On the occasion of the recent Paris Games Week, we were able to kidnap Michel Ancel, creator of the famous Rayman, for half an hour. The opportunity to report progress with him on Rayman Origins, of course, but also Beyond Good & Evil 2, his career and influences. And realize that being almost 40, the native of Monaco has lost neither his modesty nor his humor or his passion.
Gamekult: What is it like to have a book dedicated to you (Michel Ancel: Biography of a French Creator of Video Games published by Pix'n Love)?
Michel Ancel: Well, it helps to remember things about myself, it's a reminder (laughs). No, it's funny, well, what is fun is to see that many people have made interventions in the book, that was the surprise. After this you can see just what has been done for several years.
Does this make you feel like you've had several careers?
No, on the contrary, I have a sense of continuity, especially considering that at the end we return to Rayman Origins . The book makes a loop, I think ... (He leafs through the book in question, placed in front of him) Actually, I haven't read it! I gave a quick look at it because I love the pictures (laughs). Ah yes, it ends with Rayman Origins . As it started ... Well, it's not over, eh?
Can you tell us what was your exact role on Rayman Origins?
I'm the instigator of the project, I am officially the creative director. I initially gathered a small team of two-three people to experiment on a new generation 2D engine. It was a continuation of what we did on Beyond Good & Evil 2, an engine based on the idea of generating settings. In fact, artists make elements such as samples and then we can model the level very quickly, into a forest, etc.. It all started with this tool that we called UBIart framework.we thought: to show that this tool works, we will make a game out of it.
So Rayman Origins was born in the same way as the first Rayman, by chance, an engineering prototype, with no will to insert Rayman in particular?
Exactly. It was not necessarily a Rayman rather an artistic tool, a tool for game design and interactive level design. Our desire, initially, was to use a more modern tool. The project was born of a desire to tweak stuff.
At what point did you switch from BGE to Rayman 2?
On BGE 2, one day, we found that technologically, we were trying to make something pretty crazy, with cities, planets, all we could not include in Beyond Good & Evil 2. And then we realized we were going to be struck by the same syndrome as the first, that is to say that even if can apparently show nice enough things, with lighting and shadows, at the architectural level we felt limited. So I said, do a 2D game in depth, rather than a 3D game in half.
And it was not frustrating, during those five years, working on several projects without having the satisfaction to lead them all the way?
Of course we always want to ship the games. But Rayman Origins was an opportunity to show what could be done with the technological expertise that had been acquired.
You have often been nicknamed the "French Miyamoto." Is this something that amuses you or bothers you?
No, it's okay, there are worse comparisons. But I think I'm very different from Miyamoto. And not just because I do not speak Japanese. To me, he focuses heavily on the gameplay, on his franchises. I have a different approach, I really like to also work with tools. I love the idea of introducing the art in games, with narration, graphics, music, and make the best possible synergy with the gameplay... We have two different approaches, different paths. He's still a superstar in the field!
Have you had a chance to meet him?
Yes, but I've never worked with him. Of course I would like to. We have already met, however. Moreover, he said he was not so convinced by BGE ! (Laughter) In fact, he thought the collaboration with Pey'j was very interesting, but was not satisfied with the cameras. He suggested we look at what they did with Super Mario Sunshine .
You explain in your biography that if a person in France deserves to be compared with Miyamoto, it's Serge Hascoët [creative director at Ubisoft].
Yes, very much so, because he has the same profile, philosophically. He focuses 100% on the gameplay and feel of the game, where I'll be a bit between two worlds.
Do you have examples of the influence of Serge Hascoët?
On the development of King Kong, we learned a lot by example. Not on the 360 version and so on, but PS2 and GameCube at the time. We were forced not to use cutscenes, to tell the story at the same time as the player plays, etc.. It was a great exercise. This is due to Serge, who once said: "No more cutscenes in video games, it's over. It's up to the game to make us live a story. If you have something to tell, make the player live it for real. And Assassin's Creed is based on that. The project dates from the same period in 2004, something like that. The game is film itself, it tells the story of the player, not that of the developers. This was truly decisive. And two years later, Serge came up with a new decision: all games should be at 60 frames/second. Not everyone was able to do it...
That decision is less about gameplay ...
It is, since 60 frames/second means ease of playing, as simple as that. The fluidity of the camera, movement, control, etc.. In short, the comfort. We managed to do it on Rayman Origins and it was one of our goals.
Besides, I saw you earlier in the process of observing how players responded to Rayman Origins.
Yes of course, even if these are conditions that I find abhorrent. There is no sound, people are stressed, in addition it is a part where the levels are unlocked from the start... It's a bit of a slaughterhouse, it must be said.
When you see a player approaching the joystick to play the game that you made, you must be scared for a moment, right?
Yes, of course. But that's why we work, so that people have fun. If something is done wrong, we say to ourselves (with a dramatic voice) "Oh my god, we must absolutely fix that!" But here, we will not correct anything, the game is done. I am very happy with the work that was done, we were helped by very nice people, especially of Ubisoft Montreal, so really, I'm happy.
For Rayman Origins, I guess you had to look at New Super Mario Bros. Wii?
As far as I'm concerned, not at all! I will say something awful, but I do not play Mario, I don't like to slip, I do not like this inertia, I do not like that you can not slap! I think the game is fabulous, I understand people love it, but it is not my cup of tea. Me, I was rather into Ghosts'n Goblins, Heart of Darkness, Another World, games where the narrative was important. Beyond that, it's the controls of Mario that are very interesting, but which I have trouble to get used to. I feel like I can see too much through the game mechanics ("la ficelle ludique" - kinda hard to translate), even if it's a game that works, it is absorbing, obviously.
As for LittleBigPlanet, I've played very little because I found the physics and controls rather tricky. Yet the game designers who worked with me did not stop to tell me: "You should look at Donkey Kong ! You should see Mario ! " There is always a form of influence. In fact, we all face the same issues. In a multiplayer 2D game, what should happen when a player dies? How does he comes back in the game? Should we keep him waiting? We didn't want to force the player to wait, so we gave him a little control. These are issues that come back.
In your biography, surprisingly, the game you mention with the greatest enthusiasm, it's The Legend of the Mystical Ninja. We felt that mix of gameplay as an influence on BGE ... As if the interest was not to define a genre, but to tell a story by any means offered by the video game.
Absolutely. It's a landmark game for me. At the time, there was Super Mario World on SNES, but to make a choice, it was quick, I would pick Mystical Ninja. First, because there was a two-player mode, you could climb on the shoulders of one another, and then these mythical levels, where you can bring down the set, the other player falls down, there were bosses with Mode 7 [a display mode of the Super Nintendo that allowed zooming and rotation effects, note], a story, secret passages, games in the game .. Sure, it's an indefinable game I often forget to mention, but along with Zelda III it's one of my models. They have in common to be a whole world. The gameplay is secondary. Obviously, in a video game, the gameplay is the foundation. But when there is meaning, when there's a story, it's better. Gameplay is action. Story tells us why we do this action.
In fact it is something surprising when one delves into the origins of the first Rayman, but at no time you seem to have an ambition that revolves around the gameplay. The game is presented more as an artist's view, a graphic designer's work, which is quite unusual for a platform game.
It's true. To be honest, the first Rayman was also not very funny at the beginning of development. But when Serge Hascoët arrived, we were able to make a symbiosis between art and gameplay.
And today, the game which you are most proud of? Not counting Rayman Origins of course, since you are in full promotional campaign, it does not count.
I am obviously very happy with BGE, although by replaying the HD version, I felt times when it deserved to be cleaned up, in the structure. Also we learned so much from BGE that there was always a lot to improve. I believe that there would be as many differences between Rayman Origins and a game such as Rayman 1 as would be between BGE 2 and BGE. All that we learned in terms of rhythm, control of the gameplay, we can put to good use.
