Video games often mean more to us than we realise or have the language to explain. Playing a franchise’s next instalment is filled with as much nervous anticipation as reading a new book from a favourite author or watching a film from a beloved director.
At the same time, video game technology is changing much faster than other media. The intervening time between two games often sees new techniques, technology and even new platforms on which developers can create their experiences. There is a danger of falling for the trap of bigger is always better.
Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception introduced all sorts of changes. The amount of animation, number of polygons, environment interaction and player control were all significantly enhanced. Some of these, like the refined aiming, caused an instant reaction in the community. Other changes were more subtle; Elena’s new appearance and Nate’s penchant for touching door-frames have taken longer to process.
Naughty Dog Producer Richard Lemarchand talked us though these changes before his recent departure from the studio, starting with the visual differences in Uncharted 3’s main characters. “We made a huge number of improvements to our character modelling processes for Uncharted 3 – too many to list, really! The characters in our games are really important to us, of course, and making sure that their character models are top-notch is a major focus.”
“ We made a huge number of improvements to our character modelling processes for Uncharted 3 – too many to list, really!
“For instance, one of our Senior Character Artists made Drake’s beard stubble by first creating a dynamic hair simulation of Drake’s whole beard in 3D Studio Max. We used this simulation to get the hair follicles in his beard looking exactly how we wanted them to look by combing them in the simulation. Then we exported perfectly matching texture maps which we used for his in-game model.
“We applied similar techniques to Sullivan’s moustache – in previous Uncharted games Sully’s ‘tache was just painted into his texture maps, but this time we set it up using planes of geometry, and painted in every single strand of the moustache hair individually!”
Unsurprisingly, all this enhanced facial hair had less of an effect on Elena, but she was still significantly different from the androgynous young woman of the first Uncharted game. In Uncharted 3 she has a more feminine gait and is facially much closer to character actor Emily Rose – indeed, her new persona came dangerously close to eclipsing her remembered identity from the previous games.
Perhaps it’s Naughty Dog’s ability to create such believable people that makes even subtle changes so noticeable. It’s not just a videogame character they are tweaking, but someone we know and understand.
“What’s most important for us is our focus on the people in our games as individuals, as unique characters. It’s all too easy, with any kind of writing, to fall back on clichés and stereotypes, but if you can avoid doing so then I think it helps your character’s voices sound fresh and authentic, and that’s the key to populating a story with interesting, believable people,” says Lemarchand.
Lemarchand turns to the contribution of actors and motion capture studios to pull this off. “Of course, writing and game design is only half of the equation: it’s the performances created by the talented actors we collaborate with that literally bring characters like Elena Fisher to life. We’re very lucky to be able to work with Emily Rose, who plays Elena, as well as Nolan North, Richard McGonagle and the rest of our cast. They work very hard in rehearsal and on our motion-capture stage, when we’re capturing their performances to put into the game, and they also contribute a huge amount to the game in terms of the ideas that they bring to the table, many of which we’ll work into the dialogue or even the game design.”
It’s interesting that while Naughty Dog would find it hugely problematic to switch actors, the studio is happy to substantially alter how they look in the game. The actor is there to speak up if they are asked to say or do something out of character, but their virtual alter-egos can’t stand up for themselves. An interesting comparison is the Toy Story series: while there has been similar progression in terms of fidelity and depth of animation during the life of those three films, there is much less of a jarring difference in terms of how the characters look from one film to the next.
“ It’s all too easy, with any kind of writing, to fall back on clichés and stereotypes, but if you can avoid doing so then I think it helps your character’s voices sound fresh and authentic.
Other changes in Uncharted 3 were more quickly identified by players – the aiming mechanics in particular. Where other developers may have become defensive over such criticism, Naughty Dog engaged with its community and introduced a patch that rectified these specific issues.
Lemarchand comments on the tension between perfectionism and continuity that can lead to these problems. “We made lots of improvements to the way that Nathan Drake controls between Uncharted 2 and Uncharted 3. We’re constantly working to refine and improve the controls of our game, even though we’ve always been pretty happy with the feel that Drake has… Of course, in turn, the expanded ability to fist-fight has a relationship with Drake’s traversal gameplay, and changes how you move around the levels when enemies are present.”
This traversal technique was another big change, and it wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea. Did these changes make Uncharted 3 felt different to play? Lemarchand doesn’t think so. “The mechanics you mention – the way that Drake puts out his hand to touch a wall or a door jamb as he runs past it, or the unprecedented twelve-minute idles that we were able to include in Uncharted 3 thanks to our new in-game animation streaming system – these mechanics add something special to the game, I think, but they don’t interfere in any way with the player’s control of Drake.”
There were noticeable changes in Uncharted 3’s storytelling too, with much less time spent with the female characters and an increased focus on Nate’s personal quest. “The way that Drake’s friends fall away over the course of Uncharted 3, finally leaving him alone, is an important and deliberate part of the game’s intertwined storytelling and game design technique,” explains Lemarchand.
“In part, Uncharted 3 is about how relentless Drake can be when he’s pursuing a goal, and the dangers of that single-mindedness. He’s so fixated on following the chain of clues that the story puts in front of him, and in such disregard of the growing danger around him, that he barely notices as his friends drop out of the adventure one by one. Even Chloe, who is normally so reckless, won’t go along for the ride beyond a certain point.
“So when he ends up alone for one of the later sequences of the adventure, he’s really facing one of his deepest fears. We all fear being alone, but it’s a particular demon for Drake, given what we learn about his background early on in the game.”
These efforts to stretch and change the sort of story Naughty Dog is telling with Uncharted 3 actually feel very comfortable. It goes without saying that a new episode in a drama needs to find fresh themes to address. Even when there is outrage at a particular game’s ending (Mass Effect 3 for instance), these are the creative decisions we expect story tellers to make.
But videogames are still mapping out what can and can’t be altered from one franchise outing to the next. How closely are players paying attention to movement, visuals, character modelling and controls? How much do they care about them, and how much change is too much?
Perhaps it’s inevitable for a maturing medium to accept more change than older, more established art forms. It will be interesting to see if technology continues to be the main driving force for change in videogames, or if other considerations will come to the fore as the pace of technological advancement slows down.
Source : ign[dot]com
