Rayman legends retold has finally been announced, and it’s probably what you’ve been focusing on the most, other than why remake this game of all Rayman titles – it’s the new art. Rayman legends It is timeless; It looked incredible in 2013, and 13 years later it still stands as one of the most beautiful platformers ever made.
While at Ubisoft Montpellier, I spoke with Desislava Tanova, Associate Art Director, and Alice Pisoni, Associate Art Director, and delved into the changes made to this new version. “Of course, we felt the pressure to take such a well-known brand and such a beloved artistic style and turn it into something different,” Pisoni tells me, “it wasn’t an easy path, but we were all super happy to be able to put our hands on something so beautiful and have the possibility to make something of our own, but always staying true to the original.”
However, as we all know, translating a 2D cartoon into a realistic art style is tricky (just ask the producers of the Sonic movie), so I had to ask how the team approached this and straddled the line of what it is. also realistic to work on this series.
“We have a great conceptual team,” says Tanova, “so we defined the language and translated it into 3D.”
She explains that it was about finding the balance between the interesting shapes of the Rayman plaster and the materials used for them. You can see the fabric detail on Rayman’s hoodie and gloves, or Globox’s amphibian skin.
Pisoni points out that in LegendsRayman’s face was a “flat, normal pink”, while this new 3D model allows them to deal with freckles and pores. While I didn’t get a chance to play the level, we were shown the El Luchador model, and the details on his shirt, down to the slightly greasy hair on his chest, were certainly impressive.
As for the environments, Pisoni told me, “One of our main goals is to make the player stop, take a break, and look at what’s really in the environment.” And this is one area where Legends Retold gives the original game a run for its money. The backgrounds are absolutely beautiful and allow for little details that of course you’ll probably miss if you run through the levels.
These include somewhat comical scenes, such as seeing the frog boss of world two bathing in the background of the center or bits of world building such as skeletons hanging in the dungeons or bunnies going to their cabins in the swamp. Tanova explains: “From the beginning, the idea was to improve it, tell a deeper visual story, and naturally it’s about adding details and animated background elements.”
Tanova adds that the team had to “maintain the balance between the background and the pitch, because it has to be very legible.” Pisoni adds: “When you have parts with completely complicated gameplay, we try to keep the background as simple as possible.”
In its recent earnings report, Ubisoft stated that it is “leveraging AI to enhance the player experience and drive team creativity and efficiency,” and with an announcement like that, it’s only natural that people would look at every project through that lens.
I asked the artists about this and they gave me a direct answer that we want to hear: “We don’t use AI in the project; everything is done by hand,” explains Tanova, adding that “our goal” is to approach it “through the eye of an artist, so that everyone can be involved in the process.”
While the more realistic art style is certainly a different take on the franchise, and I’m sure people will be totally normal, after my hands-on experience with the game, it’s a take that I see merits to. Some parts look a little out of place for sure (again, In fact I don’t like Rayman’s teeth), but the lighting changes, use of camera angles, background details, and endemic life scattered throughout the areas make this version of the game somewhat superior to the original.
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