Ubisoft gets Lost

by ERIK LEIJON

Anyone who’s ever been a hardcore fan of a television show can appreciate the difficult task faced by Ubisoft Montreal when they were developing a video game based on the hit ABC show Lost.

Video game adaptations of TV shows and movies have been getting slightly better in recent years, likely because those involved with the source material have been more hands-on in guiding the game developers. Such is the case with Lost: Via Domus (X360, PS3, PC/Ubisoft, Ubisoft Montreal), where producer Gadi Pollack (an admitted fan of the show before getting the gig) worked hand-in-hand with the Lost creative team of J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof.

“The first thing we had to ask was, what are the rules of the show?” says Pollack, who first met with the Lost creators in August of 2006. “Thank God the guys (Abrams et al.) were big gamers, so they had a good understanding of what could and couldn’t be done.”

It’s an adventure game based primarily on the interactions between the show’s characters. Pollack says they spent more time than usual on character modelling—taking nine months to get all 20 main characters just right, including one new person who also happens to be the main hero.

It may have been controversial to inject a new character into the Lost canon (the game takes place over the first two seasons, and begins with the plane crash that leaves them stranded)—especially considering the rabid fandom of the show’s followers—but it was the only way to provide a new experience within the Lost universe without upsetting the main stories of Locke and the gang of castaways.

“The game does not answer any of the questions about the show,” says Pollack. “We wrote a typical Hollywood ending for it, but we eventually made another ending—in the show’s spirit—that’ll keep you asking questions even after it’s done.”

The main character loses his memory in the plane crash and lives through flashbacks that explain bit by bit who he really is. The flashback scenes are fully playable. The idea to create a stand-alone game that didn’t mess with the show’s story was also pivotal in attracting gamers who weren’t up to date on the latest episodes, or perhaps had never watched the show at all.

To get a feel from fans and non-fans alike, the team went to Cincinnati, Ohio to ask what bland, middle America would want in a Lost game. What they learned in the focus groups was that people wanted to be in control of flashbacks and cutscenes, and that Lost should always keep the player thinking.

The game was built using the Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter (GRAW) engine, although mostly just for the creation of terrain. Unlike the action-packed military tactical shooter GRAW, most of the big moments in Lost: Via Domus stem from the “choose your own adventure”-style dialogue.

“We’ve heard before that there are no adventure games on consoles anymore, we’re missing that grassroots adventure game,” says Pollack, “this is a game for people who want something that’s story-driven.”

To maintain the thematic pacing of the television series, the game is broken up into seven episodes of about an hour each. Every episode then has its own unique cliffhangers and gasp inducing moments.

LAN locked

Fancy yourself a great Call of Duty 4 or Counter-Strike 1.6 player? Have a really kick-ass PC worthy of showing off? This year’s LAN ETS gaming marathon will be happening from March 14–16 at the École de Technologie Supérieure. For those interested in playing continuously for 48 hours, tickets are $55 at the door. For sign-up information and a full list of games being played, visit www2.lanets.ca/index.php