Anything worth doing is worth doing right, and doing Indiana Jones—the man, the myth, the legendary IP—right has been a common goal at MachineGames since day one. Licensed IP has a shaky reputation in the game industry and can also be a huge financial risk. While most licensed games today are better, there was a time when they shipped simply to support movies and were not always the most well-made. And the development of these games can come at a higher cost than an original IP. Despite that risk, MachineGames was devoted to making Indiana Jones and The Great Circle the best possible Indiana Jones game it could be; it was simply love for the cultural iconoclast.
For The Best War Games Advance, we spoke to several developers at MachineGames about Indiana Jones and The Great Circle, and their passion for Indiana Jones was on full display. Executive producer Jerk Gustafsson, creative director Axel Torvenius, design director Jens Andersson, and lead narrative designer Tommy Tordsson Björk had a lot to say about the Indiana Jones franchise and how it has influenced not only their work on the game, but also their life as a whole. That meant it was worth doing and worth doing right, which manifested into Indiana Jones and The Great Circle's first and main design goal: "We want you to feel like Indiana Jones."
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It's a simple declarative statement, but when speaking to the team, it's clear how much that statement embodies every design and story choice. From the first-person perspective (with third person for contextual scenes) to Indiana Jones and The Great Circle's combat approach, this is a game about embodying Indiana Jones and making the choices he would make, and ensuring those choices feel legitimate means making Indy feel legitimate. That was a worthy challenge in an entertainment industry that has taught players to pick up the gun and shoot the red barrel (not recommended in Indiana Jones and The Great Circle). There hasn't been a major brand new Indiana Jones game since the now-defunct Indiana Jones Adventure World was released on Facebook in 2011, so the importance of Indiana Jones and The Great Circle to the IP's future in the gaming industry is not lost on anyone, especially not MachineGames. Getting there, though, was its own long adventure.
The Great Circle is a Treasure Worth Pursuing
Indiana Jones has a passion, if not an outright obsession, with history, treasure, and adventure, and The Great Circle is that for Todd Howard in many ways. Every creative has an idea that they've nursed for so long, being worried it would never come to life in the right way. Howard has nursed this idea since at least 2009. While the core idea has likely changed in many ways, it's worth pointing out that the Bethesda Game Studios director pitched an Indiana Jones game to George Lucas and Lucasfilm around 2009, but the two parties couldn't come to an agreement.
Once Lucasfilm greenlit the collaboration, Howard brought the Indiana Jones IP to MachineGames. There are a lot of reasons that could play a factor in this decision: Wolfenstein has made punching and fighting Nazis fun, MachineGames' developers have a history of working with established characters and brands throughout their collective careers, and/or it could have been the friendship and respect that MachineGames has developed with its sister studios over the years. Still, Gustafsson said, he was "surprised, but also deeply honored" when Howard asked if they would be interested in making the game. As Gustafsson continued:
For many of us here at MachineGames, Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark was one of those magic childhood movie moments, and getting the opportunity to work with a character like Indiana Jones was mind-blowing, to say the least.
Then, the work began.
According to Torvenius, the first weeks, months, and year of the project focused on "research, coffee, and iteration." Of course, MachineGames worked closely with Lucasfilm Games throughout the production cycle, with both parties interested in nothing less than the best for Indiana Jones. This is why they constantly iterated, tried to push the envelope in experience and design, and still make the game a genuine MachineGames Indiana Jones experience. It was around this time that its main pillar was established, the statement that served as the driving force for everything Indiana Jones and The Great Circle would become: "We want you to feel like Indiana Jones."
Gustafsson explained that Howard had long thought about the story idea around The Great Circle, but it was developed in-house at MachineGames in collaboration with Howard. He had the nuts and bolts, and MachineGames had the tools. The team decided to use Raiders of the Lost Ark as the key reference for The Great Circle and spent uncountable man-hours studying Indy as a character, figuring out his personality, and fleshing out his life between Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Last Crusade. All of this was, of course, supported by Lucasfilm Games, with Gustafsson explaining, "The help and support from Lucasfilm Games with their massive knowledge of everything Indy has also been invaluable to really get to the depth of Indiana Jones and create a personal and interesting journey for him."
Together, Howard, MachineGames, and Lucasfilm Games developed a singular vision for the title. Gustaffson also explained that, while specific features and beats have been changed throughout development, the team has been "very good at sticking to [their] plan" since writing that first story synopsis. This shared love and vision made everything that followed possible.
The Full Circle
Just like little details can define a game, little details can define a career. Design director Jens Andersson's relationship with Indiana Jones and The Great Circle far exceeds anything you might normally expect. Andersson was previously hired to work on an Indiana Jones game in 2009, but the project was shut down before he even started. Come 2022, Andersson gets to finish an adventure that almost started 15 years ago. When asked what it feels like to be at the finish line now, Andersson explained,
I had the pleasure to spend a couple of years at LucasArts and ILM in San Francisco. It was truly an amazing experience, and it not only allowed me to peek behind the curtain - it also increased my respect for the Indiana Jones and Star Wars franchises as well as all the people behind them. The amount of thought and love that goes into creating new stories in those worlds is staggering. While my ambition for going there was to work on Indiana Jones, I sadly never got the opportunity to do so. So, there’s a feeling of redemption with being able to work on Indiana Jones and The Great Circle now working at MachineGames here in Sweden. For me, Indiana Jones personifies adventure, and much of why I want to develop video games is to be able to create adventures that wouldn’t be otherwise possible.
Making games is a dream for many. Getting to make a game based on the IP that inspires your core game development philosophies is next level, and waiting so long is a testament to Andersson's love for Indiana Jones and game development.
The end result for Howard, Andersson, Gustafsson, Torvenius, Björk, and every developer at MachineGames is simple. 12 years after Howard's initial pitch, Bethesda and Lucasfilm would announce plans to release a new Indiana Jones video game in 2021. 15 years later, fans will finally be able to dive into the game soon.
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Putting the Indy into Indiana Jones and The Great Circle
There's Only One Way to Represent Indy: Right
Not once, Torvenius explained, did MachineGames consider doing a "new" look for Indy or anything less than capturing the physical and mental image of Indiana Jones. The goal, from the start, was to get a close, accurate likeness - anything less would simply be doing it wrong. To accomplish this, Lucasfilm Games provided MachineGames with access to its archives, including images from old movie sets, photos of Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones, and more to help inform the character artists building out the details of Indiana Jones. From there, it was a ton of technical work by character artists, engineers, technical animators, and many more to accomplish this. MachineGames spared no resources in making Indy right.
Of course, this includes Indiana Jones' actor: Troy Baker. Everything MachineGames learned about the physical mannerisms of Indiana Jones, things no one would consider, Troy Baker learned too. Combine that research with line readings, facial expressions, and physical mannerisms to mimic a young Harrison Ford, elements that would be translated into Ford's in-engine mesh. Baker did all of this while wearing a mocap suit, donning a head-mounted camera, and acting out full scenes. Everyone gave nothing but their best, and Torvenius had nothing but nice things to say about Troy Baker's performance as Harrison Ford.
Figuring Out The Personality of Indy
It's one thing to love Indiana Jones for who he is, but it's completely another thing to understand who he is. Lucasfilm Games' archive no doubt helped here, but so did the movies. Torvenius explained how they would watch the movies and try to categorize his characteristics:
- Charming
- Resource
- A Bit Clumsy
- Very Human
- Passionate, Almost Obsessed
- A Specific Humor
In short, Torvenius says MachineGames summarized Indy as a "superhero but with no superpowers." MachineGames recognized it wasn't enough to nail personality traits or Indiana Jones' physical appearance, as there's so much to him. Indiana Jones has his hat and whip, which are characters in their own right. Taking all of this, including the unquantifiable elements of Indiana Jones, and mixing all of that with overgrown temples, intricate puzzles, satisfying combat, and a really captivating story, Torvenius says, makes an Indiana Jones adventure.
The Great Circle of Game Design
Making an Indiana Jones Adventure
Even if Indiana Jones was done right, it would matter little if the world of Indiana Jones was not done right. Everything from the design of the adventure to the overarching story, from the design of the locations to the puzzles within them, and from combat that emphasizes brawling in a world of guns—it all had to line up like a Great Circle.
As Björk explained, "Great Circles are actual navigational terms used for plotting the shortest distances between two points on the globe. According to Britannica.com, a great circle route is the 'shortest course between two points on the surface of a sphere.' The equator and meridians crossing over the north and south poles are also great circles. The Great Circle in our story is made when drawing a line between the greatest wonders of the world."
The Second Wonder: The Story & The Mystery
Indiana Jones and The Great Circle takes place in 1937, between the events of Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Last Crusade. Jones pursues the theft of a Marshall College artifact, which takes him to the Vatican. He learns that there is a Great Circle between the greatest wonders left in the world, teams up with Gina Lombardi in pursuing the truth and history of this circle, and goes up against Emmerich Voss and the would-be Axis Powers. It's simple but compelling, tapping into every element of Indiana Jones. The mystery about why this Great Circle exists and what powers or secrets it hides drives Indiana Jones and Emmerich Voss as they face off across the globe. This adventure sees Indy explore Thailand, Egypt, China, the Himalayas, and more. Obviously, not much else has been revealed about the story, but it features the same mysterious and dangerous appeal that every Indiana Jones adventure understands.
The Third Wonder: The Characters (Including the Hat and Whip)
The hat and whip are as iconic to Indiana Jones as he is to the franchise. Getting both right required as much work from MachineGames as any other element of the game. For example, to accurately create the whip of Indiana Jones, the team motion captured a whip master in Sweden. Indeed, it was treated like a character from capture to recording, and the whip even gets a dedicated button in Indiana Jones and The Great Circle.
Supporting characters are just as important and are treated as such. Locus (played by the late Tony Todd), Gina Lombardi (Alessandra Mastronardi), Emmerich Voss (Marios Gavrilis), and Marcus Brody (actor TBA) all help bring the world of Indiana Jones and The Great Circle to life. It seems that Indiana Jones plays off Gina Lombardi and Emmerich Voss the most, the former being his companion during this adventure and the latter being his antagonist. Not much has been revealed about Gina yet, however. She is an investigative journalist with a penchant for telling it like she sees it and not skirting the truth. She becomes part of an underground resistance against the Fascists in Italy and ends up meeting Indy in the Vatican, while both investigating The Great Circle.
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For Gina, this is personal, as her sister has been missing for quite some time. Her sister is an expert in dead languages, and Gina suspects Emmerich Voss has her. Björk explained all of this during our interview and added,
Gina will follow the player along as a companion for a large part of the main adventure and some of the side adventures, providing help during puzzle interactions and lending a hand when the two get into trouble with Voss’ stooges. For Gina, this is a matter that is as close to the heart as it comes. She and her sister have always had a strong bond, growing up in sometimes harsh conditions, but determined to do something useful with their lives – one pursuing the mysteries of history and the other pursuing the truth about the world.
The Fourth Wonder: The Villains of Indiana Jones
How Indiana Jones bounces off against his enemies is another important aspect of his character. The challenge of this, of course, is the fact that Indiana Jones has a great rogues gallery ranging from René Belloq to Walter Donovan. Now, that gallery will include Emmerich Voss. Voss is a Nazi archaeologist for the Third Reich Special Antiquities Collection, who is obsessed with himself, psychoanalysis, and the power of Nazi Germany. He is a master of manipulation, designed to get under the player's skin, and he serves as a foil to Indy's own underlying obsessions and passions (albeit of completely different moral compasses). In addition to these details, Björk also described Voss as,
"...very familiar with Indy and his work, their paths having crossed many times before this. After some revealing finds in North Africa led him in pursuit of the deeper truth behind the phenomenon referred to as “The Great Circle,” Voss has been getting increased funding to perform digs all over the world in the hope of finding something of great power that could benefit the Reich....[Voss] uses these analytical skills to seek out mental flaws in others and use them to his advantage, trying to push sensitive buttons to destabilize his opponents. Because that is what other people are to Voss – opponents in some great game that he has to win. And Indy is his most formidable opponent so far. Winning the race to find the truth about the Great Circle before Indy does is his personal obsession, one that he will go to great lengths to achieve."
Voss may represent the Reich, but Indiana Jones has a long history of upsetting the would-be Axis Powers. When asked about MachineGames' approach to their design in The Great Circle, Torvenius said,
Obviously, a lot of meticulous research has gone into studying uniforms and insignias from the time and era of the 1930s, trying to make sure we are as close and accurate as we possibly can when visually representing the enemies. Sometimes it's hard to be 100% accurate due to gameplay reasons such as clear visual differentiations between different enemies or, when we need to convey a certain type of game mechanics or behaviors an enemy has. But for most of the time, we take great pride in getting as close to historical accuracy as we can. The process for this is by research, concept art and sketches, and lots of photos for reference for the 3D art character team. A lot of these designs have also been going through external partners to make sure authenticity is where it needs to be.
The Fifth Wonder: Location, Location, Location
When asked how the team recreated real-world locations like the Vatican, Gizeh, Shanghai, and the Himalayas, Björk explained that "making the real-world locations feel authentic, not just from a historical perspective, but for the 1930s as well, has been our main focal point when developing the story." Indiana Jones and The Great Circle's 1930s angle was one of the biggest challenges for the team. Björk used locations in Sukhothai as an example, where the team looked at historical parks in the location, but quickly realized how different things would have looked nearly 100 years ago. Ruins and statues may be completely visible now, but they would have been covered in vegetation, hidden by trees, or completely laid apart in pieces. Dialing it back made it feel more unexplored and mysterious, which Björk said, made it even better for the game.
Of course, historical recreation is quite difficult, and creative liberty may be required for all kinds of reasons. There's a tightrope walk between honoring historical immersion, making the game fun, and ensuring that exploration is both rewarding and exciting is a challenge. But that balance is key, as Björk explained,
I think striking the balance there between where you can take actual liberties and where you need to preserve what is authentic is key to making this feel successful.
Björk also explained that this applies to the more fictional elements of the franchise as well. In Indiana Jones, it's impossible to have one without the other, as the fictional elements of the franchise are always based on real-life myths and legends, not complete inventions. This required the developers to research different religions, mythological storylines, and a lot of sources and documentation to make everything fit into the story of The Great Circle.
Beyond introducing world-famous locations and balancing history and fiction, there's also the franchise itself to honor. Marshall College plays no small role in Indiana Jones, and that had to be the same for the game. When asked how the team recreated Marshall College, Torvenius echoed Björk:
Hours and hours of looking at the scenes portraying Marshall College! A lot of work went into recreation maps, sketches, and wall art. And recreating some of the more iconic rooms like the classroom, for example, required a lot of attention from the environment artists in getting all the details right, down to the apple. At the same time, we have a lot of gameplay and navigation in the level, so we needed to make sure the level could support exploration while looking and feeling you are actually playing in Marshall College.
Indiana Jones' level design also ensures players are in some linear missions but also exploring open areas, which Andersson called "bombastic rollercoaster sections as well as areas where you can explore more freely." These elements serve two equally important elements of the game, which Andersson explained:
Having intense action sequences is such a big part of the movies, so we just needed good ones that worked well as a video game. These linear sections are also great for the twists and turns in the story because you can control the pacing better. The open areas are more about serving exploration. Giving the player the opportunity to roam free and explore and to discover secrets. The sense of wonder you get by finding an ancient scorpion-infested tomb in the deserts of Gizeh is much stronger if you didn’t know it was there in the first place. We wanted to encourage players who walk in the opposite direction, not only by a random collectible, but by regularly giving them something more substantial, like a mystery to solve or a puzzle to tinker with.
The Sixth Wonder: Adventurous Gameplay Designs
Level design isn't the only multi-purpose design in Indiana Jones and The Great Circle. Both its approach to puzzles and lack of a skill tree serve the fantasy of Indiana Jones and the role of the player as Indiana Jones. For example, puzzles and traps are iconic to the Indiana Jones franchise, but not every player enjoys solving puzzles. That plus the fact that some of Indiana Jones' most iconic movie traps wouldn't translate very well into a video game. As such, Andersson said the team looked to the movies for their feel and look, but gamified them on their own terms: find something in an ancient tomb that's riddled with critters or discover something hidden in the Vatican under enemy guard.
Still, there was the question of how players engage with these puzzles. Like the Silent Hill 2 remake, players will be able to adjust puzzle difficulty separate from gameplay difficulty (such as combat encounters and stealth). The result is that one player can have harder puzzles and make other gameplay segments easier or vice versa. The game affords players the chance to be Indiana Jones, regardless of personal taste. As Andersson explained,
Naturally, many of the bigger puzzles are intricately tied to the story, so they can’t be optional. We’ve taken special care with those since they need to be accessible to all types of players and made sure they support our “Light” adventure difficulty level. If you play on that one, you’ll still get to experience solving the puzzle, but it won’t require as many steps or be as challenging as the normal adventure difficulty level is. They also have a robust set of hints using the camera.
Meanwhile, Indiana Jones and The Great Circle doesn't have a skill tree. Andersson explained that this was for two reasons. One goal was to make the game as grounded and as immersive as possible, which MachineGames felt a more traditional skill tree detracted from. Instead, unlocking brand new abilities through a book felt more in line with the Indiana Jones fantasy; he is an archaeologist and professor, after all. Secondly, MachineGames wanted to ensure players were properly rewarded for exploration, puzzles, and mysteries, so the rewards had to be more than "your melee attacks now deal fire damage." Instead, players find Adventure Books while exploring the world of Indiana Jones, which provide players with engaging and game-changing abilities.
Andersson explained that all abilities are designed to build on existing tools and described a couple of these abilities. Lucky Hat, for example, gives players a second chance if taken down with the Adventurers Outfit (which includes the iconic fedora). Another, he said, would make the whip more viable as a stealth tool. The fact that these are rewarded through exploration gives players all the more reason to take their time as Indy, but it also means players might initially miss some since they are optional. This was a challenge, but also exciting for the player. As Andersson said,
The biggest challenge here is that they are all optional and many of them are quite hard to find, so we couldn’t really be sure of what abilities the player has unlocked at any specific point in the game. But that is what makes those Adventure Books exciting as well; you never know what an Adventure Book you find can contain.
The Seventh Wonder: Combat Design Where Guns Are Problems and Not The Best Solution
There is a reason practically every first-person shooter, from Apex Legends to Call of Duty, controls the same; it is muscle memory. Players are also treated to similar experiences in a variety of games that develop key player habits. If players see a new and shiny gun, they know using it could be the best-case scenario for the upcoming combat encounter. If players find a lot of health in a single-player FPS title, they know a boss fight is coming up. And if there's a red barrel, it's practically a sin to not shoot it. Indiana Jones is not a first-person shooter, but it is a first-person game with guns, where those guns are not the easy solution and where red barrels are a bad idea.
Guns are more powerful than melee in Indiana Jones and The Great Circle, but because of that goal to make players feel like Indiana Jones, the developers had to make sure it never felt like a first or second option. Part of that is to make the melee combat more appealing, from its grungy nature to making these encounters "intentionally chaotic," according to Andersson, where pretty much everything is a weapon. Some of these are obvious and perhaps most effective, like the shovel or hammer, but using a banjo or even a flyswatter against a Nazi is appealing in that Indiana Jones fantasy. And it seems combining that fantasy with the right systems does make melee combat more appealing than going loud. As Andersson explained,
Guns being inherently more powerful than melee was an element of the design that we were really worried about as we started this project. We really didn’t want to steer players away from using guns, so we designed several systems trying to compensate for that with things like threat escalation systems. However, in the end, it turned out to be very simple. Enemies in this game mostly use guns only if you do something to escalate it to that point, and if you take a swing at someone, they are going to match that and use their hands or melee weapons to fight back, rather than pull their own gun. Of course, if you pull your revolver yourself, they are going to respond in kind. There is also an enemy type, like the captain, that will escalate things if you are not careful. The result of this is that the player can always choose to use guns, but it’s the more dangerous playstyle.
This carries over to Indiana Jones and The Great Circle's stealth sections as well. Sneaking around is inherently Indiana Jones, but chaining together hidden blade kills is not. Indiana Jones is not an assassin, and Andersson explained that it was important that Indiana Jones and The Great Circle's stealth sections felt different than a bonafide stealth game. There's a risk in the game's stealth because there are no "silent takedowns." As Andersson explained,
The key point here is that there is no such thing as a fully silent takedown in this game. You normally need some sort of melee item to knock someone out with a single blow, and smashing a bottle over someone’s head is naturally going to make a sound. Sometimes that is ok, as perhaps you can disarm his companion with your trusty whip. But if that’s too dangerous, your bottle might be better use to throw somewhere to distract them.
At the core of all of this—the melee combat, the ranged weapons, and the stealth sections—is choice. Players get to choose how they are Indiana Jones, while everything about the game reinforces who Indiana Jones is. All elements of its design come back to that very first goal of MachineGames: "We want you to feel like Indiana Jones." Such options combined with other design decisions mean that, instead of picking the gun over a flyswatter and shooting red barrels, players might pause and ask, "What would Indiana Jones do?" And the answer is right there every time.
Indiana Jones and Cracking The Great Circle
In-game, The Great Circle drawn between the greatest wonders of the world would result in two perfect halves if the Earth were cut in two. That is at the heart of Indiana Jones and the Great Circle's mystery: why do these sites align? What deeper connection is there between them? For what reason does this Great Circle exist? Indy is driven by his passion to resolve this mystery and defeat his enemies, while Voss believes there to be some great power behind this mystery. What happens remains to be seen, but this is not the only Great Circle at play.
Navigating the design elements of Indiana Jones and The Great Circle results in a Great Circle as well: points that, when navigated, perfectly resemble the shortest course between game elements to make something truly unique and truly Indiana Jones. It seeks to be both an Indiana Jones story and a MachineGames title and, regardless of how Indiana Jones and The Great Circle turns out, there's no denying the passion, wonder, and hard work were poured into its making. After all, anything worth doing is worth doing right.
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 87 /100 Critics Rec: 94%
- Released
- December 9, 2024
- ESRB
- T For Teen // Blood and Gore, Drug Reference, Mild Language, Violence
- Developer(s)
- MachineGames
- Publisher(s)
- Bethesda
- Engine
- id Tech 7
- Franchise
- Indiana Jones
- Number of Players
- 1
WHERE TO PLAY
- Platform(s)
- PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S
