Ripten's Uncharted Interview Tease: "The Machine is a Beast"

Ripten:

"We are very lucky at Ripten to be joined by Naughty Dog's Lead Character Artist, Richard Diamant, for an exclusive interview about his work on Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. Richard also divulges on the game's art style, animation, and technical details never revealed before. After his views on improvements for Naughty Dog's next game, we wander onto the advantages of Blu-ray and their relationship with Insomniac. Enjoy this preview of our three part interview."

[PStriple703]

you darn right it's a beast and so is uncharted

[BrianC6234]

I think anyone who questions the power of the PS3 should check out Heavenly Sword. I recently started playing it again to try and finish it and I couldn't believe the fight scene towards the end. It's the one where you have to kill 500 soldiers. They're surrounding you on the screen. I never saw a single problem with the video during that fighting. Maybe Heavenly Sword should get talked about more. It is a short game but what's there is really good. I don't think any other console could handle that fight scene.

[Shankle]

There was a problem with Heavenly Sword - I found myself trying to get through the levels as quickly as I could so I could get to a cutscene. Yes, it's partly because loads of the cutscenes are hilarious, but also because the gameplay is a bit naff.

[BrianC6234]

"but also because the gameplay is a bit naff."

A bit naff? Does that mean too much fun? I really liked the gameplay in Heavenly Sword. Especially the parts where you guide the arrows at the enemies. The motion controls in Heavenly Sword were really good.

[Shankle]

The gameplay was fun for a while but ended up being repetitive and limited.

[techie]

There's two whole questions and answers here - so looks like an interview to me. Already better than some of the other crap interviews that have made it onto here.

[HowarthsNJ]

I find it interesting that ND raised the polycount for their models while COD4's IW lowered their polycount and used just normals mapping to create all the surface details.

I know ND used normals mapping too, but it would be nice to know what the benefits to each method are. Both look great.

[titntin]

To explain the differences between normal mapping and actualy having more polygons is difficult without showing you pictures!

Imagine a sphere thas fairly low polygon - if you ignore surface deatils for the moment, just looking at the edges, the profile of it as it sits on its background colour, you can see that it's made of straight edges. Increase the number of polygons that constitute the sphere to high level, and theres so many straight edges that the profile looks smooth and curved, even though in reality its still made up from lots and lots of staright edges.

The other issue with low polgon detail, is to do with the way light reacts and falls over a surface. Normally the lighting is calculated for each polygonal face on the surface, so for a low polygon model, there are a lot less lighting calculations and the result is that light doesn't scatter over a surface as smoothly and realistically as you would want. With a much higher polygon count, theres a lot more lighting 'samples' and the resulting lighting is smoother.
Normal mapping, stops a rendering engine from calculating its lighting based on the angle of a polyigonal face. Instead a model has a 'texture assigned to it in a similar way to the maerial texture, but this 2D texture map tells the rendering engine how to light the model at that point. So the 'smoothness' of the lighting is no longer controlled by each face and its angle to the light, but is rather controlled by each pixel value supplied by the 'normal map', so it the resolution of the lighting calculation is now controlled by the number of texture pixels on the surface of the model, rather than the number of polyginal faces it contructed off. This allows you 'draw' features that are not actually modelled into the model at all - so when you see lots of material folds and stiching seams in clothes, or lots craggy lines in an old face, these details are not physically present in the model - they are supplied by the normal map, and as such, they light realistically and behave as if they were phyiscally based.

Normal mapping has been a revelation for graphic fidelity in this generation of machines, and brings fantastically detailed models that light correctlty into our games. But it does not help the issue of straight edged profile. To take our case of the low poloygon sphere I mentioned earlier, you can apply a fantatically detailed normal map to it to make its surface look amazingly craggy as if make of millions of polygons - but the profile edges of the sphere will still have straight line edges.
So to achieve the kind of results they have got with uncharted's charcters, you need a very high polgon count so that you can't see straight lines when looking at the edge profile, and additionally yoiu can add extra details like facial creases with a normal map.

I hope this long winded explanation gives you some insight - I did my best to keep it brief and I simplified some of the concepts a bit!

[Gamingisfornerds]

How more often is someone from Naughty Dog going to repeat this pure marketing babble. This is ridiculous, honestly.

We know, the PS3 is very powerfull. I love my PS3 too, but this is just laying it on a bit too thick.

[techie]

Have you read the interview? Doesn't sound like it. Sound's like you only read the title like the typical bottom of the barrel scum we get on N4g.

So you come on. How many times have we heard drones arguing about a title?

[mullet]

They could say whatever the hell they want about it although I'd rather hear more about Uncharted 2.

[techie]

By the sounds of it...I think that's to come mullet.

[Gamingisfornerds]

Now if they actually gave some decent info on Uncharted 2 It'd be more than welcome, but this nonsense? Please.

Sorry for hurting your feelings, but this is spam. Period.

"Sound's like you only read the title like the typical bottom of the barrel scum we get on N4g."

Lol, whatever dude. I think you could do with some self-reflection and read up on some of my posting here on N4G.

[chrno6]

u know...the whole interview is not just about him praising the ps3. It's only 1 of the 99 things he talks about in the interview.

[techie]

spam? You're spam. This is just a snippet of the full interview as far as I can tell, and I'm glad they let me know about this interview, because I'm sure I would have missed it tomorrow.

The only nonsense in here is your spiel. So now you've read it, how much is the interview about "the power of the PS3"? Not very much is it. PFT.

[Gamingisfornerds]

It just shows the kind of environment N4G really is. and it's not healthy.

Why won't we just start posting previews of previews of interviews next. And what about rumours of previews of interviews coming?!

Again, if you can't see what's wrong with posting stuff like this. We're done talking here.

[techie]

Quit changing the subject. This is fine for n4g, in fact it's so much above the general content - even if it is a "preview" that I'm surprised you even care.

ps. I care not of your "reputation". You want n4g history? You're looking at it.

[Anego Montoya FTMFW]

Gamingisfornerds IS spam.

deep FTMFW.

[The_Engineer]

of lame attempt at damage control? sit back and watch the PS3 train pass you by, kid.

[titntin]

Are you for real?
A small snippet of an interview it may be, but its by far the most interesting thing I've read today on N4G. As a games artist myself I'm blown away by the revelation that their character models are up to 30K polygons.
That's insane, and for me at least, news I'm actually intrested in instead more fan boy flame bait like most of the poor submissions here.

If you don't find the news interesting, then simply pass it by and leave it to those of us who have found it intresting.

The fact you've found it necessary to comment in here 3 times when you don't even find the story intresting, is a pretty sad reflection on your social life...:)

[SSCOOLCHEA]

just like the first resident evil , everybody should play this game just once to see how incredible it is .

[AceLuby]

And just like RE, I found it very difficult to not play it again once I was finished...

[krik]

@SSCOOLCHEA

So true :)
Bubbles for you. This is a game that deserves to be played. I actually got all 1000 medals points in 2 runs and a few extra chapter to finish some achievements. My total play time with the game was upwards of 25 hours... not bad for $60.

[OldGamer]

I agree. Love it and can't wait for part 2.

[power of Green]

Lair devs were bigger cheerleaders you have to admit that.

[Rice]

The cell is a monster.

[CrazzyMan]

gamers don`t buy words, gamers buy what they see.
uncharted show amazing results, but damn, i want that level graphics like in the CGI advertising of the game!
http://www.gametrailers.com...

[mighty_douche]

dude for a good contributor why do you always seem to get so much sh!t?!

[techie]

o_O

[eagle21]

This game is magic. Naughty Dog did an awesome job! (understatement..lol)

[Iamback]

How come Insomniac is able to produce 1 game per year, but Naughty Dog isn't? Lets not forget that this two studios are like twin brothers, this is why i ask this.
Sure maybe Uncharted engine is more impressive than Insomniac engine used on Resistance and Ratchet but still i would like them to make that one game per year since they are one of my top 3 favorite developers.
So to get back on topic. next Naughty Dog game will be released in 09(according to them and Surfer Girl said same fall 09 Uncharted 2, not Jak & Daxter).
In end to repeat question.Why Naughty Dog can't make one game per year like Insomniacs(yeah irony about that name, maybe they really don't sleep)

[Anego Montoya FTMFW]

i thought the same thing.

honestly,

INSOMNIAC is making everyone step up their game development

and since these 2 studio are always mentioned w/ one another, INSOMNIAC will un-intentionally make Naughty step it up.

Insomniac is the NOW the KING, and the KING has NOW set the STANDARD.

which is great for us.

[HowarthsNJ]

being that they've made so many R&C games in the past. That and the fact that the game engine had already gone though 95% of it development for Resistance.

The engine only needed tech improvements like texture streaming etc and it was ready to go for Ratchet.

I would guess that ND's Uncharted engine took a bit longer to complete as did Uncharted itself.

Development can only begin again once they figure out what the next story and assets are going to be not to mention sleep or long restful holidays for all.

[krik]

Insomniac has 2 game development teams working on R&C and Resistance. It's impressive how productive Insomniac is and it's amazing how hard the 2 game dev teams push the engine team to deliver. Their version 2 engine (R&C) seems to be 4 times more powerful than version 1 (Resistance 1). For version 2, they doubled the frame rate, multiplied the number of enemies on the screen by 3 or more and added high-res textures (including a pretty smart hard drive based texture caching/streaming). Those guys are Gods.

Also I think ND is smaller then Insomniac.

[jorellpogi]

We can assume that Insomiac is a larger company than ND. I don't mind waiting till 09 for the release of ND's game.

[Anego Montoya FTMFW]

b3li3v3

[Statix]

The cutscene models are the same as the in-game? Gimme a break, there's no way that's true. It wouldn't even be practical, because you don't need that level of detail when the in-game character only takes up like 5% of the screen area. There's no reason to sacrifice performance like that when you don't have to.

[krik]

Well, I can see you never played the game, otherwise you would know it's true...

[Bathyj]

Why so angry Pal? Only got an Xbox?

[AIZEN SOZUKE]

so no, the pc wouldnt be able to do it either

we ps3 gamers arent "console" gamers

we are supercomputer gamers

play b3yond

[AngryHippo]

....man i am so freaking glad i own a ps3 to have played such a brilliant game. Seriusly top class. Can't wait for the sequel. Hell yeah.

[felidae]

lol@360

[lucas107]

i just hate every interview of anyone related to any ps3 game the devs have to say it couldnt be done on anything else and they need the power of the cell and bluray. i think for most games this is not true. the mgs4 guy (cant remember his name) said they could put mgs4 on the 360 if they wanted to. and thats like ps3's flagship game. i love my ps3 but i hate how ps3 devs always have to mention its power while you never hear anything like that for 360 games you only ever hear about the game.

[kingnick]

Generally it's only Sony owned devs that make a big song and dance about how much better the PS3 is, that’s not to say the features aren’t great but they aren’t anywhere near the big deal first party developers make them out to be.

ND and the rest of the Sony exclusive studios would have never looked at a 360 as there's no way they were ever going to develop for it.

The Criterion Games PS3 vs. Xbox360 podcast had more merit and was somewhat impartial which is something you'll never get from a developer exclusive to one platform.

Praising another platform isn't going to help Uncharted sell only pointing out all the PS3's positives while neglecting the negative will help sales to fanbois.

If I was to say every PS3 owner should own this game then technically the same could be said about GeoW and Bioshock but none of these games bought much innovation to the table.

[titntin]

You are talking utter bullsh*t I'm afaraid.
For the last year or so I've heard nothing but phrases like 'GOW could not be done on any other machine' and 'this game can only be done with power of 360'. Some of these statements are routinely msade by the developers - like the assetion that 'Splinter cell convictions AI could not be done on the PS3' or Gabe Newall's pathetic rambling anti PS3 outbursts.

So your assertions are provable lies.

Both these platforms are excellent pieces of high tech kit, and to get the best out of them requires huge amounts of dedicated skillful work and inspiration. If you do manage to unlock some of that huge potential after so much time and effort, you are entitled to crow about it a bit! Its human nature to be proud of what you have achieved, and as a developer myself, I reserve the right o be insanely proud of my work when I think it warrents it!

As for your assertion that most games can be done on either platform, thats simply not true of many games developed specifically for the PS3 feature set, and you obviously know very little about games development in general. Many PS3 games released so far have used considerably more storage than DL DVD can handle - even some of the release titles like 'resistance'. With each KZ2 level taking 2 to 3 gig of data, try telling guerilla they could fit that title on a DVD.
As for the cell, a game engine written to specifically use some of the spu power on tap would have a really hard time being moved to an alternate platform - it would certainly have to be coded from the ground up again to get a similar result, or coded on both platforms at at the same time to achieve parity, as Criterion recently managed with Burnout Paradise. For this game in particular, its hard to see how it could be implemented on the 360. I certianly have not see a 360 game of this scope where all the characters are 25-30K. Thats some serious poly pushing power, and its obvious their engine is not simply using the GPU to push polys and is correctly tapping some spu power to do triangle and lighting calculations etc...

However you look at it, a developer managing to produce such a technically excellent piece of software, is entitled to be proud of the hardware potential he's unlocked in order to do it.

[jcgamer]

an instant classic...

[nicholascage24]

were so realistic.

I have never seen anything as realistic as Uncharted on consoles

[Whoooop]

How bout a "spoiler alert" for our fellow dark siders* that haven't play this masterpiece...

:)

[The_Engineer]

is the fact that Uncharted 2 will look better than the cutscenes in the first. NOW THAT'S POWER. By next year it won't even be a contest anymore in how far the PS3 will have left the 360 in the dust.

[Figboy]

the cutscenes are all *IN GAME, so that's a funny statement to me. lol.

it's hard to believe that the sequel to Uncharted will look better than the first, but the history of consoles have shown this to *ALWAYS be true, as developers learn new tricks and ways to optimize the hardware.

if one year into the Playstation 3's lifecycle, we're getting games like Heavenly Sword, Ratchet and Clank Future, and Uncharted, i can't imagine what the end of *THIS year will hold, and games coming in 2009! it's going to be absurd!

[tony]

i only hope the developers start taking more advantage of the processing power of the ps3.

[AIZEN SOZUKE]

the game could be on 180, just not the same visuals, and a much smaller game

[HarryEtTubMan]

Resistance 2 is gonna show people whats up

[M0KILLaU]

I finished it today, kind of short(9hrs), but after COD4 i would have to say it's the best game i've played yet.

[rootEXT]

I played and killed UNCHARTED and i can't wait for the sequel. I have 1000 pts and i love big fat Doughnut Drake

Good job Naughty Dog thanks for one of the greatest games in 2007

JUMP IN PLAY BEYOND

[wh0am1]

Uncharted is just one amazing game;graphics, gameplay, and story are just top notch.
I can't wait to see what the guys at Naughty Dog can do with their next game!!!!