Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown developer on its Game Awards win

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is designed to be difficult. It was designed from the ground up to be accessible. These things are not inconsistent with each other. Ubisoft Montpellier has integrated accessibility options into every part of the game from the beginning; senior game designers Christophe Pic and Rémi Boutin told Polygon ahead of time that there wasn’t a single team designated to do the work. Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown‘s accessibility innovation wins 2024 Game Awards. Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, Diablo 4, Dragon Age: Veiled Wardensas well as other Ubisoft games Star Wars Desperadosthis Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown Team sets new standard for accessibility In the brutal metroidvania genre —and was rewarded for it.

“Some developers may worry that accessibility will take away from the strengths of the game, and I think all of our accessibility features do just the opposite,” Boutin told Polygon in a sit-down interview before the show. “We’re letting more players enjoy exploration and more players enjoying combat. Finally, when we read the reviews, we still think this game is very, very challenging. It’s just the nature of the game and the way it controls that makes this The feeling is realized. What makes it unique is the freedom and fluidity of its movements. “Our controls bring instant fun, making the game easy to learn but difficult to master,” said Senior Producer Abdelhak Elguess.

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown An instant hit with critics upon release in January, it’s the first major Prince of Persia game since 2010 Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands. There’s a lot of pressure on us to keep the game going. “We started with the DNA first because when you attack such a big brand you have to respect the brand, but we also want to surprise our players,” Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown Game director Mounir Radi told Polygon.

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown There are indeed many game features that players have come to expect, such as multiple difficulty options, subtitles, and aim assist. But where is Ubisoft? Prince of Persia: The Lost CrownWhere its accessibility shines most is in how its development process—with accessibility built into every step—allows its developers to innovate. Boutin points to this process as the clear reason for certain options, such as high-contrast switches. High Contrast Mode affects color and contrast, a first for Ubisoft. One developer noticed that during cutscenes, the mode ruined certain story details, such as enemies turning into allies. (All data in Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown The developers then added an option to turn off the cutscenes switch so that players could protect themselves from spoilers. “It’s the detail that comes with the fact that everyone is involved in accessibility,” Butin said.

The huge thrill of a Metroidvania-like game Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown It’s exploration. The team wants players to feel lost, but not too lost. Therefore, the team developed Bootstrap Mode to help achieve this goal. “It’s a little tricky because we want players to get lost,” Pique said. “It’s important because it’s exploration-driven. We want players to explore and discover everything on their own—treasures, shortcuts. We developed Guided Mode to help players who aren’t used to using the map all the time like in a Metroidvania game. Mainly The goal is on the map, but the route to get there still needs to be explored.

“We retained the essence of the excitement of exploration,” Boutin added. “We know that some players quit some games because they hate getting lost, but they miss the feeling of exploration. That was the motivation for creating screenshot markers.

this Screenshot markup Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown Called Memory Fragmentation, it allows players to take a screenshot and pin it to the map – it’s like writing something in a journal, but right on the screen. Boutin had been thinking about how to use Photo Mode in games, and when the Ubisoft team implemented its prototype, it actually worked, albeit with some limitations. (Butin added that the screenshot feature was already complex, and it took some time and iteration to streamline it into its final version.) “It’s a great way for players to actively observe the world,” Peake said.

Boutin and Pic said the biggest lesson learned during development was the importance of presets to distribute accessibility throughout the game – something all developers were involved in as part of the original design process. At first, the team was a little reticent about it, but when they saw how the process worked, everyone was on board; everyone had an opinion. Nominated for this award among other games with innovative design (Specially named by Boutin) Diablo 4descriptor on the screen)—and then win—reminds people that the process works.

Although the Ubisoft team is committed to Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown Disbandedcontinuing projects such as “Ghost Recon” and “Rayman” Beyond Good and Evil 2team members take great pride in the work they create. Radi confirmed to Polygon Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown sold over 1 million copies, but An Insider Gaming report from October revealed that the game fell short of Ubisoft’s internal expectations.

“Honestly, we’ve had a tough year at Ubisoft,” Lardy said. “Every month is a new question. But these nominations are a way for us to show what kind of games we can create when we work together and put our heart and soul into it.