Westlake: New Tomb Raider game almost done, editor too

Mac porting company Westlake Interactive recently updated their Web site with news about Tomb Raider Chronicles, the latest Lara Croft adventure game to make it to the Mac. The game itself is in final beta testing.

One of the gaming world’s superstars, Tomb Raider heroine Lara Croft is an adventurer who scours the globe to find treasures of formidable, often mystical power. While Lara Croft is presumed dead after her previous adventure, her friends gather to remember her, which gives rise to Tomb Raider Chronicles. The new game puts players in control of Lara Croft as she navigates numerous perils in a number of nostalgic vignettes.

Tomb Raider has been the subject of several games developed by Core Design and published for the PC by Eidos Interactive. Aspyr Media has published Macintosh versions of all major installments of the games to date.

“We’re very pleased with how it is turning out,” said the company.

There’s exciting news for enthusiasts who want to craft their own levels, also. Westlake is also making a Macintosh version of the Tomb Raider Editor.

“The work is going smoothly, we now have the editor up and running on the Mac, with the ability to load and save levels, including objects and textures. Many of the editor functions are working including multiple undo’s, preview mode, wall/floor/ceiling selection, and color palettes,” said Westlake. “We’ve also made the editor a bit more Mac friendly, supporting Mac menus, dialogs, and open/save dialogs.”

The editor will be included on an extra CD in the box, said Westlake. Several small utilities, including a special Tomb Raider Player application to enable you to play the levels you create or download from the Internet will also be included. Westlake also notes that all levels created with the editor are fully interchangeable on the PC and Mac.

Tomb Raider Chronicles will be published by Aspyr Media when it’s done.