IGN Q&A - Naughty Dog's (hush) new game

[Loke]

May 26, 2006 - Among the several premiere games unveiled at Sony's 2006 E3 press conference was a brand new untitled project from the guys at Naughty Dog. Void of an official title and one of the best looking games at the presentation, the unnamed project had show-goers and viewers at home wondering if the jungle-themed trailer was built using target renders or if it was actual in-game action.

To find out, we hooked up Naughty Dog's own game designer Evan Wells. With previous credits that include work on titles like Crash Team Racing, Crash: Warped, Enter the Gecko, and ToeJam and Earl, Evan has experience in the realm of fun. We shot over some quick questions about his team's new mystery project and this is what he had to say:

IGN: To begin, let us just say that your trailer looks pretty awesome and we were immediately interested the moment we saw it. We weren't the only ones either; did you expect it to go over as big as it did?

Evan Wells: We've been working hard on this game for quite some time so it is good to hear that the debut of our trailer was met with enthusiasm.

IGN: Definitely. Of course, we think that the most important question that a lot of people have right now is "how much of that footage was CG and how much was real-time?"

Wells: The entire trailer was rendered in real-time using our PS3 game engine. All of the models, textures, shaders and effects are in-game.

IGN: Important question number two: what the heck is this game called? "Untitled Naughty Dog PS3 game" can't be final. But if it is, that's awesome!

Wells: We are working on the title of the game. You'd be surprised at what a complicated process that can be.

[...]

IGN: When we first saw the trailer and screenshots we immediately thought the main character looked like Jason Rubin. Is that just our imagination or are you just paying homage?

Wells: It's interesting that we've received so many questions about who our hero looks like. I've literally been told that he looks like over half a dozen different people. We weren't trying to model him after anybody specific and the concept artist who drew the original sketches hasn't even met Jason Rubin. So, as they say in the movies… "Any similarities to persons living or dead are purely coincidental."

IGN: What sort of game is it anyway? Our Initial impressions here is that it looks to be a cross between Tomb Raider and Resident Evil 4 with a heavy emphasis on action? Lenny Croft?

Wells: Sticking with Naughty Dog tradition, this is a third-person action adventure game with heavily story-based gameplay. There will obviously be a lot of traversal mechanics, two-fisted brawling, gunplay, and puzzle solving. We're trying to evoke the mood and emotions from a classic pulp adventure, but give it a modern day twist so you can expect a lot of dramatic stunts and exciting cliff-hanging moments.

IGN: How close will the actual gameplay be to what was shown in the trailer?

Wells: This trailer is really just the tip of the iceberg as far as what you can expect from the gameplay in the final product. Animation has been a huge focus for us in terms of where we've been spending our development resources and is really something that we think will set next-generation games apart from current-gen. Bringing a realistic human character to life in a believable way, but still maintaining the controllability has been our emphasis.

IGN: There are some really cool moves shown in the trailer, especially the fight moves. The scene where the lead character smacks that guy against the wall; is that possible in the real game?

Wells:As I mentioned, fighting and brawling are important aspects of the gameplay and our animation system allows us to take it to the next level on the PS3 -- but we also want to give a very cinematic presentation to the action. This means a heavily-scripted camera that highlights key moments of gameplay. We've actually hired the designer behind the camera of Prince of Persia: Sands of Time to head up our camera efforts.

[...]

IGN: What is it like programming for the PlayStation 3 compared to the PS2?

Wells: Like the PS2 the PS3 is a sophisticated and powerful piece of hardware. Our engineers are working very hard at making specific optimizations to take full advantage of the Cell and its SPU's. However, there is so much depth to this machine, that much like the PS2, you will continue to see developers squeeze more and more out of it over the course of what I am sure is going to be a lengthy life-cycle.

[...]

IGN: What kind of technology are you using? Is it a proprietary engine or does it use a popular toolset like Unreal of Offset?

Wells: The engine we are using is completely proprietary and is being developed here at Naughty Dog. We have some of the industry's top engine programming talent dedicated to getting the most out of the PlayStation 3 possible.

Link to the Q&A

The trailer can be downloaded from IGN here or here (HD) if you don't have IGN Insider.

Awesomeness.

 

[Qonfused]

This looks promising.

 

[DeusExMachina]

Very interesting. The game looks awesome.

 

[Qonfused]

Amasing trailer.

 

[VictimOfScience]

This looked amazing at E3 and the interview just gets me more excited for this one! Naughty Dog have some very serious talent on in their ranks, so I would not be surprised to see this become a truly incredible title....

 

[99.vikram]

Good graphics. Now I have to see how it plays. When is more media coming out?

 

[pvtbones]

am I the only who notices the Ak47's are ugly as sin (texture atleast).

 

[Anthraxxx]

Those screens underwhelm me. After seeing what DX10 can do with a jungle... that just makes this game seem...


"Plastic" is the impression that I am getting from the pics.

 

[MultiVaC]

I agree, after seeing the jungle of Crysis this looks too cartoony and is probably really static. Seems like an awesome game, though.

 

[phantomdesign]

Crysis did amazing jungle stuff in DX9, credit goes to crysis, not directx.

Anyways, the combat in this game shows a lot of potentail. Hopefully it's nto too heavily "scripted" and more interactive.

 

[Asknoone]

Naughty dog rock. Crash Bandicoot for the mother ****ing win.

 

[Gray Fox]

Honestly what is so Awsome?
The jungle isn't pretty, no good looking landmarks, stones, or threes.
The hero, the clothing, the theme, the badguy's, the gameplay looks generic.

 

[jimbo118]

Naughty dog rock. Crash Bandicoot for the mother ****ing win.

QFT!

i like the setting and the graphics look pretty nice imo. Action Adventures in the jungle with a good story(hopefully) FTW!

 

[Bob_Marley]

am I the only who notices the Ak47's are ugly as sin (texture atleast).

Who cares? They actually put a Makarov in! And Makarov = win.

 

[DeusExMachina]

Honestly what is so Awsome?
The jungle isn't pretty, no good looking landmarks, stones, or threes.
The hero, the clothing, the theme, the badguy's, the gameplay looks generic.

It's supposed to be like the pulp comics and novels from the 40s and 50s.

 

[Kamikazie]

Sweet.

 

[Gray Fox]

It's supposed to be like the pulp comics and novels from the 40s and 50s.

There is a reason they are pulp:dozey:

 

[DeusExMachina]

Because they were only meant to be entertaining action stories? Look at Indiana Jones, that's successful pulp in modern day. I don't see why this game couldn't do the same.

 

[Gray Fox]

Well for one, like I said it looks graphic wise and gameplay wise totally generic b-movie like. Why would I buy that when there are so many new games, that will have orginal, entertaining gameplay, tied in with awe inspiring graphics and stories.
I wouldn't really call Indiana Jones Pulp, the way it conbines humor and an actually interesting and quite original heroes path/journey is anything but pulp, this game on the other hand reeks of a lack of imagination.

 

[DeusExMachina]

Naughty Dog's all about stories and entertaining gameplay. The Jak and Daxter series is a testament for that.

 

[Gray Fox]

I guess it's up to ones taste then, Jak II is personally my most hated game of all time.
(edit: altough offcourse the rest of the world Disagrees with me;(

 

[smwScott]

I guess it's up to ones taste then, Jak II is personally my most hated game of all time.
(edit: altough offcourse the rest of the world Disagrees with me;(

Wow ... most hated game of all time huh? That game was ****ing brilliant.

Well, if you don't like it, don't buy it. The graphics do look a whole lot better in the trailer than in the screens, mainly because the animation is mindblowing. And it's a Naughty Dog game, so the gameplay will be amazing, the story will be interesting/funny, and it will probably be pretty long.

 

[VirusType2]

I guess it's up to ones taste then, Jak II is personally my most hated game of all time.
(edit: altough offcourse the rest of the world Disagrees with me;(

You're not the only one. I never liked any of Naughty Dog's stuff either. I won't judge this game until it is much further along though. Besides the animation, which is good, I think it's pretty under-developed and it shows. The AK-47's don't even have bump maping or anything. The weapons are just flat with no detail yet. The little sparks when the bullets hit rocks are pitiful; I'd like to see parts of rock flying off. The environments are bland and almost cartoony so far. From the sound of the interview though, it sounds like the only thing that is really coming along is the animation, and the video reflects that.

 

[Gray Fox]

Well to be totally fair I really liked crash bandicoot, and their engine for psx and ps2 is incredible, it's like they think in binary.

 

[VirusType2]

Well to be totally fair I really liked crash bandicoot, and their engine for psx and ps2 is incredible, it's like they think in binary.

No doubt, they seem to be great programmers (if it's even the same team), I just don't think their games are fun, which is the whole point of a game. This one could be good, like I said I won't judge it until it's done. It's pretty easy to tell it's not coming out for quite a while.

 

[VictimOfScience]

I wonder two things:

1. Will there be different outfits for the main character? (Geez, I hope so.)

2. What will the other environments look like? (I know its all on a jungle island, but somehow Crysis manages to get a wintry landscape on theirs! Not to mention the alien spacecraft, etc...)

 

[hungryduck]

I hope this is good....I can still remember the glory days romping around in PS1 Crash Bandicoot 1 - Naughty Dog's first game I think..........

 

[AiM]

I hope this is good....I can still remember the glory days romping around in PS1 Crash Bandicoot 1 - Naughty Dog's first game I think..........

Haha yes, I still have fond memories of hauling ass from that giant boulder...

 

[jimbo118]

Haha yes, I still have fond memories of hauling ass from that giant boulder...

YES YES YES!!!

i loved that, crash 1 was so much fun.