Along with all of the new experiences and games being shown off at E3, Ubisoft unveiled a new common theme among all of their video games — a second screen experience. Four of the games they showed off on the show floor involved companion apps: Assassin’s Creed IV, The Division, Watch_Dogs, and The Crew all had second screens that played into the main game experiences.
In a Gamesindustry International interview with Yves Guillemot, he said “it gives you an opportunity to play from outside your home with friends who are playing from their homes. So I’m in an airport, and I can play with my friends using my iPad if I have a good connection. We think this is going to open lots of new possibilities to the industry, and to the type of gameplay that can occur.” The companion apps allow for each of these games to act both as a game for console, and in the mobile space. In addition, second-screen apps allow for users to constantly have maps and targets available for view without having to stop the game to see them.
Many of the games that are being made with the apps are spread across a number of different Ubisoft studios, but all of the companion apps with the exception of The Crew‘s have been developed by Ubisoft Quebec. The companion apps will be available to supplement the console version of the games, and in some cases act as standalone experiences. Currently, the second-screen apps are being developed for Android and iOS devices, but the number of devices is constantly evolving.
The [a]list Daily was able to get some hands-on and eyes-on time with all four of these apps and their respective games at E3, and the results are impressive. In The Crew, for example, players waiting in line were handed a tablet with the companion app running, where they were able to design their car from scratch using multiple parts and designs. Players were then shown a map of the US where they were able to select the city they wanted to play in. When players reached the actual console version, the cars they designed were playable in the game, showing off the app’s ability to act alone and simultaneously affect what happens in game.
Another app Ubisoft showed off at the conference was the app for The Division, which took the abilities the companion app had to new levels. Players on the app were able to join their friends in game and actually help out in combat. App players didn’t play as their characters — instead they played as a UAV drone with combat and target marking capabilities that helped out the human players in the game. In addition, any experience gained while playing as the drone actually carried over into the player’s character in the actual game.
The other two apps, the ones for Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag and Watch_Dogs were functionally very similar based on the demos shown off at the conference, and acted more as second screens. Both apps featured a map of the game world that changed as the player played, and tracked their position inside of the game world, as well as objectives and objective positions that were available to the player. This eliminates the need for an in game map, allowing players to simply glance down at their tablet and see their position in the world, and in addition to that allows them to set targets in the app easily and see those targets reflected in game. For Ubisoft, they are trying to move beyond simply making their games. These companion apps are making mobile devices companions to their games that make not only enhance the experiences of their games, but can be whole experiences in themselves.
Source: GI.biz
