Ubisoft
So, you’ve unlocked a brand new capacity in a Metroidvania. You know that it might provide help to get to a beforehand inaccessible space, however you don’t fairly bear in mind precisely the place that space was on the sport’s expansive map. It’s a typical feeling when enjoying the style and a problem that video games have been making an attempt to unravel for years. That frustration is what impressed the creation of the Memory Shards system in Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, which offered a salve to this downside by enabling gamers to pin screenshots of sure obstacles on their map.
At any time whereas strolling round Mount Qaf, gamers can press down on the D-pad to depart behind a Memory Shard that pins a screenshot to the map. Later, after gaining a brand new capacity or simply rising or mastering a platforming talent, Memory Shards rapidly remind gamers the place they’ll use the talent they only realized. There is a finite variety of Memory Shards that gamers can pin, however extra may be discovered through exploration. It’s the type of participating Ouroboros-style sport design that gives a sturdy spine to an engrossing Metroidvania.
“The principle of taking mental notes is a key element of Metroidvania games: You encounter a blocked path, and you need to come back later with the right tool to unlock it,” Senior Game Designer Rémi Boutin tells Digital Trends in an unique interview in regards to the creation of Memory Shards. “If you take a break or if you have to take too many mental notes, you forget what you were trying to achieve. As players, it happens to us a lot. At the same time, we were playing games with photo mode, and some of us were also using the screenshot features of the console to remember the blocked path. Memory shards came naturally from all these elements.”
Tomas Franzese / Ubisoft
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown impresses as an expansive but accessible Metroidvania when it launched earlier this month. In addition to its silky easy platforming and fight, revolutionary concepts just like the Memory Shard system make exploring this huge world a seamless course of that by no means will get irritating. To study extra about the way it got here to be, I spoke to Ubisoft Montpellier a few small creation that has the potential to revolutionize the Metroidvania style going ahead.
Making new reminiscences
One of Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown’s greatest strengths is the way it emphasizes approachability and accessibility. It’s a sport the place the platforming and fight challenges can get very powerful, however Ubisoft gave gamers the 2 to toggle and customise the expertise with issues like a Guided Mode, platforming help portals, and Memory Shard options. According to Boutin, the event workforce’s predominant aim with The Lost Crown was “to open the Metroidvania genre to as many players as possible,” so accessibility performed a significant half within the sport’s improvement from the beginning.
“It took a ton of iteration to come to this simplicity.”
Each time the workforce designed a system, Boutin says Ubisoft analyzed if any noticeable boundaries might doubtlessly gatekeep enjoyment of it. If points have been recognized, the builders behind these particular options have been accountable for discovering one of the best methods to make the system extra palatable. Memory Shards are supposed to resolve the problem of not having the ability to bear in mind a beforehand encountered impediment that may now be overcome.
For probably the most half, Boutin believes that the core facets of Memory Shards stayed the identical from conception to launch, though some small parts have been tweaked for simplicity’s sake. “What took time was to refine the interactions, the moment to introduce it, and its first use,” Boutin says. “We did some tests where you had to ‘aim’ what you were taking a screenshot of, and enemies could hurt you, but as you expect, it was not really helpful or fun for the player. I think that the final version feels simple and natural, but it took a ton of iteration to come to this simplicity.”
Playtesting performed a vital function in getting a characteristic that works this nicely. Boutin says that when Ubisoft didn’t inform gamers about it, there have been “huge differences” between the experiences of those that did and people who didn’t discover it. That’s why it’s a system clearly launched and tutorialized to the participant on the sport’s predominant path. To assist ingrain the significance of this method into gamers’ minds additional, Ubisoft additionally acknowledged this mechanic inside The Lost Crown’s narrative and world with the Eye of the Wanderer merchandise.
Tomas Franzese / Ubisoft
“When we playtested it and observed how much players loved it, we knew this feature was core to our game,” Boutin says. “We also wanted players to watch the world rather than only look at icons on the map. By merging it with the map in the fantasy of the game, we think it’s easier for players to link exploration, cartography, and Fariba, who can trade them her maps. At the same time, we read that one of the first eye prostheses in the world was discovered in the southeastern part of Iran.”
This strategy to sport design, the place much more esoteric mechanics are acknowledged throughout the sport’s wider world and lore, could make gameplay mechanics really feel extra cohesive and becoming for the expertise. That’s why it feels so satisfying to make use of Memory Shards in The Lost Crown relatively than simply icons on a map such as you would in one other Metroidvania like Disney Illusion Island.
A memorable system
Using Ubisoft Connect, The Lost Crown helps cross-progression and cross-saves. This signifies that when you’re enjoying the sport on Nintendo Switch and take a Memory Shard screenshot, that very same Memory Shard should seem in your map when you have been in addition the sport up on Xbox Series X and proceed enjoying there. Although that will increase the utility of Memory Shards even additional, it did place limits on what number of screenshots Ubisoft might let gamers take and pin to the map.
Tomas Franzese / Ubisoft
“We had to be not to have an enormous save data because of the screenshots, so we had to find the right number,” Boutin acknowledges. “You can have a total of 25 Memory Shards per save, we think it’s enough to manage your exploration. One side effect is that it also pushes the player to “clean” their Memory Shards and preserve a readable map! Another attention-grabbing factor is that we don’t give all Memory Shards from the start in order that a few of them act as a reward, typically in conditions the place you’ll want to take screenshots, remembering the existence of the characteristic to the participant.”
That speaks to the depth of this in any other case easy system. Memory Shards give again simply as a lot as gamers put into it, and that ethos may be seen throughout a lot of The Lost Crown’s problem and accessibility choices. That is smart, as Boutin admits the event workforce’s strategy “was to not be shy on accessibility options and trust the player.” Ubisoft designed The Lost Crown to be difficult, each when it comes to fight and exploration, however methods like Memory Shards ensured that novice or struggling gamers might have the choices to create a extra pleasurable expertise instantly obtainable.
It’s doable to play via the whole thing of The Lost Crown with out ever utilizing a Memory Shard, however in a manner, that’s a best-case state of affairs for this concept. Memory Shards are a useful instrument for gamers at any time when they want it with out taking something away. They subtly however comprehensively innovate, making a useful characteristic that many Metroidvania gamers — together with myself — will sorely miss in future video games within the style, like Hollow Knight: Silksong, in the event that they don’t undertake an analogous system. Boutin hopes to see it in future Metroidvanias, implementing it in a manner that’s “easy to use, to see on the map, and to manage.”
Ubisoft
Photo modes and map markers have existed in video video games for years, however by combining the 2 on this exploration-focused style and grounding it throughout the sport’s world, Ubisoft ensured The Lost Crown can be a palatable Metroidvania that encourages gamers to go for 100% completion, not a head-scratching journey the place backtracking is a slog. Memory Shards are an revolutionary characteristic that units Ubisoft’s newest aside as among the best video games of January 2024 and can hopefully be one thing different online game builders are impressed by going ahead.
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is out there now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch.
Editors’ Recommendations