Welcome to the first in a series of making-of discussions with the AC IV: Black Flag creative team. Today Lead Designer Jean-Sebastien Decant explains balancing realism with the need to entertain.
Jean-Sebastien: “For the AC series we say that ‘history is our playground’, and so for ACIV we really want to deliver those real pirate histories. There is a lot of cliché regarding pirates, but when you begin working with historians, weapons experts and university teachers you have the real tale. It was really important for the team to respect the roots of the Assassin’s Creed brand, and tell the story as it was. But being ‘grittily real’ is difficult. Take boarding enemy ships for example: in the game it happens really fast, but in those times the crew might’ve been weak, needing some food and drink. And so, with scriptwriter Darby McDevitt we tried to focus on this believable kind of aspect.”