Beyond Good & Evil 2 – The Space Monkey Program Wrap Up Report

Ubisoft held its first Beyond Good & Evil 2 Space Monkey Program livestream to give more insight at what’s going on in the city of Ganesha and beyond!

LIVESTREAM HOSTS

• Senior Producer – Guillaume Brunier
• Creative Director – Michel Ancel
• Narrative Director – Gabrielle Shrager
• Community Manager – Kevin Erwin

WHAT IS THE SPACE MONKEY PROGRAM?

Six months ago at E3, Ubisoft opened the Space Monkey Program for the public to “Participate, Inspire & Play.” 80, 000 have currently signed up with the top five contributors being USA, UK, France, Russia and Germany. Kevin relays other statistics in his shiny space cowboy hat as the Twitch crowd press heavily for game play which did not occur but we did get some fun facts and concepts along with the most realistic smoke screen ever!

EASTER EGGS HUNT

You will find an official walkthrough of the Beyond Good & Evil 2 trailer easter eggs found by many SMP (Space Monkey Program) participants at 11.00 of the original video posted above.

ASK THE DEV’S

Or more appropriately “Dev’s Ask” was next on the agenda. The first Dev Ask making me a proud of fellow Space Monkeys for remembering coffee! The second Dev Ask getting right to the heart of every other want-to-be treasure hunting pirate!

THE WORLD AS WE HOPE TO KNOW IT

Rolling into the world, the cities and how we will evolve Michel leads the way with Gabrielle on how our crew choices, among many things, will evolve our story.

Throughout the whole stream and while highlighting the first blog post we are given insight into  how widely spread the SMP community is around the globe and how passionate Ubisoft are to reflect this as we travel the world of BG&E2 (Beyond Good & Evil 2.) Cultures, time periods, god hybrids and terrains are all ideas being passed around though what will be the live content is yet to be finalized.

A spectacular “Inuit hybrid walrus” took center stage supporting authentic cultural representation including tattoos finding me with my fingers crossed we get to see this awesomeness animated as well as one of my all time favorite Egyptian goddesses, Hathor.

FUSING FANTASY & REALITY

Keeping on the subject of hybrids, it becomes very apparent how important hybrids are in BG&E2 and what choices developers are considering as well as what choices they may let players make which is incredibly exciting all the way down to hybrids having roles in the world as mercenaries, shop/house workers, hunters, specialized armies etc The crossover from our world as we know it and the world of BG&E2 is beyond intriguing.

(Enter the spirits – falling stage prompts and more smoke.)

CHARACTER FEATURES

Hybrid video plays at 34.30 of the original video above.

This blew my mind! Ubisoft are taking customization to a whole new level giving players the opportunity to not only choose your usual personal touches but also mix SPECIES. How fluid it looks to customize between species is beyond awesome and if they have birds I will be stuck on this mode forever!

Gabrielle also shares how every character/npc will have a story as she beeps out the mention of clothes for some intriguing reason…

SHIP SHAPE

Returning to the blog we meet the Mothership and come to understand that not only is customization available but also characterization with vehicles as well as fleets. The mention of a “collection of ships” threw a YES spanner in my brain but in this short period of time you can also tell they didn’t  even scratch the surface on how much will be available for how we travel.

The vehicles video is at 40.35 of the original video posted above.

Ubisoft also released a new blog video today condensing todays livestream.

PRODUCTION

Since E3 the team has tripled in size with the main focus for the team currently being Ganesha City giving us beautiful Hindu and Asian influences though influences doesn’t seem deep enough as it goes as far as including Sanskrit which is just incredible. Including this ancient language gives clearer insight into how dedicated Ubisoft are to represent cultures authentically including religion and beliefs also.

GETTING WITH THE PROGRAM

I admit I’ve received no updates via email on the SMP until today for this livestream so I was a little disappointed I’ve missed out on so much since signing up as soon as the site would let me after E3. That aside it is encouraging to see how important the communities involvement is to developers and how positive the community has been in return, especially knowing this type of program is the first of its kind for this team.

Q & A

Watch the video on the the Q & A to immerse more in Michels awesome accent but quick overview. You don’t have to play the first BG&E to play this one but I plan on doing so over the holidays while I catch up on the SMP. Story, so much story and yes you can play offline.

BG&E2 is a solo game but there will be a co-op mode is currently for up to 4 of your friends at once and like every other subject approached we get pulled back to Hybrids again and the importance of an animal’s natural instinct being part of its character.

A KIWI BIRDS OVERVIEW

I’m becoming as much of a fan of Ubisoft’s stream stage prompts as I am for their actual games, on point! Speaking of games though I need this one yesterday! Hopefully we have game play to see, as well as play sooner rather than later. So excited! Who else is hyped for this and who wants to help me make sure birds become a huge part of this game? Let’s go!