Do the more artistic skills - graphics, animation, sound - also play an important role in developing a specific gameplay?

Michael Janod
Even though game design and info design represent an enormous workload, there are obviously lots of other elements which are taken into consideration to make a specific gameplay fun. We were lucky enough to have a fairly zany game universe. The graphic designers and animators can also come up with very amusing or intriguing situations which instantly whet the player's appetite to try them out.

For example, we had the idea of shrinking Rayman and making him drive a tiny little car. We thought this was a pretty original brainwave. The player has to drive a vehicle and revisit a whole level on a microscopic scale. This was something really new, compared to the rest of the game. Another amusing idea came in on top of that one. We replaced the car with one of Rayman's own shoes. This was much funnier, and more striking for the player. What's more, it gave us an idea to improve the gameplay. Rather than drive along in a traditional way, as in many other gameplays, we thought it would be cool if Rayman chased after his other shoe - which he has to stop by hitting it. This had the added advantage of fitting in perfectly with the bumper-car appearance of the vehicle, and it didn't make the controls any more complicated. The player soon understands how to drive his shoe!

Benjamin Haddad
Generally speaking, when you change the game system, you also often change the technical constraints. Sometimes this gives the artistic teams an opportunity to let themselves go. For example, in the skating levels on the musical highways, Rayman has to jump from one stave to another over empty space. This type of gameplay crops up 3 times in the course of the game, so we had to find a different graphical appearance each time the gameplay returns. The idea of the staves inspired the graphic designer and the team to create themes. So the first highway only uses psychedelic elements - big hearts, or peace symbols with disco music. The second one uses more colors, and motifs from the 1980s. These elements are very vivid for the player. He has a good laugh when he lands up in these slightly screwball universes!

Another important feature of gameplay variety seems to be the bosses. Why did you put such strong emphasis on developing this feature of the gameplay?

Benjamin Haddad
First of all, this element wasn't played up enough in the previous episode in the series. So we wanted to make up for lost time.

Secondly, the bosses allow you create particularly impressive combat situations - in a word, exactly what we wanted for Rayman 3!

Are there also certain principles to respect when you develop a level with a boss?

Benjamin Haddad
When the player finds himself up against a generic enemy, he's on equal or superior terms with that enemy. Confronting a boss, the opposite's true, because the boss has to represent a genuine challenge. He's a real threat to the player, so the latter has to concentrate more on this particular sequence than he does on the rest of the game.

So we work hard on the gameplay level, where our approach is similar to that for creating a specific gameplay. And we work hard on directing the dramatic situation, setting the boss up as a unique, ultra-powerful enemy. In short, a good boss is a boss we've managed to give a real personality, using impressive staging techniques and a frenzied gameplay requiring both shrewdness and skill.

And how did you bring out this sense of threat?

Michael Janod
We wanted a graduated scale for the bosses' threatening side.

At the beginning, the bosses are pretty dangerous, because they're completely hysterical. They've got great comic potential because, above all, they're ridiculous. The further you get into the game, the more powerful, threatening and dangerous the bosses become.

For example, the player encounters Razoff in the first third of the game. He's a totally megalomaniac hunter. The level takes place in Razoff's house, where everything you see is to his greater glory: there are statues and portraits of him everywhere, statues of his finest catches, and so on. In himself, the character's really hilarious. He isn't the brightest kid on the block and he walks in an affected way, but he's dangerous. He shoots with a long gun and, when you hit him with your fists, he machine-guns hysterically in all directions.

Benjamin Haddad
At the end of the game, on the other hand, it's totally apocalyptic! The player fights an enemy who's much bigger than him and who uses a magical, ultra-powerful scepter to trigger devastating attacks. As he goes along, he destroys the whole level and Rayman has to jump on whatever's still standing - always on the verge of falling!

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