THE MAKING OF
~fS /I1Ah'~~Y //Y:
A Conversation With Steve Cartwright And Sam Nelson by Charlotte Taylor Skeel
n the summer of 1990, the world of entertainment soft~
ware was introduced to Les ManleyTM. A naive yet forth~ right employee of a Manhattan television station, Les mustered up enough courage to embark on a Search for The King"' , the world's greatest and most elusive musical entertainer. Those of you with the
disappearances. Armed only
chutzpah to help Les Man ley
with ch arisma, technical training
complete his adventure know
and his signature bow-tie, Les must travel to the nation's mo-s-t --~
~------------------------~-that he triumphed.
Les actually
found The King. He also won
talked-about community and
sole proprietorship of the
find Helmut without falling
telev ision station from owners
victim to the temptations of the
who once barely acknowledged
Southern California lifestyle. Packed fu ll of special effects,
his ex istence. N ow Les is about
to
take up
rea l actors and models, and
a completely new adventure.
driven by a completely new
Still living in N ew York City,
interface, Lost in L.A . promises
he's been invited
to
to
Southern
amuse and challenge adven -
California by h is old fr iend from
turers for hours. According to
Search for The King, Helmut Bean".
Steve Cartwright, who continues
You may recall that Helmut is
his role as designer at the helm
the World's Smallest Man. Once
of the largest development team
a freak act in a circus, h e's now
ever assembled on a single
an ultra-famous Hollywood stunt
project at A ccolade, "Lost in L.A.
double working on money-saving,
is the closest we've come to
miniaturized sets.
making a movie. We've man-
Tragically, before Les can get
to
the left coast, Helmut
aged
to
Steve Cartwright , designer of "Lost in L.A:'
poke fun at the whole
L.A. lifestyle, from lifeguards and
becomes the latest victim in a
beach bunnies
string of mysterious celebrity
talent agents."
to
celebrities and
"Lost in L.A . is the closest Accolade has come to making a movie:'
Real People
I
ndeed, it's the cast of
Ironically, the discovery of
Cartwright, Nelson, and the rest
characters that ultimately
the Les Manley character turned
of the development team, it felt
sets Lost in L.A. apart. All
out to be as quirky as Les himself.
very much like producing a movie.
major characters in the game are
An Accolade employee spotted
"More than 25
played by real people. According
Johnny Orason in a bar in North-
actors as well
to Sam Nelson, senior producer on
ern California. Noticing Orason's
as producers,
the project, sketches were drawn
uncanny resemblance to the
programmers, a
and personality profiles were
illustration of Les Manley on the
profeSSional
created for each character. Then
package of Search for The King, the
screenwriter,
professional actors and models
employee convinced him to
matte artists,
were painstakingly auditioned and
audition for the part. Orason, a
musicians,
cast for their parts.
UPS delivery man and a baseball
cameramen ,
umpire, never dreamed he'd be
and lighting
and looked hard for people whose
wrestling with two gorgeous oiled
technicians
facial and physical expressions
women in a graphic adventure.
worked on this
could capture the personalities of
"I've done things that were less
project," said
our ch aracters," said N elson, who
fun," he admits.
Nelson. "It's
"We went to talent agencies
points in particular to photographs
Even staring at gorgeous
of Tracy Kibort and Allyson Beaulieu,
bikini-clad bodies all day becomes
most ambitious
the two models cast to play the
a business after awhile. "Not that
project we've
parts of LaFonda Turner'" and
we hated it, but to videotape all
engaged in
Maladonml': "Of course, we also
the models took from three to four
here at
looked for sex appeal. Some of our
months," sa id Nelson. "Some-
Accolade ."
cast have appeared in Playboy®, or
times it would take all day just to
have held such titles as Miss Legs
get one shot." The videotaping
H awaii, Miss Body Beautiful
included studio sess ions as well as
International and Miss Maui Sun:'
several on- location shoots. For
Both painstaking auditions and quirky luck led the makers of Lost in L.A. to (from left) Tracy Kibort, Johnny Orason and Allyson Beaulieu, who play characters LaFonda Turner, Les Manley and Maladonna, respectively .
A lighting technician gives a final /1il) to
Maladonna's (Allyson Beaulieu's) ponytail for a studio session.
certainly the
Producer Sam Nelson helps direct the filming of characrers "Oisty & Misty" for the Venice Beach sequence. Each live shoot had to be mericulously sraged to march background paintings.
One of the project's graphic artists, Matt Davison, gives a weapons lesson to Lost in L.A.'s art director Justin Chin, who donned
special make-up for his role.
"Some of our cast have appeared in Playboy, or have held such titles as Miss Legs Hawaii , Miss Body Beautiful International and Miss Maui Sun:'
Is It Real ... Or Illusion?
T
he decision to use real
Smm videotape. Chin then
people rather than
devised an exclusive method for
illustrated characters
integrating digitized frames of
in the game was an easy choice.
video with matte paintings
Cartwright contends consumers
handpainted in oils.
tend to prefer digitized photos over illustrated characters. "We
"I t' s very difficult, if not impossible, to tell where the live video ends and the illustrations begin~'
"Justin's activities on this project were more akin to a
found we could take a beautifully
cinematographer," says
rendered, very detailed illustration
Cartwright. "The results are
and put it next to a digitized
spectacular. The digitization is
photograph. More often than not
clear and detailed, and it's very
people will select the digitized
difficult, if not impossible, to tell
photo, even if
where the live video ends and the
it's fuzzy and
illustrations begin."
dark. The photo is more realistic, more convincing. Peop le want
Creating screens for Lost in L. A . was a threestep process. First , an artist hand/Jainted a background, using oils on canvas.
Next, live actors were shot in 8mm videotape, then individuaL frames digitized. Here, Les (Johnn)' Orason! is filmed "at the computer."
realism in their
ven with great graphics,
games."
any designer knows you
But the
don't h ave a great game
team also
without a gripping storyline and
decided that
tireless gameplay. "We've worked
"fuzzy and
very hard to create a story that
dark" photo
draws the player into the game,"
digitization
stressed Cartwright. With a
would not be
writing team that included a
acceptable for
published author of fiction and a
Lost in L.A.
screenwriter, the team made
After testing
certain that every move Les
and the computer will give you
several
Manley makes has some relation
choices appropriate to that
alternatives,
to the central storyline. "None of
object," says Cartwright. Neither
Justin Chin,
the puzzles are illogical, none of
the richness nor challenge of the
Accolade's art
the clues are arbitrary," explained
game is sacrificed in any way.
director on the
Cartwright.
"The game lets the player select
project,
Finally , the two images were in tegrated by Accolade artists to create a seamless marriage of art and life.
The Challenge Is In The Game, Not In The Interface
With lessons learned from the
"Lost in L.A. 's" new point & click interface alleviates frustration without sacrificing richness of gameplay.
from a number of obvious choices
decided to
original user interface used in
via text windows, but it will not
shoot the
Search for The King, and from
plot your strategy, and it will not
actors using
consumer feedback about other
make your decisions for you.
graphic adventures on the market,
What it does do is alleviate the
an entirely new, simple point-and-
frustration of knowing what
click interface was developed.
to do, but not knowing how to
"You select anything on screen,
communicate it."
The Start Of Something Big
T
he making of Lost in
Though more is better, it
L.A. has resulted in
means it takes more people and
a beautifully "photo-
more singu lar expertise in key
graphed" game and a gripping
areas. "The days of the one-person
piece of entertainment for fans
game are over, and these hugely
of graphic adventures. But even
collaborative efforts, as we have
more so, it signals the onset of a
experienced with Lost in L.A.,
trend that is just now beginning
are resulting in computer games
to make its way into computer
like we've never seen before,"
game studios. As personal
concluded C artwright. "The
computers become more power-
future of computer games is in
ful, game manufacturers are given
enormous quantities of realistic
"The future of computer games is in enormous quantities of realistic graphics, sounds and music ultimately resulting in much more cinematic experiences ."
the capability to create more
graphics, sounds and music
sophisticated games. And as
ultimately resulting in much
computer gamers become more
more cinematic experiences. As
Charlotte Taylor Skeel is
sophisticated, they in tum, want
computer games get bigger, their
Corporate Communications
games that offer more and better
credits will begin to resemble the
Manager at Accolade, Inc.
everything.
credits for a motion picture."
and a l)rofessional writer.
ACC' )lA[)['. The best in entertainment software.'·
550 S. Winchester Blvd. , San Jose, CA 95128
Les Manley, Helmut Bean , Search for The King, LaFondl.1 Turner, Maladonna rmd Les Manley in Lost in LA. flrC trade marks of Accolnde , Inc. Playboy is a registered trademark of Playboy Enterprises, Inc. © 199 1,1 992 Accolade, Inc.
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