It's not only Ezio and Altair who are the stars of the Assassin's Creed series, but it's also the atmospheric, evocative city and landscapes that make this one of the most beautiful series in gaming.
For Assassin's Creed: Revelations, Ubisoft Montreal has rebuilt that famous crossroads of the ancient world, Constantinople, as well as several diverse secret locations.
As part of our Unlock the Animus campaign, we sat down with art director Raphael Lacoste, creative director Alexandre Amancio and scriptwriter Darby McDevitt to give you the low down on Revelations' locations...
Raphael Lacoste: Our team invested itself heavily into both historical and on-location research to bring 16th century Constantinople to life. Via many trips to modern Istanbul to fully grasp the feel of the city, to hundreds of hours of research into the political and social realities of the period, we hope that we have brought this rich period of history to life in a convincing and believable manner.
Our approach was "hand crafted" and very artistic. The first step was to study maps from the 16th century to get the feeling of the different districts, main roads, public places and streets but also the overall shape of Constantinople. Historical maps were also very useful to locate the Landmarks and define the density of the city.
After this first stage of research, we created a map for the ground manually in our 3D software and we started to match the elevations based on the actual topography of Istanbul, only for the terrain. Then we did concept Art to define the mood of the different districts of the city (Beyazid, Imperial, Constantin and Galata), and used also historical paintings as reference for the modelling of the houses and Landmarks.
As we went to Istanbul in our research trip, we also felt the mood of the city and took a lot of pictures for textures and scale references. We re-created separately all the houses and landmarks we needed (with different variations for houses and generic landmarks) and started to fill the entire city around public places and streets.
Our next challenge was to blend artistic direction and gameplay navigation in the whole city, we managed to balance the image composition and navigation for the player in the setting. Tweaks were done for months to satisfy the artistic and gameplay experience, but also immersion in a memorable setting.
Comments
6 comments so far...
Anthony ROOK on 19 Oct '11 said:
I'v said all this before. But this site is newer, So I'll say it again.
Hi, 1st things 1st ACB FANTASTIC game, but kind of a let down. ACR will that be a let down? Hopefully not the trailer is very good like ACB's but the trailer made it out to be better.
1st the assassins. The recruits were just like the thieves in skills of climbing. And like mercenaries in skills of fighting and they have a crossbow that they don’t use, and yet arrow storm is available even if they don’t have one.
They show up kill a few guards and F off. If you watch the ACB trailer with the song
"Burn my shadow" in the Pantheon the assassin kill 4 guards and back off to let Ezio kill the target him self, and the worst part is that level IS NOT IN THE GAME.
The assassins should wait to be told by Ezio to leave the area and should be able to stealth assassinate, maybe if you are in high profile they are as well.
2nd the horse. In the biggest AC map ever the horse has no gallop WTF. An other thing the horse can’t die? Come on!
3rd the guards. Still not good fighters. Still take forever to attack. Still wearing armor made of paper I mean beat a Brute guard to death with my fists and he wears metal knight armor, may be if you punch a brute Ezio recoils in pain and the enemy laughs and throwing knifes should bounce of the armor like stones.
In AC1 guards walked by them self’s or in groups up to 7! Now it’s always 4.
4th the story. End of AC2 Desmond gets Ezios hidden blade and bracer. In ACB Ezio gets a new one. Lucy is very lucky to find a weapon that was lost 500 years ago. Also in AC2 as Altair who the hell is Maria? Also also in AC1 Lucy shows Desmond she is an assassin by revealing a missing ring finger in AC2 it as growing back!, hmmm the Templers don’t have a chance then, if assassins are Part human Part Time lord. Most of the multiplayer characters are “templar agents” so Abstergo cant get their DNA files from kidnapped assassins. And lastly the front cover of the game Ezio has his arms crossed with two silver hiding blades, in the game the second blade is under his sleeve.
5th levels and challenges. In ACB sometimes its very hard to get 100% on a mission and that’s good it means you need to think more. But for some of them if you fail you want to kick the TV,
For example in the tank level you cant get hit once while driving the tank or end up with only 50%. Again not a bad thing good challenge but if you do get hit you need to do the entire level from the very beginning and nothing happens between the start and finding the tank that will compromise the outcome of the level. And by getting the tank you have already proven you can beat the first half of the level with no fail. And “the don’t be seen” challenge. If your seen just walking its 50%, But if the recruits are seen killing someone you’re still ok. And in the “don’t use range weapons” I got 50% coz I throw an axe at a wall, you don’t call a shotgun a blunt weapon coz you ran out of ammo and hit a guy with it. And in sequence 6 while dressed a French guard you need to escort the mercenaries in to the French camp and kill some guys along the way but you have to stay with your men or you fail. There’s like 30 of them and no they are not children, its 30 trained soldiers and they need Ezio to hold there hands the whole way for the entire mission. In AC1 as Altair being discreet was only advised, If you blow your cover you pay for it by fighting you way out, And that is fair. In AC2 and ACB if you blow you cover in some missions you fail, Many guards don’t live to tell anyone they saw the assassin yet you still fail.
6th weapons and upgrades. In ACB Leonardo Da Vinci gives you the climb leap glove to jump up walls and grab ledges. But Ezio learned that move in from Rosa and Franco in AC2 not from Leo and a codex. And speaking of codex UBISOFT STAFF if any of you are reading this don’t give Altair any weapons moves or gadgets he never had in the first game or clamed to have had in the codex if you over do it Ezio looks dry and you look stupid, No guns or tanks for Altair.
So if UBISOFT could tone up the assassin’s skill, give the horse the ability to run and die, make guards smarter better fighters harder to kill and more efficient, review games to straighten out the story and pretty much clean this mess up that would be great.
And one more thing there is a hell of a glitch in AC1, One massive editing error and easy to trigger. On the level you confront Al Mualim, in the castle stand in the middle of the civilians and gently move the camera so you are looking towards the floor under everyone in 3rd person view. It should start very soon.Whoa! What a glitch.
I’ll try and video it in case any one cant see it.
My Name Is Anthony ROOK And This Is My Story.
adamp105 on 19 Oct '11 said:
First, it's an advert. It's supposed to advertise the game and should include (in this case) the hero, the villain and something of the story, which this does. It doesn't have to actually be in the game. I've seen adverts for films which had scenes in them that didn't actually make the final edit. It didn't make me I enjoy the film less. The assassins will stick around if you're in a fight, as for when your not, you call them to assassinate a target, they do that and then they leave. You might want something else but it's not like they misled you.
I have had throwing knives and crossbow bolts bounce off guards. You could take out a guard in a full suit of armour in unarmed combat, it's just a matter of tactics. Setting a standard amount of guards is just par for the course, and frankly you're nit picking.
What makes you think it's Ezio's hidden blade and bracer? She doesn't say that. Maria is the woman who poses as Robert De Sable in AC1. I never actually saw Lucy's hand that close but if that's the case, I'm sure it was just an oversight, and you're nit picking again. They never said that they where using the Assassins DNA files, they are the ancestors of the templars using the Animus' to gain their skills. The front cover thing is nit picking again.
Well I got 100% on all missions. Yes it was a challenge and yes it was frustrating but that's gaming. The sequence 6 mission, well it wouldn't be a challenge if the 30 mercs fought the guards. As for being seen desynchronizing you, that's just the way they decided to go. Yes sometimes you get spotted by a guard that doesn't have a chance to tell anyone but that's just the mechanics of the game.
It's just a mechanic for skill progression. They never actually say that Leo designed it from the codex, just like the poison darts which you get at the same time. It's basically the Cestus from AC2.
You're complaining about a glitch in a game from 4 years ago? Most games have glitches in them.
Anthony ROOK on 24 Oct '11 said:
[
She did do that, yes but in Jerusalem Desmond said "its the woman from Acre"
It's not the killing that pi**ed me off, It' the the scaredy cat mercs that don't like to be alone.
adamp105 on 26 Oct '11 said:
Yeah, you're right. He does say that. That's a mistake on their part, but that is who she is.
I get what you're saying, but it's just one of those things they do in order to create the mission I guess.
Yeah. I'll admit I did feel like screaming at times, but it did make it all the sweeter when I got that achievement.
Anthony ROOK on 30 Oct '11 said:
Thanks man
but my saying that Lucy was lucky finding Ezios blade on that part I was 100% wrong Ezios blade had poisen and a gun Desmond had just a blade 
Hat's off to you.
my name is Anthony ROOK and that was my F*** up
And thanks for explaning to me about Maria
But the glitch in AC1 IS BIG 
Go see for you'r self.
Raziel01 on 26 Nov '11 said:
You actually find out about the relationship between Maria and Altair in Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines. It's exclusive to PSP, THAT, I had a problem with. But in the beginning of that game he meets her in Acre so, maybe that's what Desmond was referring to?
I'm pretty sure Lucy was just bending her finger back to signal Desmond. Leonardo Da Vinci stated in ACII that Assassin's no longer needed to remove their ring fingers.