Joystiq

Exploring the Revolutionary combat mechanics of Assassin's Creed 3

Alexander Sliwinski — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 19:30:00 EST

Assassin's Creed 3's gameplay elements will feel familiar to longtime fans of the franchise, with the significant exception of the combat mechanics. It'll be interesting to see how fans adapt and newcomers react.

"We rebuilt the combat system. I think one of the most striking comments we've heard in the last two days is how different it feels to fans of the franchise to previous game. I think you can do a lot," Alex Hutchinson, creative director on Assassin's Creed 3, told me at a recent press preview. "The whole flow of it is different, the archetypes are different, the old strategies just won't work."

Curious about the specifics, I asked Hutchinson for standout examples of differences between the previous four installments in the series and the latest iteration.

"For example, before, a counter was an automatic kill. You didn't have to make a decision after that, you could just spam the attack button. Before, you had to target everyone individually by using the left trigger, which you no longer have to do. You would block on the right trigger, which is now a face button. You couldn't run out of a fight in the old version, but now you can, because the right trigger is still free run. Nobody attacked simultaneously, which they do now. It's virtually a complete rewrite."

Gallery: Assassin's Creed 3 (9/24/12)

Continue reading Exploring the Revolutionary combat mechanics of Assassin's Creed 3

Exploring the Revolutionary combat mechanics of Assassin's Creed 3 originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 24 Sep 2012 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sea Assassin's Creed 3 naval battles with creative lead Alex Hutchinson

Ben Gilbert — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 12:02:00 EST

When Assassin's Creed 3 launches later this year, Connor's gonna have more than Red Coats and wolves to contend with - he's also the captain of a colonial warship, naturally. If you thought the myriad systems of past AC games were insane, take a look at the video above and see how truly insane they can be.

Sea Assassin's Creed 3 naval battles with creative lead Alex Hutchinson originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 28 Aug 2012 12:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Take a guided tour through the Boston of Assassin's Creed 3

Ben Gilbert — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 11:20:00 EST

You may have seen Assassin's Creed 3's Boston level demoed before, but you've certainly never seen it with the game's creative director walking you through every little detail. Ubisoft offers just that in the video we've dropped above.

Continue reading Take a guided tour through the Boston of Assassin's Creed 3

Take a guided tour through the Boston of Assassin's Creed 3 originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 13 Jul 2012 11:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Assassin's Creed 3 PC delay confirmed, to drop before Christmas [update: Ubisoft denies delay]

Jessica Conditt — Thu, 12 Jul 2012 20:00:00 EST

Update: Ubisoft has told Polygon that the story derived from Hutchinson's comments is not correct, and that the PC version of Assassin's Creed 3 is still on track for October 30. Ubisoft PR has not responded to our requests for further comment.

Original story:

The PC version of Assassin's Creed 3 is delayed beyond the October 30 release date scheduled for consoles, Ubisoft creative lead Alex Hutchinson confirmed today at a San Diego Comic-Con panel. The PC iteration is set to launch before Christmas, "near the console launch," Hutchinson said.

This confirms an earlier rumor concerning the obligatory Ubi-PC delay for Assassin's Creed 3.

Assassin's Creed 3 PC delay confirmed, to drop before Christmas [update: Ubisoft denies delay] originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 12 Jul 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Running through the snow with Assassin's Creed 3 creative lead Alex Hutchinson

Ben Gilbert — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 12:00:00 EST

Assassin's Creed 3 protagonist Connor introduces more than just unpronounceable names to the AC series. Ubisoft creative lead Alex Hutchinson cheerfully elucidates those additions in the latest gameplay walkthrough, above.

Running through the snow with Assassin's Creed 3 creative lead Alex Hutchinson originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 13 Jun 2012 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Assassin's Creed 3 creative director doesn't dislike your ideas that much, Internet

Ben Gilbert — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 10:15:00 EST

Despite Assassin's Creed 3 creative lead Alex Hutchinson's recent fighting words with the internet over its "boring" ideas for potential AC settings, he told us this morning that he still loves you. Or something like that. "It's part of a bigger discussion. Obviously any setting is potentially awesome," he said in a brief PAX East show floor followup. "The point we were making was that some settings are more familiar in video games than other settings. And the two particular ones that were mentioned are very familiar video game settings."

Hutchinson is referring to both the World War II and Feudal Japan ideas brought up during an interview with OXM recently. "The exciting thing is that the game can go anywhere," Hutchinson said. "We've had versions of the assassin ... people have thrown ideas around for probably literally any setting that people would think of. But when you get right down to it - when we're doing the actual nitty gritty of spending the time on it, spending a couple years making something - we wanna go to a setting that other games haven't gone to." As for the aforementioned pair of settings? "We're trying to find places that will surprise people."

And Hutchinson doesn't want you to hate him, internet. He also spoke to his statements regarding net denizens coming up with "the most boring settings" for future AC games. "If people think they have the worst ideas, I apologize for that," he told us. "But really, they're very predictable. The internet is not the place for insight, unfortunately," Hutchinson added with a laugh.

As for recent news that AC3 will be Desmond's biggest outing yet, Hutchinson said, "There's a big opportunity when the real timeline crosses the fictional timeline. Like, this is a fun idea. So there's stuff that we have to deal with. We feel like it's about time to pay off the people who've been sticking with the franchise for a long time." When asked if this would be Desmond's last appearance in the series, Ubisoft PR assassins jumped in and said, "I think people are gonna be entertained by it." We're not sure what that means either, but we'll be sure to keep asking.

Assassin's Creed 3 creative director doesn't dislike your ideas that much, Internet originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 06 Apr 2012 10:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Assassin's Creed 3 creative director doesn't like your ideas, Internet

Jessica Conditt — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 23:00:00 EST

The creative director for Assassin's Creed 3 thinks your ideas are stupid and you should just shut up already. Really, that's not even very paraphrased.

"People on the internet suggest the most boring settings," Alex Hutchinson told OXM. "The three most wanted are WWII, feudal Japan and Egypt. They're kind of the three worst settings for an AC game."

Assassin's Creed 3 writer Corey May really wants to do India, and Hutchinson agrees, saying "I would too. I'd really love to do the Raj."

The moral of the story is: Don't expect an Assassin's Creed title in WWII, feudal Japan or Egypt settings, ever. Also, shut up.

Assassin's Creed 3 creative director doesn't like your ideas, Internet originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 05 Apr 2012 23:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Building a Revolution: The four teams behind Assassin's Creed 3

Ben Gilbert — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 12:30:00 EST

Ubisoft Montreal is kind of a big deal. Since being established in 1997, the company's first North American studio has been home to some of the biggest franchises in Ubisoft's entire portfolio: Splinter Cell, multiple Prince of Persia reboots, and Assassin's Creed.

Ever since Ubisoft Montreal's Assassin's Creed 2 introduced Ezio Auditore in 2009, the number of studios working on the franchise alone has increased dramatically. For 2010's Brotherhood, four additional studios signed on for support: Singapore, Bucharest, Québec City, and Annecy. For 2011's Revelations, yet another was added (Ubisoft Massive), putting the total at six.

For this year's Assassin's Creed 3, the army of studios has been restructured to four: Montreal, Annecy, Quebéc City, and Singapore.

"Annecy is still doing an evolution of the multiplayer," Creative director Alex Hutchinson explained to Joystiq. As we already know, Ubisoft Annecy is working on some form of -- potentially co-op -- multiplayer."There're a few things that are being done in the Québec studio. So there's an evolution there," he said. Despite prodding, he wouldn't reveal what specifically that tease meant. "We cannot talk about specifically what they are working on." The Québec studio assisted with level design (among other things) in the past two Assassin's Creed titles.

Even though an army is attached to Assassin's Creed 3, it's Montreal that has been focused on the project for the past two and a half years. "80 percent of our team have come through from AC1, AC2. A lot of them didn't do ACB or ACR 'cause they were working on AC3," Hutchinson said. "The turnover has actually been scarily low for a franchise that's been going for seven years. You still have the same lead writer who wrote the first words on AC1, you have the same guy doing the navigation that did AC1."

"At its core," Hutchinson said, "it is a Ubisoft Montreal game." He told us, "The thing with other studios is that they have different skill sets. At the end of the day, it's what makes it sometimes harder to manage the game, but it also makes the game richer." It's a formula that, thus far, has worked astonishingly well for Ubisoft. We'll find out if the company strikes gold once more this October when Assassin's Creed 3 launches.

Building a Revolution: The four teams behind Assassin's Creed 3 originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 26 Mar 2012 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Assassin's Creed 3's displaced main city: Philadelphia

Ben Gilbert — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 12:15:00 EST

There are three main "cities" in Assassin's Creed 3: Boston, New York, and "The Frontier." Notoriously absent from that list is a city that I considered to be a lock in the Revolutionary War-based title - my beloved Philadelphia. Having spent six years of my life in Will Smith's place of birth, I hoped for a chance to explore its auspicious beginnings with a hidden blade. It also makes perfect sense for inclusion, given its history as the heart of the American Revolution. So why isn't it included?

Though the oft-neglected city was planned early on for open world exploration in the game, creative director Alex Hutchinson told me it was eventually cut for gameplay reasons.

"When we started out, Philly was one of the cities that we wanted to do. In the end, we decided against it, 'cause when we mocked it up - as you know, being from Philly, it's an architecturally designed city, so it's on a grid. Which at first we thought would be cool - the first city in AC to be designed on a grid - and then you realize ..." Hutchinson said. His colleague picked up after him.

"Well it's on a grid and it's flat, and the avenues are super large. So that's like three things that made us say it doesn't work in an open world." Indeed, Philadelphia was architecturally laid out as a grid by Pennsylvania's first governor William Penn, modeled after European cities of the time.

But even the large avenues and rigid layout couldn't keep AC3 from Philly. "That said, there are key events that take place in Philadelphia," Hutchinson assured me. As for nods to everyone's favorite fresh prince during said events, we'll have to wait until October to find out.

[Image credit: Flickr user 'bengrey']

Assassin's Creed 3's displaced main city: Philadelphia originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 26 Mar 2012 12:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Assassin's Creed 3: Rebuilding a series during the birth of a nation

Ben Gilbert — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 12:01:00 EST

Back in late 2009, creative director Alex Hutchinson and a handful of others started drawing up plans for what would become Assassin's Creed 3. In those two years, the team rethought core elements of the series: cities, combat, and the franchise's signature "free running" mechanic. Even the engine, Anvil, was examined and updated (now dubbed "AnvilNext").

But before all of that, Hutchinson needed a setting and a character. He wouldn't tell us why or how he settled on the American Revolution (nor would he say what other ideas came up), but he did explain why he believes it'll be a success. "We really believe this is the strongest setting so far in an AC game. Why? Because we think it's the most relevant setting," he said during a group presentation. "This is the birth of the nation. But even for other countries, especially in Europe, it's a key historical event."

By the way, for all his U.S pride, Hutchinson is an Aussie and he lives in Canada. We assume he's spent a lot of time watching Independence Day.

Gallery: Assassin's Creed 3 (3/26/12)

Continue reading Assassin's Creed 3: Rebuilding a series during the birth of a nation

Assassin's Creed 3: Rebuilding a series during the birth of a nation originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 26 Mar 2012 12:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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