Nicolas Leal

I have worked on Assassin's Creed Shadows - Claws of Awaji for three years, starting in 2023, as a Game Designer, on Anvil Engine at Ubisoft Bordeaux. I was in charge of several combat topics, stealth related systems, an ambitious Stealth Boss Fight, UX and various systems.

• Game Designer on systems and combat

• Worked within Anvil Engine

• Designed an ambitious stealth boss fight, "Nowaki's Boss Fight" with the boss reacting to player's actions

• Made specific detection and stealth parameters for the Boss, so she reacts in specific ways to specific players actions

• Balanced the boss' damage and health

• Designed an NPC who ambushes players, with their entire moveset and specific detection system

• Worked & designed various AI Systems

• Designed a new assassination move for the Bo Staff, the "chain assassination"

• Worked on the stealth & detection system

• Worked on contracts system

• Collaborated with several teams (Level Design, VFX Artist, Sound Designers, Level Artist, GPPs..) as a product owner

• In charge of the World Switch system

• Designed and implemented perks with various effect

• UX Design on some elements of the game

I started to work on Assassin's Creed Shadows - Claws of Awaji in 2023.

I had several topics, the biggest one being the "Nowaki Boss Fight". It was a very different boss fight than what Assassin's Creed players are used to. We wanted to make a stealth boss fight, challenging our stealth players. I took inspiration from Metal Gear Solid 3 and Thief games to design it.

The boss fight is based on a sniper NPC that you have to reach, while remaining unseen. There are several decoys looking like the boss in the arena, so you have to make sure you find who is the right one. You can do that by listening to the boss' localized voicelines, and using the observe mechanic to find them. The boss has a lots of tricks to make sure they always have a line of sight on player and their stealth system was altered in a specific preset for this fight. The boss reacts to what players are doing, if players break a trap using their throwing weapons, the boss will hear the trap and shoot on the location, giving the opportunity for players to bait them and find their position.

I also worked on the stealth system as a whole, as other enemy NPCs needed a specific stealth. I designed new enemy archetypes, with their own movesets. One of them was an enemy that hides within the crowd and ambushes player in cities. This was in relation with the weather system, making some NPC's detection harder based on snow for example.

I have worked, with animation team, on a new assassination move, the "chain assassination". I designed the skill and all the specifics related to it.

Claws of Awaji was a very interesting project for me, because it allowed me to work in even greater detail on combat design, giving me skills in this area, while also working on AI systems such as stealth, detection, and NPC reactions.