A portion of a TGL interview with Ubisoft's Alex Hutchinson and Jonathan Cooper talk Assassin’s Creed III...

TGL: The structure of gameplay has really changed when you think of it – thanks to the new settings, new terrain and such. Can you tell us about the technical hurdles the team at Ubisoft have had to overcome to lift Assassin’s Creed III above the expectations of gamers?

AH: I think there’s a reason why very few games have fighting on an uneven terrain. Most of the time, if you see a tree in a game, there’s just static – just an obstacle you walk around. Well, we were very sure from the early stages of development that we wanted trees to be gameplay orientated. You know, the ability to be on the ground, or swap it up and be on a branch level. You can even use them as a foothold to assassinate someone from above – we really wanted to get this right.

Realistically it was something that took the animation team almost 3 years to get right…

JC: We got it right at the very end!
AH: Right at the end! Literally! Well, the tree climbing and running came along about half-way through development – and we just kept’ polishing it. We were worried that it would be like Crounching Tiger Hidden Dragon if you get me? We really didn’t want players to feel a lack of weight while running along the tops, but I think in the end it feels grounded, physical and solid.

JC: We spent a long time on technology to make sure Connor’s feet actually hit the gound – which is one of the hardest things to get right on slopes and tree tops. You have to remember, we have some of the original animators still here, and I don’t think they would have stuck around if we didn’t give them something new and something fresh to work on. When we started the development with uneven surfaces and treetops, they just jumped at the opportunity.