BETA | UBISOFT MONTPELLIER
Rayman Origins stood out as one of 2011’s most visually distinct and beautifully realised game developments
and Ubisoft operations all over the globe have built hits on tech conceived and developed in the south of France. Ghost Recon engine Yeti has roots in
Montpellier, while the Jade engine was crafted entirely at the studio for Beyond Good and Evil. The powerhouse that is Ubisoft Montreal even used Montpellier-created facial animation system Mocam in its blockbuster Assassin's Creed: Revelations.
CLOSE QUARTERS The advantage of having proprietary tools in the same building as Ubisoft’s most creatively daring developers is simple. Proximity makes collaboration easier, allowing that agility Lambert holds so dear. “That closeness of designers and
engineers has meant that despite creating this powerful technology, we can be very agile,” confirms Philippe Vimont, senior programmer and technical engineer. “Here at Montpellier the engineers can communicate very easily with the game designers. We may not have a huge number of people here, but we have the ability to change projects very fast and move quickly. That setting benefits us greatly, and is part of why we have achieved what we have.” Walk through Ubisoft Montpellier’s
colourful corridors and it does seem to be the case that those from disparate disciplines constantly gather around one another’s desks, pointing enthusiastically at screens before darting away. As a visitor it’s hard to know absolutely, but it certainly feels game designers and engineers are closer here than at most other studios.
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Which brings us to creative competency.
For, despite the technological experimentation that is so treasured at Ubisoft Montpellier, something else has made the studio a success, and iconic developer Eric Chahi believes he knows what it is. “There are very talented engineers here at
Montpellier, and while the technology they made was very important for From Dust, with any game it is the people that matter,” says the man most famous for creating Another World and Heart of Darkness.
We may not have a huge number of
people here, but we have the ability to change projects very fast and move quickly.
Philippe Vimont, Ubisoft Montpellier “People create the games and program
and code. For From Dust, we had the chance to have the right people. The quality of a studio comes from the quality of its people, and Ubisoft Montpellier left me very pleased, especially with boh the programmers and the engineers. It doesn’t seem surprising that a studio
would sing the praises of its staff; it would be far more unusual – and worrying – to hear the opposite, but at Montpellier there is
something to give some credence to the claims of staff talent, and that is heritage. “I think we have to recognise the role of
Michel Ancel, and also guys like Eric Chahi and Jacques Exertier, who was central to Rabbids,” says Christophe de Labrouhe, senior gameplay programmer. “They are a very important presence in the studio as they give us direction towards the feeling of our games. They are very good directors who expect a lot and know how to guide.” Lambert and his colleagues also accredit the status of the likes of Ancel and Chahi as giving them the clout to attract and recruit the best young developers. They insist that within the wider Ubisoft family of studios Montpellier has something of a status as a hugely desirable place to work, and admit frankly that offsetting the genteel family atmosphere is a high standard set by those creative visionaries that have made the studio’s output famous. “There is that state of mind here, and that is what allows the creativity, but there is also the standards set for us,” explains Lambert. “Michel, for example, is demanding. I mean, he is very demanding, and it is this that means we can be successful. Yes, it is very nice here, but the state of mind is not like Woodstock in the 1960s. We work very hard and there is a lot of ambition.” Looking to its future, ample success looks
certain for Ubisoft Montpellier. Killer Freaks might be ending the era of pacificism, but it is also broadening the studio’s skill set and technological agility, and ushering in a new era of productivity for the team that prop up Ancel’s iconic status.
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