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Michel Ancel talks 2D platformers, Rayman Legends, shares his ideas/vision of Beyond Good and Evil
A portion of a Ubisoft blog interview with Michel Ancel...
U: What is it about the 2D platformer that makes it such a perfect canvas for expressing pure gameplay and artistic vision?
MA: When you are painting or drawing, it’s always in 2D. You’re used to doing those things in 2D. You can work with the artists very easily. So, for example, the concept art we’re doing for the game can very quickly be in the game itself. The connection between the artist, the musician and the game is very simple. When you’re working in 3D you have to sculpt and you need a lot of people working on it. It’s very technical. Here it’s very direct. There is a direct connection between the artists and the game. It’s easier to add content to the game.
U: OK, you knew this was coming, so here goes: Beyond Good & Evil. What is it about BG&E that still resonates today? Why is it a game people really still rally around?
MA: Maybe because it’s a game between genres. Rayman is very creative and colorful. On the other side you have some extremely violent games based around shooting and killing. I’m not saying one is bad or good, it’s just that maybe Beyond Good & Evil is a bridge between those two kinds of games. It is a mix of creativity and more mature content. I think there is a lack of this kind of game in the games industry.
Part of it has to be the main character herself. Jade was a different kind of female hero, especially a decade ago…
Yeah. When we started the project the first thing we said was, If this project is different it’s because it’s a female character who is driving the story. She’s not like other characters who look like women but act like men. I’m not saying women don’t shoot guns or defend themselves; it’s just that most women in games are clichés. They are just one vision of the woman. We wanted to create this character and respect her. We said, This is our character. This is how she is. We are not going to modify her with our male fantasies. We tried as much as possible to make Jade her own entity and her own personality. It was one of the challenges of development.
Full interview here
U: What is it about the 2D platformer that makes it such a perfect canvas for expressing pure gameplay and artistic vision?
MA: When you are painting or drawing, it’s always in 2D. You’re used to doing those things in 2D. You can work with the artists very easily. So, for example, the concept art we’re doing for the game can very quickly be in the game itself. The connection between the artist, the musician and the game is very simple. When you’re working in 3D you have to sculpt and you need a lot of people working on it. It’s very technical. Here it’s very direct. There is a direct connection between the artists and the game. It’s easier to add content to the game.
U: OK, you knew this was coming, so here goes: Beyond Good & Evil. What is it about BG&E that still resonates today? Why is it a game people really still rally around?
MA: Maybe because it’s a game between genres. Rayman is very creative and colorful. On the other side you have some extremely violent games based around shooting and killing. I’m not saying one is bad or good, it’s just that maybe Beyond Good & Evil is a bridge between those two kinds of games. It is a mix of creativity and more mature content. I think there is a lack of this kind of game in the games industry.
Part of it has to be the main character herself. Jade was a different kind of female hero, especially a decade ago…
Yeah. When we started the project the first thing we said was, If this project is different it’s because it’s a female character who is driving the story. She’s not like other characters who look like women but act like men. I’m not saying women don’t shoot guns or defend themselves; it’s just that most women in games are clichés. They are just one vision of the woman. We wanted to create this character and respect her. We said, This is our character. This is how she is. We are not going to modify her with our male fantasies. We tried as much as possible to make Jade her own entity and her own personality. It was one of the challenges of development.