14 DAY TRIAL // Assassin’s Creed 3: Liberation might not have been a hit on the scale of its home console cousin, but the game broke new ground by making a black woman the protagonist of the experience, introducing variety in an industry dominated by white, young males.
Jill Murray, the writer who handled Aveline and her adventures, tells Kotaku that she observed developers being afraid “that ‘diverse’ characters are risky and might offend or alienate players by their simple inclusion - that including them requires a magic touch, special bravery, a trembling sensitivity, or a mandate to ignore sales.”
She believes that writers might simply be too afraid to experiment and take chances.
Murray adds, “A good writer should be able to make you weep for, laugh with, even aspire to be an amoeba if necessary. Blaming a character for failure is like blaming a hockey stick for losing the game — a hockey stick you made with your own hands, to use in a game of your own invention.”
Writers need to believe in their own characters and stand up for the ideas that they express, either through their actions or through their conversations.
Ubisoft Montreal, where Murray works, has received an award from the Writers Guild of America for the quality of the script for Assassin’s Creed 3: Liberation.
The publisher has also stated that the Vita exclusive is selling well, although no clear sales figures have been offered.
Liberation tells a side story that has little direct impact on the core Assassin’s Creed narrative.
At the moment, Ubisoft is working on a new game in the series, called Black Flag, which might be launched during the fall and which will allow the player to become a pirate.
It’s unclear whether the company has plans to also launch the new Assassin’s Creed on the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox 720.