[GZ]: Personally, though I imagine I’m not alone, there were times in Assassin’s Creed 3 where I felt disconnected from the world. It was incredibly spacious, but the exploration struggled with immersion, apart from the game’s missions. How would you say that your team is addressing this in Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag with a world that’s larger than ever before, and more water-based than ever before?
[JG]: From start this has been THE FOCUS of the team. We knew that creating such a big water-based open world would be difficult and we carefully work to avoid any boredom or sense of emptiness. This work took place at several levels:
· We worked on the controls of the ship to make sure that only few seconds would be needed between the moment when player decides to do something (say, reach this island or this ship he wants to attack) and the moment he actually does it.
· We worked on the placement of all activities available for the player when at sea (ships routes, islands, shipwrecks, harpooning zones, forts etc…) On that topic, we clearly learned a lot from our friends of Far Cry 3.
· We also worked on the pacing of the game and the progressive opening of the world to maintain a sense of tension and temptation.
[GZ]: Not to harp too much on Assassin’s Creed 3, because it was a game I enjoyed greatly, but there were a number of technical hiccups within the world that many reviewers and fans noted. Is this issue prevalent simply because video game worlds are expanding, or is it something that can be addressed? And with the latter in mind, is there a different approach with the team this time around with bugs and other technical issues? Lastly, are the next-gen consoles helping at all with this facet of development?
[JG]: Sadly, technical hiccups are inherent at video games. A video game is always a technical prowess, and I can testify that all development teams work very hard to minimize them as much as they can. Next-gen consoles may help in reducing them mostly when it comes to frame rate and better compression. For Black Flag we always paid a lot of attention to quality control and I’m confident that you’ll enjoy a very stable and fluid game.
[GZ]: In recent development videos, seamless transitions seems to be one of the most important factors for you guys, whether it be from land to naval, from one type of landscape to another or even ship-to-ship. How much of this seamlessness falls on level design? And can you touch on how this seamlessness will influence a better combat experience when the game ships to fans?
[JG]: From the start, we wanted to make Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag ONE UNIFIED GAME. We've worked really hard to make ONE PIRATE GAME. It is not about a "traditional ground game" with a naval part stitched to it, neither is it the opposite. We wanted to create one game that would as fluidly, as seamlessly as possible, merge the two to create one believable and attractive world where you could spend hours without loading another part of the world.
And because nothing is more fun-breaking than to have your play session split by "external reasons…" I had the team work on the "fluidity" of the experience:
· The idea is to allow players to immerse themselves in the world of Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag for real, with as fewer occasions to be "extracted" from it.
· This is mainly about reducing the number and length of loading screens but also about improving all the little transitions that we can have between gameplay, cinematic and menus screens, for example.
But the seamless experience is not only about being able to leave the wheel when you want to reach the ground, it's also valid for one of the key activity of being a pirate: the boarding of other ships! We made sure to create this unique, fluid loop where the player freely can attack any ship on the ocean and board it with his crew without any loading. This, we believe, will bring a sense of exploration and adventure rarely seen before.
[GZ]: On a less serious note, what has been your favorite piece in the world to develop, and why? I have to say that those Mayan Ruins look incredibly sexy and like they're a blast to explore.
[JG]: Yeah, Mayan ruins are a must because it gave us the maximum freedom to really level design them with the gameplay in mind first. Honestly it’s really hard to choose and pick one type of location because they’re all so different and bring so much variety to the game. Honestly, to be frank, the world in itself has been a pleasure to craft and develop. When you have such a talented team of level designers, artists and technical directors, it’s just pure fun!
[GZ]: Are you able to elaborate on how multiplayer development has differed from past Assassin’s Creed titles? From a level design standpoint, have you guys undergone any major changes with multiplayer?
[JG]: Multiplayer is definitely a key part of the global offer an Assassin’s Creed game offers to players. And this year will make no exception. The introduction of the Gamelab will, for the very first time, allow players to generate modes and set of rules that will be playable by friends and the community. This sounds to be a turning point for the franchise.
[GZ]: As your team has been developing this gorgeous open world, has the team drawn inspiration from any other games out who have “mastered” the open world formula?
[JG]: When developing Black Flag we wanted to create our own Assassin-Pirate game, but, for sure, we also had a look to games that proved themselves right in the way they were tackling open world. To name a few, Red Dead Redemption, Zelda: The Wind Waker and Phantom Hourglass and, of course, our own Ubisoft open world games with Far Cry 3 and Assassin’s Creed's previous installments.
Pirates, rum and Templars, oh my! The world of Assassin's Creed is now bigger than ever with Ubisoft's upcoming blockbuster, Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag. With the game's launch just over the horizon, we had a chance to chat with Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag's Creative Director, Jean Guesdon, about the world, its design and how Black Flag will forever reshape a series that's delivered on so many levels.
[GameZone]: First off, thanks for joining us for an interview! Can you start off by giving our readers a better glance at what you do on Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag, what that looks like on daily basis, and what other development areas you work closely with?
[Jean Guesdon]: I’m the Creative Director of the project. I am ultimately responsible for the content of the game, which means that I have my word to say on any aspect of story, gameplay, realization and overall structure of the game.
In the early phase of the project, the conception, my role is to align everybody in the same direction. I’m the owner of the “vision” of the game, and I have to share it so that everybody understands what we’re making altogether. Then, when in active development, I have to answer A LOT of questions, because it’s the time in the project when we have to make choices in one or another direction depending on resources or technical issues. And finally, in the polish phase, I have to remind everybody of the WHY of the project, the key elements they should focus on, like the fluidity for example.
Since the beginning I’m also working a lot with the producer and the management to make sure that both content and resources are aligned and that we properly manage our scope. Another team we’ve been really close during the project was the development marketing team – the guys responsible of the incredible assets you can see from trailers and screenshots. This is important so we can communicate on what the game really is.
[GZ]: One of Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag’s most fascinating feature is its immense Caribbean open world. In terms of size, how does this world rival past Assassin’s Creed titles – most notably the latest installment, Assassin’s Creed 3?
[JG]: Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag’s Caribbean world is massive indeed. If we take absolute numbers, it’s way bigger than any other Assassin’s Creed installment – probably around 60 times bigger, but the ocean helps a lot. In fact, we have roughly the same amount of ground surface, but we made the decision to scatter this land across the entire ocean, which is procedurally generated. This has mainly been made to make sure we were representing the Caribbean in the best possible way. Adventure, exploration, discovering islands and reaching far destinations were core to the experience we wanted to deliver.
[GZ]: The Assassin’s Creed series has always been one that’s balanced the lines of non-fiction and fable; evident by the worlds and characters the team has created over the years. Can you give us a glimpse at how your team goes about creating such a massive world that’s historically accurate, while adding in the fictitious aspects that engage your fans deeper in the game? And what would you say is the most difficult part of being historically relevant in Black Flag’s open world?
[JG]: You know, the Assassin’s Creed team is way bigger than just the Black Flag’s team. Before Black Flag I was in charge of the content for the entire franchise and I can tell you that we have such an awesome pool of writers that creating this massive but consistent universe is not that difficult.
First thing about historical accuracy is that for every project, should it be a game, a comic or a movie, we start by doing some homework, some research, about the time period we’re go to explore. We always start by historical research because it is naturally providing incredible settings; real stories and characters that make us want to use them. It has been the case once more with Black Flag. When we discovered the incredible cast of real pirates that was gathered in Nassau at the beginning of the 18th century, it was clear that we wanted our hero to meet them and live some epic moments with them.
After that writers and designers try to build stories and gameplay that will allow players to experience a true epic, immersive and engaging adventure while staying as close as possible to what the time was.
[GZ]: As we inch closer to the release of both the Xbox One and PlayStation 4, interest from the average consumer lies within the visual and technical benefits. Can you touch on what these new machines do for development of this massive open world in terms of a technical and visual manner? Are the advantages as noticeable as you originally had in mind?
[JG]: For the moment we’re obviously really excited by the additional power we can work with. Graphically the difference is impressive and is already worth the change of console. But, in the near future we’ll really tackle all what these new hardware have to give. The connectivity tools, the more “open” infrastructure allowing developers to think about experiences that are not anymore confined to the TV and so much more. The difference won’t be on horsepower anymore but on real creativity.
