Ubi Soft recently released this QA session with Don Bluth, the creative force behind Dragon’s Lair 3D: Return to the Lair and the original Dragon's Lair arcade classic.

1. How is Dragon’s Lair 3D: Return to the Lair different from the original Dragon’s Lair arcade game?

We worked hard to keep the look very close to the original game. The artists and Dragonstone development team went so far as to reference the original, hand-painted backgrounds, and texture-map onto the 3D environments.

Gameplay-wise, Dragon’s Lair 3D is ALL-NEW. Today’s amazing game technology allowed us to create the Dragon’s Lair game we envisioned 20 years ago. Players now have full control of Dirk -- his movements, his weapons, his choices and directions.

Dragon’s Lair 3D’s free form gameplay allowed us to greatly expand levels and rooms from the original arcade game. About a third of the game is completely new -- the 18 additional expanded levels and more than 250 rooms create about 30 hours of gameplay!

2. Dragon’s Lair is credited to inventing the action adventure genre, and is one of three games on display in the Smithsonian. With such an acclaimed reputation, how much pressure was it to create Dragon’s Lair 3D?

Well, I am very proud of what we accomplished with Dragon’s Lair, and the tremendous support given by the Dragon’s Lair community throughout the years. With Dragon’s Lair 3D, there was a great sense of obligation to create something that Dragon’s Lair fans would enjoy, but also something new that pushed the envelope even more. We definitely didn’t want to rest on our past achievements. The tremendous technical power of the Xbox, PS2, GameCube and PC created development options and sparked ideas that we could only have dreamed 20 years ago. This is truly a new game-playing experience that both fans of the arcade game and new players can enjoy.

3. Will Dirk have any additional moves this time around besides the sword attack?

This guy is ready for anything! Now he can walk, run, roll, jump, crouch, move sideways and even fly. He can swing his sword in a 360 degree circle, use a crossbow or revert to a flaming sword. And since Dirk is a guy who needs all the help he can get, we gave him “dragon essences” and specialized powers to assist him in his various calamities.

4. What's your role in the development process for Dragon’s Lair 3D?

Well, probably more of an Executive Producer role. Gary (Goldman) and I have been involved with script approval, approvals of character designs and the art direction, on kind of a consultant basis. We have also produced and directed the 2D animated introduction and finale for the game.

5. How have you drawn upon your movie experience in the creation of Dragon’s Lair 3D?

With movies you are always in search is a good story, one that everyone will relate to and love. I love finding those stories and creating a visual world to tell the story. The heart of Dragon’s Lair has always been its compelling story. With Dragon’s Lair 3D, we think the team has really created an interactive animated movie. The game unfolds the story of Dirk and his quest to save Daphne, with all the plot twists and turns of a feature film, but in this case the players are in control!

Dragon’s Lair 3D is about as close as you can come to controlling an animated feature film.

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