Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag Multiplayer

Right after Assassin’s Creed III, I moved straight on to the multiplayer of Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag, released in October 2013. Same franchise, a whole new world: this time we set sail for the golden age of piracy in the Caribbean, swords and pistols included.

Pirates from every continent

The multiplayer characters all had a pirate theme, but they came from every continent: Africa, Asia, the Americas and Europe. Beyond their appearance, we wanted that diversity to show in the way they fight, so we worked hard to vary the combat styles from one character to the next.

As on the previous instalments, we also added new locomotion and new menu animations.

My first year as a Team Lead

Black Flag was my first year with management responsibilities, as a Team Lead. The team had grown a lot, and I assisted the lead animator with organising the team, planning the mocap shoots and everything that follows from them. It was also a crash course in time management, for the team as much as for myself.

To help me grow into the role, I took part in a six month management training programme with Duo Performance.

I also attended the shoots and worked alongside the actors on set to capture each scene. An acting workshop with a teacher from Gobelins had just given me better keys for the video references we prepared for them.

Black Flag is where I took my first steps as a lead, on a franchise I knew inside out.