MONTREAL, Quebec -- When it came time to turn James Cameron’s epic 3D movie, Avatar, into a videogame, Ubisoft was chosen as the best option to expand the story beyond the big screen adventure. Ubisoft’s Kevin Shortt, story designer and scriptwriter, was assigned the task of working with Cameron and his Lightstorm Entertainment to craft three unique videogame prequels, including a 3D console adventure for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC. Shortt talks about this convergence effort in this exclusive interview.

What games did you work on before Avatar?

I came to Ubisoft in 2006. I’m originally from Vancouver and I’ve worked on Lost: The video game and Far Cry 2 and, of course, Avatar.

How did Avatar compare to those other games?

The big challenge for us on Avatar was how are we going to bring Cameron’s creation to a game world. We wanted to match the brilliance of the movie. We wanted to present an idea to Cameron and get his blessing, which for us was a bit of a nerve-wracking task.

What was it like working with Lightstorm?

Pandora

Overall it was a really great experience. When we met with them the first time regarding the story, there were a couple of things we knew we wanted to do. We wanted the game to expand the world of Pandora. That was a big thing for Cameron. He didn’t want the movie to be duplicated into the game. He wanted the whole world of Pandora to be bigger than the movie, so that right away meant a unique adventure. We weren’t going to just repeat the film. There’s no sense in doing that. It’s not necessarily that interesting for a player because you’ve already seen it in this incredibly pre-rendered world that Cameron does, as only Cameron can do.

Can you explain what an avatar is?

To help a human navigate through the world of Pandora he’s able to don an avatar. Basically, he’s able to project his mind into an avatar being which is a combination of Na’vi DNA with his own DNA. He’s able to inhabit this avatar, wander through the world, breathe the air easily, and the plants don’t attack him. It just makes his job easier.

How does the game fit into the movie universe?

We decided we’re doing a unique adventure that takes place two years before the movie starts. You play Abel Rider, who’s a signal specialist – someone who understands codes and can interpret codes really well. You come from Earth and you’ve been assigned to Pandora. When you arrive there, the tension’s already high on Pandora. There’s conflict between the Na’vi and the RDA, the research development administration. The RDA’s basic mission is to restore order to the planet, get everything calm again, stop the Na’vi insurgence, and refocus on the primary task which is really just to gather critical resources and send them back to Earth. So they need you. Because you’re a signal specialist you can help them with their task.

What’s their task?

Na'vi

They’re trying to find this lost and sacred site, which is somewhere on the planet. They know if they can find this sacred site they can sever the Na’vi bond with Awah. Awah is a spiritual gaya that’s almost like the brain of the planet. The Na’vi communicate very closely with Awah. The RDA wants to establish their own link with Awah and if they can do that, they can restore order to the planet and basically take control of the whole planet and continue their mission. The Na’vi are searching for this location too. They learned about the RDA plan and they obviously want to shut them down. The problem is the sacred site is thousands of years old. It’s so old that nobody even knows where it is anymore. It’s been lost. So they are trying to reach this location before the RDA does. Whoever gets there first links into this sacred site, then they will own the site, and it’s game over for the other side. So you’re the spark, basically, to this whole thing. You arrive and you’re the one who can find this location. That sets everything off. The tensions suddenly flare up and this ignites full-scale war. So while you’re looking for the sacred site you have a war that’s going on between the Na’vi and the RDA as everyone races to find this site.

Will you get to choose to fight for the Na’vi?

Early on you’re confronted with a choice, where you get a chance to understand what it’s like to play as an RDA but then you also get a chance to understand what it’s like to play as a Na’vi. Then we have the players decides which side they like playing as. Also, there’s a philosophical element of where do you stand? You’re going to get a chance to understand what the RDA vision is as well what the Na’vi mission is, so you’re faced with a choice. Do you want to join the RDA and help them find the site or do you want to turn your back on the RDA and join the Na’vi and help them find the site? You’re presented with two worlds. You’ve got the Na’vi path and you’ve got the RDA path. You both have the same objective. But depending on the side you chose, there are entirely unique locations. When you go along the Na’vi path, the worlds that you’re seeing are completely different from what you’re going to see on the RDA path.

So you can go back and replay the game?

Epic war

Basically, you have two games going in the same world, which goes back to what Cameron wanted. He just wanted to expand that world of Pandora. We do that by creating a different story from his movie, but we do it also by creating two stories within our own game with a unique approach, unique weapons, unique creatures, and vehicles. The Na’vi path is much more of a melee gameplay experience. With the RDA path you have much more hardware and the heavy duty guns and such.