"Arrakis...
Dune...
Wasteland of the Empire, and the most valuable planet in the Universe. Because it is here and only here, where spice is found. Without the spice, there is no commerce in the empire, no civilization. Arrakis. Dune. Home of the Spice, most valuable treasure in the universe. And he who controls it, controls our destiny..."
- opening narrative of the John Harrison's mini-series adaptation of the 'Dune' saga for the Sci-Fi Channel.
Dune. It is indisputably one of the greatest Science-Fiction stories ever told. While not as down-to-earth as Roddenberry's 'Star Trek', as bold and brashy as Lucas' 'Star Wars' or as stylish as the Wachowski Brothers' 'The Matrix', few franchises capture such a unique and 'space-noire' quality as the atmospheric worlds of Arrakis, Caladan and Giedi Prime and the beings that inhabit - and ultimately - battle over them. It's blending of ancient messiah themes and revolutionary tales juxtaposed against a vast, futuristic and colourful empire, smash a multitude of elements from all sorts of genres together in one, enormous and magnificent saga.
While some of you might be thinking: "Didn't 'Star Wars' do this?", remember that 'Dune' pre-dated 'Star Wars' by more than a decade; and while 'Star Wars' is certainly the 'Left Bower' of Science Fiction franchise, it's storytelling seems paper-thin by comparison to Dune's multi-faceted backdrop of evolved societies, houses, clans, tribes and heroes. If Star Wars is a reflection of the 'inner-Jedi' of ourselves, as individuals, struggling to break free of Empirical tyranny - Dune can be held as a reflection of us collectively as nations and as a species trying to survive in our planet-bound 'universe'.
I myself have a reserved love for the books but was certainly baptised into the world of Dune by the infamous 1984 cinematic misfire created by David Lynch. Almost appallingly bad at times due to terrible editing and some rather bizarre and irrelevant homoerotic scenes involving the Baron of Harkonnen and his cronies, it was largely criticised by the reviewers of the day as a confused mess and ugly to the core. Frank Herbert was largely disappointed in the film and some of the directions taking by Lynch at the time. In fact, Lynch himself even admitted sometime later that he never should have directed 'Dune.' However, while there are many reasons while Lynch's film failed, it did manage to capture an essence of the dark mysticism that surrounds Herbert's universe and is still loved by many as a cult classic as a result. If anything, Lynch's film was too ambitious in trying to tell too much of the story in a single, cinematic outing. A decade and a half later, John Harrison more or less redeemed the efforts to bring Dune to life with his much more balanced and charming mini-series. It also demonstrated that by removing the 'Blockbuster' pressure and providing plenty of time to tell the story as Herbert intended, Dune can be a wonderfully fantastic world to be immersed in.
For a long time, there has been a bit of a fire dance with the Dune saga and gaming. Arguably, the best versions date back the early 1990's beginning with the self-titled 'Dune' RTS/Adventure game by Cryo Interactive (under Virgin). Many attempts were made to capture different elements of Dune's unique blend of story-telling, mythology, spirituality, strategy and raw science-fiction until a final disasterous, studio-busting 'Frank Herbert's Dune' attempt based on the mini-series of the same name. Game technology has long played a role in what parts of a story could be told (and how it would be told). In the 90's and early 2000's - a studio had to pick a direction and go with it. You had your hybrids but usually, a game was either an FPS, a platformer, an RTS or something else - and every experience was constrained. Since the last real attempt at recreating 'Dune' for gamers, so much has changed and yet no one has thought to approach this amazing franchise. Perhaps it is too big. Perhaps it is too diverse; too many directions to look at. Perhaps. However, it struck me the other day as I was wrapping up 'Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood' that there is one studio who would fit Dune perfectly:
Ubisoft Montreal.
Narrative
Of course, I'm not purely talking about recreating Assassin's Creed as a Dune game - rather, look at how Ubisoft has told the story of Assassin's Creed including the mechanics and environments introduced. When the game first loads, you see a quote stating that Assassin's Creed was created by a team of 'various faiths and beliefs' - almost as a disclaimer to push off any would-be critics saying that they are targeting Christianity, Islam, etc. with their games. This objectivity towards faith and belief is exactly what a Dune game needs - and deserves. The stories of Dune are very relevant to present-day if you choose to make the comparison. Ubisoft has already demonstrated that they understand both the good and bad sides of faith and religion in that they acknowledge that which can be de-constructed; but also accept the unresolvable mysteries of that which cannot. (where science-fiction plays its role) From a pure narrative point-of-view, Ubisoft has shown that they can quite easily create multiple stories that converge at various threads. Each individual story is populated by characters with their own tales to tell, yet all narratives always stay in pace with the overall, ongoing saga. In each of the key games, you always feel as though you are playing another chapter of the same story regardless of which game you are playing or whether you have branched off to do a side mission. Everything you do is relevant and each facet of Assassin's Creed plays a part in contributing to the focus of the game and the greater story that ties the series together. Ubisoft can give you a satisfactory sense of completion while still enticing you to reflect on what happens next in the saga: that is a very admirable and highly desirable skill for any studio wanting to take on the Dune franchise. Should an adventure arise, you would certainly want the same approach: a game that in itself has a key quest to fulfil (along with side quests and activities) but ties to a greater, longer-term plot-line that spans across the saga.
Taking all this into consideration, what I would like to see Ubisoft do with a Dune narrative is simple: pay respect to the overall saga as outlined in detail by the books and subsequent films (moreso the miniseries than the motion picture) but engage in their own individually-crafted story-lines with characters appropriate to them according to their timeline in the Saga, the environment that they co-exist and their relationship to other aspects of the Dune universe. In this sense, it would be quite obvious to focus a first game on the initial departure of Caladan and eventual arrival at Arrakis from the perspective of House Atreides. A second 'proper' sequel (ala AC2 style) would continue that narrative - but the second game need not be the proper sequel. A second game might focus on a different narrative that splits time between the worlds of Geidi Prime and Kaitain, focusing on the dark dealings of the Emperor and House Harkonnen. A third game, the proper sequel, would then pick up back on Arrakis culminating events from the first and second game. A fourth 'Sidequel' might return to Caladan, stop off at Corrin and involve a rare venture to the Tupile (sanctuary of planets thought to protect the remnants of rejected houses). A fifth proper sequel - and so on and so forth. This formula would provide Ubisoft with very clear direction of what they should focus on: environment, culture, fashion, suitable story; but would give them immense flexibility to tell any tale they want in the way they would like to tell it.
Environment
Although there is still much more to see (I suspect), Assassin's Creed has, so far, produced four distinct environments to tell the story: that of modern day, the medieval era of old Jerusalem, 16th century Italy and the timeless setting alien chambers of the alien ancestors. On that note: my secret hope is that Assassin's Creed III will take place in and about Victorian London as it would make a wonderful backdrop for the next story - but I digress. What particularly impressed me about these various environments was two-fold: first that they were incredibly detailed and second, that no matter what time you were in, you knew exactly how to interact with each environment even though they were vastly different from one to the next i.e. Altair would look for an uneven wall-face to climb in old Jerusalem just the same as Ezio would do in 16th century Italy. Ezio also uses his skills to navigate a futuristic vault just as Desmond does in the present day although Desmond also has the benefit of jumping over parked vehicles or vaulting up modern scaffolding. You may think that many games do this - which is true, but with limited success. Only two games really come to mind: Star Wars: Force Unleased and Grand Theft Auto (4) - in both case, these games present variety in their environments but some are certainly more intuitive and well-presented (the streets of Liberty city or the halls of a Star Destroyer) where other are somewhat awkward and limiting (navigating small buildings of GTA4 or finding your way through the forests of Kashyyyk in SWFU). Assassin's creed has no such hang-ups. All environments work well without looking patchy, or proving awkward or limiting in use.
This is clever. It is clever because it brings a thread a commonality to each environment and through that a thread of comfort to the player. Yet this is done to no sacrifice of detail or atmosphere. In Assassin's Creed, there are distinct differences between urban, barren, subterranean and inter-dwelling areas yet again, each area shows its distinction at no cost to gameplay or interaction with the environment at hand. Such a quality would be key to Dune as the environments vary wildly even on a single planet. Imagine the first game. You start on Caladan: a vast, open-sea world with 19th-Century German 'Gründerzeit'-style architecture and severe weather patterns. You are then whisked away to the cold, mechanical yet grandiose halls of the transport ship only to end up at the gothic entrance of the Grand Palace of Arrakeen on Dune itself. Eventually wandering into the barren wasteland of Arrakis after arriving by 'Thopter' (airborne shuttle), exploring the unforgiven rock dwellings of the Sietches or discovering the subterranean water caches of the Fremen. Ubisoft's approach to environment provides the flexibility required to stage a story as big as Dune without compromising or alienating the gamer who can continue to interact in each environment in context. Ubisoft's technical accolades in environment art design combined with their functional achievements in integrating those environments into gameplay mean that Dune's diverse universe can be conceived and managed extremely well.
Gameplay
The Assassin's Creed series succeeds as an immersive game because it makes good use of environments but also uses third-person perspective so you can so your character existing within that environment. Whereas first-person games only reveal your character during cutscenes or action sequences, third-person designs allow you to see your character all the time - and to see your character as equals to other NPCs as well as how they appear to those NPCs. This gives gamers a closer, more emotional connection to their character as well as the opportunity to customise his/her appearance. Ubisoft's character control system is also one of the most refined in the industry today; it's splendid free-running functionality ties seamlessly into an equally-impressive combat system accommodating both melee and projectile attacks, all the while demonstrating artistic flair in movement and combat style so that the player can fully appreciate the elegance and lethality of their character's fighting ability.
All of these qualities are essential to Dune. Despite Dune's grandiose universe, the saga very much focuses on the power and strength of the individual rather than the machine or craft. Central to the Great Houses of the Dune universe is a highly-disciplined and carefully-crafted mixed martial-arts heritage where the social elite are taught in the ways of deadly combat from the age of young children. Scores are settled in the combat arena and House colours are flown proudly as each side cheers their fighter on. Each House has its own style of fighting and suitable fighting attire and colours. Furthermore, on Arrakis, there are even more fighting varieties from one Fremen tribe to the next which ultimately evolve into the deadly 'Feydaykin' (pronounced 'Fuh-die-kin'), personal guards loyal to Muad'dib. Ubisoft's resources and talent could not only bring forward the culturally-rich technical fighting elements of Dune hand-to-hand combat, but also the beauty and elegance of its ceremony; from its detailed wardrobe to its tribal paraphernalia and décor.
The ceremonial combat of Dune is so rich, in fact, that it could individually become one of the greatest multi-player gameplay mechanics of its generation as it would sit very well at the very heart of the 'bragging rights' culture of competitive on-line gaming. Given some strong customisation features to adjust costume, flag and signature moves, the very notion of a gamers' fighting 'Clan' of could take on a whole new literal and exciting meaning. What's even greater about Dune is that there's still elements of air combat and sci-fi field combat to draw from (think 'Star Wars Battlefront). Based on what we've seen with AC2 and Brotherhood with the introduction of Leonardo's flying machine and projectile weapons, this could be easily taken on by Ubisoft. Those bored with ceremonial combat could venture into the skies for a 'Thopter' slug-out or have a COD-style battle royal in the winding caves of a Fremen Sietch, the long corridors of a palace or the middle-eastern style streets of Arrakeen.
The only final challenge - one that I think Ubisoft could take on - is that of worm-riding. This is one mechanic that would stand well apart from everything else, but then again, they need something to expand their horizons and why not this?
Cinematic Design
If Ubisoft's environments and gameplay are the sugar and flour of the cake, then their cinematic design is surely the icing. Ubisoft has won many awards for the Assassin's Creed series because of the wonderful way it tells a story. Excellent voice acting, detailed facial animation and expert cinematic-style 'camera' movement come together in beautifully-crafted cut-scenes than interlace seamlessly into the game without ruining the flow or the feeling of 'intermission.'
Dune requires such a competency because of its dialogue-rich and emotional storyline. You won't see any cheap jokes or 'woo-hoos' here. The elegance of Dune's culture is accentuated by the clever and intricate use of language. To capture the essence of the Dune sage, a team must perfectly execute the 'Jihad' calls of the Muad'dib, the clever and evil rhyming puns of the Baron Harkonnen, the veil'd insults of Duke Atreides or the quiet tribal ferocity of Stilgar.
Summary
Yes, it's a license to be sure. Most studios go running for the hills rather than take on something as big and rich as 'Dune' - but there's no doubt in my mind that Ubisoft Montreal has the capability, style, storytelling, artistic talent and scalability required to make something like Dune work in gaming. Dune has always been about the rich saga of intertwining narratives. I would like to see a game that serves that core strength and I feel, having become familiar with Ubisoft's approach to 'Assasin's Creed', there is much potential in telling the story of 'Dune' in a similar and equally poignant manner.
Fingers crossed that someone in UbiSoft will read this.
