Brotherhood does not look like a game that was made in a year, neither does Revelations. I can't shake the feeling that some day they will release a bad assassins creed game but it has not happened yet.

Sorcery?

im pretty sure they don't begin production the day after the last game ships.

im sure they actually plan it and have different teams working on different parts of the games. AC is the best selling new IP this gen so im sure UBIsoft have more that 8 people in 1 office working on it.

I presume you finished AC2 and AC:B? Did you see the length of those credits?

They have huge numbers of people working on these.

Witchcraft... and they're really just using the same tech to make different areas. Luckily the world they've built is damn good.

Big ass dev team.

They've been big on using libraries of assets to build their cities so that keeps time spent on that comparatively low. In addition, they stopped giving us 3 cities in return for a game every year.

They have large teams around the world working on these games.

Also magic

@TooWalrus said:

Witchcraft... and they're really just using the same tech to make different areas. Luckily the world they've built is damn good.

Yeah these are my thoughts as well. They build a superb world the first time around and how they're just building of that success.

TBH Brotherhood was lacking in polish IMO and AC2 is a much better game. I think Brotherhood could have used another year of development if they really cared about the game and not just milking the franchise.

They have people working constantly on that game because they have something like 3 or 4 studios in place developing Assassin's Creed. Also they are just building on a very good engine and game world, so it's pretty understandable.

I'm sure AC2 and brotherhood were worked on simultaneously right after AC1. And Revelations was probably started, in some form, right after AC2.

They aren't repetitive because they have two teams working alongside each other working on AC games.

Have a shit ton of people work on it is how they do it.

@scarace360 said:

Have a shit ton of people work on it is how they do it.

This.

On Revelations, they had around SIX studios working on the game (I think maybe even 8, not sure).

@scarace360 said:

Have a shit ton of people work on it is how they do it.

This.

Lots of practice. They've got annualized franchises down pat by now.

It's weird how Assassins creed games can be so different and awesome every year but Call of duty manages to be the same game.

@NekuSakuraba said:

It's weird how Assassins creed games can be so different and awesome every year but Call of duty manages to be the same game.

One publisher is interested in making a good product the other is interested in making money above all else while running their respective franchises into the ground.

Well it is Ubisoft. They're the most consistently excellent developer out there.

Its obvious. Even though different assets are used, it is the same exact engine used from AC2, which itself was an iteration of the original game. Build a new playing map, new characters and some new assets- its not all that hard to build a new game in a year on the exact same game engine.

Its not like the gameplay is going to be drastically different. The only real troublesome part that brotherhood had, was how to get the multiplayer balanced.

Brotherhood does not look like a game that was made in a year, neither does Revelations.

@kashif1 said:

Brotherhood does not look like a game that was made in a year, neither does Revelations.

I can tell you for a fact that Revelations is excellent. And while what everyone else is saying (that lots of it is repetition with reused assets and mechanics), Revelations has some new stuff that is absolutely great,  Also, the hookblade completely changes how fast free running is. It's a minor thing, but it makes the game feel completely different in the best possible way.

@Cirdain said:

@JasonR86

@scarace360 said:

Have a shit ton of people work on it is how they do it.

This.

Big team. A bit of outsourcing. A lack of sleep.

Assassins Creed 2 and Brotherhood had credits for days.

Thank god for that, and i take it the story is still as good as ever?

@kashif1: They have 3 or 4 full sized dev teams working on the Assassins Creed series, so one year 3-4 years worth of development time if you think about it. Okay maybe it doesn't really work out like that, but they have a shit ton of people working on it, that's the point

Brotherhood does not look like a game that was made in a year, neither does Revelations. I can't shake the feeling that some day they will release a bad assassins creed game but it has not happened yet.

this game has alot less content than brootherhood, but is still good, and worth the money, I do believe AC 3 will have multiple cities and all that jazz, I'm sure theyve been working on that in some capacity since end of ac2.

And yeah as people have said, multiple studies doing diferent parts of the game. one for multiplayer, one for the den defense one for the indoot tomb stuff and so on. So I'm guessing montreal only does the open world and story stuff for the most part.

They get people from all kinds of studios from all over the world to make them. Which is why they also feel somewhat disjointed and artistically aimless at times. I don't really like that approach at all.

@kashif1: Because you've been playing the same game since 07 when the original came out. They have just been polishing up the game engine every year. It's the same story as Call of Duty.

Archery. 
 
But yeah, like others said, they have tons of people working on the franchise, and they care about originality and quality.

By changing very little.

I quit the series while playing Brotherhood. I no longer see the appeal.

I have to disagree with you on this one. This seems like the most rushed out of all the games so far. I have seen a ridiculous amount of weird clipping and glitches in this game. They didn't add a whole lot to the formula either just some lame tower defense stuff. To each his own I guess.

@artgarcrunkle said:

By changing very little.

@NekuSakuraba: @Zidd:

Oh look, more COD haters. How hipster gamer of you.

Because Activision could totally just change the formula up and still sell 6 million+ copies day 1, right? It's not like anyone wants that COD experience, we all want something different! Something new! We don't buy Call of Duty for Call of Duty for petes sake, what is Kotick thinking?

Oh wait, but more people still buy it day 1, every time they put out a new one. Hmmm...the plot thickens.

@NekuSakuraba: I actually found the Assassin's Creed series to become quite dull, much as Call of Duty did. I thought the first one showed promise, but I still haven't had the urge to finish the second, nor start my untouched copy of Brotherhood. I think the - from my viewpoint - myriad of design aspects identical between games greatly eased the tight release cycle. Whatever attracts people to that series I'll never understand; I'll accept it, but never understand.

@MaddProdigy: How does Assassins creed manage to change to formula and keep the games fresh every year? Even by not playing the games, it's not that hard to see the various changes the games have made.

@mlarrabee: The Assassins Creed games manage to add some pretty serious changes each game though, Call of Duty only adds small things every time. Not sure how much Revelations added, the tower defence aspect seems to be a pretty big change even if Ryan didn't really like it, but Brotherhood made some big changes in 1 year.

@MaddProdigy: The publishers histories speak for themselves.

@Claude said:

I quit the series while playing Brotherhood. I no longer see the appeal.

I quit it after renting AC1. Played a little of AC2 and still not impressed.

What quality?

@Clinkz said:

@Claude said:

I quit the series while playing Brotherhood. I no longer see the appeal.

I quit it after renting AC1. Played a little of AC2 and still not impressed.

It was fun while it lasted. Maybe three will be for me.

@NekuSakuraba: But you can't compare COD and AC2, not in the slightest. Yes, AC2 sells a lot of copies. But Modern Warfare and subsequent COD games are not just hugely selling games, they are so huge they are some of the highest if not THE highest selling media of all time. COD competes with James Camerons Avatar, and crushes it in the long term. COD destroys entire record labels in terms of profitability. You cant just risk changing something like that just because some gamers get butt hurt it isn't different every year, and risk losing access to the most profitable piece of media property in the entire world.

Once the sales drop off, there will be changes. But until then, why would they change anything? So many people whine and whine and whine, but SO MANY more buy it every time, and will continue to, because it's a great formula and a great game every time even if it is the same thing.

@jetsetwillie said:

im pretty sure they don't begin production the day after the last game ships.

im sure they actually plan it and have different teams working on different parts of the games. AC is the best selling new IP this gen so im sure UBIsoft have more that 8 people in 1 office working on it.

Probably this. Like they already have a team working on Assassin's Creed 3 or whatever title it will have and when the team working on Revelations is done, they'll move onto the next game.

As others said they have multiple studios working on each game. Also, don't quote me on this, but I think I read somewhere that they make each game in two years, not one. As with Call of Duty, they have different teams working on different installments simultaneously.

@Muttinus_Rump: Yes, this. Big teams.

Ehm what?
 

1. They have huge teams
2. These are esentially the same fucking games with a few improovements. Thay aren't making new games from scratch here, almost everything is already done, it's just generating new assets and implementing a few new systems. There is an incredible amount of work they don't need to do since it's the same shit from before. This is from someone who loves the series. The only real big meaningful changes were from 1 to 2, and the multiplayer mode in brotherhood.