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"it has become a part of my brain, and I will probably be troubled by this task for the rest of my life."

In 1997, the young Patrice D é silets had just graduated from the University of Montreal and was looking for a job. Ubisoft's Montreal studio was set up shortly after it was founded, but the 23-year-old Desiree had no intention of becoming a game developer.

"this is a far cry from my ideal career. I studied film and drama in college. I thought I would make a movie in the future, but I also sent my resume to Ubisoft because I was also a player."

Desiree has been exposed to games since the 1980s, especially games on Choplifter, gold prospectors and Apple II computers. When he attended the Ubisoft interview, he knew nothing about how to make games, but the interview went well.

To some extent, it was due to lack of professional experience that Desiree got a job offer at Ubisoft. "because they stumbled upon a guy with a wide range of interests and knowledge, and he knew games." Desiree does not understand the established rules of game design, so he is more willing to try to make changes than some of his peers who have been in the industry for many years.

Dexilai started as a designer at Ubisoft and became the creative director of "Prince of Persia" and "Hero of time and Space" (Hype: The Time Quest), the first game that Desiree participated in the development of Ubisoft. In retrospect, it seems to have inspired Desiree's obsession with time throughout his career. "time is the only dimension that we can't control, which is very attractive. so I think it's cool to use time as the basis for the core fantasy of the game."

In Hero of time and Space, Desiree and other members of the team try to pay homage to the classic Japanese RPG "the key to Space and time". "Ubisoft Montreal is a new studio. Ubisoft only sends some experienced producers here, no senior designers are recruited, almost all of them are fresh out of college, and we have to learn while doing it."

Does Desiree feel nervous when he starts to take the lead at a young age? "No, I was only 23 at that time, and I was happy to have a job."

The Hero of time and Space tells the story of a young knight who travels through time and space to save the kingdom from the evil black knight. The gaming industry has undergone great changes in the late 1990s. Desiree felt that those who joined the industry at that time were the last pioneers in the industry. He is still surprised that Nintendo achieved full 3D operation, screen, level structure and so on in Super Malio 64, because most of the games on the market at that time were still designed with 2D thinking.

A few years later, Desiree was appointed creative director of the Prince of Persia restart project by Ubisoft, although he was not familiar with the previous work. "the original Prince of Persia was born in 1989, with good animation and rich riddle-solving elements, so in the restart work, I tried to retain those popular core features and make a new game based on it."

In Ubisoft Montreal, Desiree led the team to produce Prince of Persia: the Sands of time, which pushed the series to complete the transition from 2D to 3D in an ingenious way. On the one hand, 3D space-time provides a new design concept, on the other hand, it reduces the difficulty. "the distance between the traps and obstacles in the game is always a little smaller than the distance that players jump each time." "of course players can still make mistakes, but pixel accuracy is no longer needed, and don't forget to turn back time," Desiree said.... this allows us to retain the core part of the series, that is, the player will die many times without causing too much frustration. "

Desiree recalls that it was one night when he was watching a TV show that he suddenly came up with the idea of going back in time: he had to play back and watch the scene again because he missed a dialogue in the play. Next, he shared the idea within the team and won the support of programmer Martin Seveni. "his support changed my life. No matter what you do, you always need a partner."

Prince of Persia: sand of time takes Tomb Raider-style action adventure to a new level. After the success of the Assassin Creed and Prince of Persia: sand of time, Ubisoft entrusted Desiree with the task of developing the next generation of Prince of Persia and asked him to "redefine the action adventure game"-although most of the time he hid behind the beauty producer Jade Raymond. However, some of the limitations of the Prince of Persia series also make it difficult to achieve major innovations with breakthrough significance. At the same time, the direct sequel to Prince of Persia: the Sands of time was handed over to other internal teams, but sales were not satisfactory, so Ubisoft wanted to change the background of the game. Under the influence of these factors, Desiree began to delve into history and finally drew inspiration from an ancient myth about the assassin in the mountains.

They decided to make a game codenamed Prince of Persia: the Assassin, which was renamed the Assassin's Creed two years later. Unlike Prince of Persia: the Sands of time, the original Assassin Creed allows players to explore freely on maps and retains some of the essence of the Prince of Persia series, such as sword fights, platform jumps, and the alternative "rewind" function achieved through the virtual reality machine Animus. Of course, more importantly, Animus's narrative framework of the combination of modern and ancient times completely breaks through the original setting of the Prince of Persia.

Although the Assassin's Creed tells the story of an assassin, it is not the focus of the game. The original protagonists often question their motives for doing tasks and reflect on whether they should follow the rules or what they are doing it for. The theme had a profound impact: in 2007, a large number of games began to explore the theme of freedom. "Assassin Creed" and "biochemical Raiders" are typical of 3A masterpieces, which influenced many other works over the next 10 years.

"as human beings, this is a problem we have to face. We are always asked to follow the rules and try to suppress our inner thoughts, but should we do this? why should I follow the rules and dogma? this is a struggle." Said Desiree.

This is also closely related to his design philosophy. "I try to evoke some feelings, not emotions, because players don't always follow the rules and tend to play at will, inadvertently destroying your carefully constructed story."

Desiree once joked that it was his fault that players were forced to climb towers in many open-world games, considering the contradiction between rules and players' behavior, and how to tell stories through the game. Desiree developed his own methodology. " The story must be in line with the characteristics and mechanism of the game, otherwise it will be easily screwed up by players. For example, in Prince of Persia, the palace vibrates when the prince activates his power. This creates a situation for play, otherwise it is difficult to understand why a palace is full of broken walls, dangers and platforms. "

"since it is the Prince of Persia, it is also important to set traps, but why are there traps in the palace? this is because the player triggers the defense system. You have to write a story with a beginning, an ending, and a character evolution, but the other side of the story is: there were no traps in the palace, but now there are traps. This is the story shaping of the game."

In fact, many game works have the problem of narrative imbalance, and Desiree's approach may help to solve the problem. "Ataire and Egio are both protagonists in the 'Assassin Creed' series, but the biggest difference between them is that Egio's story is more in line with the minds of the players." "at first, Egio was just an ignorant Italian teenager who didn't know how to be an assassin, so he would learn with the players," de Sile said. On the contrary, Ataire has been a good assassin from the beginning, so we have to find ways to remove these abilities to provide players with a sense of continuous improvement. "

"Assassin's Creed 2" was the first peak of the series, and its appearance set a new example for the industry at that time. After the release of "historian" and "Assassin's Creed 2", Desiree left Ubisoft to join the newly established THQ Montreal Studio and embarked on the development of the next game, "1666: Amsterdam" (1666: Amsterdam). Not long after, however, THQ declared bankruptcy, some of the company's assets were acquired by Ubisoft, and Desiree returned to Ubisoft. Desiree was fired by Ubisoft in 1666 and spent several years fighting a lawsuit against his former employer in an attempt to reclaim ownership of Amsterdam. After a three-year legal battle, the two sides finally reached an out-of-court settlement in 2016.

"Ubisoft thought I wanted to screw it up, but it was never my intention. To be honest, I didn't care about anything else. I just wanted to get my stuff back and protect myself. I meant no harm to Ubisoft. Of course, there have been some disharmonious episodes in those years, but it's all over."

Now, 1666: Amsterdam may be one of Desiree's future projects. Considering the speculation about it over the years, is de Sile worried that the long-term expectation will disappoint the players? " You know what scares me the most? I am most afraid of becoming the next Don Quixote. I have been pursuing a project all my life, but I will never get it, but I am not afraid to make this game. My vision of 1666: Amsterdam is very different from that of 10 years ago, because as a game designer and creative director, I am also completely different from then. "

The video of the early release of "1666: Amsterdam" is similar to the Assassin's Creed, but now it may not be what Desiree wants. Desiree says that his more than a decade of experience at Ubisoft has made him a "historian" by many investors-when Desiree sought investment, almost all potential investors asked him to create a historical game. "they want the next Assassin's Creed."

In a sense, does it bother him that history has become Desiree's personal brand? "No. Personally, I like to make historical games, although it's not easy and costs more money. In fact, I did make a prehistoric game that really contains my own ideas: it's about feeling and playing, and there are almost no specific historical facts."

Desiree's history games are not just games, but reflect his interest in human history, specifically, his obsession with time, keen observations and original insights into social development. "I am really interested in how human beings evolve and change. We have become completely different from our ancestors. I think many people are fascinated by history because we are so different from the past."

Ancestor: human Odyssey (Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey) is the latest historical game produced by Desiree's team. It was launched in 2019 and has sold more than 1 million copies so far. Desiree, the founder of independent studio Panache Digital Games, runs his company, but says he doesn't like calling the shots, which is one of the reasons Panache uses a mixed office model.

Ancestor: human Odyssey is rated by players as a hard-core survival game with an unfriendly operation and pitifully few hints. It simulates the living conditions of human ancestors to the greatest extent. "We don't have Mondays here." "you don't have meetings every Monday, so you don't feel anxious about the coming week," Desiree explained. Everyone can do what they want to do, go to the dentist, go to the bank, or work on their own projects in their spare time.... I don't want to know what everyone is doing. "

Desiree also has a very personal view of the game development cycle, which divides the development into three stages, namely "selling", "playing" and "telling". In the "sales promotion" phase, developers need to find ways to express their ideas and strive to win the approval of the team. To do this, you can build a prototype, or make a minimum playable version to showcase art, creativity, and technical direction. "it must make you proud and show the features of the game."

The next "play" phase includes pre-and post-production. "it still looks bad at this time, there is no story, but it doesn't matter, you need to focus on fun, mode of operation, mechanism, and playability every minute."

When it comes to the third stage of "telling", once the development team has fully understood the game mechanism and play cycle, they can use them to tell stories.

Desiree revealed that the development team of ancestor: human Odyssey has only about 25 members. Fifteen years ago, it was very difficult for independent studios to create games, but with the development of technology, many tools made it unnecessary for us to create content from scratch. He also pointed out that the game product is not the bigger the better, the more the better-precision is more important. "as long as you really find something fun, you don't need 250 people to make the game at all."

In any case, Desiree will never forget a task that Ubisoft gave him during the development of the original Assassin Creed-to redefine action adventure categories. "it has become a part of my brain, and I will probably be haunted by this task for the rest of my life."

This article is compiled from: http://www.gamesindustry.biz/patrice-desilets-and-his-lifelong-obsession-with-time

Original title: "Patrice D é silets and his lifelong obsession with time"

Original author: Andrea Maderna

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