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Dec 29, 2019
498

AuthenticM

Son Altesse Sérénissime
The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
29,974
completely forgot that this game is still technically in development.
 

Keyser S

The Fallen
Oct 26, 2017
8,480
It is interesting what changed between 2018 and 2021

Associate Game Director

Aug 2017 - Dec 20214 years 5 months

2021 - Skull & Bones
- Transversal role to support the game direction.
- Directly managed 3 designers.
- Provided guidance and mentoring to refine the core game loop.
- Responsible for the multiplayer and social aspects of the game.
- Defined live strategy (structure, features, content, cadence).
- Coordinated design communication with partner studios (Chengdu, Paris, Montreal, Berlin)

2021 - Assassin's Creed Valhalla - The Siege of Paris expansion (Xbox One/Xbox series X/ PS4/PS5/PC/Stadia)
- Part of the core team.
- Contributed to define the vision for the player experience, in line with stakeholders requirements.
- Managed 3 designers locally, supervised 3 in Ubisoft Chengdu.
- Lead the teams responsible for designing and implementing all features across the Singapore and Chengdu studios, as well as external partner Sperasoft.

2018 to 2020 - Assassin's Creed Valhalla (Xbox One/Xbox series X/ PS4/PS5/PC/Stadia)
- Responsible for all features developed by the Singapore, Chengdu and Philippines studios.
- Collaborated with directors in the lead studio in Montreal and local leads to translate the vision for the game into features.
- Managed 3 designers locally, supervised 3 in Ubisoft Chengdu.
- Lead the teams responsible for designing and implementing features within the Singapore, Chengdu and Philippines studios as a Scrum Product Owner.

2017 to 2018 - Skull & Bones (Xbox One/PS4/PC)
- Responsible for the core gameplay
- Collaborated with the creative and game directors to translate their vision into gameplay
- Managed 5 designers
- Lead the team responsible for designing and implementing the core gameplay as a Scrum Product Owner
- Assisted the game director in communicating the design vision to the team, managing the design team, revamping the design process and managing the relationship with Ubisoft's editorial department in Paris.
 

hydruxo

▲ Legend ▲
Member
Oct 25, 2017
20,395
I refuse to believe this game is ever coming out. Surprised it hasn't been scrapped at this point.
 
Oct 28, 2017
5,800
They're probably just doing the good ol' Ubisoft thing. Train up staff working on this game, and once its in a good enough place, consider it for release.
 
Nov 2, 2017
2,084
They took something people wanted (pirate games) and made it into something people didn't (whatever the fuck they showed at E3). It's all on them
 

SolidSnakex

Member
Oct 25, 2017
23,306
I'll never understand how they thought the original concept was a good idea. A pirate game where you can do nothing but have ship battles.
 

Linus815

Member
Oct 29, 2017
19,679
Should just have made Black Flag game without assassins. And add coop. But skins and dances are sold better in MP game...

Honestly, it's hilarious how much ubisoft managed to overcomplicate this.

It was right there.

Actually blows my mind because ubisoft is usually very efficient when it comes to stuff like this.And people were very vocal about wanting a game with Black Flag's core mechanics, but with a little more depth/focus on the pirate stuff, and without any assassin lore.

It's been nearly 10 years now since Black Flag and we still don't have anything like that. Talk about missing a slam dunk.
 

dex3108

Member
Oct 26, 2017
22,547
I'll never understand how they thought the original concept was a good idea. A pirate game where you can do nothing but have ship battles.

Because people asked for MP ship battles for Black Flag. Issue is that people didn't want just MP battles, they wanted everything else Black Flag offered but Ubisoft figured out that they can just make simple and fast MP games based on that one mode and rest is history.
 
Oct 25, 2017
4,564
Honestly, if they had just shat out an updated Black Flag style game without all the AC malarkey bogging the narrative down, it would've sold like crazy. Why they thought making the game sea combat only was a good idea is beyond me.

As it is, it's shocking to me that they are still sinking money and manpower into this. It should've been tabled years ago.
 

dex3108

Member
Oct 26, 2017
22,547
Honestly, if they had just shat out an updated Black Flag style game without all the AC malarkey bogging the narrative down, it would've sold like crazy. Why they thought making the game sea combat only was a good idea is beyond me.

As it is, it's shocking to me that they are still sinking money and manpower into this. It should've been tabled years ago.

Again they can't drop the game because they are legally bound to make it.
 

Adulfzen

Member
Oct 29, 2017
3,606
honestly if we could just get something close to Sea of Thieves but with Assassin's Creed gameplay (with solo and coop missions on islands) that'd be neat but it seems like it won't be the case at this point.

I just hope whatever releases is good enough for the sake of all the poor devs having to work on the same project for so long.
 

HK-47

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,573
Honestly, if they had just shat out an updated Black Flag style game without all the AC malarkey bogging the narrative down, it would've sold like crazy. Why they thought making the game sea combat only was a good idea is beyond me.

As it is, it's shocking to me that they are still sinking money and manpower into this. It should've been tabled years ago.
They can't table it. The Singaporean Government would not like that.
 

Khasim

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
2,260
I wonder if all this time they spent (I assume) trying to figure out how they can milk the shit out of this game with MTX cost them more in the end than releasing it as a mostly single-player experience with an optional multiplayer mode without MTX (like the previous AC games, just without assassinations) years ago would have.
 

dex3108

Member
Oct 26, 2017
22,547
I had no idea they were legally bound to finish the game. I assume development is being subsidized by the Singaporean government then?

They got benefits from the government in exchange for new IP being made in Singapore studio as lead developer. They could technically drop the game and start new project but it is too late for that and government wouldn't allow them. They are probably already pissed that it's taking this long.
 

Dr. Ludwig

Member
Oct 31, 2017
2,518
Yeah, Ubisoft's in deep shit since they can't cancel it.

Why they didn't jusy copy Black Flag with few token improvements and called it a day is beyond me.
 
Last edited:

big_z

Member
Nov 2, 2017
7,794
What if instead of old timey pirates you made them future cyber punks sailing the digital seas in search of NFT booty.
 

Linus815

Member
Oct 29, 2017
19,679
Yeah, Ubisoft's in deep shit since they can't cancel it.

Why they didn't jupy copy Black Flag with few token improvements and called it a day is beyond me.

Ironically I would say that it's still not too late, because no one has really made anything to fill those shoes. Sea of Thieves scratched the pirateering itch for many, but it's a very different kind of game, so I think there's plenty of room for more.
 

Darkstorne

Member
Oct 26, 2017
6,805
England
It is interesting what changed between 2018 and 2021

Associate Game Director

Aug 2017 - Dec 20214 years 5 months

2021 - Skull & Bones
- Transversal role to support the game direction.
- Directly managed 3 designers.
- Provided guidance and mentoring to refine the core game loop.
- Responsible for the multiplayer and social aspects of the game.
- Defined live strategy (structure, features, content, cadence).
- Coordinated design communication with partner studios (Chengdu, Paris, Montreal, Berlin)

2021 - Assassin's Creed Valhalla - The Siege of Paris expansion (Xbox One/Xbox series X/ PS4/PS5/PC/Stadia)
- Part of the core team.
- Contributed to define the vision for the player experience, in line with stakeholders requirements.
- Managed 3 designers locally, supervised 3 in Ubisoft Chengdu.
- Lead the teams responsible for designing and implementing all features across the Singapore and Chengdu studios, as well as external partner Sperasoft.

2018 to 2020 - Assassin's Creed Valhalla (Xbox One/Xbox series X/ PS4/PS5/PC/Stadia)
- Responsible for all features developed by the Singapore, Chengdu and Philippines studios.
- Collaborated with directors in the lead studio in Montreal and local leads to translate the vision for the game into features.
- Managed 3 designers locally, supervised 3 in Ubisoft Chengdu.
- Lead the teams responsible for designing and implementing features within the Singapore, Chengdu and Philippines studios as a Scrum Product Owner.

2017 to 2018 - Skull & Bones (Xbox One/PS4/PC)
- Responsible for the core gameplay
- Collaborated with the creative and game directors to translate their vision into gameplay
- Managed 5 designers
- Lead the team responsible for designing and implementing the core gameplay as a Scrum Product Owner
- Assisted the game director in communicating the design vision to the team, managing the design team, revamping the design process and managing the relationship with Ubisoft's editorial department in Paris.
Okay, that's actually really reassuring. Not only was it put on the back burner for Valhalla, but this guy is responsible for overseeing a lot of Valhalla's core gameplay, which was a big step up from Odyssey. Sounds like he already had core systems in place for Skull and Bones, and since returning to it last year mostly worked in a planned transitional role to help the rest of the team?

Worth noting that Ubisoft announced late last year that Skull and Bones had hit a big development milestone, so chances are good that it won't be getting rebooted again. Sounds like it might just be in a position where the core gameplay and direction is locked down, and it just needs content now.
 

noinspiration

Member
Jun 22, 2020
2,000
Since they apparently can't just cancel the game, like everyone assumed they would...

they should make it into a fancy 3d version of Sid Meier's Pirates
 

Bluforce

Member
Oct 27, 2017
629
The recent biggest mistery of gaming industry.

They had Black Flag, they should have done some minor changes here and there, rebranding it, sell it for profit.
But no.
 

Duffking

Member
Oct 27, 2017
5,688
I expect Ubi is just using the project as a place to put employees and bill hours while they transition between wrapped projects and others that are ramping up to be honest.
 

Rygar 8Bit

Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,832
Site-15
The recent biggest mistery of gaming industry.

They had Black Flag, they should have done some minor changes here and there, rebranding it, sell it for profit.
But no.

This. I don't think anyone will be up for a multiplayer pirate game that you only get to drive the boats around and not even explore or get off the boat. Seems lame you can't even do the cool shit like jump off your boat and board an enemy boat and kill everyone and sink them while you bail out and return to your ship.

All they had to do is remove the AC shit from Black Flag and either made a cool fantasy pirate game or something and just called it a day.
 

Xadra

Prophet of Truth - One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 26, 2018
1,983
Why didn't they stick to that (the version that Ubisoft showed) version of the game? Why change the game at all?

Of course, some of the more enthusiastic players didn't like the concept (resembled World of Tanks, MMO), but the game could have its audience. Don't see the reason the game has to be an AC Black Flag 2.

 

Richter1887

Member
Oct 27, 2017
39,143
Honestly, it's hilarious how much ubisoft managed to overcomplicate this.

It was right there.

Actually blows my mind because ubisoft is usually very efficient when it comes to stuff like this.And people were very vocal about wanting a game with Black Flag's core mechanics, but with a little more depth/focus on the pirate stuff, and without any assassin lore.

It's been nearly 10 years now since Black Flag and we still don't have anything like that. Talk about missing a slam dunk.
I know right? So freaking stupid.

I hope Sucker Punch does end up making that pirate game they were thinking of doing before GOT. At least then we would get a real SP focused pirate game without Ubisoft baggage.
 

Genesius

Member
Nov 2, 2018
15,440
All they had to do was lose the AC shit from AC4 and expand on the pirate systems.

Whatever. I've been done with Ubisoft for as long as this game has been in development anyway.
 
Jun 15, 2020
7,125
Why didn't they stick to that (the version that Ubisoft showed) version of the game? Why change the game at all?

Of course, some of the more enthusiastic players didn't like the concept (resembled World of Tanks, MMO), but the game could have its audience. Don't see the reason the game has to be an AC Black Flag 2.


Yeah, this totally seemed like something that coupe have worked. Not with me, but with other people.