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DESIGNING ASSASSIN’S CREED 2

DESIGNING ASSASSIN’S CREED 2. GDC 2010. DESIGN CHALLENGE:. 230+ features to produce Schedule doesn’t allow iterations Must be Commercially successful and Critically acclaimed. CURRENT MOTTO:. “Fail early, Fail often”. FAIL. THE ORDER. Assassin’s Creed = Fastest Selling New IP

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DESIGNING ASSASSIN’S CREED 2

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  1. DESIGNING ASSASSIN’S CREED 2 GDC 2010

  2. DESIGN CHALLENGE: 230+ features to produce Schedule doesn’t allow iterations Must be Commercially successful and Critically acclaimed

  3. CURRENT MOTTO: “Fail early, Fail often” FAIL

  4. THE ORDER Assassin’s Creed = Fastest Selling New IP • 8+ million sold • Mixed reviews AC2: Objective: • Repeat the commercial success • Answer every criticism of the first game

  5. SCOPE? 230+ features to develop • Economic System • Revamped Fight System • Hiring Factions • Notoriety System • New Assassination techniques • New Mission structure • Villa management • Prince of Persia-like maps • Etc…

  6. CURVE BALL Short Timeline made even shorter by a Scope revision asking to INCREASE the number of features: • Project started early 2008 • Scope Revision in September 2008 • In stores November 2009

  7. ENORMOUS TEAM 300+ developers 3 internal studios across the world UBISOFT ANNECY, FRANCE UBISOFT MONTREAL Villa Core Game UBISOFT SINGAPORE Linear Missions

  8. What can be done: To achieve our ambitious results? Produce everything first pass?

  9. Identify and focus your efforts on core of your game. • Have a Strong Documentation Structure. • Use Play Testing and Data Tracking to validate designs

  10. Keep the Design focused on the right things

  11. DECIDE WHAT GAME YOU ARE MAKING

  12. Identify your Core Gameplay to create a hierarchy in your features: • Guaranties that you game is fun • Helps you realize where you can cut corners (and maintain quality)

  13. FEATURE CATEGORIZATION • Gameplay pillars • Used to create the challenge • Supporting features • Give meaning and depth to your core • Exotic Features • Change the pace

  14. HIERARCHY IN THE FEATURES “The road to hell is paved with good intentions” Keep perspective: • What is not part of the core shouldn’t overshadow what is.

  15. BE HONEST…

  16. THE GAMEPLAY PILLARS NEED TO BE ROCK SOLID Social Stealth Fight Navigation

  17. AC2 GAMEPLAY PILLARS (1/3) Fight – Based on Timing AC2 Objective – Add Tactical choices Enemies Moves Tools

  18. AC2 GAMEPLAY PILLARS (2/3) Navigation: Focus on Fluidity

  19. AC2 GAMEPLAY PILLARS (3/3) Social Stealth: Social Behaviour makes you invisible AC2 Objective: Crowd as a gameplay tool

  20. BUILD AROUND THE GAMEPLAY PILLARS AC1 Missions = Didn’t use Core Gameplays BORING AC2 Secret Missions = Focus on Navigation FUN!

  21. Gameplay Pillars have the greatest impact on your game. Other features can have less polish. But don’t cut them!

  22. CASE 1: ECONOMIC SYSTEM Don’t let satellite featuresinterferewith the core of yourgame. SideFeaturesshouldhighlightsyourstrengths, not becomeyourweakness.

  23. CASE 2: ASSASSINATIONS • Core to what Players expect from our game. • However assassinating is not a Gameplay! • It’s the end result of the Player using the core Gameplay within the confine of the fantasy. • Design Goal: No challenge to execute them • Remove needless frustration • Reward for the Player

  24. Understanding what game you are creating is the cornerstone of a succesful production However, how can you communicate it efficiently to your team?

  25. Strong Documentation Process

  26. WHY I THINK GAME DESIGN DOCUMENTS ARE GREAT • Force you to think • Keep tracks of what you have in mind • Limit questions - people can focus on deliverables • It costs less to fail in documentation rather than in production.

  27. CREATE DOCUMENTATION THAT IS RELEVENT FOR PRODUCTION PROGRAMMER APPROVED!

  28. AC2 DOCUMENT

  29. BRACKETS [x] Identify Variables we need in Data Remove needless debates!

  30. NOT THE EASIEST ROAD Very Time consuming - 2 to 3 hours of approval meetings per day minimumfor 6 months. - Documents were kept up-to-date until the very end. However, the people Involved aren’t involved in the creation of data: does not affect production.

  31. RESULTS In 6 months: • 200 Documents produced • Rework was kept to a minimum (only one feature received a 2.0 revision • Used by the Q/A team for testing the game, up until close to submission!

  32. Validation through Playtests Part 3

  33. WHAT WAS TRACKED Quantitative – Data Tracking + Usability Reports Provide concrete information Orient the discussion on data instead of opinions. Qualitative – Appreciation Reports Give context to the data you collected Most Important (for me) Having both provide perspective

  34. ADAPTED TO PROD CYCLE 2 major stages in Production: Pre-Alpha – Validate your Features. Post-Alpha – Smooth out the experience.

  35. CASE 1: NAVIGATION Problematic: Buildings went from 1-2 story high in AC1 to 3-4 in Venice. Climbing felt slow and the players don’t use the Free Running as much as we’d like. Are Layout changes between AC1 and AC2 going to bite us?

  36. Player 12 rated this mission BORING Player 13 rated this mission FUN Playtests proved that more Navigation = More Fun

  37. …except if the Mission requires it… No Use of Rooftops… … and that Mission was rated the most fun

  38. Note that it affected mostly ‘Casual’ Players Casual Hardcore

  39. CASE 1: NAVIGATION Don’t change the layout! Hardcore Players didn’t appear to have problems Our first city (Florence) had lower buildings, so once the Players reached Venice, they would be acclimated with the Free Running Work on the Strong Climb The Character could reach rooftops twice as fast then what Players experienced during early Playtesting – regaining the fluidity of the first title.

  40. May 18th Results • Usage is in line with our expectations. • The players learn intuitively to use the Free Running and Climb and maximize the Navigation. June 22nd

  41. Playtest 4 Playtest 1

  42. CASE 2: BLEND • Problematic: • Players didn’t understand the Blend ability This affected the difficulty and appreciation of several missions and was putting in question the notion of crowd groups. Playtest 4:

  43. CASE 2: BLEND • Solution: Change the controls – blend becomes automatic when walking in a group. Playtest 10:

  44. CASE 3: FIGHT MOVES Problematic: Players complained about the lack of variety in the fight system – yet didn’t use all the moves…

  45. CASE 4: FIGHT MOVES Weeven compared the Player’s behaviour with one of our Designer Players Result: no solution…  Designer

  46. POST ALPHA Lesser focus on Data Tracking No changes in the layouts possible We had to branch out to Post Launch Data Tracking one month before going in submission Couldn’t afford the time to analyse the data

  47. POST ALPHA AC2 production cycle = ZERO time to polish Walkthrough for the main path only = 25 hours Playtests became the main tool to identify problematic areas in the walkthrough

  48. RESULTS Playtest 5 Playtest 10 41 Issues Flagged: 31 Minor 7 Major 3 Critical 30 Issues Flagged: 13 Minor 14 Major 3 Critical 2 Issues Flagged: 1 Minor 1 Critical Playtest 15

  49. Conclusion Part 4

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