Page 32 - Developer

its learning and difficulty curves, gameplay element, they should have witnessed nearly every time during were constantly changing their
saying that they are as close to a sense of instant familiarity with playtesting. Ultimately the birds minds because only when they
perfect as a game can get. While it, and an inherent understanding remained birds, but their original saw the elements in action could
the team understands that it isn’t of what it is and what it will do. In red coloring (which was foolishly they really know if they were what
perfect and there is always room this way, the designer makes an the exact same color the enemy they wanted. This meant that rules
for improvement, the fact that the agreement with the player to provide birds were sporting) was changed to changed almost every day, and
players felt the need to comment clear signs and forms, and in return green to match the green color of the it was not possible to constantly

positively on the difficulty of the the player cannot feel cheated when platforms in the previous world. brief the Casablanca team on
game is testament enough to the they fail; if all the information is This was not an isolated case what changed twice a day. This

implementation of rational design provided clearly, then it is only the of form defining function in the meant that when it came time to
methodology. Through its use the player’s lack of skill that is to blame development of RAYMAN ORIGINS, and review the outsourced content, it
designers were able to anticipate for their failure. as a result the game simply isn’t as was unsurprisingly “sloppy” by

what a player should be learning In a creative project like RAYMAN, easy to read and understand as it definition, simply because it had
at any given point in the game, as however, the development was could have been. been created under an outdated rule
well as understand where it was very much driven by artwork, set. Ultimately the responsibilities of
appropriate to challenge the use of style, and silliness in character, 2. OUTSOURCING the Casablanca team were adapted
certain in-game powers. environment, and object designs. Outsourcing has become a to fit into an area of production more

Not only was the final game Many of the gameplay elements standard in game production; all the easily managed by an outsourcing
better thanks to the rationalization that can be seen throughout the biggest and best projects outsource coordinator, since the rules could
process, it helped push out the game were built backward, where to other studios to simply get the be set in stone and easily overseen

60+ levels that were required for form defined function. Rather than massive volume of work done constantly from abroad.
the release of the game. When asking, “We need a platform for within the publisher’s unrealistic In the end, the outsourcing
we were getting close to the end this world, so what can we make timeframe. While RAYMAN was not really helped in the creation of the
of the production phase, we still it look like that will clearly signify exactly a massive production, sheer volume of content required
had a lot of levels left to build, and its function as a platform?” the it was still a triple-A game that to have a complete game, and there
we were able to speed up that team ended up with something needed enough content to justify is no doubt that the game would

process by creating rational design more along the lines of “So in this the price tag, and since Ubisoft not have been finished had it not
tables and level design briefs for concept for the current world we Montpellier’s Villa was a fairly been for the collaboration with
gameplay element distribution, have these silly-looking birds. small team, the studio looked to its the Casablanca studio. It is simply
which gave the team a clear I suppose because their beaks partner studio Ubisoft Casablanca. important to realize the realistic
direction. Production near the end are flat they could be platforms, Ubisoft Casablanca is a very solid scope of what can be handled from

was lightning fast compared to the right?” This doesn’t sound so bad studio. They have produced a number such a distance and how to best
beginning, and the game made it at first, but in this example, birds of Ubisoft titles, including a few make use of your outsourcing

out the door on time with the scope were used as platforms, enemies, platformers, so it made sense to work partners to maximize the amount
that was promised. and spiky traps. By using birds for with them on ORIGINS. The issue with of usable content they can produce.
outsourcing is that the management
of the studio and the communication 3. LACK OF PROPER TOOLS
between studios needs to be top- The UBIart framework was, as
notch for it to work, especially when previously stated, a godsend for
the core team is so small. When a the production of a modern two-
change is made to the level-design dimensional platformer. The core of
guidelines, for example, virtually the framework was perfect for the
every involved person knows before task, but the rest of the content-
the end of the afternoon at the Villa. development tools weren’t properly
For the outsourced studio, we have integrated with Ubiart, which made
to make a phone call to relay this it hard for the dev team to create
information. If it comes too late, levels or build out other aspects of
the team there will have continued the game in the engine.
working under outdated guidelines, Sure, there was GenAnim, which
making some of their work obsolete was a very big part of creating
even before it is created. RAYMAN ORIGINS, but even GenAnim
This is obviously something that has its shortcomings. For an outside
can be avoided simply by having a animator coming onto the project,
Caption
proper chain of communication, but GenAnim couldn’t be any less user-
because of the fluid way that the friendly; there are no menus, hardly

WHA T WENT WRONG platforms, the team was giving the RAYMAN team at the Villa worked, it any buttons or tooltips, and even the
1. FORM DEFINED player the initial impression that became a problem quite quickly. animation timeline is as barebones
FUNCTION they were actually enemies or traps At the studio, the team rarely had as can be. One wonders how the

Architect Louis Sullivan famously to be avoided. Unsurprisingly, the a fully fleshed-out set of rules animators get anything done at all

said, “Form follows function.” In player’s first instinct was to attack and guidelines for level creation in such a tool, but when you talk to
games, this means that when the platform rather than to jump and implementation of gameplay one of the animators on the team it
the player sets their eyes on the onto it, which is something that was elements; the creatives in the team becomes quite clear: Everything is
30 GAME DEVELOPER | OCTOBER 2012