Uncharted 2 Interview

PART 1

Quote :

When Naughty Dog does something, it aims to do it properly. That's what Uncharted 2: Among Thieves game director Bruce Straley told us and he wasn't joking - when he answers a question he does it properly.

That said, we have one hefty, internet-snapping interview right here, in which Straley spills the beans on absolutely shed loads of new gameplay mechanics and details and describes the new direction for Nathan Drake.

So many details in fact, that we've split it into two parts for easy digestion. So stop messing about and tuck in...

Many reviews said that the original was a mix of tried-and-tested influences. Did you intend to play it safe with Drake's debut?

Bruce Straley: Our goal from the beginning of Uncharted was to capitalize on what we call the "comfort food" of the action-adventure movie genre and translate that into a satisfying, fun gameplay experience for the player.

By "comfort food" I mean those elements from the movies that people have grown up loving and associate so closely with the genre. If you were to make a sci-fi game or horror game, there are certain hallmarks that make up those genres that the developer would need to at least tip their hats to.

Basically we set out to use the action-adventure genre as our palette and paint a really good story, create compelling characters, and place them in exciting predicaments, just like our favorite action-adventure movies do.

Delivering that experience is something I think we've excelled at. I don't look at delivering a fun game as being safe or unsafe, but as accomplishing a very difficult goal that any game developer would be proud of had they made Uncharted!

A player's experience throughout the game is the key in crafting a satisfying experience. "How does the player feel when playing our game?", and "Do they finish it?", are an example of the big questions for us. We've found that an overwhelming amount of players have completed Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. That tells us a lot about how successful we were to hook players into our game story and mechanics once they got the controller in their hands.

How have you approached the sequel in terms of giving the game more of a unique identity?

Straley: We looked at our review scores and the feedback on the forums only to discover that so many people got what we were doing with Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, and had a great time playing it. So in Uncharted: Among Thieves we're not looking to break the franchise, but really build upon the foundation we laid in the first game.

We've been hard at work on creating a new story to propel the game play. We got praised for our story in Uncharted and we don't want to lose what drew people into it. We worked hard to make Nathan Drake feel like a real person, and as grounded a hero as we've yet seen in video games. He's not your typical video game hero, destroying 50 foot aliens in his armored space suit.

He's a real dude existing somewhere on this planet right now, dealing with the people he's surrounded himself by, and the situations he finds himself in. Just like in a good movie, we've strived to make Uncharted a character-based story, meaning character motivations are driving the plot and the protagonist's decisions. We want to explore more of the cast characters around Drake and the pressures they apply on him in Uncharted 2.

Those characters that exist in this gritty, realistic side of the modern-day treasure hunting world, which is chock full of scavengers, backstabbers, and thieves. It's interesting to us to ask, "If you were a criminal, who would your friends be? Who would your lovers be? Who can you trust?" So, we're happy with what we're planning on delivering to the video game world in terms of a fresh story that's also going to provide some interesting game play events.

As much as we're pushing the story, we're pushing Drake's core mechanics to help parallel the needs the story requires. For instance we've got a really good set of traversal mechanics, which we've expanded upon in Uncharted 2, and a dynamic cover-based, run-and-gun combat system.

What if we combined them? Layer them up and we've now moved our combat spaces to anywhere, anytime in the environments, which also really changes the flow of the level. What if you could use a billboard you're hanging from as a piece of cover that you could shoot from? What if you could shoot from a set of monkey bars?

For example, Drake is climbing across a gap when he spots an enemy -- shoot or don't shoot, player's choice. In Uncharted 2 we're exploiting these two great mechanics by allowing the player to shoot from any movement state - running, walking, hiding in cover or climbing. The types of set-ups this allows us to create are really diverse. Ground based, vertical, horizontal spaces all come into play now. How you think about flanking an enemy may change completely.

The enemies need to accommodate for this as well, so we've allowed them to traverse the environments with a move set that is similar to what Drake has. They can flank you by jumping gaps, climbing ladders and jumping down from ledges - all of which are within their navigation system.

One of our other big goals in Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is to capture what we're calling the "summer blockbuster" feeling in our game play. We've got a great story, and a great set of core mechanics, now we need to splice in those 'aw shit!' moments from those summer blockbuster movies we all love. We've added the tech to allow all of Drake's move set and combat mechanics on moving objects, which means if we want a building to collapse while you're inside, trapped in a fight, we can do that in the game! Our moving train is truly a moving train.

I think we're in a great position to give the player a lot of new experiences while playing Uncharted 2. If there was one thing we could hang our hat on it would have to be the sum of all of our parts, and the experience that that provides.

You've spoken about the first game having only used 30% of the PS3s power, and the sequel using closer to 100%. What direct benefits will the gamer get from the increased performance - will they be instantly noticeable?

Straley: Yes. No doubt. We're definitely utilizing more power from the PS3 this time around and it will certainly be noticeable in a variety of ways.

With Uncharted 2, the Naughty Dog Engine 2.0 enables us to display more polygons on screen than ever before, which allows us to battle an even greater number of enemies and to create environments with an unprecedented level of detail. The lighting and shadowing systems in the engine have been overhauled, giving our artists the ability to create an even more immersive experience.

The rendering of our skies has been overhauled to include some more realistic light effects as well as a procedural layer to our cloud system, all the while retaining our artist-driven style. The AI has also been enhanced so that our enemies navigate the environments more realistically, react to the world around them, and behave in even more believable ways. We're pushing the snow rendering like we did with water from the first game.

If we do snow, we feel that it's got to be the best snow you've seen! We're also taking on fur and cloth this time. The list goes on and on. Anything we can improve upon, we do, all with the idea of giving the player a more immersive experience.

Basically, we've maximized the power available to us in the console and our updated engine by writing optimized code for the SPU processors and parceling out jobs to the SPUs in an efficient manner.

The PS3 is an extremely powerful piece of hardware as shown by what we were able to accomplish in Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, but we're always pushing the technology here at Naughty Dog. The programmers have been hard at work optimizing and adding new features to our game engine from the moment we shipped Uncharted.

In the Naughty Dog tradition, we're striving to push the hardware to its absolute limits.

The original looks incredible, and MGS4 seemed to push limits on the PS3. How much power is left to unlock in that console?

Straley: Thanks. It's hard to say exactly, as there are always opportunities to optimize and refine our engine to gain performance improvements and allow us to do more. I'm impressed with how our programmers are always finding new ways to utilize the Cell core and SPUs in increasingly more efficient manners.

There are constant innovations they're coming up with on how to store and stream game data and so on. In a nutshell, we feel there's always room for improvement and that means we can, and will, continually find new ways to squeeze more performance out of the Naughty Dog Engine 2.0 and the PS3.

And each game has its own needs and the engines created for each game are going to be streamlined for their unique requirements. Ours is focused squarely on making the Uncharted games everything we want them to be and more.

We've seen snowy mountains and urban environments in trailers and screens so far. Can you tell us more about the settings Drake will visit, with examples if possible?

Straley: We want to show Drake more in his element this game - that is to say, more in "his world" in the Uncharted universe. So that's allowing us to consider a broader range of environments over the course of his journey in our new title.

Uncharted: Drake's Fortune is almost a unique case in the cumulative experiences of Drake - he ends up stranded on this island in the middle of the south pacific, essentially forced to play out the events before him to get safely home again.

Drake's everyday world doesn't take place only on that island, just like it wouldn't be for most of us, unless we were really lucky or Richard Branson. He operates in the modern world, in modern environments and dealing with these very real characters. Of course, true to the franchise, he's still going to get thrown into a roller-coaster adventure ride that will allow us to take the player to some very diverse locales.

In Drake's world it's not unheard of to visit some unlikely locations to uncover the next piece of the clue chain, even if it is of questionable legality, or show up in a war-torn Nepalese city looking for a specific temple where an artifact is hidden, or wind up in the outer limits of the Himalayas in a hillside village. We want diversity in our environments as well as whatever is needed to backup the needs of the character arc we're trying to explore within Drake.

And of course here at Naughty Dog we're always pushing the art and the tech and trying to give our own take on the current-gen look. When we do a war-torn city, we really want to give the player something they've never seen before. Drake's journey will be filled with a lot of fresh environments for the player to explore, there is no doubt about that.

How does the new stealth mechanic work and how does it improve on the game's pacing?

Bruce Straley: Pacing is one of the keys elements we want to retain from Uncharted to Uncharted 2. We strive to achieve movie-like pacing to our games. We want the players to get into a flow and feel like they can't wait to see what happens next, which means avoiding those difficulty spikes that make players put the controller down and walk away from the game.

Action-stealth is meant to simply flesh out our enemy AI - we're not suddenly creating a stealth game as we've seen misinterpreted. "Action" representing the idea that we're trying to keep the pace up and "stealth" representing what we all know as taking out enemies unnoticed.

We don't want to introduce the frustration of being forced to move at the game's (presumably slower) pace by replaying and replaying a set-up due to failing a stealth-heavy situation.

We feel that providing the option of action-stealth improves upon the pacing by allowing the player the choice to get more invested in the set-ups and get to know more about the environments than a straight gunfight would allow. It also allows us to embed more narrative and story into the game play.

By showing what enemies are doing before you're engaged in combat and by overhearing some light conversations, you'll be able to see more of the story in context to the environment or situation. It also reinforces the story needs by allowing us to make set-ups more appropriate to the tone of the story.

I am really looking forward to this game. I think the first one is still one of the best games on the ps3.

PART 2

Quote :

Is Drake infiltrating an area? Are the enemies already in defensive positions? Whatever the story needs, we can have the enemies parallel that feeling now.

Choice is the other key word here. We've implemented the new action-stealth mechanics with the knowledge that not everyone likes stealth game play. We think it's fun, and it adds a lot to our ability to reinforce the story, but you should play the way you want. We're just giving the player the choices.

As a result of expanding our gameplay to account for action-stealth, there are two new behaviours added to enemies, "investigate" and "hunt." With "investigate" the enemies have peripheral vision just like humans.

When Drake enters this peripheral vision the enemies will look over in the direction they think they saw him in and depending on how long he was in this vision cone, they may just look or they may walk over and check out what they think they saw. Of course, that's why we've called it "investigate."

With the "hunt" behaviour the enemies have already spotted Drake and are in combat with him. While in combat the enemies make certain assumptions on where Drake is based on his last known location.

If they lose eye contact with Drake for a few seconds, one or more enemies will start hunting around the area, starting with his last known location, and then spread their search out if he's not found. So, our battles can be switched up from straight forward gun fights to an action-stealth battle midway through, picking off each enemy one by one as they separate hunting for Drake. This just further reinforces our focus on creating player choice in Uncharted 2.

These new play styles also required us to change the AI's navigational abilities too. If they are to hunt for Drake they'll need the ability to climb on the environment, jump across gaps, and drop down from ledges to get to him.

The benefit to this was our combat wasn't limited to flat terrain anymore. If the enemies think it's to their benefit to get higher vertically to get an advantage on you, they have that ability now. If you decide to jump across a gap, it doesn't mean you're safe, the enemies can chase you down by jumping that same gap.

Vehicle sections are making a return. The jet ski sections in the first game, we thought, were great. How will the new vehicle sections differ from the original? Land, sea and/or air vehicles maybe?

Straley: Interacting with and being on moving vehicles is a gameplay mechanic that will definitely make an appearance in Uncharted 2, it's one of those hallmarks of the genre, let alone the franchise, but we're not quite ready to reveal in what way just yet.

You have been previously quoted as saying you want Uncharted 2 to be "true interactive storytelling". Have you been at all influenced by games like MGS4, which, in particular, has almost unrivaled commitment to storytelling?

Straley: Wow, I said that?! If I used the word "true" in that statement, that would imply that other forms of interactive storytelling were somehow "false", and I don't think that's the case. I love playing games and the beauty of this medium is that there are so many different games to be made.

Telling a story inside of a game is based on what that game requires, there is no real right way or wrong way, just different. Now that being said, what we're trying to do with the Uncharted franchise is really capture that movie feeling by implementing all of the aforementioned features and by trying to implement them in a way that really makes the player feel like they are truly playing one of their favourite action-adventure movies.

Every game is going to have their own agenda or "take" on interactive storytelling, reflective of the individuality of the person or persons responsible for creating that game.

At Naughty Dog we feel there are certain merits to be found in cutscenes - a certain level on intimacy with a character is only obtained be getting to see their detailed expressions.

The subtext of a statement is sometimes only told, or at least embellished upon, through facial expression. Taking away control for the sake of getting a really emotional take on someone, or cutting on something that needs to be seen by the player to help the narrative along is very important in storytelling.

I applaud everyone in this industry trying their different approaches to interactive storytelling - this is just how we're collectively trying to push the medium. It's a fun and very difficult challenge and I don't think there is one answer to how it's to be achieved.

Do you think Nathan Drake can ever be as big a star as Lara Croft?

Straley: Why do you think he's not already there, if not beyond that point already, in terms of popularity?

I feel that Nathan Drake can stand on his own in any line up of the video game pantheon. We've created something new with him by infusing him with traits more associated with a good movie protagonist than just a video game icon.

It's not just us drinking the kool-aid either - according to not an insignificant number of reviews, press, and forums, people have really taken to Nathan Drake's character. I think people like him because he's compelling, and a much needed breath of fresh air in an industry that's been a bit stale for a while, in terms of characters.

Have you ever considered multiplayer gaming of any kind for the sequel? Co-op maybe?

Straley: We've seen a lot of debate in the community - on various blogs and forums - about whether or not we should implement multiplayer or co-op in the Uncharted franchise. There are some very compelling points that are being discussed both in favour of and against adding these gameplay extensions to our game.

Our heritage at Naughty Dog means we are open to exploring just about any possibility to change, improve or enhance our games, but only if we feel it makes sense to what we're trying to accomplish with Uncharted and can achieve the level of quality we are known for.

For now, our main focus is on Nathan Drake as the central character - we want to be able to concentrate the story on his personal journey.

Can we expect Uncharted to always remain a Sony exclusive?

Straley: The Uncharted franchise is absolutely a PlayStation platform franchise. We have enjoyed a long, fruitful relationship with Sony Computer Entertainment, not to mention that we're a wholly owned subsidiary!

Beyond that one, minor technicality, it's important to remember that Naughty Dog has excelled at focusing on one platform and therefore maximizing the potential of that platform.

We've already discussed just how much we're able to achieve with the PS3 just 3 years into the console lifetime and there's always room to keep pushing ourselves and the console. Focusing on one platform has garnered incredible success for us and there's no reason we can dream of to even consider anything else.

I'm looking forward to this game. Hopefully they will include some kind of Multiplayer aspect, but I don't think so.

tbh i cant be arsed to read all that

i saw the trailer of uncharted 2 it look ... ''funny'' :d love uncharted

http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=yctTMdCAELc
http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=BbxyBRqD-7E

http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=Xza42b69-Rk


found some trailers uncharted 2

seen all trailers!
had UNCHARTED:DRAKE FORTUNE loved it!
gonna get this one!!!!