difficult choice.<ref>{{cite video game |title=Tomb Raider: Anniversary |developer=Crystal Dynamics |publisher=Eidos Interactive |date=2007 |level=Natla's Mine commentary}}</ref>

[[File:Keeley Hawes phone pic 08.jpg|thumb|left|alt=A blond haired woman in a white dress facing right with a large group of people in the background.|[[Keeley Hawes]] portrayed Lara in the most games, starting with ''[[Tomb Raider: Legend]]'' in 2006.]]
''Tomb Raider: Underworld'' continued the plot line established in ''Legend''.<ref name="CVG-2008"/> Crystal Dynamics used new technology to improve the character for [[Seventh generation of video game consoles|seventh-generation consoles]], focusing on improving realism. The dirt accumulation and water cleansing [[Game mechanics|mechanic]] from ''Legend'' was altered to be a [[Real-time computer graphics|real-time]] mechanic that can involve the entire game environment.<ref name="CVG-2008"/><ref name="Play-GoG5-5">{{cite journal |journal=[[Play (US magazine)|Play Magazine Presents Girls of Gaming]] |title=The Evolution of an Icon |issue=5 |publisher=Fusion Publishing |author=Staff |year=2008|volume=5}}</ref><ref name="GI-183">{{cite magazine |magazine=[[Game Informer]] |publisher=GameStop |author=Staff |title=Tomb Raider: Underworld Preview |pages=74–75 |issue=183 |date=July 2008}}</ref> To achieve a more natural appearance, the developers added [[spherical harmonics]] to provide indirect lighting to in-game objects like Lara Croft.<ref name="GI-183"/> Crystal Dynamics made the character model more complex and detailed than previous instalments, featuring more texture layers that determine the appearance of shadows and reflective light on it, and using [[skeletal animation]] to portray believable movement.<ref name="Play-GoG5-5"/> The number of polygons in the model increased to 32,000.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2010/12/06/lara-croft_3a00_-the-evolution.aspx?PostPageIndex=5 |title=Lara Croft: The Evolution |magazine=Game Informer |first=Meagan |last=Marie |date=7 December 2010 |access-date=27 January 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101211051905/http://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2010/12/06/lara-croft_3a00_-the-evolution.aspx?PostPageIndex=5 |archive-date=11 December 2010}}</ref> The developers enhanced Croft's facial model by increasing the number of polygons, bones used in the animation skeleton, and graphical shaders in the face to add more detail and expressive capabilities. The hair was created as a real-time cloth [[Computer simulation|simulation]] to further add realism to its shape and movement. The developers kept Croft's hair tied back because they felt a real person would not want it flying around while performing dangerous manoeuvres.<ref name="Play-GoG5-5"/> The character's body size was increased and breast size reduced to portray more realistic proportions.<ref name="CVG-2008"/>

The developers tried to redefine Lara Croft's actions by questioning what they felt the character was capable of.<ref name="GI-178">{{cite magazine |magazine=[[Game Informer]] |publisher=GameStop |author=Staff |title=Tomb Raider: Underworld Preview |pages=66–67 |issue=178 |date=February 2008}}</ref> While previous games used hand-animated movement for the character, ''Underworld'' introduced [[motion capture]]-based animation to display more fluid, realistic movement and facial expressions.<ref name="CVG-2008"/><ref name="GI-183"/><ref name="PTOM-9">{{cite magazine |magazine=[[PlayStation: The Official Magazine]] |publisher=[[Future Publishing]] |date=August 2008 |issue=9 |title=Tomb Raider: Underworld Preview |page=48 |first=Rob |last=Smith}}</ref> Stuntwoman and Olympic Gold medalist Heidi Moneymaker was the motion capture actress, and advised the designers on practical movements.<ref name="CVG-2008"/> Animators adjusted and blended the recorded animation to create seamless transitions between the separate moves and their simultaneous combinations.<ref name="GI-178"/><ref>{{cite magazine |magazine=[[Edge (magazine)|Edge]] |publisher=[[Future Publishing]] |title=Tomb Raider: Underworld |page=95 |author=Staff |date=Christmas 2008 |issue=196}}</ref> The blends and additional animations give the character more flexible movement.<ref name="Play-GoG5-5"/> Actions were overlapped to allow for multitasking, such as aiming at two separate targets and shooting with one hand while the other holds an object collected from the environment.<ref name="PTOM-3"/><ref name="GI-178"/> Other additions include more melee attacks, as well as contextual offensive and climbing manoeuvres.<ref name="GI-178"/><ref name="Edge-186">{{cite magazine |magazine=[[Edge (magazine)|Edge]] |title=Tomb Raider: Underworld |pages=34–35 |publisher=[[Future Publishing]] |author=Staff |date=March 2008 |issue=186}}</ref> Crystal Dynamics sought to make the visual appearance of the [[Xbox 360]] and [[PlayStation 3]] versions identical, although the systems used different techniques to achieve this.<ref name="Play-GoG5-5"/> In response to ''Underworld''{{'}}s lackluster sales figures, Eidos reportedly considered altering the character's appearance to appeal more to female fans.<ref name="GI-191">{{cite magazine |magazine=[[Game Informer]] |publisher=GameStop |author=Staff |title=Connect: Lara Croft's Makeover |page=28 |issue=191 |date=March 2009}}</ref>