The period of the dangerous film tie-in is over. Today, we’re dwelling in an age the place video games based mostly on licensed IP are among the many cream of the crop: the Batman Arkham franchise, The Witcher video games, and Insomniac’s Spider-Man collection are all critically acclaimed prime sellers. Hoping to run alongside them is Ubisoft’s Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora.
But Ubisoft confronted a problem that Rocksteady and Insomniac by no means did: Frontiers of Pandora isn’t only a licensed sport, it’s canon to the Avatar universe. That means the whole lot in it’s a recognised a part of the official Avatar story, permitted by the studio who made the unique films. Anything Ubisoft created needed to match completely inside this current, intricate world. Achieving this required in depth analysis and fixed communication with the staff of James Cameron, Avatar’s creator and director.
It has been the responsibility of Massive Entertainment, certainly one of Ubisoft’s European improvement studios, to tackle that problem. Based in Malmö, Sweden, it’s finest recognized for creating The Division. But since 2017, Massive has been onerous at work making an open-world journey during which you play as a Na’vi – one of many blue, cat-like folks from the Avatar movies. While you’re a native of the Na’vi homeworld, Pandora, you’ve been held captive by the invading people of the RDA for many of your life, and so the story explores reconnecting along with your tradition and folks.
These occasions happen in parallel to Avatar: The Way of Water, however unfold on a wholly completely different continent referred to as the Western Frontier. Crafted in collaboration with Lightstorm Entertainment – James Cameron’s personal film studio – it’s a model new, wholly authentic nook of Pandora. This new area isn’t just the stage for a brand new story, but in addition the house of latest Na’vi clans, the habitat of latest creatures, and the soil from which new crops develop.
“We actually thought so much concerning the Western Frontier, what does that present?” says Drew Rechner, Frontiers of Pandora’s affiliate sport director. “We simply wished to make sure that our tales and our themes, whereas they felt acquainted, have been completely different [to those in the films]. Because we simply did not need to really feel like we have been retelling a narrative that many of the world has seen.”
But, as beforehand talked about, it wasn’t sufficient that the whole lot crafted for the Western Frontier is new; it additionally needed to adhere completely to Avatar’s intricately detailed lore. It’s all canon – an formally recognised, vital a part of the Avatar universe – and so there’s no room for error. Simply put, this was a colossal endeavor.
We did not need to really feel like we have been retelling a narrative that many of the world has seen.
This could also be Massive’s first go to to Pandora, however Ubisoft has visited the moon earlier than. Its earlier tour was again in 2009 with Avatar: The Game, a film tie-in that acted as a prequel to the unique movie. Ubisoft’s Montreal studio was given permission by Lightstorm to do no matter it wished for the sport, nevertheless none of it could be thought-about canon to the Avatar universe. And so the various new characters and clans created for the sport have been lengthy since forgotten, relegated to life as wiki pages.
It’s not simply the clans which have been forgotten. Avatar: The Game didn’t overview particularly properly. As with many film video games from the 2000s, it was thought-about boring and rudimentary. Both Ubisoft and the broader AAA business has since moved on from movie tie-ins, seemingly as a response to their continued struggles. But, regardless of being a disappointment, Avatar: The Game did present one thing to construct on. The union between Ubisoft and Lightstorm may very well be the premise of one thing better: a very genuine rendition of Pandora during which you reside out the following canon chapter of the Avatar story.
Several years in the past, prior even to the Disney acquisition of Avatar distributor twentieth Century Fox, Massive created a proof of idea for a brand new Avatar sport. Built utilizing the studio’s personal Snowdrop engine, which has beforehand powered The Division video games and is the bottom of the upcoming Star Wars: Outlaws, it featured a deeply detailed rendition of Pandora. This demo was then delivered to the heads of Lightstorm Entertainment.
“It was gorgeous,” recollects Jon Landau, producer of the Avatar movies. “They confirmed us crops. They confirmed us reflections in water on a river. They confirmed us creatures shifting by the atmosphere. They did this all on their very own, not by taking any of our belongings and doing it.”
Joshua Izzo, the studio’s vice chairman of franchise improvement, was equally impressed. “And seeing that, seeing the extent of care and the extent of element that was put into such a snapshot of that promise of what the sport might ship, was sufficient for the filmmakers to take discover,” he says.
You familiarize your self with the world after which you determine how are you going to make the absolute best sport on this?
Impressed by the demo, Lightstorm organized conferences with Massive to study extra about what the studio envisioned. Frontiers of Pandora’s inventive director, Magnus Jansén, remembers these early conversations. “It was tremendous clear that we have been on the identical web page,” he says. “That this wanted to be all {that a} sport could be. It wanted the entire benefits that the interactive medium has over the linear one. The freedom to discover and take a look at the entire cool issues that Pandora has to supply, at your individual tempo.”
But Lightstorm was additionally impressed by Massive’s dedication to creating this digital Pandora as genuine as doable, not simply by way of its visuals, however its philosophies and values, too. The studio pitched a sport during which the participant would care concerning the world during which they stay and combat for its crops, animals, and tradition. It would characteristic a standalone story that explored a wrestle for identification and reconnecting with misplaced heritage. This was precisely what Lightstorm wished to listen to, at precisely the fitting time; concurrently to Massive constructing its proof of idea, Lightstorm itself had been pondering an enlargement into the interactive area. And so when the demo arrived and showcased such a deep understanding of the Avatar universe, it was clear what wanted to occur.
“It was this serendipitous second, the place the whole lot got here collectively on the proper time,” says Izzo. “And every one of many corporations respectively stated, ‘We need to be in enterprise collectively.’”
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With Massive and Lightstorm united, it was time to start out the lengthy and difficult journey of making a sport the place each character, clan, tree, mushroom, and blade of grass needed to completely adhere to James Cameron’s rulebook.
“Well, the very first thing we did is we watched the film an entire lot,” says Ditte Deenfeldt, Frontiers of Pandora’s sport director. “You familiarize your self with the world after which you determine how are you going to make the absolute best sport on this? Where are all of the cool interactions? Where are all of the cool synergies and interconnections that we are able to do?”
Watching the movie time and again wasn’t sufficient to really know the world of Pandora, although. To study the whole lot there was to know concerning the universe, Massive was given entry to Lighstorm’s immense vault of secrets and techniques.
“We had full entry to the whole lot that they are engaged on,” recollects Jansén. “So we had the big privilege to have the ability to learn the scripts, particularly for Avatar: The Way of Water earlier than it got here out.”
Early entry to what was coming within the subsequent movie helped refine the challenge’s path and guarantee it stayed lore-accurate to the time interval it could be set in. But understanding what would occur in The Way of Water was just the start.
“The work that is gone into growing Pandora on the Lightstorm facet is way, rather more than what you see within the film,” Jansén reveals. “It’s like a tip of the iceberg. There’s a lot extra work, a lot written, a lot analysis, a lot thought put into it. So we have now entry to all of that.”
Landau notes that Lightstorm has an “evolving bible of Avatar lore” that it was in a position to present, which covers the whole lot from characters and automobiles to cultures and clans. Izzo describes it as “the 40,000 ft right down to probably the most granular, tiny element.”
This bible naturally is available in doc format – reams and reams of background and artwork and information. But when it got here to asking probably the most probing questions on Avatar’s universe, the Massive staff have been in a position to name on Lightstorm’s greatest Pandora nerds for assist.
“We have a devoted lore particular person referred to as Jennifer Bartram,” says Chella Ramanan, senior narrative director on Frontiers of Pandora. “She simply has this encyclopedia inside her thoughts, and it is unbelievable. So I’ll ping Jennifer and be like, ‘We want this.’ Or, ‘Is there one thing round what do [the Na’vi] do if…’ And typically she’ll know. And it is uncommon if she does not, [but that] often means it does not exist but.”
The work that is gone into growing Pandora on the Lightstorm facet is way, rather more than what you see within the film.
“It’s onerous for individuals who got here later within the challenge, since you’ve acquired lots of studying to do,” Ramanan says. “For two weeks you are simply studying stuff. And then [new staff] would include perhaps concepts, and it is like, ‘No, we won’t do this as a result of they do not use metallic,’ or issues like that.”
Almost the whole lot in Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora has to stick to the Three Laws of Eywa, the ruling rules of the Na’vi folks. “The Na’vi might not place stone on stone,” explains Izzo. “They might not use the turning of the wheel. And they might not use the metals of the earth. That is one thing that’s canonical from [James Cameron] that you could’t break.”
All this may occasionally sound considerably restrictive, however Massive immediately associated to Lightstorm’s rigorous worldbuilding. “All of these issues are precisely how we at Ubisoft develop our worlds,” says Jansén. “We begin with the world. Here’s the geography, this is the local weather, this is the species, this is how they stay, this is their tradition. And that results in these clans, that results in these conflicts, that results in these folks and their agendas. So the whole lot’s actually floor up.”
The lore is important to Frontiers of Pandora’s standing as a canon Avatar challenge. But it’s additionally only one layer of the expertise. The fiction can’t come alive and not using a sport to energy it. And so all that analysis needed to be translated into an interactive world with techniques and mechanics. That would require shut collaboration between two studios from two very completely different worlds; the clashing values of linear films and freeform video video games risked battle between Lightstorm and Massive. For this Avatar sport to succeed, a steadiness of belief was required.
“At the beginning of a course of, it is just a little bit uncomfortable,” admits Avatar producer Jon Landau. “Because you assume that you just discovered the fitting companion. You assume you might belief that companion. But you actually do not know till you undergo a course of.
“Going by the method with Ubisoft, we discovered very early on that we can’t solely belief them, however we are able to welcome them into our entire thought course of,” he continues. “Because we noticed how they have been taking issues and implementing these into what they did. And the suggestions we acquired was honest, considerate, and provocative for us.”
The partnership between Massive and Lightstorm is way, a lot deeper than that of shopper and contractor. The challenge has been a collaboration between the 2 corporations; each new story you expertise, character you meet, and plant you see is the results of a joint effort between Ubisoft designers and Lightstorm workers.
“I believe working instantly with the specialists at Lightstorm was a unbelievable alternative as a result of they’re the very ones who’re making the movies,” says Frontiers of Pandora’s affiliate sport director, Drew Rechner.
“And we work with the easiest,” provides inventive director, Magnus Jansén. “The precise folks, the precise artwork administrators, the precise costume designers that labored on the film, instantly with them.”
“But one of many challenges is they’re absolute specialists at their craft and so they’ve created these insanely detailed worlds that we wanted to develop on,” says Rechner. “And not solely did we have to develop on it, however we wanted to guarantee that once we expanded on it, it made sense for gameplay.”
Creating a sport is a large problem at one of the best of occasions, however making a sport in another person’s universe is a wholly completely different degree of problem. The values of the studio and the creator of the universe are sure to come back into battle in the end, particularly when making new additions. This was one thing that Massive needed to discover ways to overcome.
Rechner notes that Lightstorm may be very explicit concerning the science of the Avatar universe – something to do with the biology of the Na’vi or their pure atmosphere needs to be “fairly sound.” As such, there have been events when concepts the event staff had have been turned down by Lightstorm. However, it was by no means so simple as an outright “no” from Pandora’s guardians.
“There’s by no means actually been a second in time the place Massive has come to us and stated, ‘We’d love to do X’ and that X was a right away purple flag,” says Joshua Izzo, Lightstorm’s VP of franchise improvement. “It’s all the time, ‘We have a sport design, or a story, or a degree design problem. And that problem is vital to gameplay. We’d wish to assault it from this path.’”
“The path is likely to be flawed typically, however all we needed to do was flip the digicam after which it turns into proper,” he explains.
We embraced listening to from Ubisoft what makes one of the best gameplay. We do not know that, we’re filmmakers!
Landau notes that always it was vital to recognise who was the main authority within the discipline the place the issue had arisen. “We had the ultimate say on a personality look, on a creature look, on gameplay, on a brand new clan, all of these issues. But we additionally embraced listening to from Ubisoft what makes one of the best gameplay,” he says. “We do not know that, we’re filmmakers! So we’d say, ‘No, within the story, let’s do that otherwise.’ They go, ‘Jon, that is a film factor. In a sport, we have to do that.’ And we have been open to listening to these concepts.”
Rechner presents an instance of this sort of back-and-forth within the sport’s AMP fits – the mechanical exo-skeletons that enemy human troopers pilot. The staff wished to permit gamers to defeat them utilizing a melee finisher transfer, however the scientific and engineering lore of the fits didn’t initially seem to permit that. After a dialog with the unique designers of the AMP, although, Massive and Lightstorm got here to the conclusion {that a} mech’s safety software program techniques may very well be disrupted, permitting for the participant to get in and tear the pilot out of their seat.
“We got here up with the concept truly they’d use this [device] for upkeep,” Rechner says of a hacking machine within the participant’s toolkit. “And so you’ll truly be turning on [the AMP’s] upkeep mode and you would be manipulating that.”
The fixed dialog and collaboration between the studios has led to Frontiers of Pandora changing into arguably the deepest, most detailed examination of Avatar lore. There are components in its gameplay techniques rooted in Lightstorm concepts which have by no means been featured on-screen earlier than.
“A small instance is in case you dig actually deep into Na’Vi lore, there’s a idea of mentorship and studying that is fairly deep and complex,” explains Ditte Deenfeldt, Frontiers of Pandora’s sport director. “The Na’vi present it as this spiral sample, and it has a reputation, and there is a lengthy story to it. And that exact spiral finally ends up being how [via user interface] we present your connection to the Na’vi clans, and the way you interconnect with them, after which reclaim your heritage as a result of they’re mentoring you again to changing into a Na’vi.”
While crafting one of many new places for the sport, the staff was on the lookout for some form of flowers that was in contrast to something beforehand seen within the franchise. “It turned out [Lightstorm] had this actually, actually cool tree that just about appeared like a human mind neuron,” explains Jansén. “They stated, ‘This is so cool, it did not find yourself in any of the flicks and may you employ it?’”
“Many of the folks we work with at Lightstorm, the creature designers, the costume designers, they’re fairly excited concerning the sport for the precise motive that always after they do one thing, it’s within the background of the film or it is out of focus or it is fleeting,” he provides.
“I believe [Avatar production designer] Ben Proctor, by way of designing the tech stuff, there was lots of stuff he was restricted in with the ability to do [on the films],” says Landau. “And I believe the concept of with the ability to develop his portfolio of mechs, that was a possibility for him to say, ‘Look, I by no means acquired to do that over right here, however what about you guys doing it over right here?’”
Frontiers of Pandora has been an thrilling alternative to prominently characteristic among the most obscure components of Avatar lore. But probably the most fascinating a part of the sport is its originality. As such, the information of James Cameron’s staff might solely take Massive thus far. Beyond the furthest reaches of Lighstorm’s frontier lay Massive’s best problem: to take the whole lot the staff had discovered about Avatar and create not only a new story, however a fully-realized continent that nobody has ever seen earlier than.
The Western Frontier is dwelling to 3 model new areas and three very completely different Na’vi clans, all of which have been created from scratch by Massive. The intention was to offer simply sufficient familiarity so as to draw followers right into a world they love, however then supply loads of surprises the deeper you journey into the Frontier.
The first of those three new areas is the Kinglor Forest, dwelling to the Aranahe clan. “The Kinglor Forest might be aesthetically probably the most acquainted to individuals who’ve seen the movie,” explains senior narrative designer, Chella Ramanan. “So it is a lush, tropical jungle, basically.”
The forest is called after its most valuable inhabitants, the large Kinglor moths. The Aranahae clan acts because the moths’ caretakers. “They use the silk from the [Kinglor] cocoons to weave very intricate, stunning, delicate, however robust clothes, and so they additionally use the silk for the strings of their bows,” Ramanan reveals. “They’re artisans and really elegant, and they’re nice believers in custom.”
Frontiers of Pandora’s story will ultimately take you past the Kinglor Forrest and into the Upper Plains, a area of rolling grasslands. It’s dwelling to the loud and boisterous Zeswa clan. “They’re a warrior tradition, however they stay in symbiosis with these enormous docile creatures referred to as the Zakru,” Ramanan explains. “[The Zeswa] construct their settlements up in opposition to the facet of those creatures, as a result of the Upper Plains have a really persistent wind.”
Not solely do the Zakru present shelter from the area’s winds, however they’re additionally an excellent supply of milk. “So [the Zeswa are] very well-known for cheese making,” Ramanan provides. “If you’re at a Zeswa feast, there will likely be cheese featured closely!”
Finally, the furthest reaches of the Western Frontier are host to the Clouded Forest, the pure habitat of the aforementioned ‘neuron tree.’ This biome was influenced by the Pacific Northwest, and so has a extra temperate local weather with loads of rocks, moss, and mist weaving between its colossal bushes. Here, the reclusive Kame’tire clan lives.
“They’re just a little bit extra secluded of a society and so they’re just a little bit extra stealthy,” reveals affiliate sport director, Drew Rechner. “And so in gameplay mechanics, they’ve lots of issues that offer you stealth. They have little teas and different natural options that you could take that offer you all types of various sorts of buffs.”
We are properly conscious that we can’t management avid gamers and we must always not management avid gamers. This is their expertise.
It’s clear that a large quantity of labor has gone into making these authentic clans and areas really feel as authentically Avatar as doable. Ramanan notes that each Na’vi who has dialogue has been given a fully-detailed backstory, with explanations of their needs, wants, and relationships. But all these meticulously developed ecosystems and cultures are on the mercy of the participant. Thanks to its open-world design, gamers have the company to make selections that go in opposition to the peaceable and harmonious views of the Na’vi. So how has Massive handled that doubtlessly lore-breaking freedom?
“This [freedom] is just not one thing to be curtailed or reigned in or fought, it is one thing we embrace,” says Magnus Jansén, Frontiers of Pandora’s inventive director. “And Lightstorm and everyone concerned on the Avatar facet, they’re properly conscious that we can’t management avid gamers and we must always not management avid gamers. This is their expertise.”
“That stated, there may be lots of the Na’vi ethos or the Avatar ethos that we carried with us deep within the gameplay techniques from the very begin,” provides sport director, Ditte Deenfeldt. “Don’t take greater than you want. So we have now a top quality over amount strategy, each in our cooking and our crafting techniques, that is inbuilt from the beginning. If you are very harmful in direction of creatures or the atmosphere, you may’t truly use what you get again.”
“At the identical time, we’re a sport and we would like you to have enjoyable,” she continues. “And we would like you to make use of a shotgun and blow stuff up if that is what you need.”
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From the deepest roots of the Kinglor Forest to the rolling fields of the Upper Plains, the whole lot Massive has created for Frontiers of Pandora has been cemented in Avatar canon. It’s all official Avatar lore.
“The Western Frontier isn’t any much less part of the world of Avatar than what’s within the films,” says Jansén. “To the purpose the place one of many species that we conceived and constructed along with [Lightstorm] is being utilized in an Avatar exhibition that they did. There is already some discuss perhaps utilizing among the stuff that we did within the upcoming films…”
“I am unable to essentially spoil that proper now,” says Lightstorm’s VP of franchise improvement, Joshua Izzo, refusing to disclose if something has been determined. “But I can say that there are going to be some future sequel components in Frontiers of Pandora that can repay when Avatar 3 comes out in 2025. Careful Avatar followers who’ve performed the sport will need to return and perhaps revisit sure issues as a result of will probably be revealed to them in ’25.”
As you may think about, the staff are extremely proud and enthusiastic about their work being immortalised as a part of one of many greatest blockbuster universes ever created.
“I believe we made lots of actually cool wildlife that is fully new to our little nook of Pandora that may give you some nice searching experiences, can scare you, can actually change the way you act in that exact a part of the world,” says Deenfeldt. “So I believe that we contributed some actually cool creatures to this universe.”
“It is humbling,” says Jansén. “It’s extremely instructional, and the top result’s an important factor. What we have now within the sport, the best way that it matches collectively, the best way that the animals and the clans and their tradition, all of them really feel of the world. They’re grounded in it.”
“If you are flying in your banshee, otherwise you’re excessive up someplace and it is such as you’re wanting down over your creation, and you are like, ‘We made this,’” smiles Deenfeldt. “That makes me actually proud.”
Ubisoft has specialised in open worlds for properly over a decade, and Massive has confirmed itself with its extremely detailed replicas of New York City and Washington DC for The Division. But Frontiers of Pandora was a wholly new problem past simply geographical accuracy. Creating a canon Avatar sport demanded rigorous exploration of alien ecosystems, fictional biology, and engineering lore. But, due to the robust partnership between Massive and Lightstorm, the studio has been in a position to craft a very correct, fully official new chapter within the Avatar story. It’s six years of meticulous work that lives as much as the requirements of the universe’s creators, and a sport that can transport us to the luminescent forests we’ve thus far solely ever dreamed about.
You’re not in Kansas anymore. You’re on Pandora.
Matt Purslow is IGN’s UK News and Features Editor.
