Tossell & Kameo's Code

Phil Tossell dove straight from college with a degree in Computer Science into the deep water at Rare. He was 21, and that was nine years ago. When he first arrived, he spent some time watching and learning from the guys working on Diddy Kong Racing for N64. For his first real project, he served as junior programmer on Star Fox Adventures (SFA). He told us, “My first task I can still remember, and it was to implement the camera system.” Later, he was promoted to programming lead on SFA and saw it through its move to GameCube. He joined the Kameo™:Elements of Power™ team while it was still being developed for the original Xbox. His initial task was to implement all the new monsters, but again he found himself promoted to the lead position.

What has been your greatest challenge while working on Kameo?
Every day is a challenge, and that’s what I really relish about making a game. One of the biggest overall challenges has been ramping up a small experienced team into a much larger team. Rare normally has very small teams (and still does by industry standards). It was difficult to find talented people in the quantities required and manage them into an effective unit. Thankfully we’ve been blessed that the new people we have found have really fit in and contributed greatly. It’s also been a personal challenge for me since I’ve had to try and develop new people skills, and this is perhaps not something that comes naturally to me.

It’s also been the first time we’ve made a launch game, and the intensity and pressure are quite frightening. Towards the end, things come so thick and fast, and you’re trying to get content in whilst trying to stay on top of the ever growing bug list. This—combined with the obvious flux in various stages of development hardware we receive—ensures there is never a spare moment. 

If you had to fight at either Kameo’s side or on the side of the Trolls, which would you choose, and why? Kameo of course! I’m always a sucker for heroic characters, and with such an arsenal of cool warriors, there’s no real competition.

How many people did you have on your team of developers and programmers?
When I joined the team there were only seven engineers. This was a typical size for a Rare team at that time. We only really started ramping up once we’d actually switched to 360 and the ground work had been laid. Now we have 13 engineers. We’ve also had superb help and support from our internal R&D team who provide the core of the engine that we work with.

What has been your greatest joy?
The chance to work with such a great team of people. From engineers, to artists and designers we have a great team of talented people. Especially on the software side, we have a wealth of experience and also newer, talented and enthusiastic people who just want to make the best game they can. Although I’m obviously biased, I really do feel I’m working with some of the best people in the industry, and long may it continue. Of course, the other obvious joy is in putting out a game that I can be proud of and look back and say “I helped make that.”

If you have to name only one bit of code genius that you hope players will appreciate in Kameo, what would it be?
It’s very difficult to single out any one aspect since there are so many things I think are amazing: the atmospheric effects are awesome, especially the water, grass, and clouds and the subtle use of depth of field and heat haze. The quantity of trolls on the battle field just looks amazing and was no mean feat code-wise. And of course, one of the slickest parts of the game is the core principle, which is the morphing. It’s a simple concept, but to be able to seamlessly switch between ten unique characters and deal with all of the attendant problems really is the greatest of achievements, and something which I don’t think has been tried before.

How did the advance to high definition graphics affect the nature of the software in Kameo?
Really just from the point of view of: “How are we going to fill a screen four times as big whilst still increasing the quality in all areas?” Nearly all of the effects had to be re-done with hi-def in mind as everything was just too low-res to be acceptable. It took us a while to get used to it and hit our stride, but the stuff we’re producing at the end really is awesome. When you see Kameo in hi-def with depth-of-field, heat haze and all the surfaces looking like you can reach out and touch them, I think you’ll be amazed.

What advice would you give to someone who wants to get into a career doing what you do?
It sounds like a cliché, but study hard and get good grades. If I’m recruiting I personally prefer someone who has done a straight computer science degree who shows raw ability versus any particular experience. It’s also fundamental that you can work well within a team. The idea of a solitary anti-social programmer working by himself just doesn’t cut it anymore. You also need a certain patience and tenacity, since making a game can be very painful at times. It’s such an iterative process that you need to be willing to redo work many times on occasion to get it just right.

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