🛈 Announcement
Greetings! Far Cry forums are now archived and accessible in read-only mode, please go to the new platform to discuss the game.
  1. #1
    DapperHayden007's Avatar Far Cry 3 Elite Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Location
    Blackpool, England
    Posts
    2,488

    (Article) Far Cry 4 Montreal Trip

    Hello Guys!

    Wrote this article before FC4 came out, completely forgot about it until I went onto the old FarCryUniverse website and picked it up


    Be Prepared for a large article..


    So it all started back in September, I received an email from Ubisoft, inviting me to try out the In Game Editor for Far Cry 4, it was due to take place on the 6th to the 8th October.


    They had paid for everything, they really do treat their fans well in this sense, I had travelled by train from my home town of Blackpool to London, where they put me in the Jury's Inn (pictured below)



    It was an awesome hotel, even if it was just for one night, The food there was excellent!



    Anyways, After the great night sleep I got at the Jury's Inn I got on a very early shuttlebus to make sure I arrived at the airport nice and early.


    I flew with Air Canada.


    Once I arrived at Montreal, there was an issue with finding my driver to pick me up, he wasn't to be seen.. I found him when I looked at the paper he was holding which had the name "Stig Lillestoel" on it, which I happened to know was also on the trip for the same reason.


    So I met Stig on the first night, he's a really cool guy, he also has a Youtube Channel which you can find by CLICKING THIS LINK.


    First night in Montreal was pretty good, had a walk around, everything seemed nice. Everyone seemed friendly too which was unusual when you look at the town I am from.



    Anyway, I woke up on the 6th, got some breakfast and happened to come across Mauro Robert outside, was odd as we both just walked up to each other and asked each other if we were here for Far Cry. Anyway, Mauro is also a great guy, there was a lot of conversation going on about Far Cry maps whilst we were in Montreal, I asked him a few things about his Dead Cry mod which he was in the process of making. I haven't been able to talk to someone I have just met like that, ever. Anyway, you can also check out Mauro's Youtube channel by CLICKING THIS LINK.


    So Day one came, we waited in the reception, then Kim (FC4 Comm Dev) came down, gave us some NDA's and away we went. We stopped off for some coffee before we went to our room in the studio that we were going to be in most of the time during the trip.


    When we got to the room we got to meet Julien, who is the Lead Level Editor Designer, he was telling us how The IGE team has expanded since Far Cry 3 so they can add much more into the editor, I saw a few interesting features which are now on the game.


    So Julien gave us a quick 10 minute demonstration on how to use the map editor (like we didn't already know) and away we went.


    I began on day one making a Ship (sort of like one you see on Assassins Creed Black Flag) It took a long time to make, but that was ok as I knew it was the main centrepiece of the map. A few additions to the map editor were Flags (which would fly in the wind) which were so awesome, More variations of Ziplines, interesting object you place which AI (when unalert) go over to and do an animation (such as take a wizz, sit down, smoke, ect) and also there was an option to publish maps to other platforms, however Julien said this may not make it into Far Cry 4, or may come in at a later time.


    So when we finished day one, we all got a car back to the hotel and me and Mauro went to a pretty awesome Irish bar (how boring of an English person to go to an Irish bar in Canada eh? haha)


    Day 2 came, and I managed to finish my ship, and I started to work on a layout, I was remaking the map "A Docking Horror" which I made on Far Cry 2 with 2 other people (swill69 and Aled). I was making a map for the Singleplayer mode Outpost, which is where you take over the outpost, if you alert them, they trigger the alarm, once the alarm is triggered, reinforcements come in 3 different waves.


    There was much more you could do with the Far Cry 4 editor, such as change the Gravity, Jump height, what weapons you start with, what your health is, and all that sort of stuff.




    When Day 2 was over, Me, Mauro and Stig went to a pizza place which was very similar to Subway, you choose what you want on it and they make it there and then, it only took like 3 minutes to cook! Personally I haven't seen anything of this sort in the UK, it was excellent!


    Day 3 came, and this was the final day, so it was all emotional, we had to rush our maps to get them finished in time. Kim and Ari (Ari is also a FC4 comm dev) came into the room and gave us a Far Cry 4 T-Shirt and Hat. How nice of them!


    So I managed to finish my map, I am not too sure about the other 2 though, Mauro was the first to leave to catch his flight, so me and Stig decided to test each others creations.


    Stig had made an open world map with multiple encampments, it was pretty hard to complete, but it was good fun! Not had that much fun in a while.


    Then for the final hour or so we were speaking to Julien about level design, he came into the room and said that he wanted to give some tips on level design if we were interested.


    We had plenty of questions at this part, he was showing us the best ways of creating an outpost. (Multiple entrances, different approach opportunities such as from above, jungle, etc) one of the questions I had asked is do you need coding skills to be a level designer, he replied with "no, you just need to know the format of level design (having multiple routes, different opportunities to flank, anti camping opportunities, etc) and then I went on to ask him about how the SP map is built as teams of people work at it simultaneously.


    He replied explaining that a team of landscapers come in to do the landscaping of the map, then level designers are told what they are in charge of doing (for example in Far Cry 3 someone would be in charge of the locations of the Trials of the Rakyat challenges and there would be arguments between that person and someone who is in charge of the Small hunting challenges as they would both want a specific location. Seems like it would be very fun to work in this department as you just get a lot of banter.


    Anyway, there was a lot of conversation regarding level design, and it has drawn more interest from me towards level design.


    I'm now due to start a University course in Level Design in September and hoping to jump straight in with a job at Ubisoft (one can hope I guess)


    That about wraps up this article about our trip, if you have any questions, be sure to comment below! I will most definitely get back to you!
    Share this post

  2. #2
    Fallen-Champ's Avatar Senior Member
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Location
    North East England
    Posts
    5,420
    Hope things work out for you - keep in touch, also a nice read.
    Share this post

  3. #3
    Ubi_Jax's Avatar Community Manager
    Join Date
    Dec 2012
    Posts
    1,469
    Cool article and it's great to see that you had a good time at the event .
    Share this post

  4. #4
    DapperHayden007's Avatar Far Cry 3 Elite Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Location
    Blackpool, England
    Posts
    2,488
    Originally Posted by Sabotur Go to original post
    That sounds awesome Dapper. Really glad to hear you will be studying Level Design. Theres a Ubisoft office right near where I live (Newcastle) - I guess its not too far from Blackpool if you get the opportunity.
    Thanks! I'm aware of the Newcastle office, they work mostly on vehicle physics for Ubisoft games, but every now and then do release their own game (such as driver) I'd be hoping to stick with what I know most, shooters.

    Originally Posted by FALLEN CHAMP Go to original post
    Hope things work out for you - keep in touch, also a nice read.
    Originally Posted by Ubi_Jax Go to original post
    Cool article and it's great to see that you had a good time at the event .

    Thanks guys, it was honestly what I would call a once in a lifetime opportunity and for anyone who may get invited in the future, DO NOT turn this down!

    I ended up with a couple of FarCry4 Themed clothes, new friends and it's the furthest I've ever been away from home. And now I want to go back, it's such a lovely place I could just live there!
    Share this post