Assassin's Creed Wiki:General Archives/Interview with Hootside (translated)
Original title for the post: Wiki Interview: Hootside's well-kept secret
Original poster: Archiviste d'Apocrypha
This interview was originally published on the French wiki on May 6 2023, you can consult the original here.
The museum of the Louvre, in Paris... or not? Did you know there's another Louvre, in Lens? Where is Lens? Well Lens is a town located at 200km of Paris, in northern France and they have the Louvre-Lens a branch of the well known museum of Paris. It's in this town that the location based game Assassin's Creed: Le Secret des Mines (Eng: The Secret of the Mines) took place.
Made by the french studio Hootside in partnership with Ubisoft and released in 2022, the game offered to help Abstergo in it's quest for the Templar Treasure. The experience involved searching the town of Lens and the Louvre-Lens museum for clues left by a man named Mulio with the assistance of Lexa, a virtual intelligence.
The game has ended at the beginning of 2023 and is now defunct, Hootside no longer exist but we've contacted their team just before that and asked them some questions about it, they we're kind enough to respond to us.
- 1. By whom were you first approached to create the game?
To mark the 10th anniversary of the Louvre-Lens, the Louvre Lens and the Lens Liévin Tourist Office decided to once again demonstrate the Louvre's position in an innovative way, by offering a new form of technological and playful visit to the Galerie du Temps and the surrounding area. They approached us with this in mind, and we discussed the possibilities with Ubisoft.
- 2. Why did you chose the Assassin's Creed licence and not a one you previously used like Rabbids or Star Trek?
Assassin's Creed has established itself as the best choice of license, thanks to its exciting storylines and leading position in the video game industry. Since its beginnings, Assassin's Creed has adopted a respectful approach to history, seeking to represent people, places and cultures as faithfully as the narrative and gameplay of the games could allow. It therefore seemed perfectly suited to this one-of-a-kind playground.
- 3. How long does it take to create such an experience?
9 month of collaboration were necessary to bring this project to life.
- 4. What involvement did Ubisoft have during the creative process?
Hootside is a studio focused on augmented reality and location-based games. Ubisoft brought all its expertise in the creation, production and marketing of video games.
- 5. Are you planning a sequel?
A sequel to Assassin's Creed : le Secret des Mines is not planned.
- 6. You mention the lesser-known character of Iskender, what were your research resources?
Ubisoft provided us with precise references and anecdotes about the license, which we then integrated into the game. At the same time, we carried out our own research using the resources provided by Ubisoft, as well as the various "Assassin's Creed" wikis.
- 7.It's never made clear whether Mulio has any connection with the Assassin Brotherhood. Is this the case, or is it just a presumption on Abstergo's part?
Mulio is indeed a contact of the Brotherhood, but he is not an Assassin himself.
- 8. Did Mulio have a first name (to differenciate him from his grandfather, Henri Mulio)?
Although his name is not discovered during the player's investigation, he is called Simon. On the other hand, Henri Mulio is not his grandfather, but his great-grandfather.
- 9. Do you have the birth and death dates for some of your characters?
Henri Mulio is born in 1886 and died in 1922. Simon Mulio is born in 1974.
- 10. What happened to Mulio after his investigation?
After he discovered the hidden temple, he send the informations to the Brotherhood. But aware of the fact that Abstergo was watching him, he disappeared into the wild with a part of the treasure. Abstergo have no idea where he is now.