Summary
It’s been a while since there’s been any significantIndiana Jonesgame released. There were a handful of titles in the ’00s, including twoLego games, but since then, Indie has been quiet. That was until 2021, when Lucasfilm andBethesdaannouncedIndiana Jones and the Great Circle, coming from MachineGames.
The game is set for release in a little over a month, and ahead of launch, TheGamer sat down with design director Jens Andersson, who told us just how difficult it was tonail Indie’s bullwhipping action.
The Whipping Difficulty
When asked how hard it was to deal withIndiana Jones' whip, Andersson told us, “It is a very difficult thing, yeah.”
“Obviously, Indiana Jones is such an iconic character from the get-go, the whip has to be front and center. It’s even more difficult in first-person, I would say, because it’s right there in front of you. So getting that right has been something we worked really hard on for a long time.”
The MachineGames team faced multiple struggles when attempting to nail the look and feel of the whip. “Trying to combine the physicality of it with the gameplay. So it’s a combination of animated stuff and physical stuff. Using it up on a beam there and having it wrap around, that wasn’t very easy to get right. But it’s also important not only how it behaves but how it looks, how it feels, the texture of it. Also, there’s the sound.”
Obviously, Indiana Jones is such an iconic character from the get-go, the whip has to be front and center.
Rather than settle for something inauthentic, the team went to extraordinary lengths to nail the sound the game’s whip makes. “We actually worked with a Swedish bullwhip champion. We went to his place up north in Sweden, and the audio guys recorded the sound as he showed us how to properly use it. It doesn’t look like when Indie uses it, but it sounds very good. So just a lot of attention to detail on trying to get that right,” Andersson said.
If you’re wondering what a bullwhip champion does, you’re not the only one, with Andersson trying to explain the situation to us. “Apparently there are competitions, I don’t know exactly what they’re doing. Accuracy, speed, that kind of thing.”
You can read our extendedIndiana Jones and the Great Circle preview right here.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
WHERE TO PLAY
Uncover one of history’s greatest mysteries in Indiana Jones and the Great Circle™, a first-person, single-player adventure set between the events ofRaiders of the Lost ArkandThe Last Crusade. The year is 1937, sinister forces are scouring the globe for the secret to an ancient power known as the Great Circle, and only one person can stop them - Indiana Jones. You’ll become the legendary archaeologist in this cinematic action-adventure game from MachineGames, the award winning studio behind the recent Wolfenstein series, and executive produced by Hall of Fame game designer Todd Howard.
