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Sylvain Testimonial
''Sylvain's contribution in developing the Clan and Competition features really highlights the great talent that can be found in gaming development in Montreal. It's the hard work and talent of guys like Sylvain that make Ubisoft's Montreal studio a constant innovator and a recognized developer in the industry.''
—Martin Carrier, Director, Communications and Public Affairs, Ubisoft Montreal
Xbox® Developer Support recently gave Ubisoft's Sylvain Bombardier their "Distinguished Engineer Award" for his work on Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six® 3: Black Arrow™ and Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon™ 2. According to Technical Game Manager Dan Black, Sylvain was instrumental in implementing the Clan and Competition features for Xbox Live™ play, and deserved some special recognition. So at Ubisoft's launch party celebrating the release of their five latest titles, Dan presented Sylvain with a cool plaque, and the gratitude of all of us at Xbox. "I'm very pleased to be recognized for my skills and I hope to continue to surpass myself with every new game I will work on," said Sylvain.
Dan Black (right) shows Sylvain (left) the Xbox love.
The features were part of the Xbox Liveupdate back in April 2004, code-named "Tsunami." When Xbox announced the features, there weren't yet any games or documentation to draw from, so Sylvain started writing APIs (Application Programming Interface) from scratch. Ubisoft put him in charge of implementing Clans and Competitions. If you've played either Black Arrow or Ghost Recon 2, you know what a great job he did. Sylvain also wrote a 25-page opus on how to implement the new features, to help his fellow developers. He became such an expert that after Black Arrow shipped Ubisoft deployed him to Raleigh, North Carolina to help finish upGhost Recon 2.
Black Arrow producer Patrick Naud says, "Sylvain worked six intense months with Microsoft® and made happen something that still hasn’t been done by others … even Halo®! He’s now the internal reference for all of Ubisoft’s Xbox Live titles and already helped five other projects since Black Arrowwas shipped! He’s a big reason for the success of Black Arrow."
Sylvain is originally from Quebec City, where the first video game he played was Amok on the Commodore Vic-20. He has fond memories of playing Sierra On-Line's adventure games and claims he learned English playing Leisure Suit Larry, King's Quest,Police Quest, and Quest for Glory.
Because of his lifelong desire to work in games—and the dearth of game companies in Quebec—Sylvain moved to Montreal five years ago, where he worked at a company that made MMRPGs, and as a computer consultant before being hired by Ubisoft two years ago.
What's next for Sylvain? He's working on the recently announcedTom Clancy's Rainbow Six® 4 and polishing his award. We're positive that there will be many more awards in this talented and dedicated developer's career.
TriXie: What's your Gamertag?
Sylvain: It's Haltak, based on one of my most powerful "pen and paper" role-playing characters.
TriXie: What’s the worst or weirdest job you’ve ever had?
Sylvain: The weirdest was a summer job where I had to help an architect to measure the interior of a building. The only thing I did all summer was hold the measuring tape.
TriXie: What’s the best feature of XboxLive?
Sylvain: The voice chat. Because you can have the best multiplayer system in the world, but if your players cannot communicate between each other, they won't have as much fun.
TriXie: What is your favorite XboxLive-enabled game?
Sylvain:Rainbow Six 3: Black Arrow.;) I love the realism of the firefights and our new game modes really encourage team strategies over brute force.
TriXie: What future Xbox Live-enabled game are you most looking forward to?
TriXie: What do you think is the best game of all time?
Sylvain:Ultima 6 on the PC. It's simply the deepest RPG experience I've ever had. Simple but effective.
TriXie: What do you think is the best film of all time?
Sylvain: I really loved Braveheart, untilLord of the Rings came out …
TriXie: If they made a movie about your life, who would play you?
Sylvain: Colin Farrell. He is a great actor and we have pretty much the same look and age.
TriXie: What cartoon character do you think is most like you?
Sylvain: Asterix the Gaul. Coffee is my magic potion.
TriXie: I like Idefix, the puppy. If you could trade places with anyone for one day, who would it be?
Sylvain: My cat, Virus. Cats always seem so relaxed and they get free massages whenever they want.
TriXie: Virus … that's cute. I should've named mine Ebola. What celebrity would be the worst roommate?
Sylvain: Steve Irwin. Just imagine what kind of domestic pets he has. I'm not sure my cat would get along well with a "crikey."
TriXie: Who's hotter: Cameron Diaz, Angelina Jolie, or Halle Berry?
Sylvain: Angelina "Lara Croft" Jolie.
TriXie: Who's cooler: Sam Fisher, Leisure Suit Larry, or Master Chief?
Sylvain: Sam. He’s cool headed and he’s got an attitude.
TriXie: What’s the worst food you’ve ever eaten?
Sylvain: Cheese macaroni … I can barely tolerate the smell of it.
TriXie: No way! Mac 'n' Cheese rules! What do you predict will be the "next big thing" in gaming?
Sylvain: More realistic AI as a support for the gameplay (as opposed to the AI being the gameplay). After seeing impressive graphics and stunning physics simulations, I think that the AI deserves to be more visible in games, or should I say "less" visible. I dream of the day where you will feel like you are interacting with real people or animals or aliens (I wonder what's real alien behavior though).
TriXie: Good point. Thanks, Sylvain, and congratulations on the Distinguished Engineer Award. Now get back to work and make us some more kick-ass games!
