You've been logged out of GDC Vault since the maximum users allowed for this account has been reached. To access Members Only content on GDC Vault, please log out of GDC Vault from the computer which last accessed this account.

Click here to find out about GDC Vault Membership options for more users.

close

The Number One Educational Resource for the Game Industry

Session Name: Back to the Future! Working with Deterministic Simulation in 'For Honor'
Speaker(s): Jennifer Henry
Company Name(s): Ubisoft Montreal
Track / Format: Programming

Did you know free users get access to 30% of content from the last 2 years?


Get your team full access to the most up to date GDC content

Overview: For Honor gathers 8 players on a battlefield, with a hundred NPCs and many other interactive ingredients. With a traditional network model, it would be a nightmare to replicate while keeping the bandwidth consumption low and preserving the precision and fairness of the fight system. In this session, Jennifer Henry (Gameplay Programmer at Ubisoft Montreal) will present the non-authoritative architecture behind the game, a variation on deterministic simulation that uses time travel to not hinder fluidity and responsiveness. But, as every team that commits to new tech, the 'For Honor' team faced many challenges. From the drastic optimizations needed to run 8 times the gameplay in a single frame, to the constant need to make your tools and processes evolve; from the desynchronization bugs that come with strict determinism, to the hard balance between shipping your game and training newcomers; Jennifer will deep dive into the mysterious world of deterministic simulation, by presenting the lessons she learned with her 'For Honor' gameplay team over the past 6 years.

GDC 2019

Jennifer Henry

Ubisoft Montreal

free content

Programming

Programming