One of these other games was BC Racers, a little known racer released by Core back in 1994 for the Sega CD. It's just people didn't really notice - or care - because at the time, Tomb Raider was all that mattered. Even throughout the Tomb Raider years, Core released other games. But in fact the Derby developer had pumped out loads of games for years before its biggest hit was even conceived. When most people think of Core Design, they think of Tomb Raider. 20 years later, this is the inside story of how Lara Croft lived - and died - in Derby. And we talk to those who watched in horror as the kingdom Core had built came crashing down after one terrible flop. We talk to those who butchered themselves as they worked day and night to hit crushing deadlines enforced by a publisher obsessed with its share price. We talk to those who stayed and got rich off of Lara Croft's late 90s success. We talk to those who watched Lara Croft creator Toby Gard walk out on Core Design after just one game, leaving hundreds of thousands of pounds in royalties behind. Here, we talk to those who were there when Tomb Raider was little more than a room filled with blocks. Core - and some say Tomb Raider - was never the same again. Derby's pride and joy was prised out of the hands of its creators and whisked across the pond to America, a punishment for the disaster that was The Angel of Darkness.

As the money rolled in, the pressure put on the handful of developers to deliver grew until, perhaps inevitably, Lara Croft crashed back down to earth. What is less well-known is the story of those who built Lara back at Core. We know all about Lara Croft on the cover of Face magazine, Lara Croft advertising Lucozade, and Lara Croft keeping ex-Liverpool goalkeeper David James up all night. We know much about how Lara Croft surfed the wave of cool Britannia all the way to Hollywood. Tomb Raider's rise to fame is well documented. Core - or what was left of it - had closed down just a few months earlier, and no-one seemed to have realised. In fact, developers who had worked on Tomb Raider over the years shook their heads when they found out Lara Croft Way had opened to the public.

There wasn't much of a celebration at what was left of Core, though.

As the likes of the BBC reported at the grand opening, a councillor said Derby was 'proud of its place in a vibrant creative industry' and that Lara Croft Way was 'a fantastic way to celebrate that'. The name for part of a new ring road was chosen from a shortlist by public vote, with a whopping 89 per cent opting for the character devised by local studio Core Design. In July 2010, Lara Croft Way opened in Derby.

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