Splinter Cell: Conviction Leaked Info

[LuftWaffle]

First post on these boards and I thought I'd start up an interesting discussion. The validity of this is unclear, but either way, it sounds awesome. Original thread here.

To: xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxx

From: xxxxx xxxxxxx

Subject: AnimX Technology Followup

Date: Mon, 16 October 2006 19:45:28 -0500

Hi xxxxxxxx,

Thanks for joining us for the presentation yesterday, it was alot of fun finally getting to discuss about some of the technologies we've

been working on. I thought I'd address the questions you raised during the session personally cause I'm not sure our team did as great a job explaining the AnimX tech as they could have. They're good at content but I probably should have done a better job coordinating the slides and the dialogue.

Anyhow, let me try to give you a better understanding of what we're dealing with here. The basics we got through yesterday - the dynamic interaction, fluid animations and the entirely interactive environments, but something that we only alluded to yesterday that I want to describe to you further is that QA playtest we ran last month. Once we've finalised the packaging for the tech (our deadline comes up on the 1st) we'll be doing a proper corporate showing but I hope my descriptions here suffice for now.

As we said, the demo was based entirely on Chaos Theory technology except for the animation tech which we effectively bolted on to the existing structure. The amazing part about this, is that despite the fact that at that point we hadn't even completed the initial code, it only took two of ours guys an afternoon to slipstream the new tech into what was already in place! This amazed us and really proved that our guys know how to put a piece of compatible software together. As mentioned yesterday, the AnimX tech actually allows us to open up an entire level's geometry for character interaction. We took the Lighthouse level from Chaos Theory and spent a couple days taking 100% of the artificial boundaries out of the framework and opening up every single polygon for possible interaction. The beauty of the AnimX tech is that it comes packaged with very, very realistic representations character gravity and weight which fit very nicely with our subject matter (however the variables are very easily adjusted should the tech be used in a space shooter for example).

All told, it took us four days to get the Lighthouse level fully playable with the AnimX tech installed, and just for kicks, we disabled the entire HUD system for a really clean, natural look. What you have to understand about what I'm going to tell you next is that the graphics engine, the lighting effects - everything in terms of graphical features and flare, was chock standard Chaos Theory - we even ran the game on SM1.1. We got a group of six of our longer serving QA testers in for a two hour, private NDA session to see how they reacted to the technology the next day. Standing in that room, I heard more expletives than I had thought possible from a group of twenty-somethings and it was all good news! These guys have played the Lighthouse level, quite literally, thousands upon thousands of times and the exact same level, with the animation technology being the only changed variable, completely blew them away. The first thing they all said (or whispered in disbelief in one case) was that Sam "looked like real life". 5 of the 6 spent a very long period of time walking around on the beach trying to get Sam to walk or jump in the same way twice with no success, while the other guy started scaling the cliff at the edge of that opening area. It took on average 35 minutes for these guys to reach the first bridge as they were all too busy exploring the level, climbing to the proverbial 'ceiling' and trying different ways of clambering into the shipwrecked boat. It was when the testers came across the first NPC's (also running under AnimX with direction coordinates for where to walk) that that attitude moved from amazement to utter disbelief. Because of the AI that has been programmed into the animation engines of each character, the NPC's were no longer following a set path, but actually interacting with the geometry around them. We changed the coordinates a bit giving one NPC a few seconds to choose whether he wanted to lean against the cave wall or not. He chose to, while the other NPC lost his balance going across the bridge (which we made to swing slightly for the purposes of testing NPC reaction) and had to grip on to the guard rope. The clever tester who happened to encounter this turn of events (who had by now climbed down into the canyon and was hanging on a precipice below the bridge) lunged upwards grabbing on to one side of the bridge, yanking the entire structure to the side the NPC was leaning, who then lost his footing and his grip on the hand rail and slipped into the gorge below.

Now, this all sounds very impressive, but realizing that the tech surrounding the AnimX kit is more than two years old gives a better picture of how amazing the gameplay experience in Conviction will be. Our demo did not include a proper damage model, fully accurate material properties, or a proper NPC AI (our AI code only extends to character interaction with the environment) with the knowledge to react dynamically to events, however meetings with the other teams so far have proven that there won't be much lacking in feel in Conviction. AnimX plugs beautifully into existing physics and graphics setups (UE3 and Havok in the case of Conviction) and is the most versatile internal software package we've produced. As we mentioned yesterday, the Assasins Creed, Carlos the Jackal, and Splinter Cell 1984 teams have been kept entirely up to date with development and are building their environments and levels to suit the capabilities of AnimX as well. If I may add a personal remark here, in my years as part of Ubisoft, up to this point, I hadn't felt that we genuinely offered anything over and above what gamers already expect. AnimX however, I must say, is a complete coup. I'm no analyst, but I can tell you that the key to next-gen is animation and interaction, and Ubisoft is going to be the only game in town doing what we're doing. I think this is going to become clearer and clearer once we start merging our technology, and I'm looking forward to seeing your (and your colleagues) reactions once this all comes together.

I hope that gives a clearer picture of what we're dealing with here. As usual, please forward this on to anyone that you feel needs more clarity and I'll catch up with you likely some time after our full demo next month.

Regards,

xxxxx xxxxxxx

xxxxx xxxx, xxxxxxxx, Ubisoft

[RD]

probably fake

[Defrag]

viral advertising?

[Zacker]

Sounds very much like an advertisement to me.

[Warby]

yeah this doesnt seam to be about splintercell at all ... but its defnitly advertisment that works now i want to know what animx is

[e-freak]

sounds like fake but if it's real then i gonna buy every game ubisoft will release with animx

[MJ]

im not reading all that -.-

[ginsengavenger]

what sounds fake about that? why would someone go to the trouble of falsifying something to that extent and with such clarity and diction? It's clear from what they've shown of Assasins that they're working on this kind of tech. Perhaps it's overhyped, we won't know until we see it in action, but it sounds authentic.

[Rick_D]

Perhaps they mean it's a fake leak, which would make a lot of sense - but the technology, if for real, sounds incredible.

[kleinluka]

sooo fake

[Minos]

oh shit another one ?

[Section_Ei8ht]

I dont care if its fake or true. I just wanna play this damn game.

Damn cliffhangers...