Maxime Durand
From Dreams to Realities; Performing History in the Assassin’s Creed® video game series
The past is a scattered jigsaw puzzle we feel driven to reconstruct, despite the challenges of lost models and many missing pieces. The teams working on Assassin’s Creed have mastered a unique method to interpret the past through breathtaking digital environments. From assumed inaccuracies to all-but-unnoticeable historical details, the resulting player experience is complex but rewarding, earning the series tens of millions of fans. This presentation discusses historical design methods applied at Ubisoft from 2007 to the present, including major [intellectual, ethical, and design] issues that have emerged, and how the Assassin’s Creed design team has addressed them.
The Speaker
Maxime Durand has been the Assassin’s Creed series historian since 2010, accepting the position only weeks after graduating from Université de Montréal with a degree in history. Yes! A history grad who works with his diploma.