How Watch Dogs recreates - and fictionalizes - Chicago
Here in Chicago, Watch Dogs, the recently released open-world video game set in a surveillance happy near future, has been anticipated for months. Not only was it set in our fair city, but the word was that the developers at Ubisoft went through a lot of effort to replicate the cityscape.
Googlemaps view (above), The same spot as depicted in Watch Dogs (below). Image by
lazygamereviews
In the beginning of May, Chicago Tribune did a piece about how Ubisoft went about creating a virtual Chicago - and how faithful it was to the real thing.
According to the article, Ubisoft writers and artists did a lot of homework
[T]eams of Ubisoft artists, animators and writers began visiting in 2010, staying for a week at a time, scouting neighborhoods, recording sounds and eavesdropping on conversations. Kevin Shortt, "Watch Dogs" head writer, transcribed the words of a man ranting in the Loop (which made it into the game, word for word). He interviewed Chicago police officers about their jobs. To record dialogue for the game, he hired more than 60 Chicago actors, from Christian Stolte of "Chicago Fire" and A Red Orchid Theatre to well-known stage mainstays, including Matt Schwader, Jerod Haynes, Rom Barkhordar and Lillian Castillo.
"We were particular about capturing the accent, because I didn't want a cliche," Shortt said. "I didn't want 'Da Bears.'"
During these initial trips the team fanned out across the city, looking for inspiration. "We were escorted around Englewood by police," said Sidonie Weber, art director for architecture. "We had big cameras and were taking pictures of streets and cars and people for details in the game, and suddenly people would be shouting 'FBI! FBI!'" Said Leduc: "Five guys and a girl from Montreal in a red van - hard not to notice us."
They hit the Loop, Hyde Park, Oak Park [a Chicago suburb]; they walked Michigan Avenue, ate at The Wieners Circle and toured Goose Island (which gave the game its industrial neighborhood). Steadily, observations crept into plans for the game: Its Englewood would be largely silent, punctuated occasionally by barking dogs and populated with abandoned homes. Its Loop would be loud and crowded (and include a prison sequence inspired by the Metropolitan Correctional Center). When the bridges along Wacker Drive rose, they rushed to record the creaking steel.
But they didn't set out to recreate the city 100% faithfully. Digital production director Jeffrey Arriola said that they did away with the iconic Chicago grid, for one.
"You also make sure roads connect properly, but we didn't go with the Chicago grid because it was so straight, too many right angles. It's better for the game play if you can't see far ahead of yourself. So we curve things."
Some things were changed for gameplay purposes
Four-lane roads became six lanes to encourage driving (nobody likes digital gridlock, either), buildings were pressed together to encourage rooftop-to-rooftop leaping and only the most visually unique neighborhoods survived (albeit incongruously, mashed up against other neighborhoods).
Also, it turned out that some aspects of Chicago skyline couldn't be replicated, because the designs were copyrighted. Which I didn't realize was a thing (It certainly never stopped comic book artists, painters, etc). So instead, they did places that looked kind of like the landmarks.
Reading the article, it's clear that they didn't include pretty sizable portions of the city (for example, there's nothing north of Gold Coast in Watch Dogs' Chicago). Other portions don't match the city (the western Lakeview was redesigned to mimic Oak Park, out of all places). Which, to be honest, is about what I expected. Heck, I'm surprised that they included Englewood in any shape or form, or any neighborhoods that aren't adolescent to the Loop.
The reviews I've seen haven't been especially kind to the game, saying that, when you take away the unique setting, it's plot is fairly generic. But a whole bunch of people I followed on Twitter have been impressed with the setting. And according to the Tribune writer, it capture a lot of what makes the city unique - even if it doesn't look quite right.
So I am pretty intrigued.
This Watch Dogs official video contains a lot of shots of the city. I leave it up to Chicagoans reading this to decide if it does it justice.
And, if anybody reading this have played the game, let me know what you think.
Googlemaps view (above), The same spot as depicted in Watch Dogs (below). Image by
lazygamereviews
In the beginning of May, Chicago Tribune did a piece about how Ubisoft went about creating a virtual Chicago - and how faithful it was to the real thing.
According to the article, Ubisoft writers and artists did a lot of homework
[T]eams of Ubisoft artists, animators and writers began visiting in 2010, staying for a week at a time, scouting neighborhoods, recording sounds and eavesdropping on conversations. Kevin Shortt, "Watch Dogs" head writer, transcribed the words of a man ranting in the Loop (which made it into the game, word for word). He interviewed Chicago police officers about their jobs. To record dialogue for the game, he hired more than 60 Chicago actors, from Christian Stolte of "Chicago Fire" and A Red Orchid Theatre to well-known stage mainstays, including Matt Schwader, Jerod Haynes, Rom Barkhordar and Lillian Castillo.
"We were particular about capturing the accent, because I didn't want a cliche," Shortt said. "I didn't want 'Da Bears.'"
During these initial trips the team fanned out across the city, looking for inspiration. "We were escorted around Englewood by police," said Sidonie Weber, art director for architecture. "We had big cameras and were taking pictures of streets and cars and people for details in the game, and suddenly people would be shouting 'FBI! FBI!'" Said Leduc: "Five guys and a girl from Montreal in a red van - hard not to notice us."
They hit the Loop, Hyde Park, Oak Park [a Chicago suburb]; they walked Michigan Avenue, ate at The Wieners Circle and toured Goose Island (which gave the game its industrial neighborhood). Steadily, observations crept into plans for the game: Its Englewood would be largely silent, punctuated occasionally by barking dogs and populated with abandoned homes. Its Loop would be loud and crowded (and include a prison sequence inspired by the Metropolitan Correctional Center). When the bridges along Wacker Drive rose, they rushed to record the creaking steel.
But they didn't set out to recreate the city 100% faithfully. Digital production director Jeffrey Arriola said that they did away with the iconic Chicago grid, for one.
"You also make sure roads connect properly, but we didn't go with the Chicago grid because it was so straight, too many right angles. It's better for the game play if you can't see far ahead of yourself. So we curve things."
Some things were changed for gameplay purposes
Four-lane roads became six lanes to encourage driving (nobody likes digital gridlock, either), buildings were pressed together to encourage rooftop-to-rooftop leaping and only the most visually unique neighborhoods survived (albeit incongruously, mashed up against other neighborhoods).
Also, it turned out that some aspects of Chicago skyline couldn't be replicated, because the designs were copyrighted. Which I didn't realize was a thing (It certainly never stopped comic book artists, painters, etc). So instead, they did places that looked kind of like the landmarks.
Reading the article, it's clear that they didn't include pretty sizable portions of the city (for example, there's nothing north of Gold Coast in Watch Dogs' Chicago). Other portions don't match the city (the western Lakeview was redesigned to mimic Oak Park, out of all places). Which, to be honest, is about what I expected. Heck, I'm surprised that they included Englewood in any shape or form, or any neighborhoods that aren't adolescent to the Loop.
The reviews I've seen haven't been especially kind to the game, saying that, when you take away the unique setting, it's plot is fairly generic. But a whole bunch of people I followed on Twitter have been impressed with the setting. And according to the Tribune writer, it capture a lot of what makes the city unique - even if it doesn't look quite right.
So I am pretty intrigued.
This Watch Dogs official video contains a lot of shots of the city. I leave it up to Chicagoans reading this to decide if it does it justice.
Click to viewAnd, if anybody reading this have played the game, let me know what you think.