Spyro the Dragon: Attack of the Rhynocs Developer Diary, Part 3

Like any role-playing game, we wanted our main character to undergo some significant development over time, something Spyro had never done in past adventures. Previously, most power-ups lasted a limited time, and Spyro crossed the finish line in pretty much the same condition as he started. In contrast, we introduced a wide variety of abilities to be collected, breath weapons and otherwise, all of them permanent once acquired, and all necessary or extremely useful in finishing the game. Among our favorite special abilities are the wind weapons, the most powerful of the three being a huge spectacular electrical tornado- not to be missed! In addition to collecting this spectrum of new abilities and in keeping with the traditional RPG model, Attack of the Rhynocs was given a new, slightly more elaborate inventory system. We couldn't bear the thought of forcing players to collect yet another batch of one hundred mostly identical cute things, so a huge number of unique artifacts were created, each with their own colorful description, and each useful in some way or another. It's actually an inordinate amount of fun to sift through the journal now, simply to catch up on what crazy things you've picked up along the way. Among our favorite additions to the game are the various creatures that inhabit the lands. While lending added flavor to each of the themes, they are also extremely useful and fun. Learning how to make use of these creatures in combination with Spyro's newfound abilities is key to unlocking and traversing the terrain. This is a major step beyond previous Spyros that based entry to new realms on whether or not you'd collected the minimum number of gems or identical cute things. The Walrus, though a bit tricky to use at first, makes almost everyone laugh when they first give it a go, and that's a great feeling for us. One of my personal favorite changes was the obliteration of the 'Game Over' screen. I strongly feel that a limited number of lives is a relic of arcade history and that regularly forcing people through a bunch of menu screens is simply not fun. Unlimited lives is not a new concept, but there was a surprising amount of resistance to it, especially from within the team. People thought it would make the game too easy or take away strategy, but to the contrary, it quickly proved a welcome change.

Another of my favorite aspects of the game is, as mentioned, the fact that access to lands is now based almost entirely on the player's skill and acquired abilities. Although progress through the game is vaguely similar to the way Spyro games previously unfolded, the points at which new areas are opened up are now almost invisible. The result is exploration that feels extremely open ended, with a story that is not and does not feel entirely linear, without ever leaving the player wondering what there is to do next. So, in the end, we're all thrilled with how Spyro: Attack of the Rhynocs turned out. We finally got to give Spyro and his universe the treatment we always wanted to. The game is full of big and little surprises, and in many ways, we feel this game delivers a complexity and lushness previously unseen in this license's products. We sincerely hope fans will feel the same! - Ryan Slemko Art Director and Lead Designer on 'Spyro: Attack of the Rhynocs' at Digital Eclipse Software Incorporated.

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