Last year I read a couple of interesting articles about the abolished Agent – a possible hit Rockstar. The first story, based on anonymous interviews, turned out to be quite “dull”. Approximately in this spirit: “We were like one family, and drank tequila on Fridays with the authorities. But after buying the Rockstar studio – “plowed” late 7 days a week. Pity on us, it is so difficult in Heimda. »But an interview with the head of the development of Luis Gilotti and the artist Joe Sanabria is much more interesting.
I did not translate the materials, but simply retell the most important thing is that you have a general impression and “imbued” with another story. Separately, I will note the adventures of the team in Cairo – you can immediately go to this chapter if the text seems boring. At the end of the article there will be links to original publications – for those who need details in the spirit of “scandals, intrigues, investigations”.
Let’s start, perhaps
In 2009, AGENT was announced on E3 – an exclusive PS3 from the unit Rockstar North. Heating the audience, the "agent" has practically disappeared from the information. Apart from the development of the development in 2010 and 2011 from Take-Two. Fans were waiting for the announcement of a spy militant in the open world on each e3, but neither Rockstar nor Take-Two did not throw up news. Instead, the developer and the publisher focused on the support of existing franchises by releasing the new GTA in 2013 and the continuation of the Red Dead series in 2018.
Finally November 19, 2018 Take-Two abandoned the AGENT brand. The company did not comment on the decision, and this date can be filled on the tombstones of a promising project.
It is interesting that the initially worked on Agent was another Rockstar internal studio-San Diego-with an aim to the PS2-Xbox generation. As a result, the achievements got into the Red Dead Redemption, and some missions migrated to GTA 5.
In an interview with eight former employees who asked for anonymity, the Polygon editors found many details about the abolished game. Rockstar refused to comment on the article.
Let’s get back to the past
Once upon a time there was a talented Angel Studios studio, but I developed games in collaboration with Nintendo (Port Resident Evil 2 for N64) and Microsoft (Midtown Madness 1, 2). Impressed by Midtown Madness, Rockstar Games made a long -term partnership with Angel. Resulting in the Midnight Club and Smuggler’s Run series. In November 2002, the studio acquired Take-Two, making a part of Rockstar Games called Rockstar San Diego.
Thanks to San Diego, Rock-Street has a successful Red Dead series-the first game was Red Dead Revolver. It was originally developed in Angel Studios for Capcom. And their engine – Angel Game Engine – has turned into Rage – the basis for subsequent Rockstar projects.
Agent from Rockstar San Diego was planned as a spy game with the open world in the spirit of the British series of the 70s "Professionals" and classical Bondian. At the disposal of the player, a variety of weapons and gadgets trusted the player, for example, a portfolio that was transformed into cards or drone with a camera that was used for “photo hunting”.
Rockstar instructed the new studio to create a demo version or prototype of the future game, and Luis Gilotti He headed the project. The leadership was delighted with demo! The prototype "C -made" cinematography than other Rockstar games of that time could not boast. In the demo version there was a level at which the player pursues a helicopter, exploding the surrounding buildings (I immediately recall UNCHARTED 2), the doors were carried into chips after undermining, and at the end of the Deltplane landed on the roof of the White House.
As one of the former employees said: “The AGENT demo version was a refined and full -fledged level with a plot mission. This is much more than you expect from the prototype. "
Demo impressed the Hauser brothers (co -founders Rockstar) and the project gave "Green Light".
At least three locations were planned. But in the end, the scale was reduced to two: Washington, where the player is thrown into an open world, and a more linear level in Cairo. For everything to look reliable, the team visited both cities, taking many pictures.
True, the police detained the police both in Washington and Cairo for the shooting of the developers. In the US capital, the situation was quickly resolved, and Cairo was a difficult test.
Adventures in Cairo
Here another story begins, based on an interview with the head of the project Louis Gilotti And the artist Joe Sanabria.
Sanabria (left) is known for the work of Fallout: New Vegas, and Gilotti as a developer The Neverhood.
At the beginning of the zero, working on the AGENT spy game, the Rockstar San Diego developers group went to Cairo, Egypt. The goal is an introductory trip and photographing the area to create a virtual city. Two weeks later, they were charged with false accusations and threatened to imprison.
As a result, Gilotti had to do something that goes beyond the typical duties of the leader: to contact the Cairo Embassy of the United States. He needed help. A small group of artists – his colleagues – was kept under house arrest in Cairo. In addition, the Egyptian authorities were going to bring to the Americans false accusations of filming pornography – a serious crime in the country.
The action -packed adventure begins in the Rockstar San Diego office, which is located in California.
Studying the capital of Egypt https://pirate-spins.co.uk/ "remotely", the team was faced with a serious problem: they could not find Cairo suitable for using the image. Even satellite pictures of the city did not belong to public information. As a result, they decided to go to the other way: if there are no images on the Internet, then they themselves will go to Cairo and remove the city. “Then we used another modeling technology: we shot a building on a digital camera using this photo as a texture,” Gilotti explains.
In addition, a trip to Cairo could save time to developers. As Sanabria says: “Of course, a trip to Cairo costs a lot of money, but the time saved in development will justify these costs”.
Joe planned a trip: he studied the places that was to take a picture, thought out what equipment would be needed there. The art director joined him Charles Morrow Together with artists Darrell Gallacher And William Kidwell. The plan was this: they will fly to Cairo for two weeks, exploring and photographing the city, and then return home and create a virtual copy. For convenient movement, drivers will be hired, who will also become translators and share information about the city. And what could go wrong?
“Well, it turns out there are reasons why you cannot get Cairo satellite pictures,” Jilott laughs.
Sanabria says he knew about the legal problems of filming in Cairo and the surroundings. There were many stories about the arrests of photographers and confiscation of equipment. The lucky ones were justified by the fact that they unconsciously rented government buildings or officials. And yet the team decided to take a chance.
“I was warned of the“ pitfalls ”of filming in Cairo,” Joe says. – But I decided that we simply would not remove government buildings, and everything will go like clockwork. "
On the shore of the Nile
Once in the capital, about half an hour from the pyramids in Giza, the team settled at the Intercontinental Hotel on the banks of the Nile River flowing through the city. The team was small, and they rented a couple of vans to divide into two groups if necessary. Thus hoping to cover a large territory. Together with the drivers, the developers traveled around Cairo, getting to know various regions, streets, buildings and architecture, making more than 12,000 frames in the way. At dinner, they looked through the footage, wondering where to move in in the morning.
“Started in the early morning,” recalls Sanabria. – divided the team into on foot groups of two people. Each has a camera: one takes off the left side of the street, and the other is right.
“On the one hand, it was great to fly to Egypt to explore one of the oldest cities in the world at the expense of Rockstar,” Joe continues the story. – even visited the tomb and photographed the ancient hieroglyphs! Tourists pay thousands of dollars for such experience. And we have this part of the work!»The artist talks about Kalana’s smoking with guides and camel riding through the desert at night.
Joe’s picture during a night trip on camels. The digital camera is not suitable for night filming, so the photo is lubricated.
“On the other hand, here we personally encountered what we were warned about,” Sanabria complains. Egypt still prohibited the shooting of some buildings, as well as people and vehicles. According to the law: "The shooting of military facilities or near them is strictly prohibited". Also, you can not "take pictures of people without their consent". There were times when journalists and tourists were put in prison for shooting in Egypt. As Joe says, they were stopped and interrogated by law enforcement officers. And they met at every large intersection.
The law is the law
“Once they shot near the main street, and the police suddenly appeared. They began to scream, but I could not understand what they were saying, – Joe shares. – The translator said that officers demand a film and order to leave immediately. Even then, we switched to digital cameras, so I did not know what to answer. Showed them a camera, they say: “This is a figure, no film!"Then defiantly deleted files".
A more serious “skirmish” with the police occurred at another team member. “The second group also photographed the city,” Sanabria and Gilotti recall. -the policeman noticed them and stopped to interrogate them through the guide-translator. When our developer made a comment, the officer took out a gun, apparently considering that he was rude ".
Then it only got worse. “The police took the guide’s identity certificate, telling him:“ Now we will know who to look if something happens in the city. ", – continues Joe.
New dating
The developers spent almost two weeks in Cairo, spending with guides from 12 to 16 hours a day. New friends even helped them take off secretly to avoid the police suspicion. “They asked the guide to ahead of us, and give a signal if the patrol is noted,” Sanabria shares the tricks. It was after communicating with guides to the developers that it finally reached where they actually got.
“Egyptian friends told about the methods of local police,” Joe continues. -Officers often catch someone in the middle of the night and interrogate. They are not interested in the person himself – they need information. Basically interrogate taxi drivers, because they can remember conversations in the back seat. And this is a common practice for the local police. "
A few days later this was what happened. “The officers grabbed our driver in the middle of the night to ask us,” Joe recalls. – Soon after the interrogation, we were forbidden to leave rooms at the hotel. ".
It should be noted that the team from Rockstar San Diego went on a trip almost ten years before the revolution in Egypt 2011-2013. It began with a two -week protest campaign, during which millions of people went to marches. Among other things, the people opposed the increased cruelty of the police and then President Hosni Mubarak. Speaking of his stay in Cairo, Joe compares the city with Cuba. I am applying an article from Wikipedia if you want to know the details.
Fly to another country, and hang in the hotel room
“I remember how I thought:“ Here they got into. "" – said with annoyance, Gilotti, who was then in California. He did not know what to do, so he called the Cairo Embassy of the United States. And there were stunned, hearing what the team was doing.
“The employee of the embassy asked:“ So they photograph the surroundings?". I confirmed, and he in response: “Well, you got, boys. "" "
As Sanabria told, stuck in the hotel, they finally clarified how to approach the shooting. This required support for armed security and relevant documents. Now, developers were banned from leaving InterContinental, where they will stay the remaining few days of travel.
To photograph government buildings is prohibited by law, but walking on Cairo and shooting its sights is allowed. Tourism is an integral part of the Egyptian economy, and they are not imprisoned for pyramid shots. But tourist centers are only a small part of the city, even though foreigners and enough of these open spaces.
Developers from Rockstar San Diego went far beyond the borders of tourist places. They naively photographed everything around. Terrorist attacks on foreigners have been a problem in Egypt for decades. Therefore, it is logical that the Americans, walking around the inconspicuous areas of Cairo, caused not surprise, but questions.
Interrogation
Darrell Gallaher had to fly home a couple of days earlier. Waiting for departure in the airport terminal, he was seized by a security service and took him to the interrogation room. “They detained the plane, telling him:“ We were told that you and friends are shooting pornography here, ”Joe recalls Darrell’s retelling. – We need all the photos and your laptop ””.
Of course, the team did not visit Cairo for this (storage and distribution of pornography is illegal in Egypt). Obviously, the charge was false. “By that time, about 12,000 photos were taken,” says Sanabria. -Even because of one photo, let’s say something illegal accidentally hit the frame, we were threatened with a prison!"
Colleagues through the ocean had no idea how to twist friends from trouble. Gilotti called the Cairo Embassy of the United States, where they told the harsh truth. The embassy cannot help them. If tourists violated the law, even unconsciously, they will answer for this in all severity.
Finally, Gilotti was connected to the head of the security service of the embassy. He asked the programmer: “To begin with, explain what is happening and why they are here,” Luis retells the conversation. – Nothing illegal. We just make games. These pictures are needed to create textures for the future project! A civil servant in response: “I’m sorry, but if your guys are arrested, they can’t easily get out. Egyptian authorities confiscate photos, they can even fabricate accusations of pornography. One dirty picture in the laptop is enough to be in front of the threat of the death penalty ”. At that moment I was completely desperate. "
Dirty pictures
As Sanabria recalls, the last days have become the most intense. So that the trip is not in vain, he recorded the photos on the DVD, deleting everything dubious, and sent a parcel through the FedEx service to the California studio. Only photos of pyramids, museums and other tourist attractions remained there. Then the team had to get to the airport, go through customs, and return home by plane.
“I almost did not sleep in the last days before departure,” Joe recalls. – Never experienced such stress. "
Another problem arose before departure – the contents of the Morrow laptop. More precisely, the information on the portable computer of his father, which Charles borrowed for a trip. “His father is a gynecologist,” explains Sanabria, “therefore the laptop contained pictures of female reproductive organs”.
“These photos are needed in the framework of research,” Joe laughs. – Charles said: “You cannot delete the material, this is my father’s work!"" "
Departure
Early in the morning, having slept only a couple of hours, the team went to the airport. The plan was like this: as soon as the plane takes off, Sanabria will call Gilotti to please colleagues. And Louis informs the embassy.
The team left the hotel, got to the airport and finally ended up in the terminal. According to Joe, they pulled the "stone" faces and tried to behave calmly. “The most tense was the expectation in the terminal, because it was then that Darrell was seized,” Sanabria shares.
To general relief, they went to the plane, took places, and then took off! The team exhaled. And Sanabria called Gilotti. “I told him:“ The eagle in the sky, ”Joe ends the interview.
“I will never forget that phone call,” Gilotti shares his memories. – There were 45 people in the office – all on the platoon – and then the phone calls. I pick up the phone, and I hear one of my artists: “We did it! Now we are standing on the runway, and soon we will leave Egypt!""
After a transplant in England, where the team celebrated the “escape” strong, they finally returned to California. It is not known why the Egyptian authorities did not make charges. Gilotti says that the studio planned a similar trip to St. Petersburg. But everything was canceled after what happened. “Let’s not go to Russia so as not to step on the same rake!" – Luis recalls his words.
This interview ends and let’s return to the history of the project based on anonymous stories of former employees.
The concept of the game
In Washington, there were problems with the police (still the capital of the United States), but there is no comparison with the Cairo Adventures.
After each trip, employees returned with photographs on the basis of which they created a virtual copy of the city. By combining their pictures and archival photographs of the 70s, the team simulated an extensive location, which was impressive for that time for that time. As a result, the capital of America became the only city that they managed to recreate.