STACK Magazine November Issue 121

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Assassin’s
Creed: Unity
is
out Nov 18
What’s involved in researching a period
for an Assassin’s Creed game? Do you have
a team of resident historical experts or do
you consult externally?
For Unity, we had external and internal historians
who worked hand-in-hand with our core creative
team. In fact, they start their painstaking research
right at the beginning of the conception phase.
The core team does a lot of reading on the
specific setting and era, and even get to
visit the actual location.
The process usually takes us from very high-level
ideas of themes and overarching ideas, and then
we gradually narrow down to the core of what
is important to us in the specific chosen setting
and time period.
This is how, for example, we came to the
conclusion that the American Revolution really
needed the naval and frontier aspects, or that
the French Revolution is more about an urban
playground.
We then begin our search for our historical
villain; someone whose many traits can somehow
epitomise an aspect of the setting.The fact that
that character died in a relevant moment in the
game’s timeline is also a plus…
The team itself also undergoes historical training.
We also make any pop culture elements that deal
with our specific timeline, such as books, films or
TV series readily available to everyone. For some
specific team members, such as the artists
responsible for recreating our buildings, monuments
or characters, we provide even more specific
elements such as blueprints and costumes.
We then usually ask for external historians
to review the results.This is important,
especially for the script.
The setting for Assassin’s Creed: Unity was chosen
immediately after Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood had
been released; but it took years to recreate the city of
Paris to scale and level of detail. Paris is by far the most
ambitious we have ever attempted in the history of
Assassin’s Creed.
Although we get to see and experience Paris on a
daily basis, it’s only when we get to the later stages of
development that we experience it coming together...
the magical moment when crowd-life animations match
their audio and the final art and lighting are integrated.
Only then do we experience the full immersion we
were striving for.
In terms of authenticity, did the team consult
period plans, paintings and documentation in
order to construct a historically accurate
depiction of Paris?
The Paris of ACU is definitely an accurate
reproduction of Paris as it was circa 1789-1810.
We based it on many historical plans to create
our street layout, while adapting it to our navigation
metrics. Also, the 35 landmarks we recreated are
the most faithful ever reproduced on any Assassin’s
Creed game. We use loads of books to get to know
the details, but sometimes we actually consult
archaeological reports.
We do sometimes take a little liberty on some
details, such as the stryge on Notre-Dame.
For the team, this conveyed an important
emotional element, and although it was built a
few decades later, we included it in the game.
On the other hand, the paintings you’ll find in
Notre-Dame are specific to the era.
Also, we divided Paris into seven districts.
Each uses a different architecture set, mood and
specific crowd life.This was done by consulting
specific documentation, such as the Cris de Paris,
corporation lists, and a load of historical costume
books. Archives and libraries, either physical
or digital editions, are our best allies.
The result is an impressive, immersive
experience built on a cinematic scale.
Off With
The Head
We execute ten interesting
facts about the guillotine
you probably didn’t know.
It was actually Antoine Louis who
invented the guillotine, although it
was eventually named after French
physician Joseph-Ignace Guillotin.
A German engineer named Tobias
Schmidt suggested using an angled
blade as opposed to the proposed
rounded blade.
Joseph-Ignace Guillotin was actually
opposed to the death penalty, but he
considered the guillotine to be the
most humane form of execution.
Until the arrival of the guillotine,
the nobility were beheaded with a
sword or axe. Regular citizens of
France faced the hangman’s noose.
The guillotine was initially tested
on sheep, calves and corpses
from poorhouses.
On 17 April 1792, highwayman Nicolas
Pelletier entered the record books by
becoming the first ‘live’ person to be
executed with the guillotine.
The blade and ensemble weighed
40kgs and could remove a head from
the body in 0.005 seconds.
* Between 17,000 and 40,000 people
are estimated to have been executed
by guillotine during the French
Revolution. 75 per cent of those were
thought to have been innocent.
Within the space of nine months
in 1793, King Louis XVI and his
wife Marie-Antoinette became the
guillotine’s most famous victims.
Not just confined to France, the
guillotine was widely used in Nazi
Germany, where it was used in
over 16,000 executions.
France banned capital punishment in
1981 and the guillotine was removed
from official service. It was last used
for an execution in 1977.
JB Hi-Fi
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