How one of the most emotional scenes of The Last of Us was created

Screenshot from the game The Last of Us

project, which was seriously acclaimed in 2013, is rightfully considered one of the pearls among the games for the PlayStation 3, and after that of the PlayStation 4. Naughty Dog development studio , known among players thanks to franchises such as Crash Bandicoot and Uncharted , always very attentive to work, especially considering that for many years their main bread has been exclusive to Japanese consoles. You can argue about preferences for a long time, but most gamers agree on one thing: The Last of Us received more than a hundred prizes in the "Game of the Year" nomination for versions of various publishers around the world for a reason. One of the strengths of the project was called history, which is not surprising, becauseUS writers guild prize to anybody not give. And the scene of meeting with giraffes in the post-apocalyptic world, as it sounds wild, played a significant role in describing this story and giving it an emotional color. I invite you to get acquainted with the memories of John Sweeney, one of the artists of the studio Naughty Dog.

The publication contains plot spoilers. If you: 1. A gamer who appreciates the plot. 2. Still not playing The Last of Us. 3. Did not watch the passage or the three-hour game on YouTube , then you should refrain from reading and get acquainted with the history of the main characters yourself.

The meeting with giraffes during The Last of Us is for many players one of the emotional peaks of the already difficult history of the adventures of the main characters, Joel and Ellie, and the concept artist of Naughty Dog Studios John Sweeney talked about how this scene was created:

“ When Ally Kills David, the plot of the game reaches its lowest, darkest point. In the next scene, we see another, unusual for us, Ellie. She clearly suffers from post-traumatic syndrome, and also knows that their journey with Joel has almost come to an end. Ellie understands that she is unlikely to leave the hospital alive, where a vaccine will be created on the basis of her immunity to the virus that has infected the world. She is quiet and self-enclosed. The moment of history described by me was created in order to return her character to the system, to breathe life into her again. Seeing what she had never seen before, Ellie for a moment forgets about the struggle and the death that surrounds her.


Machey Kucher Concept Art

This illustration was made by concept artist Machey Kucher, but then we thought it would be a zebra, not a giraffe. When I joined the team, Maciej was no longer working with us and the team wanted to replace the zebra with a giraffe, because it looks like a more delicate, more elegant creature, like the most wonderful thing that Allie could encounter. But the setting was already approved and sent to development in Utah, and the gameplay was in production.

So, this part of the game was created after blocking the development branch. I had to work hard with one of the artists in order to create art that would accurately reflect the position of the camera and the lighting of our chosen moment. The illustration below was made before the branch we needed was blocked for changes, but during the development, the place where Ellie met the giraffe underwent changes. Clickable Developers gleaned some of the ideas from the illustration and added more foliage. The angle of illumination of the face was also changed, a different direction of light was chosen. The basis of the idea was fixed, so all that was needed now was visual contact, guidelines, in order to feel what it was like to play with a giraffe. Shot from the game, clickable









I drew inspiration mainly from the plot of the game. I really wanted to portray Ally curious, but at the same time timid and taken aback by what she saw. She stands next to a giraffe, clenching her fists, and does not understand whether she should be afraid of this animal, which she had never seen before. At such key story points, Bruce Strehli, our game director, and Neil Drackmann, our creative director, always give clear instructions: time of day, type of lighting, mood that each specific situation on the screen should convey. I made several versions of this gaming moment with different lighting and other minor differences. In order to implement my plan, I had to go through several iterations, which is still unusual for me. I could do my job in two days, but I do not regret that I worked for almost a week, because in any case, I would spend so much time on this scene. Just so that everything works out as best as possible. ”


Implementation in the game

via ctrl500.com