ECTS Interviews – London, September 5th 

Pauline Jacquey – Producer on “Rayman 2, The Great Escape” on Nintendo 64, Dreamcast and PC

1. / What is the story line of Rayman 2?

Cruel pirates from outer space have invaded Rayman’s world. Their mission is to capture and take over the population in order to sell them to a galactic circus. Moreover, all the magical energy of this magic world has been spread all around and Rayman has lost most of his powers. So, the big quest of the game is to find a way to call upon the god and creator of the planet, Pollochus the magician. He is the only one who is capable of giving Rayman all his powers back and helping him save the world. At the same time, Rayman has to fulfil the mission of freeing his friends. He will then take advantage of their presence to get some help and rid their magical world of the pirates! 

I would say that the story line of the game can be summarised by the words “action” and “epic”.

2. / What kind of gameplay will we find in Rayman 2? 

While designing the game and the character we really wanted to focus on keeping a fast pace and a good rhythm in the gameplay. In most free 3D games, the player can spend hours exploring huge universes without anything happening around and he is sometimes not really sure what he is supposed to be doing. But in Rayman 2 he can not take a second to breathe because everything is falling apart under his feet. At the same time, there are some very large open passages with magnificent perspectives, followed by tighter pathways that are therefore more intuitive and better paced, before again leading once again into incredible panoramas. I think it was a huge challenge for us to try to do this kind of game on the Nintendo console, because not many games are this fast paced, stressful and fun on the Nintendo platform. So we tried to find a good balance between Crash Bandicoot and Zelda and create this PlayStation-like game play on the Nintendo.

3. / Controlling a character in 3D is harder to grasp than 2D. How will you teach people what moves your character can do?

It is true that 3D is still quite new in action games, and the player might need some time to become comfortable with it. But we’ve done everything to make this 3D-universe immersion a pleasure, especially by focusing particular attention on the camera movements and a progressive game difficulty. Controlling the character is really intuitive, which was a major element we wanted to achieve. In the focus group we have done, all the gamers even the young kids and those who had never played 3D games before, enjoyed a lot the controls of the character. They even find it far above other games’ characters on the Nintendo.
Our general goal on Rayman 2 is to give the player the feeling that he is living in the heart of an action movie. So the enemies and the camera movements have been especially designed to fulfil this aim. When you play, you really feel that you are brilliant and that you are doing a great job, but actually the game play is not that hard, it’s just challenging and spectacular.

4. / If we except the gameplay, what makes Rayman 2 different from other games?

I do think that Rayman 2 is innovative and unique. First of all, there is this unique graphic touch that was provided by Michel Ancel who is the creator of the original Rayman and Rayman 2. The work on the lights and the textures is really new and unique, particularly on the Nintendo platform. 

Moreover, I think that this feeling of living out a Hollywood-like movie when playing is new on a Nintendo. The Rayman 2 animators are among the best in the industry. They all come from the cartoon or movie industry, either cartoon animators or directors. The intervention of the cinematic sequences in the game is different from what you usually experience in other video games: they have been filmed, shot as a real cartoon film, with shot/reverse shot effects…, not just a shot featuring two characters. In a few seconds they really immerse the player into the characters’ personalities, emotions and missions.

5. / And from a technological point of view, what is new in Rayman 2?

The display engine is really powerful even on the Nintendo and we worked especially  on including a fluid high-resolution mode for this platform. In this mode the sharpness of the console is increased so you play in a universe where the textures are as detailed as on a PC and that’s really new. I want to focus too on the sound effects because the work that has been done on the sound is amazing. We have many levels of sound effects and atmospheres, as well as interactive music. I don’t think many games on Nintendo have gone so far on this aspect. 

6./ Will the game be different on each platform?

The story line is the same. On each platform, the player will experience the same strong sensations, provided by the fast pace gameplay and the epic sense, when discovering the quest and the worlds. But he will also experience different topography and gameplay that exploit the best aspects of each machine!
On the Nintendo 64, we have gone really far in exploiting the technical possibilities, with the effects and the high-resolution mode among others. Graphics are really impressive! But it will be even more spectacular on the PC and the Dreamcast versions with amazing textures in higher resolution and a 60 images/second game, even on a small PC like a P133 or P 166. As for the PSX version, the gameplay will be also adapted to the abilities of the console.
Our overall objective is of course to create the best action game on each platform!

7. / You are currently at the end of the project on Nintendo 64 and PC. Do you already have other Rayman products under way? And from a more general point of view, what does Ubi Soft have planned for the future?  

Development of Rayman 2 on PlayStation and Dreamcast is under way. The work we are doing on these platforms will help us create a Rayman game on the upcoming Playstation2. We are very excited about this platform. But I think that this ongoing development is just part of the creation of a huge licence of the Rayman character. He has a great richness, which is due in part to his originality, but also to his personality; he is a super hero who is cool and funny at the same time. Our goal is to fully capitalize on this character to develop licensed Rayman products internally. For instance, Ubi Soft is developing a Rayman TV series to be released in September 2000 and Rayman is the main hero of this series. This represents a new adventure for us, as we must master a different technology, even if it is synergistic with that of video game development in lots of aspects!

So I would say that this is just the beginning of the adventures with Rayman for Ubi Soft. 

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Michel Ancel – Director on Rayman 2, The Great Escape.

8./ Who is Rayman for you?

To me, Rayman is a character with strong life energy and humor.  His key features are humor and the love of action. You cannot limit him to a certain number of actions or powers since new game situations continuously create these. Depending on what he meets in the game, he develops different abilities that are new to the player and always create new sensations. This evolution gives birth to new situations and ideas. 

9./ What is the main evolution between the original Rayman and Rayman 2?

There are a lot! If I have to choose one, I would say that one of the main differences between Rayman 1 and Rayman 2 is the scenario's greater role in the game. It adds to the coherence of the world in which the player evolves. Rayman 2 is more story-oriented, with a richer story line, furthering the player’s overall involvement. 
I really think having a strong scenario is a new trend in the gaming industry for this kind of game. Now, the goal is no longer to move from one level to another, but to write a story. So this element is a very important difference from the original Rayman.  It creates more of an epic dimension to Rayman 2. The scenario also ties in meaning with the action, which is a strong feature of Rayman 2, and provides the players with more surprises and, above all, more emotion! 

10./ What were some of the biggest influences on Rayman 2, in term of art design?

Rayman 2 is based on a fantastic background that includes lots of contemporary things.  My sources of inspiration are numerous and mostly unconscious.  When I was a kid, I used to read all kinds of stories: Russian, Chinese, Celtic, etc…Rayman takes things from all these universes, but adds a more contemporary and cartoon touch.  The cartoon aspects are inspired by Tex Avery, among others.
Rayman is a true high-performance hero who keeps a good sense of humor like Indiana Jones. He is also a rebel, fighting against the bad guys, as in Star Wars or Robin Hood.

11. / How did you achieve this unique “graphic touch”?

We really wanted to achieve a new style with a strong creative identity. My team in the Montpellier independant studio is composed of talent coming from various worlds. Some of them come from the worlds of cartoon, movie industry or comic strip, others have quite a long experience in video games, some are illustrators, animators, painters... But what unites everyone is the passion, that's what creates a great atmosphere within the team and allows us to express our creativity!