WEBVTT 00:00:02.320 --> 00:00:08.220 Hi, I'm Mark Brown and this is Game Maker's Toolkit - a YouTube series about game design. 00:00:08.220 --> 00:00:13.669 A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of speaking to Evan Hill - a former level designer at 00:00:13.669 --> 00:00:18.750 Naughty Dog, who worked on one of my favourite parts of The Last of Us Part II. 00:00:18.750 --> 00:00:24.240 Evan was responsible for a level called The Birthday Gift: a level about Joel and Ellie's 00:00:24.240 --> 00:00:30.240 relationship that takes place in a nostalgic flashback, set between the events of the two games. 00:00:30.240 --> 00:00:32.080 Joel: "Happy Birthday, kiddo." 00:00:32.080 --> 00:00:39.020 So I set up a three-way Discord chat with me, Evan, and a mirror of my PS4 output - so 00:00:39.020 --> 00:00:43.190 he could provide commentary on his level as I played through it. 00:00:43.190 --> 00:00:44.480 And, you know what? 00:00:44.480 --> 00:00:48.670 The conversation was so interesting that I couldn’t think of a better way to do it 00:00:48.670 --> 00:00:53.720 justice than to simply share a, uh, heavily edited version of our chat. 00:00:53.720 --> 00:01:00.300 So, without further ado, let's just jump on in and find out how a level like this gets made. 00:01:01.480 --> 00:01:13.420 ♫ Guitar ♫ 00:01:13.420 --> 00:01:16.660 Mark: "So how does a level like this begin? 00:01:16.660 --> 00:01:22.580 Are you given a brief from Neil about what the level should be like, and what it should contain?" 00:01:22.580 --> 00:01:27.620 Evan: "So for this sequence, and a lot of sequences, all I got from Neil was two paragraphs. 00:01:27.630 --> 00:01:33.079 We had this big Excel spreadsheet of the game in its totality, what we needed, and there 00:01:33.079 --> 00:01:41.740 were two cells dedicated to the museum: we show that Joel taught Ellie to swim, and we 00:01:41.740 --> 00:01:45.119 have the thing in the museum where they confront each other about the fireflies. 00:01:45.119 --> 00:01:46.159 That was basically it. 00:01:46.159 --> 00:01:48.860 And from there they basically just said 'go'." 00:01:48.860 --> 00:01:54.360 Mark: "And so then are you drawing maps and sketches, or do you just go straight into 00:01:54.360 --> 00:01:55.630 the level creation tools?" 00:01:55.630 --> 00:01:58.869 Evan: "I tend to go straight into blockmesh. 00:01:58.869 --> 00:02:00.360 Most people at Naughty Dog tend to as well. 00:02:00.360 --> 00:02:03.789 One of the kind of truisms is that you only know if it works if it's in 3D. 00:02:03.789 --> 00:02:07.799 The simplest and quickest way is to just jump into the closest version of the final game." 00:02:07.799 --> 00:02:12.110 Mark: "And then in this blockmesh, do you have it so you can control Ellie with the 00:02:12.110 --> 00:02:15.610 PlayStation 4 controller and the same camera and things like that?" 00:02:15.610 --> 00:02:16.610 Evan: "Exactly. 00:02:16.610 --> 00:02:18.860 Same camera, same animations. 00:02:18.860 --> 00:02:23.640 Getting the exact camera proportions, getting the exact character controller in there is 00:02:23.640 --> 00:02:26.380 the big reason we do it like that. 00:02:26.380 --> 00:02:29.810 You're just able to get a sense of what it plays like." 00:02:29.810 --> 00:02:35.130 Mark: "So the level begins in this outdoor, very open area. 00:02:35.130 --> 00:02:40.380 How do you funnel the player in, and deal with tricky things like draw distance?" 00:02:40.380 --> 00:02:42.810 Evan: "Honestly it's a massive pain. 00:02:42.810 --> 00:02:47.850 Like you can kinda see here, the trick is to try and give the sense of boundlessness 00:02:47.850 --> 00:02:50.460 while always still producing natural barriers. 00:02:50.460 --> 00:02:53.780 Where it's like even if you were to jump in the water you'd get the feeling 'I'm not going 00:02:53.780 --> 00:02:57.010 to climb over all of that and crest that hill'. 00:02:57.010 --> 00:03:03.150 But the big takeaway answer is a lot of smoke and mirrors, a wonderful art team that knows 00:03:03.150 --> 00:03:06.280 to work within those constraints." 00:03:06.280 --> 00:03:11.200 Mark: "So the next part is kind of a tutorial because I think this is the first time we've 00:03:11.200 --> 00:03:13.400 seen Ellie swimming, right?" 00:03:13.400 --> 00:03:17.150 Evan: "Yes. First that Ellie has on-screen swam. 00:03:17.150 --> 00:03:21.810 Initially it was going to be an actual swimming lesson but as we iterated on it we figured, 00:03:21.810 --> 00:03:27.180 no, this could actually be a turn, a reveal that they've already done that. 00:03:27.180 --> 00:03:29.350 We've already accomplished this moment. 00:03:29.350 --> 00:03:34.040 And it gives Joel this really wonderfully dad-like tease with her." 00:03:34.040 --> 00:03:39.041 Mark: "Then we get to this fun reversal where Ellie pushes Joel in the water." 00:03:39.041 --> 00:03:40.780 Evan: "I think for a while it wasn't even a reversal. 00:03:40.780 --> 00:03:44.030 She was like hop in, all these other things. 00:03:44.030 --> 00:03:48.400 For a while after that it was also just going to be a cutscene and I actually had to personally 00:03:48.400 --> 00:03:51.600 harass Neil a little bit to be like 'can we keep the button in?' 00:03:51.600 --> 00:03:57.810 I think it adds a lot of value just being able to be the motivator for this small turnaround. 00:03:57.810 --> 00:03:58.810 Really adds a lot." 00:03:58.810 --> 00:04:03.100 Mark: "One of the things Naughty Dog is known for is guiding the player with things like 00:04:03.100 --> 00:04:05.850 weenies, and colour, and lighting. 00:04:05.850 --> 00:04:10.020 Are you still using those techniques on a more exploratory level like this one?" 00:04:10.020 --> 00:04:13.850 Evan: "The whole bucket is still getting thrown at everything all the time. 00:04:13.850 --> 00:04:18.190 I think the biggest one that's most prominent obviously is Joel leading you through the 00:04:18.190 --> 00:04:24.100 initial section of the level so he's just this constant sign, basically: 'go here! 00:04:24.100 --> 00:04:25.200 Follow me!' 00:04:25.200 --> 00:04:30.250 But then we flip it, like right here, where he actually stops and lets you push forward 00:04:30.250 --> 00:04:33.110 into the brush, you start looking towards the light. 00:04:33.110 --> 00:04:37.880 Because he's now, at this point in the narrative, just going 'okay, I'm going to let her wander 00:04:37.880 --> 00:04:38.880 into this. 00:04:38.880 --> 00:04:42.110 I'm going to stop leading.' He even shuts up and she's like 'what is it?' 00:04:42.110 --> 00:04:44.900 Ellie: "Oh my god! It is a dinosaur!" 00:04:44.900 --> 00:04:49.260 Evan: "Like here, even on the dinosaur, we try to use ivy and colour. 00:04:49.260 --> 00:04:53.760 You look at the tail and it's a brighter hue just to try and draw your eye and give you 00:04:53.760 --> 00:04:55.840 a sense of 'hey, this is secretly climbable. 00:04:55.840 --> 00:04:57.530 Hey, you can do this.' 00:04:57.530 --> 00:05:02.840 And again Joel is leading you around this so we're always at least hinting at the possibilities 00:05:02.840 --> 00:05:04.280 rather than leading you directly." 00:05:04.280 --> 00:05:08.560 Mark: "Climbing the dinosaur is definitely one of these fantastic moments in the level. 00:05:08.560 --> 00:05:09.970 How do these moment come about?" 00:05:09.970 --> 00:05:13.620 Evan: "Basically a lot of this came out in the walkthroughs. 00:05:13.620 --> 00:05:20.530 So I would do a layout and then we'd actually sit down with Neil and play it through, on 00:05:20.530 --> 00:05:23.150 the stick, and improv the characters. 00:05:23.150 --> 00:05:29.360 And actually from that improv, a lot of the memorable moments evolved by themselves. 00:05:29.360 --> 00:05:34.420 I had a really dirty version of the dinosaur - I mean really awful - even just seeing that, 00:05:34.420 --> 00:05:36.690 Neil's first question when he looked at it was 'can I climb it?' 00:05:36.690 --> 00:05:40.120 And so we were like 'yeah! Yeah, okay let's do that. Let's…" 00:05:40.120 --> 00:05:42.560 Ellie: *Yells* 00:05:42.560 --> 00:05:46.250 Mark: "When the player tries something like climbing the dinosaur, there's usually a funny 00:05:46.250 --> 00:05:49.270 or cute voice line in response. 00:05:49.270 --> 00:05:52.480 So what comes first, the dialogue or the level design?" 00:05:52.480 --> 00:05:58.080 Evan: "A lot of these wonderful lines were actually done kind of later in the process 00:05:58.080 --> 00:06:02.690 where Halley and Neil would come through, work with us on the level and scripting team, 00:06:02.690 --> 00:06:05.070 and figure out what would sell the moment best. 00:06:05.070 --> 00:06:10.480 And I think that's why everything feels so interlaced and grounded is because a lot of 00:06:10.480 --> 00:06:13.610 the dialogue is actually written in reaction to the art. 00:06:13.610 --> 00:06:18.060 The level designers will make something for navigation or some other purpose, and then 00:06:18.060 --> 00:06:24.050 the writers go in and fill out naturally with how the character's voice would describe that. 00:06:24.050 --> 00:06:28.110 Mark: "So tell me a bit about this introductory area in the museum." 00:06:28.110 --> 00:06:33.440 Evan: "So for this part we wanted to give a bit more of a neutral opening. 00:06:33.440 --> 00:06:38.240 So this is one of those examples of where we actually turn down a lot of those navigational 00:06:38.240 --> 00:06:39.740 techniques a little bit. 00:06:39.740 --> 00:06:44.000 So that you don't feel like you're being rail-roaded or there's some kind of golden path. 00:06:44.000 --> 00:06:46.870 But instead you're engaging with the space directly. 00:06:46.870 --> 00:06:50.930 You're the one actively trying to piece together and figure out what the space is." 00:06:50.930 --> 00:06:55.290 Mark: "So there's lots of things we can interact with in this part of the museum, but many 00:06:55.290 --> 00:06:57.120 of the interactions are really short. 00:06:57.120 --> 00:06:58.780 Was that intentional?" 00:06:58.780 --> 00:06:59.889 Evan: "Exactly. 00:06:59.889 --> 00:07:06.139 Because we're letting the player drive the pacing of this sequence, we wanted to keep 00:07:06.139 --> 00:07:10.419 each individual chunk as small and responsive as possible. 00:07:10.419 --> 00:07:16.510 So they're quippy, they're punchy, and it just gives you this you sense of 'well, if 00:07:16.510 --> 00:07:18.000 you want more you can turn another page. 00:07:18.000 --> 00:07:22.350 So I think the early area definitely primes you and it's like 'every little thing will 00:07:22.350 --> 00:07:24.750 be worth fiddling, or touching if you want to." 00:07:24.750 --> 00:07:30.590 Mark: "There's a nice example here of using the wall to reveal the upcoming dinosaurs. 00:07:30.590 --> 00:07:31.990 How do you create things like that?" 00:07:31.990 --> 00:07:36.840 Evan: "The main thing is we look at is, like you said, just trying to create interesting 00:07:36.840 --> 00:07:38.919 camera movements with the level geometry. 00:07:38.919 --> 00:07:44.190 So always ensuring that occluders, like you saw with the wall there, is sliding off and 00:07:44.190 --> 00:07:48.470 that's the thing that starts revealing all these interesting things rather than all there 00:07:48.470 --> 00:07:50.820 on display at one moment. 00:07:50.820 --> 00:07:53.900 The way we refine these things varies. 00:07:53.900 --> 00:07:57.051 So for the T-rex, for example, there were some instances where you'd be able to see 00:07:57.051 --> 00:07:59.810 the T-rex a little too early, or a little too soon. 00:07:59.810 --> 00:08:05.340 So trying to actually sculpt the doorway with the foliage so that when Ellie sees it and 00:08:05.340 --> 00:08:06.810 reacts is when you see it and react." 00:08:06.810 --> 00:08:10.130 Mark: "There's a lot of stuff in this level that player can interact with but they can 00:08:10.130 --> 00:08:14.490 also skip a whole bunch of it - how do you feel about players not seeing some of the 00:08:14.490 --> 00:08:15.490 content that you made?" 00:08:15.490 --> 00:08:21.650 Evan: "The main thing we were focusing on was this sense of confidence that it's okay 00:08:21.650 --> 00:08:26.080 if there isn't this perfect, singular experience of this level. 00:08:26.080 --> 00:08:30.300 A big part of it is this sense of freedom and this sense that you're the one driving 00:08:30.300 --> 00:08:31.300 this forward. 00:08:31.300 --> 00:08:35.430 And sometimes the result of that is just letting you be able to miss things. 00:08:35.430 --> 00:08:38.850 Letting you not see every nook and cranny. 00:08:38.850 --> 00:08:47.500 Because the main thing was if you force everyone to do everything, for some people it would drag. 00:08:47.500 --> 00:08:52.520 You want to be able to let the player go through as quickly or slowly as possible. 00:08:52.520 --> 00:08:57.130 And for the people who just want to run through, asking them to sit there and go through all 00:08:57.130 --> 00:09:01.050 these little cute things would have absolutely infuriated them." 00:09:01.050 --> 00:09:05.520 Mark: "As we move into this second part of the museum which is the space area, I was 00:09:05.520 --> 00:09:10.540 curious how much are you thinking ahead when you're doing the blockmesh, versus just putting 00:09:10.540 --> 00:09:12.960 down [nondescript], random blobs?" 00:09:12.960 --> 00:09:17.740 Evan: "For this level it was a good, healthy mix of just putting blobs in it. 00:09:17.740 --> 00:09:23.060 The early blockmesh really was just trying to figure out the density of the space. 00:09:23.060 --> 00:09:25.170 So we'd riff with Neil more. 00:09:25.170 --> 00:09:30.710 I just had this default, literal blob thing where I'd put this like 'ok cool, here's a 00:09:30.710 --> 00:09:33.250 point of interest, here's a point of interest, here's a point of interest. 00:09:33.250 --> 00:09:35.089 And from there we just kept iterating. 00:09:35.089 --> 00:09:38.510 This space area had, I think, three or four full revisions. 00:09:38.510 --> 00:09:45.020 After we got the pacing down, I think it was really the art team who kept coming up with 00:09:45.020 --> 00:09:49.000 really interesting ideas and then we came up with this final version." 00:09:49.000 --> 00:09:53.640 Mark: "I just noticed as I got off the Lunar Rover there, the camera swung around really 00:09:53.640 --> 00:09:56.779 nicely to frame the capsule. 00:09:56.779 --> 00:10:00.420 Is that a case of leading the player to the next part of the level?" 00:10:00.420 --> 00:10:01.420 Evan: "Absolutely. 00:10:01.420 --> 00:10:04.860 It's just finding little opportunities like that, any time you place something down in 00:10:04.860 --> 00:10:09.540 the level, where it's like 'alright, how do I get them to think about the next thing? 00:10:09.540 --> 00:10:13.390 How do I get them to… frame or otherwise reference it'. 00:10:13.390 --> 00:10:19.430 Sometimes it's in the writing, sometimes it's in the camera controls, but overall by this 00:10:19.430 --> 00:10:24.520 point, thankfully, a lot of players are just bought in to how this space works. 00:10:24.520 --> 00:10:25.520 They're just like 'oh, hey, cool'." 00:10:25.520 --> 00:10:31.100 Mark: "So the space capsule is obviously this huge, important part of the museum: how did 00:10:31.100 --> 00:10:32.100 that come about?" 00:10:32.100 --> 00:10:36.620 Evan: "Actually the sequence, in its very very early stages, was going to end here. 00:10:36.620 --> 00:10:41.280 It was just going to have Firefly graffiti, and it was going to be the big punch and that's it. 00:10:41.280 --> 00:10:44.900 But as we kept digging in to the minds of the characters in the pitches with Neil and 00:10:44.910 --> 00:10:48.589 the other writers, we just kept wanting to deliver more. 00:10:48.589 --> 00:10:55.220 We kept wanting to fully articulate this moment in Ellie's life where she's actually feeling 00:10:55.220 --> 00:10:57.570 herself, feeling unburdened and unhindered. 00:10:57.570 --> 00:11:01.800 From there I actually then started revising the level as is to lead up to this moment. 00:11:01.800 --> 00:11:04.160 To give it more space to breathe. 00:11:04.160 --> 00:11:06.630 Before the dinosaur was the high point. 00:11:06.630 --> 00:11:10.500 But now with this it's just a part of the build towards this sequence." 00:11:10.500 --> 00:11:14.860 Mark: "And then with this as the high point, we drop down to a very different tone for 00:11:14.860 --> 00:11:20.360 the next section which is dark and spooky, and has the confrontation in the relationship. 00:11:20.360 --> 00:11:23.620 It's almost like the level is built on a three act arc." 00:11:23.620 --> 00:11:24.760 Evan: "Exactly, exactly. 00:11:24.760 --> 00:11:28.910 It's like 'okay, cool, now that we know we want to deliver this moment, how do we pace 00:11:28.910 --> 00:11:29.910 it out? 00:11:29.910 --> 00:11:31.670 How do we build up the structure properly? 00:11:31.670 --> 00:11:36.300 And now that we have this extreme high note, what do we do to counteract it. 00:11:36.300 --> 00:11:39.390 How do we develop it… what's the third act after this?'" 00:11:39.390 --> 00:11:45.310 Mark: "Before we get to that though, we have to jump off of this cafe and down in the water. 00:11:45.310 --> 00:11:51.140 Is that a loading gate where you're unloading previous parts of the level to free up memory? 00:11:51.140 --> 00:11:52.320 How does that work?" 00:11:52.340 --> 00:11:53.760 Evan: "We definitely have loading gates. 00:11:53.779 --> 00:11:57.580 It's just that there was never a point where we looked at the budget and said 'we ran out 00:11:57.580 --> 00:12:00.430 of memory here so we need to put this in now'. 00:12:00.430 --> 00:12:04.101 Instead it's more this natural assumption that we're going to want to give them a break, 00:12:04.101 --> 00:12:07.660 we're going to want to give us some load time, some load pacing. 00:12:07.660 --> 00:12:09.839 And so let's find out where that will fit narratively. 00:12:09.839 --> 00:12:14.279 So after the capsule, we can take that down beat. 00:12:14.279 --> 00:12:15.440 So let's make it a traversal beat. 00:12:15.440 --> 00:12:19.339 That lets us unload and these other things, so the next thing that we do narratively can 00:12:19.339 --> 00:12:20.810 have the full bandwidth to do what it wants." 00:12:20.810 --> 00:12:26.210 Mark: "So Ellie and Joel have now split up and the level takes on a very different tone. 00:12:26.210 --> 00:12:28.460 Could you talk to me about this part of the level?" 00:12:28.460 --> 00:12:33.530 Evan: "I think we just wanted emotional variety, was the initial impetus. 00:12:33.530 --> 00:12:41.000 And then we also wanted to… as we kept exploring it deeper, we wanted it to lead into the conflicts 00:12:41.000 --> 00:12:44.780 in the relationship that have been peppered throughout the game so far. 00:12:44.780 --> 00:12:48.040 They had this amazing, wonderful experience. 00:12:48.040 --> 00:12:52.070 Everything up until this point was the perfect version of the relationship. 00:12:52.070 --> 00:12:55.149 And then okay, there's a dark side to this museum. 00:12:55.149 --> 00:12:58.930 There's a dark side to Ellie and Joel's relationship. 00:12:58.930 --> 00:12:59.930 There's an undercurrent there. 00:12:59.930 --> 00:13:03.520 There's something that's still gnawing at them. 00:13:03.520 --> 00:13:04.540 And right now it's vague. 00:13:04.540 --> 00:13:07.240 There's just this ominous graffiti. 00:13:07.240 --> 00:13:12.080 There's somebody who's very regretful of the decisions they've made in life. 00:13:12.080 --> 00:13:13.470 The violence they've enacted. 00:13:13.470 --> 00:13:17.610 The emotional weight of the actions I've been doing up until this point kind of got to somebody." 00:13:17.610 --> 00:13:22.640 Mark: "And the feeling of unease is emphasised by the fact that it feels like there's going 00:13:22.640 --> 00:13:26.300 to be a fight here, but there's actually no enemies whatsoever." 00:13:26.300 --> 00:13:31.740 Evan: "Just to even signal that it's a possibility is enough to get people to tense up. 00:13:31.740 --> 00:13:36.760 We're giving fake pick-ups, but there's no combat in here. 00:13:36.760 --> 00:13:42.980 The fact that everything in here is to combat metrics, quiet: this whole sequence is there, 00:13:42.980 --> 00:13:47.029 as I was talking about, to explore and set-up that tension that this relationship between 00:13:47.029 --> 00:13:52.000 Ellie and Joel has conflicts and defects that will can't be ignored. 00:13:52.000 --> 00:13:54.060 That will run you over. 00:13:54.060 --> 00:13:56.420 This helps us tie the good to the bad." 00:13:56.420 --> 00:13:57.720 Ellie: "I'm in here". 00:13:57.720 --> 00:14:03.630 Mark: "This level obviously fits in between two other levels - one before and one after. 00:14:03.630 --> 00:14:07.089 How do you maintain a consistent flow across the whole game?" 00:14:07.089 --> 00:14:12.180 Evan: "So it's just a matter of knowing who's in charge of each section. 00:14:12.180 --> 00:14:16.260 Always keeping abreast of what their needs and goals were. 00:14:16.260 --> 00:14:20.630 To start out it was really just knowing that this underground subway thing… this is going 00:14:20.630 --> 00:14:23.610 to be really, really, really intense. 00:14:23.610 --> 00:14:26.680 We're going to make this a big contrast point for this part of the game. 00:14:26.680 --> 00:14:31.480 Same with the sequence after where it's knowing that we're going into the sequence of rescuing Jesse. 00:14:31.480 --> 00:14:34.190 We're introducing dogs for the first time, and all these other elements! 00:14:34.190 --> 00:14:39.959 So that's when we started tooling with the boar jump scare, to re-tune the player to 00:14:39.959 --> 00:14:42.800 say 'we're going back now. 00:14:42.800 --> 00:14:43.800 Fun times are over. 00:14:43.800 --> 00:14:47.470 This is now going to get back to serious territory. Brace yourself." 00:14:47.470 --> 00:14:53.130 Mark: "So if it's even possible to quantify, how long do you think this level took to make?" 00:14:53.130 --> 00:14:55.850 Evan: "Pretty much two solid years." 00:14:55.850 --> 00:14:58.440 Mark: "Really?" Evan: "Really. 00:14:58.440 --> 00:15:04.090 The big secret for all of Naughty Dog level design is just iteration and work. 00:15:04.090 --> 00:15:07.630 We have a lot of fundamentals, but there are some sequences in this game that were re-done 00:15:07.630 --> 00:15:09.480 like 25 times. 00:15:09.480 --> 00:15:16.590 And the big secret for this level of quality is just that dedication, that level of work, 00:15:16.590 --> 00:15:21.899 that we'll be willing to do to scrap something that doesn't work and re-do it. 00:15:21.899 --> 00:15:27.630 To get this to this final version was two solid years, and my responsibility shifted 00:15:27.630 --> 00:15:29.640 pretty dramatically over that time. 00:15:29.640 --> 00:15:33.260 So initially it's just the block-out, it's just the layout. 00:15:33.260 --> 00:15:34.360 Working with the narrative design. 00:15:34.360 --> 00:15:39.550 Then as things get more and more concrete, my role shifts more and more into being producer." 00:15:39.550 --> 00:15:44.221 (Return to narration): And that's the thing, while Evan was the level designer, working 00:15:44.221 --> 00:15:48.170 under direction from the game's directors and lead designers - there was a whole team 00:15:48.170 --> 00:15:50.870 of people working with him on this area. 00:15:50.870 --> 00:15:56.459 Evan's simple blockmesh was turned into fabulous 3D models by David Baldwin and Sarah Swenson, 00:15:56.459 --> 00:16:00.610 which were then textured by Brian Beppu, and lit by Scott Greenway - and that's all going 00:16:00.610 --> 00:16:02.970 off ideas from concept artists. 00:16:02.970 --> 00:16:07.029 There were also people involved in adding effects, creating Ellie's animations, and 00:16:07.029 --> 00:16:08.630 scripting Joel's movements. 00:16:08.630 --> 00:16:13.110 And even more people were responsible for producing the level's cinematic moments. 00:16:13.110 --> 00:16:19.840 But what's bonkers is that each person may only work on a handful of areas in this massive game. 00:16:19.840 --> 00:16:24.880 For example, Evan made the museum, Ellie's second flashback, the section at the winter 00:16:24.890 --> 00:16:27.200 lodge, and a part with Abby and Owen. 00:16:27.200 --> 00:16:32.310 And that's it - other designers were able to focus of the game's many other areas. 00:16:32.310 --> 00:16:37.910 Which all makes it a bit tricky for me to glamorise a The Last of Us level on this channel. 00:16:37.910 --> 00:16:43.060 This sort of intricately hand-crafted process is just not financially feasible for many 00:16:43.060 --> 00:16:47.399 companies, outside of a rarified few like Rockstar and Naughty Dog. 00:16:47.400 --> 00:16:51.500 And judging by insider reports, it might not even have been particularly feasible for 00:16:51.500 --> 00:16:53.180 Naughty Dog, itself. 00:16:53.180 --> 00:16:55.190 Or Rockstar, for that matter. 00:16:55.190 --> 00:17:00.709 So as amazing as the final product is, it must come with the caveat that a lot of studios 00:17:00.709 --> 00:17:06.079 simply don't have the resources to produce something like this… in a 30 hour game… 00:17:06.080 --> 00:17:09.220 filled with levels made to an equally high level of quality. 00:17:09.220 --> 00:17:14.440 With that being said, the museum is packed with level design lessons that are applicable 00:17:14.440 --> 00:17:16.340 to games of any scale. 00:17:16.340 --> 00:17:20.579 Improv-ing as the characters to find moments that fit their personality. 00:17:20.579 --> 00:17:23.640 Having the confidence to let players miss things. 00:17:23.640 --> 00:17:28.580 Using art and geometry to guide the player's eye and frame the best moments. 00:17:28.580 --> 00:17:34.260 And having the feel of the level mimic the emotional journey of the character's relationship. 00:17:34.260 --> 00:17:39.120 Amazing stuff, all the way through - no wonder it's one of the best levels in the whole game. 00:17:41.940 --> 00:17:43.280 Thanks for watching! 00:17:43.289 --> 00:17:45.759 I want to give a huge thank you to Evan for talking to me. 00:17:45.759 --> 00:17:51.820 As always, the full, hour-long conversation is available to GMTK Patrons on the $5 tier. 00:17:51.820 --> 00:17:56.120 Also, thanks go to the level's environment artist Sarah who also chatted to me to help 00:17:56.120 --> 00:17:58.039 fill in some extra details. 00:17:58.039 --> 00:18:02.830 In case it needs to be said: this video is not in any way sponsored by PlayStation or 00:18:02.830 --> 00:18:03.830 Naughty Dog. 00:18:03.830 --> 00:18:08.211 I know this sort of insider access can sometimes be misconstrued as marketing for the game 00:18:08.211 --> 00:18:09.720 - but that's not the case. 00:18:09.720 --> 00:18:10.840 I'm just a fan. 00:18:10.840 --> 00:18:15.539 Cheers to all GMTK Patrons for funding this sort of content! You're amazing.