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Interview with James Nadiger
Almost four months have already passed since the release of Assassin's Creed Unity and Assassin's Creed Rogue and in this period of time we were able to receive the feedbacks (both positive and negative) from our community. While the flagship title have been appreciated especially for what concerns graphics rather than the narrative, Assassin's Creed Rogue managed to please that part of the hardcore fans that is usually never satisfied with a solid storyline and a solid present day setting, full of connections with the other various releases of the AC universe. Precisely for this reason, we decided to invite on Access The Animus James Nadiger, scriptwriter for the present day setting plot ad files and for the War Letters in the historical storyline.  Without any further ado, then, we leave you to the interview, and we thank once again James Nadiger for his availablity and kindness! Q: How did you approach Ubisoft and the AC franchise in the beginning? And how were you chosen to work on Initiates? A: I was a freelance writer living in Toronto, trying to find work in film, tv, and games. Ubisoft Toronto was hiring for Splinter Cell: Blacklist, so I applied to every writing-related job they posted. I didn’t get in at UbiTO, but I guess I was in the system thanks to those applications. One day, in the spring of 2012, out of the blue, I got a call from Ubisoft Montreal, asking if I’d like to work on a new edition of the AC Encyclopedia. I guess they liked my work because in the fall, I got a 5-week contract to work in-house at the Montreal studio to help work on AC Initiates. The site was already up for a month or so, I think, it was around the time the Desmond Files were live. At the end of those 5 weeks, I got an offer to work at the studio, and on Initiates, permanently. So in early 2013, I moved to Montreal, and I’ve been here ever since. PS: Splinter Cell: Blacklist is great and you should all play it. Q: What is your typical day at work and who are the people that you work the most with and why? A: It’s both a blessing and a curse that there are no typical days at work. Some days it’s very research heavy, which involves a lot of reading or a lot of playing games. Some days it’s all emails, meetings, and phone calls, which doesn’t feel productive, but it’s important. Some days it’s hammering away on a keyboard like a madman, desperately trying to make words happen. Some days it’s just crying in the corner, clutching a bottle of whisky. On both Initiates and Rogue I worked with Richard Farrese the most. He was my boss and approved all my stuff. The Initiates team was small but ambitious, and so I worked with the other writers on the project (Philippe-Antoine Menard & Susan Patrick) as well as a stunning array of talented graphic designers, concept artists, programmers, and game designers. On Rogue, I mostly worked with Richard & Susan, making sure my work fit in with their narrative. I also worked with a bunch of cool people from Ubisofts Sofia, Bucharest, and Quebec City. On both projects, I also took it upon myself to talk to the other AC projects in development at the time, (Black Flag & Unity), to make sure whatever I was working on could tie into those projects in a meaningful way.
A: Here’s my shameful secret, I didn’t start playing Assassin’s Creed until the beginning of 2012. I was a freelance writer, which meant I was usually very poor, so I had to be careful about spending money on things like games when I needed money for things like food. I managed to find AC1, Ac2, Brotherhood, and Revelations on sale. I played all four games one after the other, and I was pretty hooked. Being too poor to afford games meant that I wanted as much playtime as possible which meant I was 100%ing games and/or trophy hunting, so I sank a lot of time into them. It was just a bit of luck that Ubisoft came calling, and it still freaks me out a little bit to think that at the beginning of 2012, I was just starting with the Assassin’s Creed franchise, and by the end of the year I was writing stories for it! Q: Which were the parts of the Encyclopedia 2.0 that you updated? A: For 2.0 I added the bits that had to do with Assassin’s Creed III and Liberation, which were the new releases for that year. For 3.0, I think my only contribution was the bio of Otso Berg. Q: Your work on Initiates mainly concerned the present day lore. Which were the elements of the Initiates that you worked on and which are the ones that you loved writing the most? A: I joined Initiates full time after the Desmond Files had finished up. I wrote most of the Surveillance stories, following Gavin and his crew, with some appearances by Shaun, Rebecca, and William. I wrote “Letters to the Dead” about Adewale’s grandson Eseosa. The database was split between me, Phil, and Susan. Phil wrote the Ezio entries, as well as the triple helix letters from Dr. Rosenberg (which I loved!) and most, if not all of the text for our Initiates missions. Susie wrote the Haytham & Connor channels. Susie’s knowledge of Haytham would later come in handy on Rogue! I don’t know if I have a favourite thing I worked on. It’s hard for me to look back at my own stuff sometimes. I was very nervous about the Eseosa story and was happy that people seemed to like it. If I had to pick, I think the most fun I had was writing the emails between Abstergo Entertainment staffers Philippe Chartrand & Jennifer Tam as the weirdness of AC4’s present day happened around them. Any time I got to write for Shaun Hastings was also a treat. Q: With Assassin's Creed Rogue you went on to be part of the writing team of a full game of the franchise. How does it feel like? And how did your job change from when you were writing for Initiates? A: The job changed tremendously! On Initiates, we would create a story and then it would go live online really quickly, sometimes in a matter of weeks, and we would get fan feedback right away. On Rogue, like all games, you have to wait until it’s released. Both projects were a lot of fun. I feel pretty lucky to be part of these teams and part of the AC community. Q:A big part of the community considers Assassin's Creed Rogue to be the best Assassin's Creed game of the year. Why do you think it satisfied the fans this much? A:That’s a question for the community, not for me! Why did you folks like it? The story? The characters? The open world? My favourite parts of Rogue were the ones that inverted traditional Assassin gameplay. Like reverse boarding. Also catching the pigeons for the Assassin Interceptions. Catching the pigeons will never not be fun for me. Q: In Rogue you took care of the War Letters and of almost all the present day content. Once again you have written elements of the plot that connect a lot of little details that made many hardcore fans happy. How much time and what kind of research did you have to undertake to write that content? Was it easy to write considering all the risks of breaking the continuity?
For the present day, I wanted a story that was self-contained, which was the player character discovering Shay’s story along with Otso Berg & Violet da Costa. And then I wanted some fun collectibles with Easter eggs and shout outs and tie-ins to other AC projects. It’s my job to research and maintain that continuity, then move it forward. It’s no chore since I’m genuinely a fan of the brand and I eagerly consume everything associated with it! Then a bit of fact checking and approvals to make sure that what I’m doing works. Q: Looking back, in the last two years you are one of the AC writers that focused the most their work on the present day layer. How important do you think it is in an AC chapter and for the story in general? A: I feel that the main story campaigns in the past should always be unique and self-contained experiences, despite the fact that that they all exist in the same shared universe. For me, it would be a stretch to find a direct connection between Adewale and Altair, for example. But the present day is important because it helps explain why this Assassin is important or why we’re exploring that historical era. I think the present is also the connective tissue between the games and the other media as well. I think it’s got its own fantastic cast of characters. Who doesn’t love Shaun & Rebecca? I think it will always have a place in the brand, although how it’s presented has changed and will continue to change as we move forward. Q: Considering the depth of the AC lore and all its little details that matter so much for the fans, how difficult is it for writers to remember what other writers wrote before them? Do the writing / creative team have tools or ways to prevent plot inconsistencies? A: It can get tricky. I’m getting a reputation as “the lore guy” and so I’ve been lucky enough to consult on a few things outside of the games, like the super fun Abstergo Employee Manual. I would never insult any fans and say I know EVERYTHING about Assassin’s Creed, but I know a lot, so I think… I think I might be that tool? We’ll have to find a nicer way of saying that. Q: We have heard many times of parts of the AC plot that were cut and/or did not make it to the final version of the product. Did that happen with some of your work too? A: Oh yeah, all the time. It’s part of the job. More stuff gets cut than makes it into the final product. I’m not going to share anything specific, because sometimes I can reuse ideas for other projects. An example is that in Rogue, there was an audio file that introduced two Assassins, Harlan Cunningham & Arend Schut, who caused Berg some headaches in Rotterdam. Originally, that story was meant to be on AC Initiates, but got cancelled when Initiates transformed into the Unity tie-in version. At that point, I was off ACI, but I still really wanted to introduce those two, so I found a way. Here’s a treat for you! Because Harlan and Arend were originally meant to be SEEN on ACI, there was concept art made for them. Harlan Cunningham was illustrated by Olivier Donato and the Dutch madman Arend Schut was illustrated by the Dutch madman Remko Troost. An ATA exclusive! :-)
Q: What's your relationship with the community? Do you like to read the theories about the plot you guys write and have you ever taken inspiration by something you read? A:I hope my relationship to the community is good? I have started to receive questions on my social media, but I can’t answer like 99% of them. Usually they want to know things that aren’t my department. Release dates, patch updates, that kind of thing. Other times they want spoilers or confirmation on stuff that breaks my NDA. It’s also not my place to reveal that information. We have super talented community teams, public relations teams, and marketing teams, and it’s their job to communicate with everyone. If I spoiled something, not only am I preventing those teams from doing their jobs properly, but I’m also potentially ruining something that A LOT of people have worked really hard for. So I try to stay mindful of that. So, by all means, feel free to ask me anything on Twitter or Tumblr, but please understand my position if I can’t answer or don’t answer. I’m also, you know, REALLY BUSY making games for you. :-) I do peek at reviews (both good and bad!) and I do pop into the AC reddit and AC/gaming forums from time to time, but as a general rule I don’t actively seek out anything from the fans. My job is to entertain and surprise them, and I feel like if I’m just regurgitating their own ideas back at them, then I’m not doing my job. I don’t want to give you what you want, I want to give you what you didn’t realize you needed. Or give you what you want, but not in the way you were expecting, if that makes sense. My favourite things are fan art and cosplay. There’s a lot of talent in our community! I am inspired by the loyalty and passion from the fans and I hope that my small contributions to Assassin’s Creed are worthy of them. Q: Thanks to your tumblr page (http://jnadiger.tumblr.com/), we know that you're a comic books fan. If I could take a personality from the comics world, and bring it to the AC universe, which one would you choose? A: This is a picture of my Desktop Brotherhood and I think it should answer your question.
Q: Last but extremely important question: your desk is catching fire and you can save only one object from it. What would that be and why? A: My wife made me a mug that has a footprint from my newborn daughter on it. Everything else can burn! With this question our interview ends. Once again, we would like to thank James Nadiger and, for those who haven't played Assassin's Creed Rogue yet, we strongly advice you to give it a chance especially if, like us, you love the present day and the connections between the various releases of the franchise. We remind you that Assassin's Creed Rogue will be released for PC on March 10th. Those who do not have an old-gen console will, therefore, be able to to play it very soon!
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