Riders Republic @ UBISOFT
2019-21
PROJECT CONTEXT
In 2019, I joined Ubisoft Annecy, to work on Riders Republic as a Junior Level Designer (later promoted as Level Designer).
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Riders Republic is a AAA outdoor sports open world where players can explore some parts of the most beloved US national parks. Players can bike, ski, wingsuit, and more, competing in races and tricks challenges in solo or with up to 50 players online.
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I joined the Ubisoft Annecy Studio when the project was reaching the end of pre-production. After 2.5 years working on Riders, I left a month prior to the launch to join Massive Entertainment. Ever since the team has done an amazing work an keeping the game evolving, making it even cooler than it was at launch.
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WORK HIGHLIGHT
​As a level designer, my responsibilities on Riders Republic were as follows:
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- Multiplayer cell - The goal of the multiplayer cell was to prototype, and later produce, additional game modes for Riders Republic. During almost 3 years, I participated in the creation of 2 major game modes: the Tricks Battle and the Showdown. Within that cell, I had the chance to be involved with many aspects of development: game design, level design and tech design.
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- Design of the Riders Ridge - A big part of Riders Republic is its social experience. Alongside talented artists and designers, I was the level designer responsible for crafting the Riders Ridge, the social hub of the game.
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- Design of bike parks - The open world is filled with amazing and diverse bike parks. I was in charge of designing a bunch of parks, from conception to art passes.
MULTIPLAYER GAME MODES
Tricks Battle is a 6v6 arena based mode, where players fight over the control of districts in order to perform tricks and score points.​
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I was in charge of prototyping for the mode, and later of designing the first arena for Trick Battle: Abyss, alongside Martin Dinet and Charly Carrelet (among others).
My goal for Abyss was to put a lot of emphasis on the combo system of Riders Republic. The combo mechanic is quite simple: players will score more points if their tricks are done on multiple opportunities, enticing players to take more risks and chain opportunities.
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I also participated in the development of the other multiplayer game mode: Showdown. In Showdown, players will collect gems, bank them in a special area, and mess with each other thanks to crazy power-ups. Showdown released during the third season of the game, after my departure.
RIDERS RIDGE (SOCIAL HUB)
Another one of my mandates was to design the Riders Ridge. The Ridges is the social hub of Riders Republic, and every session will start there.
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It has multiple functions: acting as a gateway for other content, managing contracts, purchasing cosmetics, or simply hanging out with your friends.
During the creation of the Ridge we faced two main challenges:
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- Designing a space for multiple locomotion - Riders Republic features a wide range of 3C (biking, skiing, walking...) that needed to be supported. Furthermore, we wanted to make sure that players can have fun, ride, and do tricks around the Ridge, in addition to the core functions of the space.
- Designing spaces that are 'Live Compatible' - Due to the GAAS nature of the game, the Riders Ridge needed to be evolutive. Every small area (we called them sockets) needed to be interchangeable and easily swappable.
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The Riders Ridge was a collaboration between many teams, and I closely worked with Senior Designer Manfred Neuber and very talented Level Artist Juliette Colmon.
OTHER VARIOUS WORK
- Redbull Rampage - Rampage is a bike event based on the famous race by Redbull. In Riders Republic, Rampage is the boss event of the Bike Tricks Series. We wanted to create a very challenging and open park, offering many different lines.
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- Mass Races - Mass Races are the crazy 50 player races from Riders Republic. Quite late in the production I had to redo an existing race: Teton Mania. Our goal with that race was to provide multiple route for the players. It was incredible fun to make!
- Various Bike/Ski Parks - I also participated in the creation of many bike parks and ski parks. The biggest of them being The Circus, an enormous, multi-lane, natural park. On The Circus I designed the park, did the environment pass and dressing.
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Right below here you'll find videos of the content I worked on.