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animators combine hand-drawn is especially true for platforming from creative director Michel Ancel. by Olivier Palmieri. (You can read
animation with modern bone-driven games, as they are entirely based While creativity is obviously an the article here: http://gamasutra.
techniques. This was integral to around the player’s ability to use important aspect of game creation, com/view/news/167322/Rayman_
building RAYMAN ORIGINS’S unique the controls to deftly maneuver and had a very large hand in the Origins_designer_Chris_McEntees_
animation style, which is reminiscent the player character through critical success of RAYMAN ORIGINS, rational_approach_to_game_design.
of Saturday morning cartoons with troublesome terrain. The better this pure uncontrolled creativity can be php.) Here is a quick explanation of
a hint of a French touch. In fact, a character feels for players, the more dangerous to game development. rational design from that article:
handful of animators on the RAYMAN quickly they will feel in control of the A highly creative individual or team
team came not from the video avatar. With RAYMAN, we combined needs very rational designers to "Rational design is all about

game industry, but straight from hand-drawn animations with fluid balance them. eliminating unnecessary

animated film; with GenAnim, they movement metrics, which results in In RAYMAN ORIGINS, the game information, making
can be easily integrated into the control that few players have ever director, Sébastien Morin (who has a things inherently readable,
development team. experienced in a game before. strong background as a programmer), understandable, and
The UBIart framework is handy The UBIart framework was not and the level design director, Olivier apparent, introducing

for designers, too, because it’s originally developed specifically Palmieri (who is highly skilled in the mechanics in an orderly and
easy to prototype with. Its intuitive to create a RAYMAN game, and it field of rational design—I’ll talk more easily digestible fashion,

skeletal binding system makes it wasn’t until the basics of the engine about this later), helped contain and preserving the learning

easy for designers to use the game’s were up and running that Ubisoft the outpouring of creative ideas. and difficulty curves of
existing characters and objects decided to create a RAYMAN reboot. Every day they would filter them into a game, known as macro

to set up complex ideas in simple From there, the artists defined his something equally charming but far flow. In principle, it is best
ways. With UBIart, it’s fairly easy animation style, and when they felt more manageable for the team to to provide a player with

to create a basic level topology, that his movements looked fluid and build (and more easily understood by significantly interesting and

define collision, and apply textures fun, the programmers ventured to the player). deep mechanics that are

to the level’s “friezes” (blockout craft the in-game movement metrics This process of rationalizing well explored and exploited

geometry), and the engine will to match the fluidity and timing of creative output for implementation through clever rationalized
make sure it has proper artwork the animation. The player mechanics didn’t happen until pre-production level design, rather than

that scales and tiles accordingly were designed and implemented had been finished for a while; for the injecting the game full

no matter what configuration or iteratively, and the animations were year of pre-production, where the of one-shot gameplay
number of vertices the designer changed and tweaked and thrown small core team was creating the mechanics to feign depth.
uses. The most important aspect away until the three Cs felt perfect. UBIart framework and developing A good mechanic, such as
of the UBIart framework to a level Only once the main character was the three Cs, we didn’t need to worry the portal gun in the Valve
designer, however, is that the finished and comfortably fun to about it. Pre-production is the perfect game Portal, can carry an

game is always running in the control did we begin working on level time for creativity to run Irampant entire game by itself with the
editor, so as the designer pulls and and gameplay element design. and see where it takes you, because addition of proper gameplay

stretches the geometry, or drops The reason this worked out you are still working hard to define elements to help emphasize
in a series of platforms, RAYMAN so well is that rather than making the identity of your game. the usefulness and depth of
continues to animate and move levels and designing the character Once production started, the mechanic.”
with the geometry, just waiting for a mechanics concurrently and however, the design directors

controller input to take him through having both influence each other stepped into their roles more firmly When this Design Academy was

the environment. Someone can even (which would potentially water and began to tackle the sea of finished, Palmieri came to the

be playing while another person is down the three Cs to compensate interesting concepts and mechanics RAYMAN ORIGINS team as level design
editing, which makes the process for the level-design metrics), the and rationally construct a game director to teach the design team
of refining and iterating on a level team knew the character felt great system out of it, and Michel Ancel how to properly rationalize the game.

much more efficient. and just needed to build levels that stayed involved in order to preserve Before this, the team had some idea
he could traverse with the use of the game’s creative charm. It was of what they wanted for the levels in
3. FOCUS ON his skill set and metrics. In this this fine balancing act between two the game, but once they began the

THE THREE CS way, the team was guaranteed that great forces that kept the project rationalization process, the design
At Ubisoft, the three Cs of a no matter what, playing through on an even keel and ultimately became far more consistent. The
game (camera, character, and the levels was going to feel fluid produced a game that was both level design team employed rational

controls) are the most important and fun. While the team did end up creative and playable. design to understand how difficult

thing to define and maintain making changes to the three Cs a gameplay sequence was, why it
because they determine the player’s later in the development process 5. RATIONAL LEVEL was so difficult, and where in the

experience throughout the entire to fine-tune them, the fact remains DESIGN macro structure of the game such a
game. Obviously, when the control that the RAYMAN that was functional In March 2012, I wrote a sequence would fit. Rational design

of the main character feels wrong, before game production began was lengthy article on Gamasutra helped define what color a gameplay

when the camera just doesn’t cut it, at least 90% of the RAYMAN that is about Ubisoft’s internal rational element should be to greater clarify

or when the character animations playable in the finished product. design methodology, which was its function in the game, and it
don’t provide good feedback to conceived by Lionel Raynaud, even denoted when some exotic
player inputs and in-game actions, 4. CREATIVITY VS. Ubisoft worldwide content director, gameplay was required to break up
the overall experience in the game RATIONALITY and Eric Couzian, Ubisoft game the repetition of the core gameplay.
world feels awful, even if the game Creativity is a hallmark of Ubisoft design conception director, and Quite a large handful of reviews
and level design is outstanding. This Montpellier, and much of that comes was taught throughout Ubisoft of RAYMAN ORIGINS commented on
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