Jump to content
IGNORED

Frederic Houde (Ubisoft) – Interview - Creator of Rayman on the Jaguar


Adriano Arcade

Recommended Posts

Frederic Houde (Ubisoft) – Interview - Creator of Rayman on the Jaguar

 

Hi guys, I recently had the ultimate pleasure of interviewing Ubisoft legend Frederic Houde. He is probably best known as the co-creator of Rayman! I ask a number of questions on how the game was made, how it was initially developed exclusively for the Jag and how he feels it compares to the PS1 version. I also ask him about the 'lost' SNES version of the game, his work on Beyond Good & Evil and lots more! Feel free to check it out:

 

http://www.arcadeattack.co.uk/frederic-houde-rayman/

 

Kind regards

 

Adrian

 

 

  • Like 12
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Fantastic work yet again.

 

Some great replies in there.

 

I passed the interview onto Unseen64,hopefully it will assist a few entries there and get more coverage as well,i will put the link up in a few entries for you.

 

I would leave a comment on your site,but Roberth seems to have taken quite the shine to me as is..:-))

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Fantastic work yet again.

 

Some great replies in there.

 

I passed the interview onto Unseen64,hopefully it will assist a few entries there and get more coverage as well,i will put the link up in a few entries for you.

 

I would leave a comment on your site,but Roberth seems to have taken quite the shine to me as is..:-))

Your support is always appreciated! Thank you SO much!!! Your kind words are certainly one reason why we continue to work hard at Arcade Attack!

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Why on earth is there Ramr interview on that site? Lmfao

 

I was going to read the rayman one but that put me right off as well as raising concern about the validity of anything else there.

Dear CyranoJ

 

Thank you for your comment. I will always aim to interview the leading game veterans and legends in the field. I will always have a huge soft spot for anything Atari and Jag related (I am huge Jag fan!) so a lot of interviews will quite often sway me in that direction. I can't force you to read my interviews, but I reckon you may enjoy a few. Roberth was interviewed as one of our "console fans" pages because of his work on the Jag Sector FB group. This is an area I would like to expand and interview other huge fans of various consoles and platforms - however interviewing the people, behind the games will always be our number one priority.

 

I am sorry if this has tainted your view on Arcade Attack, please have a little look around the site and maybe give me a little feedback?

 

Kind regards, Adrian.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dear CyranoJ

 

Thank you for your comment. I will always aim to interview the leading game veterans and legends in the field.

Kind regards, Adrian.

 

No thanks, that sums up things nicely :)

 

This guy (Roberth) has been a cancerous carbuncle on the anus of the hobby, as anyone who actually did any sort of checks or validation would have found in under 30 seconds of googling. I didn't realize getting banned everywhere for making things up about games, copy/pasting information obtained elsewhere and attempting to take credit for it or attacking people via spreading malicious (and possibly libelous) comments made someone a game veteran.

 

Maybe he's legendary? :D

 

The only 'noteworthy' things this individual has done have all been negative, such as fouling up the wiki pages (maybe read the edit history and the talk pages for how wrong and deliberately misleading he has been) - He's such a huge Jaguar fan, that, by his own admission, he doesn't even own one - yet manages to list several games that have not been dumped as 'his favorites' ......

 

So, while the Rayman interview is interesting, just the fact that you have this particular interview on your site casts doubt over the journalistic integrity of everything else there. Sorry, just my opinion. But hey, it's your site (and reputation) so carry on as you see fit :)

  • Like 6
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Regarding Jaguar Conspiracy Theories...

 

Haven't folks been keeping up?

 

A magazine article claiming a game is headed to the Jaguar, complete with screw shots, beats accounts from the 2 P.R personal, 1 of whom explains screenshots were fakes and the press knew this...

 

The company M.D explaining across numerous interviews over the years the fact the Jaguar was only ever going to ports of Sega CD games and the origins of his companies flagship franchise starting on the Sega Saturn as they had development kits earlier than those for PS1...

 

And personal accounts from a coding team that their Jaguar title, a Sega CD port at that, was the only Jaguar title in development.

 

I mean come on..people out there still swear blind Tomb Raider was started in the Jaguar CD and people aren't digging deep enough to find proof, despite all the above accounts, why look they've found a US magazine scan saying it was headed to Jaguar.

 

 

Where are we with Rayman now?

 

We've only had 2 of the team interviewed now, a making of Rayman in RetroGamer magazine, statements from Ubisoft at the time explaining why Jaguar version had been delayed, proof Sony didn't want 2D games like Worms heading up it's flagship console...

 

No depth to any of we naysayer claims that there was no conspiracy. .

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So..rather than have another 12 page thread on Rayman Conspiracy. ..

 

We have Michel Ancel telling Gamestm that Sony told them Rayman wasn't the right style for the Playstation as it was a 2D game.This aspect reinforced by Team 17's Martyn Brown explaining how difficult it was to convince Sony a 2D title like Worms , would do well on the Playstation.

 

Frank Slater from Ubisoft explaining that as Rayman was the 1st Jaguar title it meant a learning curve and unintentional delays as a result.

 

Michel Ancel talking to RetroGamer Magazine for it's Making Of..Rayman,

explaining games path from ST to SNES to Jaguar to Playstation...

 

And now extra comments from Frederic. ..

 

 

Dunno...i would wager it's a fair guess to say no conspiracy. ..

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I remember those days waiting for Rayman to come out on the Jag. Following the mags. Reports of it near completion. Then it was announced for the other two systems.

 

Then the Jaguar version disappeared from the magazines. I remember perusing magazines for months for word of it while the other two versions were sharing the limelight in development.

 

Then it came out after the other two versions. Not long after, maybe a month. I assumed the delay was because it was slower to print cartridges than CDs.

 

The fact that the game mechanics differ from the Jaguar on some levels than the other two versions strongly suggests their development was not in parallel.

 

Only later did I hear the theory around 2003 or so if the Sony payoff.

 

I don't know why there was a delay but there was.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oh and Creature Shock..which despite Atarimania having put up all the cancellation letters between Atari UK Boss, Bob Gleadow and publisher Virgin Interactive (so..not hording), was edited from cancelled to not released a few days ago.

 

I dunno..I just do not know.

 

Even when presented with realms of credible, cross referenced proof, there are still those that want to believe it never happened or what was the phrase?

 

Actually, that's not the full story.

 

It just isn't worth looking into lost Jaguar games because some of the more vocal challengers refuse to believe anything except the events they want to believe.If that makes you a media celebrity these days..wow.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...

If your still in touch with him, would you mind asking him if he knows the origins of the claim that at 1 stage Ubisoft were considering releasing Rayman on Jaguar CD,some time after the cartridge version was released?.

 

It's probably just speculation or a reply from the P.R department at the time, but if there is any truth to it, it would be nice to know.

 

Thanks.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...
On 4/14/2018 at 10:39 AM, Adriano Arcade said:

Frederic Houde (Ubisoft) – Interview - Creator of Rayman on the Jaguar

 

Hi guys, I recently had the ultimate pleasure of interviewing Ubisoft legend Frederic Houde. He is probably best known as the co-creator of Rayman! I ask a number of questions on how the game was made, how it was initially developed exclusively for the Jag and how he feels it compares to the PS1 version. I also ask him about the 'lost' SNES version of the game, his work on Beyond Good & Evil and lots more! Feel free to check it out:

 

http://www.arcadeattack.co.uk/frederic-houde-rayman/

 

Kind regards

 

Adrian

 

 

Just revised this interview as Frederic Markus was quoted as saying it was Sony and Sega who wanted Rayman on their platforms after seeing it on Jaguar (this doesn't tie in at all with Sony's Anti-2D stance),  so it was nice to see Frederic Houde counter this by saying it was an Ubisoft decision. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 hours ago, Lost Dragon said:

this doesn't tie in at all with Sony's Anti-2D stance

Sony didn't have an anti-2D stance, that was Nintendo. Sony had tons of 2D game through its entire life, while the N64 had almost none, and nearly all the ones they had were 3D with a fixed camera on the side.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, Chilly Willy said:

Sony didn't have an anti-2D stance, that was Nintendo. Sony had tons of 2D game through its entire life, while the N64 had almost none, and nearly all the ones they had were 3D with a fixed camera on the side.

Team 17 would beg to differ there.

 

These are statements from them during the PlayStation era:

 

'..... Sony wouldn't approve Worms because it isn't 3D. Hopefully they'll recognise their error when they get a look at the sales figures of Worms outside of the States...'

 

 

'Well the good news is that SONY finally approved the game (mid November) and that we expect the title to go on sale sometime in Europe in December. Enjoy it, it`s probably the slickest version overall - Sony US failed to approve the title on PSX because it wasn`t 3D - and it`s unlikely there will be  a US NTSC version of Worms until the 1st quarter 96 - which is a shame as it`s finished and ready to master.'

 

 

'I'm afraid there won't be a Worms:Reinforcements. In fact, due to Sony'santi-2D stance, it's looking unlikely that there will be a Playstationversion of Worms2...'

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Chilly Willy said:

Given the sheer number of 2D games on the Playstation, something tells me there was more to that than just a "Sony anti-2D stance". Sounds more like an excuse than anything else.

I agree. Theory: They did not like to have *too many* straight 16 bit ports, especially not outnumbering the nex gen titles. So they were managing 2D titles. Probably they did not want to encourage publishers to port over their 16 bit/arcade portfolio and "flood" the PS1 software market with traditional "16 bit" titles. 2D specialist like Capcom then started to invest into 3D tech. Thats how I would look at it.

Edited by agradeneu
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 11/10/2019 at 6:19 PM, agradeneu said:

I agree. Theory: They did not like to have *too many* straight 16 bit ports, especially not outnumbering the nex gen titles. So they were managing 2D titles. Probably they did not want to encourage publishers to port over their 16 bit/arcade portfolio and "flood" the PS1 software market with traditional "16 bit" titles. 2D specialist like Capcom then started to invest into 3D tech. Thats how I would look at it.

In an interview with Capcom in the Yellow Pages of C+VG,Capcom said they had told Sega they'd of liked to of seen the 2D abilities of the Dreamcast even more powerful than they were.

 

 

PlayStation had the likes of Worms, Earthworm Jim 2, Super Dropzone,  I.K+, Theme Park, Mickey Mania,  Lemmings, etc (some SNES RPG titles as well?), that's before you look at Retro compilations of old Arcade titles etc.

 

So there was room for 2D on PlayStation, but given it had far more commercial success and a much richer software library, it's understandable.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...