Recreating the impermeable frontier of Colonial America was no easy task for the game developers of Assassin's Creed III, according to a recent Gamespot interview with AC3's creative director Alexander Hutchinson.
"We spent around six months reading books, Wikipedia entries, watching documentaries, and building out huge flow charts to show where historical people were at any specific time, what they were trying to do or what their major concerns were, when and where big events occurred, all in the interest of finding those grey areas where we could insert our own fictional story," Hutchinson said to Gamespot.
He also said that during the developer's time spent researching the discovered a lot of unusual facts about the time period.
"We did a lot of research and ended up with a lot of unusual facts, such as Ben Franklin arguing that the turkey should be the national bird of America, not the thieving eagle that profits from the hard work of others, or his opinions on how to pick a mistress, or Washington's fears about the outcome of the war," Hutchinson said. "There's plenty of real, historical data that can present an interesting side to historical characters."
In order to avoid stereotypes and create a real Native American character like Connor, Ubisoft hired a Mohawk cultural consultant Thomas Deer of the Kanien'kehá:ka Onkwawén:na Raotitióhkwa Language and Cultural Center.
"We wanted it to feel authentic in terms of art, clothing, language, everything," Hutchinson said. "So we contacted the local communities, and once we convinced them we were earnest in our endeavors, they were very generous with their time. Mr Deer ran the cultural centre, so it was a perfect fit."
Deer advised the game developer on all types of information including what is considered culturally taboo. Ubisoft was able to create a better and accurate representation of the Connor's village and his clothing.
"I think it's just how easy it is to fall back on clichés when dealing with cultures you only understand peripherally, and how careful you have to be: when designing Connor's village, we realized the cliché of tepees was far from the truth, and should be longhouses instead," Hutchinson said. "I think he (Deer) believed us when we said we were trying to be authentic, and when we hired Noah Watts to play him, who is also half Native American, he felt like we were making an honest attempt."
Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed III releases on Oct. 30 for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. A PC release will follow on Nov. 20, while a Wii U version will be available at the consoles launch on Nov. 18.
Interested in what historical events didn't make the game? Check out scriptwriter Matt Turner's interview about what was left on the cutting room floor here. Learn more about Assassin's Creed III's multiplayer mode in our slideshow here. Read about five cool features found in the new game here.
Check out our story on how Assassin's Creed III's protagonist Connor could be getting two more games here and watch the trailer revealing his story here. Have you seen the AC3 weapons trailer? Check it out here. Read about the planned George Washington DLC here. Read about the exclusive content coming to the PlayStation 3 version here.