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At E3 1999, Black & White's 3D engine, programmed by Cottier, made its triumphant debut. |
Once again dressed in black, Molyneux began to tell the story of Black & White. The archaic test bed with green lines and pixel people was gone--all eyes were on the worm as Molyneux slowly started to zoom out: first you saw the apple on a barrel, then you saw the barrel next to a hut, and then you saw a group of huts. Eventually, Molyneux had zoomed so far out that you had a bird's eye view of the entire world of Eden. It was one continuous zoom with no slowdown. For once, Molyneux didn't need to say a thing. The visuals spoke for themselves. The 3D programmers had delivered the ideal engine. More specifically, Cottier had programmed an amazing 3D engine, validating Molyneux's choice in hiring him.
With the engine nearly complete, Molyneux's demo at E3 had remarkable detail to it. He showed the creatures in the world, the interface of slapping or petting, and debuted the gesture recognition system for casting spells. All in all, Black & White looked like an incredible toy box, filled with fun things to do, such as replanting trees and throwing little villagers around. The buzz about the game was incredible, but quietly, some questioned whether there was actually a game behind such a unique simulation.
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Molyneux says he always dreaded the question about whether Black & White would have a storyline. |
"You know, the question I always dreaded in press interviews was 'OK, Peter, how does the game end?'" Molyneux says. "I would sort of say, 'It's to do what you want to do,' but it was always sort of a willy-nilly answer, to be honest with you." Molyneux knew that he had to somehow make Black & White into more than just a big open-ended game universe. "The trouble with complete freedom in any world is that it can become boring--without objectives or a story to encourage you to go on, there is no incentive to keep playing," he says. While Molyneux and the team knew this from the outset, they never quite nailed down the story details in time for E3. Coming away from the show, the team knew that the story aspect was one of the most important pieces that needed to fall into place. Still, the buzz about the game was enormous. The E3 game critics judged Black & White as the most original game at the show in 1999.
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Team Lionhead celebrates the millennium. |
Back at Lionhead, the team was elated by the positive E3 reception. The second half of 1999 was marked by a lot of hard albeit uneventful work on the game. The team took a break for millennium celebrations, but when it returned in early 2000, it was time to start to pull together all the disparate pieces and hopefully have them coalesce into a compelling game.
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