Naughty Dog Dishes on Storytelling and Uncharted 4
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The Uncharted series has mesmerized gamers with its exceptional graphics, precise gameplay, and innovative environmental interactions but what really sets it apart from the average shooter is its ability to tell a great story. Naughty Dog’s focus on weaving history with legend has created a winning formula that Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception has every intention of continuing. The Guardian nabbed a recent interview with Uncharted 3’s co-lead designer Richard Lemarchand and he provided some insight to the team’s story telling method. “We realised fairly early on something that the writers of science fiction and fantasy always say: it’s important, when you’re telling a fantastical story, to ground it. Enough of the story has to be comprised of recognisable nuts and bolts reality so that the audience has something to grab on to during the tale.” Although both Uncharted games have added a touch of the supernatural, the developers stressed that players are more hesitant to take that leap of faith without first implementing an environment set in the real world. “We knew we had a great opportunity to do something that often gets overlooked; we wanted to make a game that, through the mechanism of being set in recognisable reality, could occasionally pull a mystery or some fantastical element out of the bag and it would have so much more potency as a result.”
One of the most interesting questions asked during the interview implied that Naughty Dog has more adventures in store for Nathan Drake. “And you said during your talk that Amy has this huge library where she looks up real-life legends and myths that may well work in Uncharted titles. Do you think she has a list of unused examples ready for Uncharted 4, 5 and 6… It is hard to imagine Sony and Naughty Dog ending such a profitable franchise after Deception but fans of Uncharted should be encouraged that the developers have not yet emptied their bag of tricks. Via The Guardian |
