Looking better every day…

Ubisoft have released a Q&A direct from their HQ. Conducted with Rayman Origins Game Director Sebastien Morin, the questions run us through the enviornments, abilities, unlockable power and “flight modes”. Once you give that a read, check out the brand new “10 Ways to Travel” trailer, which starts crazy, but makes perfect sense in the Rayman world.

We’re loving what we see.

Ubisoft: How many different worlds and environments will we be able to get around?

Sebastien Morin: There are 5 universes and 10 different worlds to discover. Additionally, we have the Land of the Livid Dead, which is a bit hard to reach but is a whole new universe as well. At the beginning, each world is introduced one after the other. In each, you will gain a new ability and master how to use them. Then after you complete the first set of worlds, you’ve grown enough to be dropped in the wild. Just like that a whole new set of worlds are revealed and you have a lot of places to discover at your disposal

Ubisoft: Will all these actions be available from the start, or will some of them be powers you unlock along the way?

Sebastien Morin: At any moment, we give you enough abilities to explore exhaustively each world. So if you feel like playing a level again and again to discover every nook and cranny, it’s up to you. However, you won’t have all your abilities right away. At the beginning of the game, Rayman and his gang are still incomplete heroes. They’ll need to find and help the fairies to get all their powers back.

Ubisoft: Will running be an unlockable power too?

Sebastien Morin: As a Game Designer, an important question is “how do you make gameplay better?”. In Rayman, it could be answered by “chain a bunch of acrobatic moves together faster and faster”. So it was natural to give this ability right away, for all the players that dare to run in a minefield.

Ubisoft: Will there be different “flight modes” as in previous Rayman games? (like the power to fly up?)

Sebastien Morin: The best way to fly in the game would probably be riding on a mosquito. However, you’ll also learn quickly to glide. The glide ability allows you to fly in a number of different ways. At first it’s a very helpful tactic to extend a jump and land out of harm’s way. But we also put a lot of wind in the game, which can extend a glide to more of a flying action. But that’s not always a good thing. Winds are there to help or hinder you, push you to safety or towards a spikey death. Also, some enemies use the wind as traps and it should be noted that you’re not the only one who can fly! – So many different moves must require a lot of different animations, how many are there in Origins compared to the first opus? Way more! Rayman and his gang have a lot of new abilities, so there’s a lot
more animation. Besides having all the animations for the abilities, you have to create more animations for combinations and transitions between those abilities you have. So each playable character has more than 250 animations! I can’t even begin to count the animations of the evil characters, because they can be defeated in a lot of funny ways.