Game: Uncharted, The Lost Legacy
What are core phases of development?
Inception – Inception is the phase of development where initial ideas are being discussed and created, sometimes these ideas are based off market research so that the development team have a clear direction of what to create and how to make it stand out.
Pre-Production – Pre-Production is where all the planning takes places, during pre-production the team will take the idea and begin to come up with concepts for the initial idea, there will be a producer who makes documents such as a production schedule or a game design document so the team knows what milestones there are when they enter the production phase.
Production – Production is where most of the work takes place in terms of practicality. Concepts become a reality and the project is full steam ahead, there are often various milestones to hit in this phase such as having a minimal viable product, alpha test, beta test etc. The team will also look at marketing the game once it is in a viable state to be marketed. This could be done a number of ways such as events like E3, influencers / streamers and promotional material such as web ads, posters, tv ads.
Post-Production – Generally at this point the game is about to be released and developers begin to plan for the games after release such as patches for bug fixes, extending the games longevity with DLC, post-release marketing and customer engagement through social media.
Why is each phase important?
Each phase of development is crucial because it allows you to plan and execute effectively. Without proper planning, the company run the risk of attempting to create something with no clear direction and losing out on time and money.
How might different job roles contribute differently at different phases of the project?
A good example of how job roles contribute differently at different phases of the project could be that an artist has created a concept art to work off when it comes to creating the asset for the game, they may even pass the concept art on to someone who’s primary skill is 3D modelling and give them details on how that should be modelled and what the texture should look like on that model.
What is the role of a Producer across the project?
The producers role across the project is to ensure that everything is running smoothly and to time on the project so they will need good organizational skills and time management. As an example, the animator can’t animate with a 3D model so the producer will have it so that once the 2D artist has passed the concept art to the 3D artist and the 3D artist has done their work, that gets moved on to the animator. It’s all about ensuring a smooth workflow in order to meet milestones.
My skills on this particular project may be useful as a game designer or a producer, as someone who has played a lot of action-adventure games, I know what to expect when I go into playing one, this may not necessarily translate directly into the job but I know how the games work and what kind of design we would look at when it comes to a game like Uncharted: The Lost Legacy.
Uncharted has always been a franchise that has been as close to realistic as possible, from the walking styles, the environments and combat to the discovery of landmarks and reactions to conflict, With Uncharted, every punch can be felt and every heartbeat in the stealthiest moments makes the player come to life and draws them in for the ultimate sense of concentration and that is the kind of grasp I would want to create on this project. I would achieve this by utilizing the technology that is available. The DualSense controller is a fantastic piece of kit that contains haptic feedbacks, an inbuilt speaker and best of all Adaptive Triggers.
Uncharted contains a lot of different weapons from assault rifles, pistols to melee weapons such as machete’s and knuckle dusters and as you’d expect, each individual weapon makes the character react differently and the player should feel that too. By the use of Adaptive Triggers and Haptic Feedback, I’d make it so each guns trigger had a different weight to it and the haptics would rumble as a single shot for semi automatic and continuous for full automatic, furthermore, if the weapon is suppressed, that haptic feedback isn’t as intense as the weapon without a suppressor.
Uncharted is a game that contains a lot of adventure but is still very linear in terms of the story, the design of the game though doesn’t make you feel constrained, they use big open area’s and complex puzzles to make the area seem bigger than what it actually is and a lot of thought has gone behind this, where do we place this piece of the puzzle and where is the lever to activate the puzzle, all of this is specifically designed to create a sense of space, larger than what it actually is.
As always, it wouldn’t be an Uncharted game without climbing to do, as with any other video game, these spots need to be made obvious so the player knows where to go and knows that they are able to interact with that particular object, every now and then if the player is lost, there will normally be a hint sound followed by a quick movement of the camera.
So above all else, I would use my knowledge of the game genre and technology available to allow me to slot into that role. A game designer isn’t necessarily a role that you can just walk into, so in order to obtain the role, I would submit my portfolio of games I have made / designed myself to the employer (in this case, Naughty Dog). My portfolio wouldn’t just include the games I’ve created but it would show how I’ve created them and techniques I have used to build immersion through game engines and technology and also showcase the worlds I have created.
As a game designer, when it comes to the production pipeline, we are normally involved throughout the whole pipeline, from inception all the way through to post production. During Inception, we will share ideas and see what’s achievable and what kind of designs we’re going for, is it going to be stylized? is it going to be realistic? What’s the setting of the game, is it futuristic, modern, set in the past, there will be loads of questions asked during the inception stage as we decide on an idea.
Going in to pre-production, the game designer will over-see all of the concepts being created to make sure that everything is on the same wavelength, like a concept artist might be working on a medieval knight but the game we are creating is a neo-futuristic open world game so you could find a way to incorporate that idea into the games setting and then provide feedback, its all about communication from this point forward.
Production is where the fun begins, you will be overseeing the projects design and watching it all unfold and working with everyone in the studio. Making sure the 3D models match the style of the game as you have envisioned it and that each animation for every model makes sense, the way they move when they’re idle and the way the characters walk. Making sure the level designer has done a block-out and making sure its playable to the point where you can fully navigate the area. Putting the story into the game and how the story is told throughout the games assets is a crucial part of being a game designer and the whole purpose is to make the player ask those questions of what happened here and whats going to happen later on.
What is the role of QA across the project?
QA, better known as Quality Assurance, exists across the project to ensure that every asset made is to a substantial standard and fits in with the design of the project, as well as making sure the gameplay feels nice and attempt to identify bugs.
What could the company do to increase the lifespan of the product?
The company could provide post-launch DLC as a starting foundation in terms of extending the longevity of the game, but without that, there is loads of content the developer can create for the game such as collectibles, side-quests and different characters to play as. This increases the replay ability of the game and makes it successful beyond the core gameplay itself. There is also no reason why a single player developer can try its hand at multiplayer content, as an example Naughty Dog done this with Uncharted 2 and The Last of Us.
Why is it important for the company to consider the lifespan of the product?
It is important for the company to consider the lifespan of the product because they need to figure out how long they can support the product for before they lose out on time to begin working on a new product. As they say in the industry, time is money and although time may be infinite, money runs out. Is this game going to be profitable a year after release, even with DLC releases and adding new features such as multiplayer, how can we expand on the multiplayer aspect such as Battle Pass’s.
JORDAN | GLITCH ARCADE 