Feature: 'Post-GDC: Defining The Assassin'

One of the most fascinating lectures from last week's GDC was Ubisoft Montreal's look at the design philosophies behind Project Assassin, its intended to be revolutionary next-gen action title, and Gamasutra has a full write-up from the unmissable session. In this extract, Creative Director Patrice Desilets, whose previous work was on Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, discusses his vision for the next generation: "The next-generation of consoles will afford developers more possibilities than ever before; with that in mind, Patrice's vision for next-generation games consists of organic design. Patrice looked at what was possible in reality and wondered, "Why do we create rules for our characters instead of using the ones we have in the real world?" From this, he states that the more game rules can mirror real-life rules, the better players are able to suspend their disbelief and be immersed in the game. He also states that with a foundation in real world rules, games can be made even more accessible to the non-gaming public because of their familiarity with those rules. Patrice showed the audience a reference video montage they used for the actions and scenarios that they would like to see in this game. Among the clips were scenes from Raiders of the Lost Art, Braveheart, the French film Banlieue 13 featuring noted traceur David Belle, Japanese anime action scenes, and American football game video game clips. All the scenes featured different types of interactions, from people using the architecture and environment in sophisticated ways to motion through crowds to various methods of combat. "In order to be accessible and immersive in a rich and complex world, interactivity must be interactive," he said." You can now read the detailed, in-depth Gamasutra coverage on the session, including information on Ubisoft's vision for the important title (no registration required, please feel free to link to this feature from external websites).