Interview with Kim Belanger and Catherine Roy, Project Managers

Q:	Why did Ubi Soft develop CD-ROMs featuring the Playmobil toys?
	We all played with Playmobil toys when we were kids. Therefore, 2 years ago, when Ubi Soft planned to develop a brand new range of games for the whole family, the idea of introducing the Playmobil plastic toys in our 3D world developed naturally. Alain Tascan and Jean-Michel Detoc created a small demonstration movie in 3D, featuring the Playmobil characters, and they approached Playmobil during the Nürnberg toy fair in 1996. Seeing the Playmobil characters come alive in 3D felt like a childhood dream come true! The connection was immediate, they were so astonished by the quality of the graphics and animations in the 30 seconds video we presented that they stopped the negotiations they had started with another software editor and signed a license agreement with Ubi Soft. But beyond the quality of the software edited by Ubi Soft, the main reason for this partnership is rooted in a shared philosophy.  Both companies have the same philosophy in regard to quality and excellence, our values are the same when we think about production and entertainment for the family. More than a simple license agreement we have forged a co-operative partnership that utilises the expertise of each partner.

Q :	Can you give us more details on how you worked with Playmobil?
	The first step was to take a deep breath and immerse us in the Playmobil universe.  Geobra Brandstätter, the German firm that created the Playmobil toys 26 years ago, has grown very quickly and has a strong family identity. Before we could start working on a game, we needed to understand what had ensured the success of Playmobil’s small plastic people and get the “Playmobil seal of approval”. We needed the insight to understand why young children kept the Playmobil catalogue as close to their bed as their favourite storybook!  Therefore the whole Ubi Soft team went to Germany to visit Playmobil’s headquarters and plant. During our visit the Playmobil team shared their knowledge and experience and gave us insight into what were the key success factors of their toys.
	The Playmobil people were also present throughout the games’ development process. They came to Montreal to see what we did with their image in order to ensure that the identity of their toys was respected.  Colour, size, shape and the spirit of the story are just a few of the elements they looked at. They were actually very touchy! But it worked out perfectly well and I think that they love what we did with their little plastic guys! Actually, Hans Brandstätter, the President of Geobra Brandstätter, who has the reputation of being a tough guy, couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw the games. He was just amazed and only said “How is it possible?”… No more commentary needed!

Q:	Please describe “Alex builds his farm “ and “Laura’s Happy Adventures” in more details.
Alex builds his farm
While Alex is taking a nap under a tree with his dog Miro, he dreams about the magnificent farm where he would like to live with his family. He wonders why this has to be simply a dream, and decides to make it come true by building his own farm with a barn, a stable, a henhouse, and even a garage!  Each building becomes a beautiful playground with many creative and fascinating activities.  Alex can go horseback riding, learn how to feed the animals, do some gardening, discover the farmhouse, drive the tractor, hunt down the hens, and take part in many other equally captivating activities.  By combining different environmental elements and with the guidance of family members, Alex will discover hundreds of marvellous animations linked to the different elements of a farm, which will stimulate the player’s curiosity and develop his or her logical thinking.  

Laura's Happy Adventures
While examining her grandfather’s rock collection in the attic of her house, Laura, a 8-year-old girl, finds a mysterious diamond.  The beautiful rock was once a lucky charm, but it unfortunately lost its powers when it became a prisoner of volcanic lava.  The diamond will recover its’ powers and be Laura’s lucky charm if she can illuminate the 5 faces of the stone.   In order to do that she must please the 5 members of her family.   This will allow her to experience several smaller adventures and exciting discoveries along with elements of mystery and humour.  

Q :	What are the basic differences between original versions and Pentium® III optimised versions?
In a 3D game such as Laura or Alex, an overall improvement on the engine of around 20% is noticed after code adaptation. This means perhaps 40% in 3D and 10% in AI.  The quantity can be doubled in terms of the number of polygons, and the quality can be doubled in terms of texture, while the "frame rate" remains the same.  However, these numbers are approximate.

Several techniques and special effects can be added to games like Alex et Laura, such as:
-	perfectly realistic mirrors (reflection);
-	a moving and realistic shadow of the characters;
-	multi-texture integration to add more details to the scenery (relief effect in the paving stones, clouds moving in the sky, detail in the furniture, on the doors, floors, in the trees, etc.);
-	more characters on the screen, more dialogues, and more intelligence;
-	the possibility of changing Laura’s clothes;
-	naturally, an increase in the polygon count, the number of lights that can be handled, as well as in the number of accepted moving lights.  

Q:	Do you think children can be aware of these differences?
Of course!  In "Laura and the Secret of the Diamond", the most noticeable difference for children will probably be, first of all, the addition of 23 characters with whom they can interact in the garden and the village.  This optimisation aspect alone brings a lot of life to the game, adds more interaction, and enriches a game that was already basically complete in terms of scenario, game play, and graphic richness and beauty.  

The moving shadow is also an aspect that makes the game more dynamic; as well as having flowing movements, the characters are endowed with a more realistic shadow which respects the shape of their body and follows their every move.  Nowadays, few games have this feature which adds more realism and movement to the image.

They will notice an obvious improvement in the scenery.  Without being able to calculate the engine’s graphic potential by themselves, they will at least be able to appreciate playing in a ‘plastic’ Playmobil environment which is almost palpable and real.  

Q:	How did you handle the adaptation of the original version into Pentium® III optimised version?
We basically had a 3D real-time game of superior quality, comparable to the majority of the best games on the general gaming market. We were the first to make a game with these features for the children’s market.  The whole challenge lay in going even further and in making the game more appealing.

We can divide our optimisation work into 2 sections: the engine and the data.  Where the engine was concerned, we studied the new PIII instructions and we rewrote our code in such a way as to benefit from these instructions.  We also brought new functions to our game editor,  by adding the multi-texture mode, Laura’s clothing changes, the moving and realistic shadow, the reflection, etc.

Where the data were concerned, we added new characters and new elements to the scenery, and we remodelled the existing characters and the 3D elements in order to make the game as realistic as possible.  In the garden alone, we integrated over fifty butterflies to add more movement to the scenery.

Q:	How long did it take?
About 6 to 8 months.  We started developing games for PIII at the beginning of October 1998.  We started off slowly by exploring the PIII universe along with that of its sixty or so new instructions.  By finding out and testing we did not want to rush anything, in order to be certain about how far we could go with the game using the new family of processors ; this way, we can avoid making mistakes and be sure not to repeat the same things 3 or 4 times.  The two titles will be on the European and American markets in autumn 1999.

Q:	What will be the system requirements for this Pentium® III optimised version?
Since a PII version had already been developed, we aimed very high.  This version of the game has been developed for PIII only.  Since PIII comes with a minimum configuration of 450 MHz and a minimum of 64 megs of RAM, and since it will be equipped with the latest graphic-card technology (AGP2X), we decided to aim just as high and to take advantage of the best available technology on the market.  

Q:	System requirements for the PII version are very high and even higher for the optimised version. Why did you make that choice to develop a children game with such a motor?
The general Ubi Soft development strategy is to deliver top quality products and to be at the edge of the technology, this was a great opportunity to do so and we took it.  We have been collaborating with Intel on new products for a long time and we wanted to continue the parallel development, we have the chance to work in an industry that evolves very fast and we wanted to be the pioneer with PIII games.  Moreover we strongly believe that those games could push the market in terms of computer equipment for the families. 

It is also in the Ubi Soft development strategy to deliver products with a long life cycle.  We are aware that they're won't be many families equipped with PIII in the next quarter, however, as the sales of the PIII continue to grow throughout the years, our sales will continue to strengthen during this process. By using the latest technology on the market at this moment we are sure that our titles will educate and entertain family members for years to come.

Last year at E3, Intel has expressed an interest in our products. They displayed our PII games on their computers at E3 and declared “for the kids the Ubi Soft / Playmobil game is the state of the art: there is nothing like it in the world for kids. Last week I was in Paris and I fell off my chair when I saw these games”.   With the PIII versions, we went even further then that