Game Makers: A Ubisoft Podcast

To celebrate a year of ShantyTok, the Ubisoft Game Makers podcast asks: What is a sea shanty and why are they so popular during the pandemic? On this episode, we speak with American musician Craig Edwards about the historical context from which sea shanties first emerged, Narrative Director Darby McDevitt about the origins of the pirate radio in Assassins Creed IV Black Flag, as well as singer Seán Dagher and producer David Gossage about their work recording shanties for the game's soundtrack.

As VR and virtual worlds become more accessible and commonplace, and with the “metaverse” being the buzzword of the day, we explore what it means to create and explore virtual worlds.  We spoke with Patrick Ingoldsby, art director at Ubisoft Toronto, on his team's work representing the diversity of the near-future version of London in Watch Dogs: Legion; Renaud Person, world director at Ubisoft Annecy, about creating a game inspired by seven American National Parks for Riders Republic; and Mélanie de Riberolles, new business development director at Ubisoft, about the VR experiences Ubisoft developed based on Notre-Dame de Paris following the fire that damaged the monument in 2019.  Music featured in this episode includes Fantaisie en Sol Mineur BWV 542 by Johann Sebastian Bach, played by Olivier Latry. With the kind permission of La Dolce Volta (℗ La Prima Volta & © La Dolce Volta 2019). 

Ubisoft CEO and co-founder Yves Guillemot looks back on 35 years of games and talks about what's next for Ubisoft and our teams around the world. Ubisoft is celebrating its 35th anniversary with free content for players until December 19, including rewards, sales, and giveaways. Visit Ubisoft.com to open your gifts! Transcripts of our podcast episodes are available on Ubisoft News.

A decade after he first stepped into the shoes of Vaas in Far Cry 3, Michael Mando joins us on this episode of the Ubisoft Game Makers podcast to talk about the creation of the character and what it's like to play him once more in the Far Cr 6 DLC episode Vaas: Insanity, out on November 16. Transcripts of our podcast episodes are available on Ubisoft News. Game music featured in this episode is ‘Good Boy' from the Far Cry 6: Complete Music (Original Game Soundtrack) | Music by Pedro Bromfman. Download or Stream: https://ubisoftmusic.lnk.to/FC6_CompleteMusic Label: Ubisoft Music © Copyright: 2021 Ubisoft Music ℗ Production: 2021 Ubisoft Music

In this podcast episode, composer Pedro Bromfman, well known for his work on the Netflix series Narcos, talks about his work composing the soundtrack for Far Cry 6. Listen to the Far Cry 6 Complete Soundtrack, available now: https://ubisoftmusic.lnk.to/FC6_CompleteMusic Transcripts of our podcast episodes are available on Ubisoft News.

Tanya DePass is the founder of I Need Diverse Games and worked as a diversity consultant on Far Cry 6 and other titles. She comes on the Ubisoft Game Makers podcast to talk about her work and to give advice to players and developers on how we can all work together to improve diversity, inclusion, and representation in the video game industry.   Find a transcript of this episode on Ubisoft News.

In this podcast episode, Ubisoft veteran Anne Blondel Jouin talks about her 25-year career in video games, from her first days out of business school in the PlayStation era to her role today leading a team that seeks out partnerships with industry whiz kids and indie developers. Visit jobs.ubisoft.com to find opportunities near you and start your own journey at Ubisoft. Find a transcript of this episode on Ubisoft News.

Are video games good for us? Can we learn by playing games? How worried should we be about screen time? In this podcast episode, Dr. Jan Plass, Paulette Goddard Chair in Digital Media and Learning Sciences and Professor at New York University, joins us to talk about learning and video games, a subject he has extensively researched. To learn more about the positive impacts of gaming and how to choose the right Ubisoft game for your needs, check out the Social Impact page on our website. Visit Ubisoft News to download a transcript of this episode

Ashly Burch is a writer and actress on the Apple TV+ series Mythic Quest, which is produced by Ubisoft. Episodes one through four of Season 2 of Mythic Quest are available to stream now, with new episodes releasing every Friday until the finale on June 25. Burch is also a renowned voice actress, featured in games like Horizon Zero Dawn, The Last of Us Part II, The Outer Worlds, and many more.

Composer Gareth Coker and Music Supervisor Jérôme Angelot take us behind the scenes of the creation of the music for Immortals Fenyx Rising. Find a transcript for this episode on Ubisoft News. Listen to the Immortals Fenyx Rising Original Game Soundtrack: https://idol.lnk.to/IFR_OSTFB.

BAFTA award-winning composer Jesper Kyd returns to the Assassin’s Creed series as one of the three composers on Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. Here, Jesper tells us how he revisited series’ most iconic track, Ezio’s Family, written over a decade ago for Assassin’s Creed 2, to create a new, Viking version. For Jesper, this track is all about ascending and transcending into the world of the gods, thanks to richly layered voices, instrumentation, and electronics. Listen to the Assassin’s Creed Valhalla Original Game Soundtrack wherever you get your music: smarturl.it/ACV-OST

BAFTA award-winning composer Jesper Kyd returns to the Assassin’s Creed series as one of the three composers on Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. In this episode, Jesper tells us about the evolution of his process since the last AC game he worked on by discussing his track “Kingdom of Wessex.” Jesper used different techniques, instruments, and technologies to achieve the depth of sound necessary for atmospheric exploration music that fits the game’s world and themes. Listen to the Assassin’s Creed Valhalla Original Game Soundtrack wherever you get your music: smarturl.it/ACV-OST

American composer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Sarah Schachner returns to the Assassin’s Creed series as one of the three composers on Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. In this episode, Schachner discusses her process creating the track "The Sceptered Isle", melding lyrics from an old Norse rune stone with choir-like vocals. Listen to the Assassin’s Creed Valhalla Original Game Soundtrack wherever you get your music: http://smarturl.it/ACV-OST

American composer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Sarah Schachner returns to the Assassin’s Creed series as one of the three composers on Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. In this episode, Schachner discusses her process creating the track “Asgard – Hall of the Aesir” in collaboration with British musician John Kenny. Kenny plays an ancient celtic instrument called the carnyx, which is used in this track to evoke the player’s journey to Asgard, the mythical land of the gods in Norse mythology. Listen to the Assassin’s Creed Valhalla Original Game Sountrack wherever you get your music: http://smarturl.it/ACV-OST

Norwegian musician Einar Selvik, known for his band Wardruna and his work on the History Channel series Vikings, is one of three composers who worked on the soundtrack of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, released by Ubisoft in November 2020. Einar focused on the in-game, skaldic music players can hear in the world of Valhalla. In this episode of Game Makers, Einar breaks down the beat, melody, instrumentation, and singing in his track “Hausbrjótr - Skullcrusher”. Assassin’s Creed Valhalla: The Wave of Giants, an album offering a selection of Einar Selvik’s tracks for the game, is available wherever you get your music.

As Ubisoft prepares to launch Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, “Echoes of Valhalla” is an immersive historical audio documentary series about Vikings. Comedians, historians, and reconstructed scenes will bring to life the glorious eras of the people of the North, relating the story of the Vikings as you have never heard before. Check out the other episodes, available in 7 languages, on assassinscreed.com/podcast or find them directly on Spotify.

Video games are for everyone, but many players face steep barriers to playing certain games. From a lack of subtitles to overly complicated controls, there are countless examples of ways in which video games inadvertently set up barriers for players, but also countless ways to refine and improve those features and ensure a positive playing experience for everyone. Cherry Thompson, Accessibility Project Manager at Ubisoft Montréal, tells us about their career path in video game accessibility, what video game developers can do to make their games more accessible, and what they consider to be some industry benchmarks at the moment. Follow Cherry Thompson on Twitter: https://twitter.com/cherryrae?s=20 IGDA Game Accessibility Special Interest Group: https://igda.org/sigs/game-accessibility/ Game Accessibility Conference on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ga_conf?lang=en Learning to Design Games for Blind Players: https://news.ubisoft.com/en-us/article/4hE1D1MBWWssYuY7LaMmaS/learning-to-design-games-for-blind-players

What is the truth? Kenyan-Norwegian singer, songwriter, and rapper Stella Mwangi wrote the song "Ma Itu" for Just Dance 2020. Inspired by a pun in her native language, Kikuyu, and an Afro-Futuristic beat provided by her producer Tom Rogstad, Stella wrote a dancing song with a strong, inspiring meaning that explores the concept of truth. “Shukuru means we will accept the truth, we will all praise the truth,” Stella explains. “The truth will be a delight, it won’t be a fight. Like a newborn baby, it will be natural.” You can check out the official music video for “Ma Itu” on the Just Dance YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqDde7uCOaM “Ma Itu” was written by Stella Mwangi and Tom Rogstad. “Nor Your Ordinary” was written by Stella Mwangi, Joachim Alte, and Tom Rogstad. Courtesy of Recurrent Records/Position Music.

Audio Director Lydia Andrew and the rest of the audio team at Ubisoft Québec talk about how they created the character, naval, environment, and combat sounds for Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, as well as the game’s original music.

From distant church bells and bustling factories to winding rivers and busy zoos, how do the sounds of a city-builder game adapt as you zoom the camera in and out or skip from one part of the map to the other? Members of the audio team at Ubisoft Düsseldorf talk about how they developed a brand-new environment sound system for Anno 1800 to address these challenges. Featuring Audio Director Stefan Randelshofer and Lead Audio Designer Tino Schleinitz.

Have you ever dreamed of hearing your favorite video game music played by an orchestra? Music Director and Conductor Ivan Linn talks about how he rewrote and adapted over a decade of Assassin’s Creed music for an multimedia concert featuring an 80-piece orchestra and choir and footage from Assassin’s Creed games. The Assassin’s Creed Symphony Tour is a co-production of Ubisoft and MGP Live.

Have you ever thought about the person who makes the sounds you hear when you play a video game? Footsteps, swords clanging, armor creaking... Alexis Farand is a foley artist at Ubisoft Montreal who has created sound effects for games like Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, Rainbow Six Siege, and For Honor. In this interview, Alexis shares his passion for foley and talks about some of his favorite tricks from the sound studio. For more information about the studio, visit the Ubisoft Montreal website.

Rock musicians Alain Johannes and Norm block talk about recording the music for Ghost Recon Breakpoint, taking inspiration from the game’s South Pacific island setting and tense atmosphere. This episode was recorded on the Ubisoft booth at the Los Angeles Convention Center during E3, in June 2019. Click here to listen to the Ghost Recon Breakpoint Original Soundtrack. Visit the Ghost Recon website to learn more about the game.

Follow us behind the scenes to hear how Ubisoft teams around the world make the games you love to play. This podcast will kick-off with a series about the sounds and music of games like Assassin’s Creed, Ghost Recon Breakpoint, Anno 1800, and more. Subscribe or follow Game Makers wherever you get your podcasts to stay up to date with the latest episodes!