Hi all, my name is Ben Mattes and I’m the producer for Ubisoft’s Prince of Persia video game. We’re just about a week from the launch of Prince of Persia and all of us on the team are anxiously awaiting player feedback, monitoring all of the message boards and blogs we know of – we stay on top of the thoughts and questions going through the minds of the fans.
To that end we wanted to extend a special invitation to all of you readers here at the PlayStation.Blog. We know there might be things about the game you are interested in knowing more about or having explained in more detail, and we’re going to give you the chance to have those questions answered direct from the development team.
Any subject is open for discussion but of course we may not have the time to answer them all. Questions about Elika? The art style? Lessons learned during production? What sort of food we ate in the closing weeks on the project? Fire away in the comments below, and we’ll answer as many as we can in a follow-up post next week.
And, of course, pick up your copy of Prince of Persia on launch day and let us know your first and lasting impressions. There is nothing more rewarding or important for a developer then hearing what the players think.
Wondering how you addressed the balance issues from earlier entries in the series. For example, Sands of Time was amazing, but going back to it recently the combat wore thin after a while (especially in the first big group fight) to be followed by long stretches of almost no combat. Does the new game fall on one side or the other or is there a middle ground that you all shot for and hit? And Demo tomorrow? Maybe? :-)
What’s the framerate like on the PS3 version? I’ve heard this game employs the same engine as Assassin’s Creed, and the framerate on the PS3 version of that…not so good.
are their any trophies
?
Will the prince be able to use different weapons besides the sword that is seen in gameplay videos?
Will the prince be able to level up his combat abilities? I hope the prince has a long list of combat combinations. Does he?
Can the prince level up his agility? For example, do triple jumps up to a ledge whereas in gameplay videos, all I saw him do were double jumps up to a ledge.
Ever since The Sands of Time this series has been in a downward spiral. What if anything has been done to take the series “back to its roots” so to speak?
Has the combat system been improved, or is it still a clunky, button mashing mess?
Is there trophy and XMB music support?
are you working on a prince of persia, playstation home space? will you consider one in the future?
The game has trophies.
Anyway, I’m excited about the game, thanks for the post. :D
@narde15
Of course they are. You can view them here:
http://www.ps3fanboy.com/2008/11/07/trophies-prince-of-persia/
Was the PS3 the lead platform in development?
How identical are the 360 and PS3 versions?
Any hidden easter eggs in the game?
Thanks!
is their DLC coming, whats my insentive for keeping this game once i beat it?
Hi Mr. Mattes, I thank you for taking time off your busy schedule to communicate with fans of the Prince of Persia franchise. I am eagerly awaiting this quite artistically beautiful game, but there are some things that spark up my interest.
1) What motivated your team to take the franchise into a radically new direction artistically?
2) How did you guys come to the conclusion that this new installment should be not, or loosely, related to the previous trilogy in the last generation of consoles?
3) Is your team considering using this new artistic engine for future games as well?
4) What was your lead development console for this game?
And finally,
5) How did you guys reach the conclusion to create a Collector’s Edition of Prince of Persia not based on a higher price, but on a pre-order only for the same price?
Once again, thank you for taking the time to answer any questions consumers may have, Mr. Mattes; and thank you as well for bringing this beautiful game so soon. I plan to buy it on the first day.
– Zan
Explain how the attaching one’s PSN ID to an UBISOFT account unlocks the Altair Outfit for this game.
Do you think that offering a Home space or LBP costume would be beneficial to promoting your product?
Finally, can you call up Assassin’s Creed team and get them to ok an Altair LBP Sackboy costume, that would be sweet.
What made you guys ditch the realistic style followed in AC and trying out for the new water color style? And which game was hard to code for… AC with its realistic graphics? Or maintaining the water color feel in PoP?
Thanks! Can’t wait to go back to the PoP series =D
P.S At 5 and 8, trophies have been confirmed and listed on many site…
What have you done so that the boss battles do not become so repetitive? From the videos i’ve seen on IGN, the animations do not seem to vary so much. Of course i’ve seen a very limited slice of what’s to come.
Loved the original prince of persia, I hope this involves just as many smokin’ acrobatics and puzzles as some of the old titles. Have you done anything on the PS3 version that would differ at all from the Xbox360 version? Take advantage of the CELL at all?
Oh, and how was it developing for the PS3? Is it becoming easier or is it still a nuisance for the majority of game developers? Is there still more potential to unlock?
Will it be possible to play as the female character? I know she’s a support character but she interests me. Thanks for a great game.
I’m a big Prince of Persia Fan, but the cartoony graphics put me off for some reason :(
Are there going to be trophies at launch?
I am disappointed that U guys didn’t include any time-shifting powers.
They were awesome.
Why did u guys do that?
Feel free to make these much more concise if used.
My question relates to the art style. I really like the illustrated look, but it seems a little off. For instance, the characters are all very stylized, but the environments aren’t. They don’t have the heavy outlines, for instance. Why is that?
Another question I have is about that first trailer released that had the Prince and Elika fighting that blue Hunter guy, but it all looked really dark and realistic compared to the illustrated look. After seeing that, I was almost a little disappointed initially to see the illustrated style after that trailer. So my question is, why release that first?
how long in production have u guys been?
and Two more question, sorry.
How long is the game relatively speaking?
like 12-16 or less. Something like that.
How much platforming is there? The more the better imo.
Fights are nice too.
Is there some kind of function for the motion sensors on the sixaxis controller in the game?
how big is the world of prince of persia? will their be side quests?
Wow, want.
what can we expect with replayability? side quets yada yada that sorta thing?
1. Thank you so much for hiring Nolan North (Nathan Drake) to do the voices
2. What percentage of the game is combat? I am hoping for a high percentage of platforming!
3. Do you see this as the start of a new franchise, so we will be seeing new PoP games after this one (depending on sales of course)? Because I certainly like the new direction. If so, will we be getting AC and PoP in alternate years (please say yes!)
One more question I have is about the marketing.
The marketing is really not aggressive at all for Prince of Persia. Why not go aggressive just like Assassin’s Creed?
I read the interview with 1UP about that, but it seems like it kind of boiled down to “Prince of Persia is a popular brand name and it’ll get a lot of sales regardless.”
But most of my non-gaming friends know NOTHING about it, and most of my gaming friends only know that a new one is coming out but have no further knowledge, even that there’s a different prince this time, or that it’s got that illustrated art style.
Oh my, i was hoping this opportunity would come one day. PoP is on my day one purchase list, so whatever i will learn today will not have an influence on my decision.
1) Will we have some PoP Home-exclusive content? A statue of the prince in the Home Square would be pretty awesome.
2) Will we have a demo on the Playstation Store?
3) What are Ubisoft’s plans for the after-PoP ?
Thanks
I was never a big fan of the earlier PoP titles, but this one looks great, can’t wait to play it! :)
What made you choose that kind of art style for this game?
BTW, great trailer!
Will the game support 1080i/p, even if scaled (like Assassin’s Creed)? Users of 1080-only (no 720p) TVs need to know :)
Are the trophies posted above going to be available at launch?
…I’m really tired of being shafted.
I think this is the proper moment to say “hey you got assassins creed in my prince of persia.” thank you ubisoft this game looks sooo freakin epic. love the new trailer t00 guys.
peace,
Lh
ok its a good game is it online and does it have any trophies jeff can u send me pshome code at oldricksf@yahoo.com i donj have one
Thanks Ben.
Just from the short clip, the graphics look very good.
What programming language was Prince of Persia for PS3 coded in?
i was really wondering about the art style about this game, what made you guys come up with it, and i heard theres going to be some DLC for this game, what might that be, light some skins for characters, or maybe some more levels? The last question is, are you guys planning to make this a multi-part game and leave it hanging like Assassin’s Creed? Because that was a bit of a let down……
@23
There’s no more time powers because the reason to use them is gone. Time powers was a way to turn a hard frustrating plataformer into a cool I can fix what I wroke one.
This game makes up with that by not being able to die. Now you can argue whether that was a good move or not after the game comes out.
Just want to say that the art style sold the game to me. This will be my first PoP!
Is there any chance for a Prince avatar on the PSN? we already have an Altair one.
What will be the average in length of play time for the game? Any reason for re-playability?
Thanks
demo please
Beautiful art style. I’ve never played a Prince Of Persia game before, although I’ve always been interested. The beauty of this game captivated me. The game reminds me of Team ICO games. There’s a beautiful landscape with platforming involved, like the Team ICO games, and you’re traveling with a woman, just like in ICO.
Did you draw any inspiration from either or both of the Team ICO games?
For somebody who has never played a Prince of Persia game, how would you explain the experience? And what do you think is the main draw to it?
Thanks for the update. I got a few questions:
1. What’s new to the series besides the new graphics?
2. Could you give us some details about the combat system?
3. How are you going to use PSN, if at all?
4. What is the prince’s name?
How many language tracks have been recorded for the Blu Ray release of this game in Europe?
I dislike the american style VA chosen for the game as it personally detracts from the game’s other worldly atmosphere, but hearing the games script in a foreign language with english subtitles would strangely vastly improve my experience.. (just like the fantasy language in Ico)