LAST CALL FOR QUESTIONS FOR NAUGHTY DOG!!

22 Nov

You may remember previously that we asked for questions for a Q&A with the Naughty Dog team. These will be going off tomorrow morning, so if you have any questions for the chaps then send them in via the email and we will get them answered.

In: Uncategorized by: Three Speech Nov 22, 2007 @ 2:59 pm

43 Comments

Will there be any DLC content for Uncharted and what about a multiplayer?

Comment by Andrew — Nov 22, 2007 @ 3:02 pm
Yeah multiplayer… and how, roughly, is the game’s length?

Comment by Fraser JK — Nov 22, 2007 @ 3:31 pm
If yous were making a new Jak and Daxter would Daxter be all furry and detailed in it? I can’t imagine how detailed the chracters would be in it. Also can we expect something similar to the transition from Jak1 to Jak2 when talking about teh sequel to Uncharted? I could just imagine a city with Nathan running around it in the way Haven was to Jak 2.

Comment by Andrew Tuite — Nov 22, 2007 @ 3:57 pm
1. On developing on the PS3 : If Sony decided to increase the number of Cell processors and SPUs in a future release of the hardware, would Uncharted automatically take advantage of these new capabilities or would it just run at the same pace.

2. How long ( months or years ) did it take the programmers to really feel comfortable with the PS3 and it’s architecture?

3. In terms of percentages of time spent, how much was spent on
a) pre-production/proto-typing
b) design
c) actual development with programmers, artists etc
d) game play tweaking

4. Is this the only original IP the ND will be working on this generation?

5. When will the next Jak hit the PS3?.

6. Do you guys need a tea boy?

Comment by Savage — Nov 22, 2007 @ 4:05 pm
Designing the 3D polygonal medals & rewards for Uncharted, was this done so you could use the same resource for trophies in Home? As in, the patch that will eventually add Home trophies to Uncharted won’t need to come included with heavy graphic files for the trophies?

Thanks for your time.
Wollan

Comment by Wollan — Nov 22, 2007 @ 4:10 pm
From a developers point of view, are the costs involved in developing for a console as advanced as the PS3 a problem, do they put constraints on development period to such a degree that you really need to get a game out to recoupe development costs, or do you just keep going untill you feel there is nothing more to do, I say that because what happens if you get so far into a game like uncharted and you decide its a turkey( I know it wont be), but you’ve spent so much on developement costs already. Games like killzone 2 make it hard to believe there would be any profit in something costing that much to develope.

Hope thats not to weird a question

Comment by Mark Newsome — Nov 22, 2007 @ 4:42 pm
@2

If Sony brought out an upgraded PS3 which would alienate all of us… I can imagine them being VERY unpopular…

Comment by Terry — Nov 22, 2007 @ 4:55 pm
Will there be a new Crash Bandicoot on PS3? That would be so amazing. Loved that guy on my Ps1 *memories*.

Keep up the fantastic work ND!

Comment by intre — Nov 22, 2007 @ 5:17 pm
Is there a new Jak game on the horizon for the PS3??? The previous three were way better than the Ratchet and Clank series IMHO

BTW Thank ND on my behalf for so quickly fixing the Uncharted US PSN region lock… most impressed

Comment by Pauly454 — Nov 22, 2007 @ 5:28 pm
Why does Sony hate Europe? I mean Microsoft can release there 1st and 2nd party titles around the world with in a day or two of release but Sony there is a minimum of 4 weeks delay.

Also why cant Sony release ENGLISH content on the UK store at the same time that the USA gets it? Is here any chance of people from OUTSIDE THE US (yes I know apparently there are people that like the playstation outside of the USA) will be able to BUY content from the US store?

Comment by Carl — Nov 22, 2007 @ 6:27 pm
@ Terry : Why would it alienate you? All they would be doing is increasing the power of the PS3. Personal Computers are updated and become more powerfull every month and are released just as often. If they release a PS3 machine that is more powerfull, but is still backwards compatible with PS3 games, why would that cause a problem.

Comment by Savage — Nov 22, 2007 @ 6:30 pm
Savage becaus eth CURRENT PS3 owners wont be able to play the new games

Comment by Carl — Nov 22, 2007 @ 6:46 pm
Will Uncharted 2 have bigger Crysis like environments?

Comment by snake — Nov 22, 2007 @ 7:04 pm
also @ 2, I dont even think any game has used 50% of the available power from the PS3 yet maybe when they are finnaly hitting the mid 90’s it will be time for a new console from sony.

Comment by BENNE77 — Nov 22, 2007 @ 7:13 pm
@8.

Ps3 players will be able to play Ps3 games,
New hardware would simply improve performance (like with newer PC’s etc)

Obviously Any games/future games would have to be fully compatible with the Ps3’s most of us already have,

otherwise if non compatible software was ever released th enew system would not be able to be released under the PS3 title (it would have to be the Ps4 etc)

Think Xbox 360 / and the 360 Elite..

Comment by Godfather Obie — Nov 22, 2007 @ 7:16 pm
Hi Naughty Dog’s team!

I very much enjoy your jaw dropping game for several days now. I haven’t had so much fun for a long time, coupled with an extreme feeling of technical satisfation. Sound is awsome in DTS, it looks like playing a blockbuster movie.

2 questions.

1)There are still technical issues I’m a bit disaponited in. One thing I hate in a lot of next gen games are “screen tearing”, and it happends to be quite a lot in the retail version I have. What do you think about this very problem, and do you think you’ll overcome this ugly problem in the future to succeed in a perfectly smooth experience?

2) I ‘m very upset about the game being censored on japanese consoles. I have 2 PS3 in 2 different locations. One is Euro and the other is Jap. I move from location A to B quite often, and I just CAN’T bring my save files to continue my game, for there NOT compatible with the very same game on 2 different consoles! this is a very big deal I think. Do you plan making a patch for that? or am I stuck playing at one location or play the game twice from the beginning from 0?

Well, anyway, two thumbs up for your fantaxtic game, and cross my fingers for a sequel or another new fantastic IP from you! you saved the end of the year for PS3!!!

WK

Comment by Willykyu — Nov 22, 2007 @ 7:32 pm
I suppose my question would be:

For their next game, will they be working on a direct sequal to uncharted or will it be something different?

My second question is now they have the technology, will we see the next Naughty Dog game in 2008, or will it take a couple of years.

Comment by Eararaldor — Nov 22, 2007 @ 7:48 pm
You do realise they said send ‘via email’ not on here. -_-

Comment by Mac — Nov 22, 2007 @ 7:50 pm
Carl, current owners will have the option to upgrade to the more powerful PS3, if they so desire, with their wallets.

But I now see that this could be spiralling into a PC scenario and is probably what killed off PC games.

Comment by Savage — Nov 22, 2007 @ 8:06 pm
Spoiler Alert!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Might Uncharted 2 explain why the preson inside the golden el dorado tomb was cursed and who they were

Comment by Greg004 — Nov 22, 2007 @ 8:31 pm
@ Eararaldor : Hopefully they will alternate between projects, because if anything Insomniac have proved is that by not sticking to the same game in a row, they are able to produce a better quality product. It also helps the creative juices to have to think about a different IP.

Comment by Savage — Nov 22, 2007 @ 8:44 pm
On a side note : Uncharted is featured in this, if I do say so, excellent fan advert that highlights PS3 exclusives…
http://www.gametrailers.com/player/usermovies/132690.html

Comment by Savage — Nov 22, 2007 @ 9:41 pm
@14:

It’s a little sad seeing fans having to justify their expensive console purchases by making their own video adverts for exclusive games on their consoles.

Through no fault of their own, they’re attempting to do Sony’s job for them, since Sony is quite happily continuing to screw their fan-base at every possible turn in this twisted and bizarre generation of the PlayStation console.

I don’t see X360 owners being so desperate to justify their console’s existence, except maybe to make videos of how much MORE exclusives there are on the Microsoft console as opposed to the Sony one.

Comment by Zed Zee — Nov 22, 2007 @ 10:24 pm
@ Zed Zee, people make fan made trailers for everything… its not justifying their purchase, its just something they’re passionate about.

Comment by Tom Eccles — Nov 22, 2007 @ 11:23 pm
Any chance of you buying the rights to Crash back! Those games were truly great when they were made by Naughty Dog! They have just gone down the pan now.

Cheers,
Rob F

Comment by Rob F — Nov 23, 2007 @ 12:36 am
ignoring the waffle of fanboy antic posts above… A REAL QUESTION:

During the creation of the game from the scenery up to Drake himself, which parts did you enjoy doing the most & felt were the most rewarding looking back on the finished product now?

Comment by Static-X — Nov 23, 2007 @ 1:21 am
Insomniac is supposedly going to release a ratchet game every 2 years as well as the resistance titles every 2 years. Do you plan on following a yearly release schedule like this, similar to what you did on ps2? Perhaps an Uncharted game one year, then a Jak and Daxter the next?

Comment by Blake — Nov 23, 2007 @ 4:15 am
Why can’t developers fix the tearing issues? All it takes is another frame buffer - not a 50% drop in frame-rate as most developers keep saying.

Please just say ‘we needed the memory’, but don’t keep lying by saying ‘an occasional tear vs massive slowdown’.

Comment by MPZ — Nov 23, 2007 @ 4:29 am
What games do you guys play in your spare time(besides Uncharted of course)?

Thanks
So’o F

Comment by blitz3092 — Nov 23, 2007 @ 5:54 am
And ZedZee, I don’t see PS3 fans hanging around on 360 forums trying to do Sony’s job of selling their system to the opposition’s fans. Seriously, why do you guys spend so much time trolling every Sony-related site?

Comment by Baptiste — Nov 23, 2007 @ 6:54 am
Q: Where did the name ‘Naughty Dog’ originate?

Comment by rooee — Nov 23, 2007 @ 8:19 am
@ Zee Dee, So a video made by a ps3 user to promote his console is desperation, but a video made by a 360 owner to promote their console is just showing how great it is ?

Zee Dee, you really are a troll, if 360 owners like you were so not worried about the PS3, and how powerful the PS3 is, you wouldnt need to troll a ps3 site attempting to bad mouth it every chance you get. 360 owners seem to forget the utter drivel we were forced to play on the 360 when it first came out and with the exception of GOW and PGR 3 nothing of note came out in the first year worth playing.

Comment by Mark Newsome — Nov 23, 2007 @ 9:41 am
@21

Because the Head of the company had a dog that pooped everywhere and he always made bad mess..so his owner called it a naughty dog…and now whenever he had employees or friends who did bad - they were called naughty dogs…

and so Naughty dog began in a ploom of ash and smoke and rose a dog poo made of gold!

Comment by JohnSketch — Nov 23, 2007 @ 10:31 am
@ All - Thanks for all the questions guys. Should be good to see what comes back…

Comment by Three Speech — Nov 23, 2007 @ 1:27 pm
@ ThreeSpeech

when are you expecting the replies?

…

And did you duct tape them to a chair like I asked ;)?

Comment by JohnSketch — Nov 23, 2007 @ 4:06 pm
@ John - Around the start of December so a week or so…

Comment by Three Speech — Nov 23, 2007 @ 4:11 pm
Will the skill points be in HOME trophy room. Please do something for HOME, and it would be nice to see some DL content.

Comment by Lp47 — Nov 24, 2007 @ 6:45 am
1.When IS Jak coming back?
2.IF he does, what will his adventure revolve around this time?
3.If you don’t know, would you like some creative help? (I have a few ideas.)

Comment by NowhereGirl — Nov 24, 2007 @ 8:47 pm
Erm, aren’t the questions meant to be sent in by email, not the comments section?

Comment by Rick — Nov 24, 2007 @ 10:47 pm
Whats going on with the U.S. version disc of Uncharted missing languages and being censored by Japanese hardware PS3s? Is there or will there be a way to access the blood and languages options on the disc with the Japanese hardware?

Comment by Akunin — Nov 26, 2007 @ 2:36 pm
I have a few questions. First of all, I notice that Uncharted copied many parts from MGS3 for PS2.
For example, the fluid animation, tree filled environment, sit in jeep and rotate and fire, watery environments, and some cliff hanging episodes. I think there is more, but these are what comes to my mind when playing the demo and viewing the reviews.

What I was wondering is since the next generation consoles are moving towards better interactivity (natural), will there ever be a standard guncon3 type of support for all FPS games(which this, and 70% of all games seems to be). I find it unintuitive using analog sticks to aim at something on the screen. The mouse or touchscreen (utilized by ds light) are similar to the guncon (or lightgun on lcd)
in providing more accurate pinpointing. I think
it should be mandatory for the PS3 to have a pointing type of device (if not the guncon, then
something similar). It will help out with next
generation sim and action games like starcraft
and FPS. The accuracy also has to be better. The
wii’s accuracy is too low to substitute for mouse
or touchscreen. I think having 2 sensors on the guncon is nice and hope more money is put into speed and accuracy readings that work on hdtv lcd screen.

Another aspect that I think future gaming (if not technological) enthusiasts would be interested in is the possibility of enabling 3D environments. I think virtual 3d glasses are prohibited on non-mobile gaming devices like the ps3, but it shouldn’t be a problem to integrate interactivity with the playstation eye for dodging bullets and the like.
The code is mostly there (in eyecreate), so having
all games (or the majority of them) look for guncon or playstation eye for added interactivity shouldn’t be a problem. Perhaps it should be a requirement for some games.

Lastly, I know this may sound kind of simple but have you thought about the possibility of having two or three psp players with their own screen controlling characters in the environment independently? The PS3 will get the big screen (the main guy) but lets others join in on the fun as partners. The wifi on ps3 should at LEAST support one other player, if not more, with each his own screen on the psp. It shouldn’t lag because the psp will get software that runs on the psp, and the wifi is just to sync. If I were to design a game, I think this would be something that should be considered as a next direction. Imagine a main player (the leader) playing on the ps3, and the little psp players would get to see the big screen as well as the little screen to coordinate the battle. It can work off of the internet too but you would not see two screens (the psp and the big screen).

Lastly, I think games should have climax just like in movies. All the next generation games are like an extension of the next generation movies… they add interactivity. Only this time, multiple climax if the game is long. This is basically similar to multiple bosses in games, but fighting the boss concept is overdone, it should similar to how movie climax are with more interactivity of course.

Ok, here are my questions:

Is naughty dog in talks with mgs4 creators and are they able to share code or ideas?

Will naughty dog allow for 1080p gaming in the future? I try to purchase only 1080p games because upscaled games don’t look right on 1080p displays. Given that you can push the rendering on the 6 spe more, and do the work on system ram first, it should be less of a problem than before.

I think most games trade off on detailed main character, or vast environment. mgs3 tries to pack many details into small environment that load when you go from zone to zone. gta3 packs less detail and smooth loading from zone to zone. I think the best is to pack as much detail as possible as a goal (even for distant objects), but design the levels so that at any one time some parts of the level are obscured by a wall or non-climb-able area such that not all 360 degrees of view are possible at one time, thus reducing the processing load. If designed right, this should also remove the requirement for loading zones (which is NOT good).
The future of gaming is for gta3 with more detail, but better designed levels and high speed code for the rendering (even if requiring machine code optimization).

There are more, but I think I might run out of space on this form.

Comment by ps3 comment — Nov 27, 2007 @ 6:58 am
@ 41 - The compiled questions have already been sent off to Naughty Dog. Post earlier next time!! Good post though.

Comment by Three Speech — Nov 27, 2007 @ 10:45 am
As for 41’s loading comments near the end, I think Uncharted has no loading in it once you’re in the game - I think they use a mix of clever streaming off the disc plus reading scenes ahead and storing them temporarily on the hard drive for instant access when they’re needed.

Heavenly Sword managed to do some clever things too with loading a level while it was playing a cutscene - was pretty seamless unless you skipped the cutscene before all the preloading had finished.

I look forward to the time when loading mid-game is gone. …or at least interesting loading screens like how Fifa still lets you run around and practice kicking the ball.

Comment by Rick — Nov 27, 2007 @ 12:27 pm

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