ASSASSINS CREED 2 GDC 2010 DESIGN CHALLENGE 230 features to produce Schedule doesnt allow iterations Must be Commercially successful and Critically acclaimed Fail early Fail often ID: 153121
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Slide1
DESIGNING
ASSASSIN’S CREED 2
GDC 2010Slide2
DESIGN CHALLENGE:
230+ features to produce
Schedule doesn’t allow iterations
Must be Commercially successful and Critically acclaimedSlide3
“Fail early, Fail often”
CURRENT MOTTO:
FAILSlide4
Assassin’s Creed =
Fastest Selling New IP
8+ million sold
Mixed reviews
THE ORDER
AC2: Objective:
Repeat the commercial success
Answer every criticism of the first gameSlide5
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…
SCOPE?Slide6
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
CURVE BALLSlide7
300+ developers
3 internal studios across the world
ENORMOUS TEAM
UBISOFT MONTREAL
UBISOFT SINGAPORE
UBISOFT ANNECY,
Linear Missions
Core Game
Villa
FRANCESlide8
What can be done:
To achieve our ambitious results?
Produce everything first pass?Slide9
Identify and focus your efforts on core of your game.
Have a Strong Documentation Structure
.
Use Play Testing and Data Tracking to validate designsSlide10
Keep the Design focused on
the right thingsSlide11
DECIDE WHAT GAME YOU ARE MAKINGSlide12
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)Slide13
Gameplay pillars
Used to create the challenge
Supporting
features
Give meaning and depth to your core
Exotic Features
Change the pace
FEATURE CATEGORIZATIONSlide14
“
The
road to hell is paved with
good intentions”
Keep perspective:
What is not part of the core shouldn’t overshadow what is.
HIERARCHY IN THE FEATURESSlide15
BE HONEST…Slide16
Navigation
Fight
THE GAMEPLAY PILLARS NEED TO BE ROCK SOLID
Social StealthSlide17
Fight – Based on Timing
Moves
Tools
AC2 GAMEPLAY PILLARS (1/3)
Enemies
AC2 Objective – Add Tactical choicesSlide18
Navigation: Focus on
Fluidity
AC2 GAMEPLAY PILLARS (2/3)Slide19
Social Stealth: Social Behaviour makes you invisible
AC2 GAMEPLAY PILLARS (3/3)
AC2 Objective: Crowd as a
gameplay
toolSlide20
AC1 Missions = Didn’t use Core
Gameplays
AC2 Secret Missions = Focus on Navigation
BUILD AROUND THE GAMEPLAY PILLARS
BORING
FUN!Slide21
Gameplay Pillars have the greatest impact
on your game.
Other features can have less polish.
But don’t cut them!Slide22
CASE
1
: ECONOMIC SYSTEM
Don’t
let satellite
features
interfere
with
the
core
of
your
game
.
Side
Features
should
highlights
your
strengths
, not
become
your
weakness
.Slide23
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 PlayerSlide24
Understanding what game you are creating is the cornerstone of a succesful production
However, how can you communicate it efficiently to your team?Slide25
Strong Documentation ProcessSlide26
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.Slide27
PROGRAMMER APPROVED!
CREATE DOCUMENTATION THAT IS RELEVENT FOR PRODUCTIONSlide28
Loot
Description
Gameplay
Loop
On Spawn/
Despawn
Controls
AI reactions
Level Design implications
Sound/Music design
Camera
Player Feedback
Menu/Localisation
Save Games
Looting can be done on:
Dead bodies
Lootable
Objects (ex: Stationary Boats, Treasure chests, box, Final List TB D ASAP)
Big Treasure chest
Small Treasure chest
Covered boats / gondolas (player can't drive them)
Looting a body or an object takes [5] seconds.
The player can receive money and [keys] while looting. There's no need to loot a body twice to get both.
AC2 DOCUMENTSlide29
[
x
]
Identify Variables we need
in Data
Remove needless debates!
BRACKETSSlide30
Very Time
consuming
- 2
to 3 hours of
approval meetings per day
minimum
for 6 months.
- Documents were kept up-to-date until the very end.
NOT THE EASIEST ROAD
However, the people
Involved aren’t involved in
the creation of data: does
not affect production.Slide31
In 6 months:
200 Documents producedRework 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!
RESULTSSlide32
Validation through Playtests
Part 3Slide33Slide34
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 perspectiveSlide35
ADAPTED TO PROD CYCLE
2 major stages in Production:
Pre-Alpha
– Validate your Features.
Post-Alpha
– Smooth out the experience
. Slide36
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?Slide37
Player 12 rated this mission BORING
Player 13 rated this mission FUN
Playtests proved that more Navigation = More FunSlide38
…except if the Mission requires it…
P9
P10
P11
P12
P13
P14
P15
P16
M10 - Fun
5
Nil
4
Nil
5
4
5
5
… and that Mission was rated the most fun
No Use of Rooftops…Slide39
Overall
P9
P10
P11
P12
P13
P14
P15
P16
Overall Fun
5
2
3
3
5
4
5
4
Difficulty
2
4
2
3
2
3
3
3
Navigation
Ability to navigate his environment?
5
3
5
2
4
4
5
5
Casual
Hardcore
Note that it affected mostly ‘Casual’ PlayersSlide40
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.Slide41
May 18
th
June 22
nd
Usage is in line with our expectations.
The players learn intuitively to use the Free Running and Climb and maximize the Navigation.
ResultsSlide42
Playtest 1
Playtest 4Slide43
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:Slide44
Solution:
Change the controls – blend becomes automatic when walking in a group.
Playtest 10:
CASE 2: BLENDSlide45
Problematic:
Players complained about the lack of variety in the fight system – yet didn’t use all the moves…
CASE 3: FIGHT MOVESSlide46
We
even compared the Player’s behaviour with one of our Designer
Players
Designer
CASE 4: FIGHT MOVES
Result
:
no solution…
Slide47
Lesser focus on Data Tracking
No changes in the layouts possibleWe had to branch out to Post Launch Data Tracking one month before going in submissionCouldn’t afford the time to analyse the data
POST ALPHASlide48
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
POST ALPHASlide49
Playtest 15
Playtest 10
Playtest 5
41 Issues Flagged:
31 Minor
7 Major
3 Critical
30 Issues Flagged:
13 Minor
14 Major
3 Critical
RESULTS
2 Issues Flagged:
1 Minor
1 CriticalSlide50
Conclusion
Part 4Slide51
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED
Critically Acclaimed
91% on
Metacritic
Multiple Game of the Year Awards nominations and awards
Developer Awards, BAFTA, AIAS, New York Times, IGN,
Gamespot
, etc…
Commercially Successful
1st week sales 33% higher then AC1
8 million copies sold (sell-in)Slide52
When creating big budget games, mistakes can
prove extremely costly
Lead to lower quality
Create needless work
Lower morale
Designers
can
manage these risks by
:
Determining
what the core of
the
game experience
is
and
building
around
it
Providing teams
with solid documentation that fits with their production needs
CONCLUSIONSlide53
QUESTIONS?Slide54
THANKS!
Special thanks to:Charles Randall, Jeffrey Yohalem, Laura De Young,
Genevieve Laurendeau, Steven Masters, Philippe Therien.
Patrick.Plourde@ubisoft.com