GDC 2013: Ubisoft Programmer: New Climbing Engine Not “Showcased as Much as We Would Have Liked” in Assassin’s Creed III

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Dan Webb

Talking at this year’s Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, Senior Behaviour & AI Tech Lead, Richard Dumas, said that Assassin’s Creed III’s new dynamic climbing engine “wasn’t showcased as much as we would have liked” in the game.

Dumas and Aleissia Laidacker, ACIII’s Team Lead Gameplay & AI Programmer, took to the stage as they conducted a post-mortem of Assassin’s Creed III. The pair dazzled onlookers with a series of tech demos of engine upgrades they had to make because of the new frontier and discussed the problems they had to overcome.

The highlight of the post-mortem was the new climbing engine, where Connor’s climbing animations and actions were now dynamic and based on the environment around him as opposed to being a scripted affair. Dumas, however, hinted that they only scratched the surface with what the new engine could do.

“Although the system really works well it wasn’t showcased as much as we would have liked,” said Dumas, “because actually we didn’t get to have many moving stuff on the buildings, mainly because of memory and production constraints.”

The development threw up a number of other hurdles too, including the game’s animations – especially when it came to slopes – climbing more unpredictable surfaces, how the character responded to obstacles and even making Connor feel like his own character and not a carbon copy of Ezio, or even do something out of character.

“We had a few goals in mind that we did not want the assassin to climb the trees like a koala and we didn’t want him to swing on vines like Tarzan,” chuckled Dumas.

“In the beginning we didn’t expect to change too much for the free running system,” said Laidacker, “but as the game progressed we realised that the style for the free running reminded us too much of Ezio and it didn’t really fit with the new style that we had for our new character Connor.”

“It was around that time that we decided as a team that we actually wanted to change every single animation in the game so that it would reflect the new style for Connor,” concluded Laidacker.

The pair closed with a slide titled “Aimed for Next-Gen… before Next Gen,” so there’s a chance that with Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, the new engine upgrades could really come into their own.

Comments
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  • I still prefer Donkey Kong.
  • interesting to say the least - shame they just worked out all the kinks of the old engine, really got a handle of developing with it and were probably able to make a not so buggy game with it - then decide to develop a new with a whole new set of problems....shame looking forward to the next game tho, the sailing missions in ac3 were fun tho lackin as if they decided half way thru developing ac3 they should just make a whole new game surrounding the sailing aspect ac3 tried to do too many different things and as a result everything was lacking in the sense that it didnt take long to do many of the different activities n shit
  • I honestly don't know why they changed it in the first place, there was anything wrong with the old one, in fact I preferred the old system, I felt more in control.
  • Well whose fault is that? Either test your game properly and take longer to iron out thd kinks or dont change a system that worked fine already These developers get right on my tits sometimes
  • @#2 Well all games work that way pretty much...more or less... Just the way the industry works.. I think, and I'm not the only one here, that once I got to the sailing portion of the game, I wished someone immeditly made a sailing pirate type of game with this control scheme and engine. I think the developers thought in this same wavelength, and took those ideas over for a new piratey game.... Exactly what went through my mind as i got to the sailing sections... they practically read my mind.. then I say the first commercial for Black Flag and told my girlfriend, "what did I tell you? I TOLD you someone needs to make a game like this, or just make an entire game like this, plus on foot stuff too.. and they read our minds..." So I agree I think too they decided halfway thru development to make Black Flag, and for it I am oh so very grateful... It's just what I wanted actually. Pretty much any sequel expands and improves on the original when a title tries to do something diff, or too much. This isn't anything new with Assassins Creed.. yeah sure they could of used the same engine as 2/Brotherhood/Revelations.. but they were getting stale... Changing up the Assassins Creed series, while still somewhat remaining the same, is exactly what it needed..
  • The problem with the tree climbing was the fixed routes, in AC2 you'd end up jumping into thin air occasionally but at least you could choose your own path. The new automatic climbing was a mis-step as well, most of the game I felt like I spectating.
  • When I saw the subtext, "A pair of Ubisoft Montreal’s designers post-mortem the shit out of ACIII," I said to myself, "$50 that's a fucking Webb article." Nailed it!
  • @5 I totally agree and said the same thing when I got to that part too. But it seems they could have done alot more with it - online ship battles or more missions or just being able to sail around and have respawning ships or something - but they were prolly like well this is good enough lets just save all this extra more indepth stuff for black flag - which is what i meant by they were trying to do too many different things and somehow fell a little short
  • I feel like this is just kind of a marketing technique. Something along the lines of, "Buy Modern Warfare 3! It's going to be fucking amazing!" Buy it. A few months later, Activision will say, "Okay, so Modern Warfare 3 was a little bit of a letdown, we didn't feel like we used our resources to the best of our abilities. But Black Ops 2? HOLY SHIT. Buy THAT!" They're taking the disappointment that you feel from any popular game, and using it as a device to try and sucker you into the newest edition. Just like, AC4 looks suspiciously similar to AC3, minus the story of course, which I don't care about. So, if I'm someone who's a little disappointed in AC3 but relatively happy with it, and then I hear Ubisoft say, "Well, we just didn't really give it all we had," then the idea is to trick me into buying, really, the same exact game, by saying that the last one wasn't so good. Rockstar has the right idea. Make GTA4, sells millions upon millions. Years later, they'll say, "Yeah, GTA4 was awesome, but GTA5 is going to be unbelievable." The difference being, they don't need to thrash their previous efforts in order to make this one look more attractive.
  • 1. Make AC 3 2. Say it's the best AC ever 3. Sell millions 4. Say the game wasn't as good as they wanted it to be 5. Make AC 4 6. ????? 7. Profit.
  • 10: EXACTLY what I was saying.
  • @10 I see what you did there. Undergarment trolls lol
  • @#7 - Ha ha, what gave me away? =P
  • @4 "Well whose fault is that?" the fault of the consumers who will buy an annual release every year no questions asked (and this isn't limited to this franchise/company specifically, it is a problem all across the industry). ubisoft is under no pressure to release a bug free game, because people will buy it regardless simply because it says "assassin's creed" on the box. they are more concerned with hitting a launch date every october than they are with creating a bug free product.
  • @14 It is their 100% fault, for releasing whatever game with whatever issue it had. In every case, it is their fault. Just like in this case, it is Ubisofts fault. What are gamers supposed to do when questionable features/lack of features are announced pre-release???? How do gamers solve an issue of a game??? Do tell all knowing knowerer. -Go to a specific forum and mention it in the right thread? -Complain a lot in the right thread? -Make a rational argument while staying calm and composed? -Not buy the game? None of those options will accomplish anything in regards to dealing with the issue at hand. And some of those options just suck. Name a company who listens to the critique of fans, and addresses the fan critique in game form? Some may acknowledge that something went wrong post release, but fan-based critique does not bring pre-release fixes. And not buying a game to drive home your point, would take massive numbers, and sounds like a shitty solution to their mistake. It does not matter if you take one extreme, the other extreme, or if you find someplace in the middle, the games are the way they are because of the Devs.
  • I'm a huge fan of the AC game series. ACII and Brotherhood were the best in my opinion. Revelations was alright, but AC3 was horrid! Playing through that campaign was like dragging my balls through a mile of glass. Once I finally finished, that game has been covered in dust. Probably going to sell it. Can't stand that game.
  • Ya know as much as people do nothing but BITCH a out changes with the AC series you'd think it would be about " FUCK GIVE US MORE! " Let's see a key game that has no changes. CALL OF DUTY, Shit is bland as unseasoned tofu. And yes AC3 had its faults but has Ubisoft not been working to rectify there mistakes?, have you played The Tyranny of King Washington? Shit is badass. So I'm all on board for changes and improvement with the AC games considering it is my favorite current gen games series. To me AC has never let me down, the only way it let's anyone down is if you get your expectations so damn high that when u play it, its nothing like what you thought and think its Shit. Honestly just play the game with either no expectations or slight 1s and you'll never be disappointed But that's my 2 cents of the matter lol
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