THE PRINCE OF PERSIA PROFESSIONAL
Desilets, a professional improv comedian on weekends, flips through the bug list and discusses the remaining problems with Mallat. It's as if he still can't believe he's about to finish a cool game, not a kids' title that he'd be embarrassed to tell his brother he made. As he sits with Mallat and goes over a bug list for the game, his eyes are saucer-wide, and he gives off a thousand-watt smile. Of course you don't need to tell this to Patrice Desilets, 29, the game's creative director. The building in Montreal that houses the Prince of Persia team. And their game, Prince of Persia, is a title many have earmarked as one of this year's best. But now, almost in the blink of an eye, these young nobodies have become known entities.
THE PRINCE OF PERSIA SERIES
Two years ago, the team members behind Prince of Persia were the folks responsible for forgettable kids' games based on the Playmobil toy series and Disney's Donald Duck. And more importantly, the so-called "POP Team" in Montreal has gone through a radical evolution all its own. In just two years, French publisher Ubisoft has grown from the house that Rayman built into a blockbuster game publisher with hip franchises like Splinter Cell and Prince of Persia. The team works in one large room on the fifth floor of Ubisoft Montreal. "It feels like we've all come so far in such a short period of time," Mallat says with a hint of pride. Look at the team members, and you can't help but notice how young they are: Almost all of them are in their mid-20s, and none of them have a hit game on their resume. To the untrained eye, the room looks a bit like a rowdy frat house crossed with a COMP SCI 101 classroom. "It's amazing it has all come down to this," Mallat says, as his eyes scan the large open area that houses his team of 50 young French-Canadians. Already, the team has fixed more than 13,000 bugs in the past three months. Right now, all that stands in the way are a few dozen bugs.
So two more to go." What isn't said is implied: Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, one of the most highly anticipated games of the year, is almost finished. "I'm guessing we will have 153 versions of the game by the time we are done. "We've got a bet going right now," he says while tapping the case of the last disc with his finger. It's every version of the game we have made." He continues to run his finger along the line of CDs until he reaches the last one, build 151, which was completed just hours ago. "This," Mallat says, as he runs his finger along the top row of CDs, "represents the last two and a half years of our lives. Inside, 151 CD-ROM cases are neatly lined up in two rows, organized numerically by a red number on the spine of each CD. He steps back, and Mallat, sporting a heavy five o'clock shadow, flings the doors open. Moments later, a young programmer with a shaved head walks up to the cabinet, rummages through a key chain, and slides the key into the lock. As he approaches the cabinet, he turns to a programmer, snaps his fingers, and points to the lock with his index finger.Īfter opening the black cabinet, Yannis Mallat looks through old versions of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. His destination, it soon becomes apparent, is a 6-foot-high black cabinet up against a wall.
THE PRINCE OF PERSIA WINDOWS
As the sun streams through the windows of a five-story brick building in Montreal, Canada, Yannis Mallat, 29, briskly walks across the hardwood floors.
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