Rayman creator, Michel Ancel, interviewed

Rayman 10th Anniversary CollectionMichel Ancel, Rayman’s creator, is interviewed about how the original game was created, and how the new Rayman 4: Raving Rabbids for Wii works, as well as mentioning new tidbits about the storyline. And then possibly yes (yet maybe not) he hints at Beyond Good & Evil 2 five and a half minutes into the video interview, which you can find at the bottom of the page.

Paduction TV (PTV): You have worked on such game like Rayman which is relatively known and started on the PS1, can you tell us the story about Rayman? What gave you the idea? How did you start out?
Michel Ancel (MA): Well the history is very simple. I started out drawing him and animating him on my computer simply by mouse, little by little I programmed an animation and displacement system. The game itself was simple.

PTV: So was Rayman was made on your computer then you gathered a team and started development or did It become an immediate project?
MA: Absolutely, I was making Rayman alone but then many of my co-workers decided to join me and continue the development of Rayman.

PTV: At E3 you announced the latest Rayman game for Nintendo’s newest console. What revolutionary gameplay will Rayman bring to it?
MA: Well the unique thing about the Wii is that you play the game with more freedom compared to holding a regular gamepad where you just press buttons. The controller opens up many possibilities, we are considering gestures when you move the character moves, I find it simple because it adds a more physical aspect to the game. So instead of memorizing button combinations you memorize gestures. I find it intuitive and it’ll give us some immersion.

PTV: Is it possible to brief us on the story of Rayman: Raving Rabbids?
MA: …

PTV: What’s up with the bunnies anyway?
MA: I don’t know if I can tell you anything right now.

PTV: Can we have a little exclusive? Between us. C’mon a little.
MA: It’s going to have a bad end.

PTV: What level of bad?
MA: FOR YOU! For god’s sake I can’t say anything! *sarcasm* Well it’s hard to be serious on this game because of something is going to happen, Rayman will fall in love and they’re will be a love story in the game also we will be seeing some characters making a comeback from Rayman 3 like Andre who is the enemy in Rayman 3. Uhhh. We can say.

PTV: What can you say?
MA: It’s hard to say but they will have an alliance between Rayman and Andre, that’s your exclusive but it’ll be a forced alliance but maybe they might be the new saviors of the world. And no it won’t be tonight.

UBI SOFT Beyond Good And Evil ( Windows )PTV: Now I want to talk about Beyond Good and Evil, which was critically acclaimed by the media but didn’t really have a huge success, THis is a question for the fans, but are you looking forward on a making a sequel?
MA: …!
PTV: Well thank you for time and for answering my questions.

If you look at the video below, you’ll see Michel Ancel grin at his question, but it could either be that he is asked this question a lot, or that he is planning a sequel. Why oh why torture us Mr. Ancel?!


Translations via GoNintendo.