"The Last Of Us 2" game director Bruce Straley at Naughty Dog revealed how an important part of delivering a game like 'TLOU' comes from lessons learned. A look behind the scenes will afford "TLOU" fans waiting for "The Last Of Us 2" a peek into the factors that could and would contribute to "TLOU 2."
Bruce Straley opened up in an interview with Vice on the challenges of completing a game like "The Last Of Us." The process of developing a game like "The Last Of Us" brings together numerous elements that, as Vice points out, begins with guess work.
Writing can be a bitch, but I think I finally cracked this scene. Now to take a break so I can read it later and hate it and myself again.
— Neil Druckmann (@Neil_Druckmann) September 10, 2016
What Bruce Straley shared his experience on Naughty Dog hits as "The Last Of Us" and the "Uncharted" franchise mostly fits in with modern development practices. According to "The Last Of Us" game director, lessons become clearer across the process of producing a game. With every new console generation, development costs have been spiraling. Developers and publishers have struggled with this in variety of ways.
A brief thought on narrative in this era from @Neil_Druckmann - https://t.co/u6tvaMgtsB #thelastofus #uncharted pic.twitter.com/6LbowV1AKY — Naughty Dog (@Naughty_Dog) July 27, 2015
Gradually increasing retail prices, pushing digital distribution (with higher profit margins that cut out the retailer middle man) and downloadable content are such. Most notable, however, is the adoption of agile development.
Companies such as Blizzard have been using it with great success with "Heroes Of The Storm" and "Overwatch." Still the gradual trickle of new features and content, according to "The Last Of Us" developers begins much earlier.
Pre-production, as with "The Last Of US," involves experimentation, research and development, prototyping and guesswork. Given these, a highly anticipated game would seem unlikely to see the light of day, as Bruce Straley shared feeling about "The Last Of Us" at several points in the development process.
However, what is really happening behind the scenes is a conveyor belt of ideas and concepts. Developers as Naughty Dog select and re-select from these guided by the framework of what is right about the game with risk reduction being the underlying motivating factor.
Another bonus is that ideas for other games may be conceived at this stage, as was the case for original "The Last Of Us" gameplay mechanics. "The Last Of Us" mechanics came about through experimentation, highlighting the fact that aspects of the gameplay were new to Naughty Dog.
"It's not just an obsession," Bruce Straley told Vice. "It's trying to transmit something from inside of us as creators and manifest it using a team of programmers, artists, musicians, all the different departments that make up video game development."
Unsurprisingly "TLOU" fans anticipate to experience the meticulous care that the team at Naughty Dog once more when "The Last Of Us 2" is released. Details on "The Last Of Us 2" release are anticipated to become firmer from Naughty Dog, "TLOU" creator Neil Druckmann and game director Bruce Straley come 2017.
