Tag Archives: Jean-Marc Geoffroy

Train2Game news: Ghost Recon: Future Soldier creative director on the complexity of AI coding

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Coding AI is the most difficult part of developing Ghost Recon: Future Soldier. That’s according to the game’s creative director Jean-Marc Geoffroy, who recently offered Train2Game students advice on getting into the industry.

“When we started to work on co-op the first main issue was AI.” he told Beefjack about the team focused Ghost Recon: Future Soldier.

“And it was very simple, as you have a lot of shooters where the AI is player-centric, so the AI knows where the player is, but we were not able to do so because with four human players you don’t know what they are doing, especially as the levels are pretty open, so you don’t know.”

The details about coding will no doubt be of interest to those on the Train2Game game developer course.

Geoffroy said Ubisoft had to code the AI in a way that meant that it wouldn’t know if when looking at a four man squad, it was seeing a human or fellow AI player.

“What we have decided to do – and  really, what the most difficult challenge was – is that the AI will not know where the player is unless it sees the player, and will never know if the player is an AI teammate or human being.” said the Ubisoft Creative Director.

“It sounds stupid to say that but it’s a very, very important point. When your AI doesn’t know who is behind the ghost, it changes everything in terms of how you code, how you programme the AI.”

“So, the AI is basically reacting according to its own life, the situation, and the coordination between all the AI.” he added.

There’s much more about Ghost Recon: Future Soldier here on The Train2Game Blog, including this interview from Gamescom last year.

What are your thoughts on the complexity of the code for Ghost Recon: Future Soldier?

Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

Train2Game news exclusive: Ubisoft senior figures offer advice on getting into the industry

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Train2Game News recently attended the Ghost Recon: Future Soldier game developer Q&A at BAFTA. While there, we were fortunate enough to grab a quick word with Creative Director Jean-Marc Geoffroy and Ubisoft Development Director Adrian Lacey.

They gave us some words of wisdom on how you can secure that first job in the games industry, first of all telling The Train2Game Blog that you need to know what specific area you want to go into.

“There are so many different jobs in the video games industry from coders to designers, to artists; there are so many different things it’s so important to know what you want to do. It’s not ‘I want to do video games,’ because that doesn’t exist.” said Geoffroy, who has over 18 years experience in the industry.

“So if you want to be a game designer it means you want to rules and mechanics, so study game design.” he continued.

“If you want to be an artist, you want to be a modeller, you need to know textures, shadows, 2D art. There’s so much stuff you need to know. Well, not to know, but what you like and what to push into.” said the Ghost Recon: Future Soldier boss.

Ubisoft development director Adrian Lacey added that the variety of platforms available now means aspiring game developers have different options available to them.

“Then push with that experience and from there and there are so many options. Plus I think all the different platforms of video games that are open to you give people ways that they can programme their own game or make their own app, then it’s a starting point.” he said.

Lacey also revealed that a number of Ghost Recon developers started out as modders, and building mods is a great way to show off your ability to a potential employer.

“On Ghost Recon, the amount of modders and stuff like that we ended up hiring. I remember, back in the day [Former Ubisoft designer] Christian Allen was a modder and he got hired because he was doing mods on the original Ghost Recon.” he said.

“We always look at what people are doing, people are making, so if you like to make your own things, it’s always something that’s interesting in the industry.” Lacey added.

Geoffrey added that it’s important for artists and coders to be able to show off their skills too.

“For an artist, making some cool 3D stuff, think about real-time, show that you are creative. Even when you are a coder be creative, because a good creative coder is amazing, like gold-dust!”

There’s much more about the development of Ghost Recon: Future Soldier, in The Train2Game Blog interview with Ubisoft at last year’s Gamescom. You can read more advice from industry professionals about getting into the industry here.

What are your thoughts on the advice from Creative Director Jean-Marc Geoffroy and Ubisoft Development Director Adrian Lacey?

Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

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