Zogdog.com Forums: Zogdog.com Forums -> Michel Ancel Interview

I came across a new interview with Beyond Good and Evil/Rayman/King Kong The Game creator Michel Ancel, in which he talks about Rayman and the Wii…from what I can gather. We have readers all over the world, and I was hoping that a reader out there would be willing to do an english translation of the interview, or at least sum it up. If you are interested, PLEASE email me!

Paduction TV: For the people who doesn't know you, can you please introduce yourself?

Michel Ancel: Okay, umm I dunno if I can for it here I have a feel that we are... Okay I'll introduce myself, I am Michel Ancel, I create video games I might not look serious but that's what I do everyday.

PTV: Okay, You have worked on such game like Rayman which is relatively known and started on the PS1, can you tell us the story about Rayman? What gave you the idea? How did you start out?

MA: Okay, of course. I'm just a little busy.

PTV: Yeah with the new Rayman and all.

MA: Yeah Rayman with the bunnies.

PTV: They apparently look like mean bunnies.

MA: Yeah they look mean, but I can't really talk about it right now.

PTV: Okay so you're gonna to tell us at a later date.

MA: So the question was about umm..

PTV: About the history of Rayman that you was just gonna talk about. How was this little person created?

MA: Well the history is very simple. I started out drawing him and animating him on my computer simply by mouse, little by little I programmed an animation and displacement system. The game itself was simple

PTV: So was Rayman was made on your computer then you gathered a team and started developement or did It become an immediate project?

MA: Absolutely, I was making Rayman alone but then many of my co-workers decided to join me and continue the developement of Rayman.

PTV: And that's how Rayman started on the PS1? That's fantastic.

MA: Absolutely. But later on we made Rayman go multi-platform and we had to test all of them, so we had hired an army of game testers.

PTV: Now I would like to move onto King Kong, which is multi-platform. What do you feel about the reviews and reaction from the media also we would like to know about the PSP version of King Kong.

MA: Well I'm not reponsible for the PSP version.

PTV: Oh well, at least it's claire

MA: I worked on the PS2, Gamecube and Xbox verison.

PTV: At E3 you announced the latest Rayman game for Nintendo's newest console. What revolutionnary gameplay will Rayman bring to it?

MA: Well the unique thing about the Wii is that you play the game with more freedom compared to holding a regular gamepad where you just press buttons. The controller opens up many possibilities, we are considering gestures when you move the character moves, I find it simple because it adds a more physical aspect to the game. So instead of memorising button combinations you memorize gestures. I find it intuitive and it'll give us some immersion.

PTV: Is it possible to brief us on the story of Rayman: Raving Rabbids?

MA: *Doesn't reply*

PTV: What's up with the bunnies anyways?

MA: I dunno if I can tell you anything right now.

PTV: Can we have a little exclusive? Between us. C'mon a little.

MA: It's gonna have a bad end

PTV: What level of bad?

MA: FOR YOU! For god's sake I can't say anything! Well it's hard to be serious on this game because of something is gonna happen, Rayman will fall in love and they're will be a love story in the game also we will be seeing some characters making a comeback from Rayman 3 like Andre who is the enemy in Rayman 3. Uhhh. We can say.

PTV: What can you say?

MA: It's hard to say but they will have an alliance between Rayman and Andre, that's your exclusive but it'll be a forced alliance but maybe they might be the new saviors of the world. And no it won't be tonight.

PTV: Now I want to talk about Beyond Good and Evil, which was critically acclaimed by the media but didn't really have a huge sucess, This is a question for the fans, but are you looking foward on a making a sequel?

MA: *breathes deeply* *smiles*

PTV: Well thank you for time and for answering my questions.