Level Design Director for Far Cry 3: Mark Thompson

The first question Mark Thompson, level design director at Ubisoft Montreal, asks himself when embarking on a new project is: "What do players expect from my game?" In the case of Far Cry 3, the adventure is set in a lawless tropical hideaway.


"We know that the game has to be beautiful," Thompson says "The island is the main character". "Far Cry is known as a brand that has always been incredibly attractive." Yet this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to crafting a game to fill the Far Cry fan base with enthusiasm, and Ubisoft is striving to balance the demands of gamers with the ambition of the development team.



The words "open" and "world" are key when it comes to distilling the real qualities of Far Cry 3. Ubisoft is piling a lot of effort into creating a sumptuous environment that lures players in completely. 
The words "open" and "world" are key when it comes to distilling the real qualities of Far Cry 3. Ubisoft is piling a lot of effort into creating a sumptuous environment that lures players in completely. 

“At E3, the demo we showed, you use the sound of the waterfall to mask that fact that you were killing that guy, and you dragged him to hide him behind the waterfall… It’s not just scripted for that demo, it’s something systemic. You know, if you drag a body and hide it in a bush, it’s going to be there, it’s going to be hidden. If you’re inside a bush, you’ll be hidden. The AI isn’t omniscient, it doesn’t see through walls, it doesn’t see you through bushes. If you think you’re hidden, you’re hidden and the AI don’t know where you are.”

"Far Cry 2 looked incredible even though it was an open-world game, and most open worlds sacrifice the visual fidelity," muses Thompson. "But for us that's just the cost of making a Far Cry game. It's the cost of making a shooter game as well. People expect a certain visual quality, and we don't want to reduce that just because it's an open-world experience."

The game is based on one very large island, so how can players traverse it?
“We wanted to make sure that travelling the world and getting between missions wasn’t a chore. If you want to follow the mission path, it’s quick to get from mission to mission. There aren’t huge, huge distances between them and we have a super accessible fast-travel system. Like at any point you can jump into the menu and fast-travel from wherever you are.”

Are there incentives and rewards for exploring?

“We wanted it to be a little deeper than getting XP because you know, Jason’s trying to survive on the island so the world is full of resources. If he was stranded on a desert island, you’d look for food, you’d look for shelter, you would look for things that could help you. If you were hurt, you would want to try and find medicine. We wanted to make sure the island gave this to player. You can just follow the story path but you perhaps wouldn’t have as many resources as someone who goes off into the jungle, someone who kills and skins a boar, someone who takes that meat, someone who takes that skin from the boar and uses it to make something, and the same for the plants.”

E3 demo... 

Far Cry 3 game trailer...