Rayman Origins - Developer Interview

Sebastien Morin, Game Director, talks about Rayman's perambulation

We've been dying to get a look at the Rayman reboot ever since it was announced back in 2010. Then, it was going to be an episodic download game but, since E3, it has developed enough meat - according to the publisher - to become a full retail product.

Just from looking at the screenshots and video released so far, we've been getting pretty excited - there aren't many 2D side-scrolling platform games these days, so to see one treated with such a lush visual style is a rare thing indeed.

The publisher have released a Q & A for the game, focusing on the many forms of perambulation available. We don't normally carry canned interviews like this, as we prefer to perform our own and to ask the questions directly.

But we quite liked this one, so we figured we'd pass it on - check it out below. The interview is with Sebastien Morin, the game director.

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

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

Will running be an unlockable power too?
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.

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

This Q&A was also accompanied by a host of new screenshots, all of which we've added to the game's gallery.