70°

Naughty Dog on the pressures of Uncharted 4: ‘It’s a fight making these games’

A lot is expected from PlayStation 4’s exclusive action adventure title, and developer Naughty Dog knows it.

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venturebeat.com
medman3384d ago

I want more Elena, Chloe, and Sully. Hopefully they all play good roles in Uncharted 4. Drake is great, but hopefully it isn't all about him.

-Foxtrot3384d ago

Well hopefully they learnt their lesson with Uncharted 3

They tried to focus on just Sully and Drake but the problem was other characters suffered, the development wasn't balanced.

I hope they aren't doing this with Drake and Sam in this one. I wanted at least this game to fill in the blanks, flashback wise to what happened to Drake and Elena after Uncharted Drakes Fortune and Among Thieves and why they broke up. Maybe see Drake feeling restless with settling down.

It's the last game so I want to see a huge portion of the game dedicated to Sully and Elena....just like Drakes Fortune when it was those three against the world.

SoapShoes3384d ago (Edited 3384d ago )

@Foxtrot that was in response to fans saying Uncharted 2 was unbalanced. Focusing too much on Chloe/Elena with Sully hardly in any scenes at all. They went from one extreme to another hopefully they can balance it out more this time.

showtimefolks3384d ago

I really can't imagine what it feel like, there are no developers like ND who's games have gotten as many awards and perfect scores. So people not only expect great games they also expect perfect scores

i would feel under so much pressure

error133384d ago

But its a pleasure playing these games.

chrissx3384d ago

That's the thing about being pace setters in a field. Every1 will expect big things. I expect ND to deliver

Rimeskeem3384d ago

I would think so. They have a reputation of only making masterpieces now. It's gonna be hard keeping that up.

Bathyj3384d ago

Yeah, eventually they have to slip and make a game thats just ok, its the law of averages.

Just hope its not this one, save that for UnKarted.

Der_Kommandant3384d ago

And sadly they will be crucified.

TheBrownBandito3384d ago

"UnKarted"

For the love of God nooooooooooo!

BABY-JEDI3384d ago

I just want Naughty Dog to be happy with Uncharted 4.

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430°

Naughty Dog’s Next Game Is “Really Ambitious” And Will Be “Really Hard” To Create

Speaking on what’s coming next for Naughty Dog, which could be either their new IP or The Last Of Us Part III, Druckmann gave what he seems to feel are realities of the project he’s talking about. That it’ll both be “really ambitious” but also “really hard.”

H945d ago

"I’ve really surrendered to knowing it’s going to be really hard, knowing it’s going to stress members of the team out"
As if crunch wasn't stressing them enough

helicoptergirl45d ago

Members of the team don't have to crunch anymore

helicoptergirl45d ago

According to people who work there

H945d ago

So the people who remained in a studio that had tons of workers quiting and others laid off said that they don't have to crunch, and you are just believing that

frostypants45d ago (Edited 45d ago )

They absolutely will wind up having to crunch. Happens at the end of almost every software project development cycle, especially with release date pressures. It's part of the job. Obviously they aren't in a crunch when they aren't in that late phase. But it's wishful thinking if they think they won't see that stress again. Druckmann himself seems to be aware of that.

helicoptergirl45d ago (Edited 45d ago )

Yes I believe them. The people who want to crunch can do it. The people who mentally and physically can't, don't actually have to. Some have young babies at home. Things have changed since the Schreier report.

rlow145d ago (Edited 45d ago )

@helicoptergirl
It wishful thinking to think some workers can choose to crunch or not to do so. That’s akin to people you work with saying they don’t have to do work they don’t like and you’re the one that has to take up the slack. That’s not how things work. Especially if your the person assigned to a specific task that has to be completed for the development to move forward. It’s a team sport when it comes to making a game. As with most things in life. Now that they are a smaller group, it’s even more important for everyone to pull their weight. Peace

helicoptergirl44d ago

@rlow that was exactly the mentality before the exposure and it was talked about and reported on. It's different now. You know, sometimes things and attitudes just change for the better. They knew they needed to change and they have and they're not stopping trying to make the creative environment as good as it can be.

+ Show (4) more repliesLast reply 44d ago
Tristan198245d ago

When someone pays another person to do a specific job in exchange for a certain rate of pay, it's called work.

H945d ago

They didn't sign to crunch and neither were they paid for it, people were hospitalized in Naughty Dog

MatrixxGT45d ago (Edited 45d ago )

Exactly most of these people wouldn’t last a season in the trades.

-Foxtrot45d ago

I f******* love how many people are doing a complete 180 on their views of crunch culture despite the awful stories reported on over the many years just because we’re talking about NaughtyDog

You can’t just cherry pick what to be mad about

“They signed a contract…it’s called work…that’s life…it’s a job”

I mean really guys, if this was EA you’d be having a field day

I bet you any money if any of these guys regardless of studio went in and said to their superior “Listen, don’t feel like the over time tonight, I’ll just stick to my normal contracted hours if that’s alright” I highly doubt they’d be given a warm response

Crows9045d ago

@h9

Actually yes they did. If overtime is mentioned...that's crunch.

Christopher45d ago

@Tristan1982: The problem is crunch is because of the inefficient management and sudden changes in projects. ND made major story changes based on some feedback, that results in months of rework, redesign, etc. And none of those changes were built into the project from the get-go, so they still have to meet a deadline.

@H9: One person. And they did sign up for crunch, ND is notorious for hiring people who don't mind it. That's the problem, they tell you who they are, people just aren't listening. And, they did get paid, just their QA level of people are paid shit, which is an industry issue for something so freaking important. And people wonder why we have such broken games at launch. Because companies don't want to pay to deliver as long as people will buy enough to get them past first few months of patches and then re-release a major patch with an expansion to get people to come back.

@-Foxtrot " You can’t just cherry pick what to be mad about " -- N4G home of 'hold my beer' on that alone.

CantThinkOfAUsername45d ago

The kindda guy to guilt trip others into overwork or tell them to be better slaves ('employees'). Exactly what corps like. How does it taste?

+ Show (4) more repliesLast reply 45d ago
anast45d ago

They get paid and they signed the contract. It's not a slave factory.

Shane Kim45d ago

Shh... your in the era of feeling sorry for people.

jwillj2k445d ago (Edited 45d ago )

Assuming you have a job, how would you feel working 80 hours a week for the same pay? You’ve not experienced crunch otherwise you wouldn’t be speaking like this.

senorfartcushion45d ago

As somebody who has crunched before. No, it wasn't my choice, no, you couldn't handle it, and no, you don't work in a better industry than I do.

Markusb3345d ago

exactly, get the game out before PS6 and if it takes crunch, or over time which you get paid for, get on with it

anast44d ago

"Assuming you have a job"

Assuming I haven't worked more for less, I suppose. And yes, I do.

"Shh... your in the era of feeling sorry for people."

I feel awful for the people that fought for the workers and got stuck holding the bag and lost everything.

"no, you couldn't handle it, "

You mean "I"

+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 44d ago
Christopher45d ago

I really hope this isn't management BS stress. I get wanting to put the best out, finding the best new ways and concepts, and ensuring your design is just top notch and not wasteful and fulfilling, but when I hear some manager talking about this my first thought is "Are these jerks changing paradigms on a regular basis that's making people play catch up and redo work to meet their new goals?"

45d ago
Kiryu199245d ago

They lost so many great experienced talented people over the past 5 years

anast44d ago

Burnout is real. I even had to change my job because of it.

Markusb3345d ago

as if you dont get paid for crunch, get on with it,

+ Show (3) more repliesLast reply 44d ago
Stuart575645d ago

That it’ll both be “really ambitious” but also “really hard.”

Not 'is' but 'will be', kinda suggests that they haven't started yet, hope not.

Come on ND, a game PLEAAAAASSSSEEEE. Desperate this gen.

S2Killinit45d ago (Edited 45d ago )

From the article:

“Working on this new game, it’s really ambitious, parts of it are really hard,…”

That is the actual quote. They are already working on it.

LucasRuinedChildhood45d ago (Edited 45d ago )

Yeah, a lot of people push fake narratives about NaughtyDog and misquote things. That quote is very straightforward.

https://twitter.com/MitchyD...
Above is the complete debunking of a false story that still gets spread around all the time. And the bad faith actors doing it also only pin it on Druckmann for some reason and ignore Straley. They want to portray Druckmann as an evil schemer, even when the false story they're spreading doesn't align with their narrative. They don't care about reality ...

SuckerPunch doesn't get even 1% of this criticism and they haven't provided any update whatsoever on their next game, and it's a sequel not a new IP, so turnaround would be quicker. That's not logical.

Markusb3345d ago

probably 7 years out at this point after wasting all that time on factions

Stuart575645d ago

Also, just off-topic slightly but..

Does anyone think that layoffs now may well be making space for AI integration of game development, and 'crunch-time', 'unsustainable', 'big budget' are all terms been used to butter us up to receiving the news that AI integration will help and maintain the level of AAA games that were accustomed to? Perhaps the layoffs were the devs that didn't join a union quick enough and if only they had the smarts of SAG members and strike while the time is right, before its too late?! Imagine DEV's on strike at a time like this, there's already a game drought.

isarai45d ago

Nah, quite literally every industry around is having layoffs.

shinoff218345d ago

I work in manufacturing. Layoffs here to. Especially people with no skill. I feel bad for them more then anything.

isarai45d ago (Edited 45d ago )

I work in advertisement, Im being laid off in may despite being the 3rd best on my team of 15 just under the team lead and assistant team lead, and the assistant team lead is out next week. Yet the last two years we've all been congratulated for record numbers. Times are weird.

shinoff218345d ago

Game drought. Lol what. I can't keep up. There's so many dope games releasing. I gotta ask what do you play

Stuart575645d ago

Not Naughty Dog games, not this gen. You know, Naughty Dog? Who the article is about?

+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 45d ago
Brazz45d ago

I hope they remember to make it realy fun to play.

FunAndGun44d ago

I hope it's extra woke and really fun to play.

Kneetos45d ago

And then Sony will lay off 900 more staff to save costs

Christopher45d ago

Is this supposed to be a big gotcha after Microsoft laid off 1,900 and we're ignoring that? Let alone the over 16,000 other layoffs from Microsoft in 2023?

Kneetos45d ago

This is an article talking about Sony, no one said anything about Microsoft

And we should always be reminded of it like people are doing with Microsoft, Sony shouldn't get a free pass either

Christopher45d ago (Edited 45d ago )

Yes, and this article is 100% about Sony firing people.

ND says new game is ambitious - until Sony lays off 900 more staff to save costs!
Sony publishes new gameplay video - until Sony lays off 900 more staff to save costs!
Sony announces weekend sale deals - until Sony lays off 900 more staff to save costs!

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210°

Uncharted Unreal Engine 5 Imagining From MachineGames-Indiana Jones Designer is a Sight to Behold

A stunning Uncharted Unreal Engine 5 imagining has been released, featuring cutscenes, platforming, combat, stealth, and vehicles.

Created by Daniel Arriaga, a level designer at MachineGames on the upcoming Indiana Jones game, this fan concept is a solo developer project.

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wccftech.com
RaidenBlack51d ago

to reiterate, this is just a hobby project by a single developer

isarai51d ago

As a one man project this is awesome as hell!

51d ago
lellkay51d ago

Impressive considering its a one man effort!

Nacho_Z51d ago

Nate looks like he's been charting the lost city of Marijuana.

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70°

Uncharted Love: How Nate & Elena Found Their Happily Ever After

This Valentine's Day got me thinking of some of my favorite video game couples. Specifically, Nate and Elena from the Uncharted Series.

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gameshorizon.com