The assassin lineage

by ERIK LEIJON

Considering the amount of pre-release chatter and the immense popularity of the prequel movie shorts Lineage (the first receiving 1.7 million views in its first 24 hours on YouTube), one might feel as though they’re quite familiar with Assassin’s Creed 2 already. Ubisoft Montreal’s mega-sized sequel officially hits stores on Nov. 17, and while the goal was to make a game that fans of the first Assassin’s Creed could understand, the 280 or so team members also made numerous changes based largely on gamers’ collective gripes.

I recently had the chance to gab with AC2 producer Sebastien Puel about what’s old, what’s new, ideas borrowed and keeping the game’s bluish hue.

Mirror: When did development on Assassin’s Creed 2 start? Were you still working on the first game (where Puel was the marketing production manager)?

Sebastien Puel: We started to brainstorm about what AC2 could be around that time, but doing a game like AC1 was such a big endeavour that first we needed to rest afterwards, not just physically but mostly creatively. You need a creative break so when you come back, it’s with fresh ideas.

We took the time so we could better understand what people liked and what people disliked. We built AC2 very much with the player in mind by reading the forums, reading the reviews and making sure we understood all of the comments. We basically had nine million people giving us nine million different opinions on how the game should be.

M: But I guess the team already knew what worked and what needed to be improved upon?

SP: AC1 laid the groundwork for something completely new in the gaming industry: a game where one could completely free-roam cities. To see something in the distance and be able to reach it—that was the fantasy behind Assassin’s Creed. In terms of gameplay diversity and overall depth, there was still a lot of work that needed to be done. We touched each major component of the game: the fighting, mission structure and character progression, and we worked to make them deeper. Players who want to get more involved can find new layers. The main path is more than 20 hours now, and players could spend 40–50 hours playing.

We wanted there to always be something new for the player to discover. The fighting for instance, has the same basic structure, but there are more weapons that involve more possible strategies for the player. There’s a brand new AI, so enemies don’t always react the same way. That’s something that wasn’t in AC1 that we wanted to bring to AC2.

M: Why retain the original game’s visual style, given the first one takes place during the Crusades and this one in Renaissance Italy?

SP: Among the things that define the franchise is the lineage of assassins. They’re all of the same bloodline and thus will always look a little bit alike. The artistic direction, type of lighting effects we use and other visual components will always be the same.

M: As a gaming guy, what did you learn working with (effects production company—now owned by Ubisoft) Hybride on the Lineage movie shorts that could translate to gaming?

SP: They’re movie professionals and maybe at this point are better than we are at casting actors and maybe at directing actors too. As a gaming guy working in production for years, it was important to be aware of the two different media and their own constraints, since we had to achieve perfect continuity between the two projects. We exchanged a lot of tricks and little things: they were especially amazing with camera placement, lighting and character building.