For my first trick, I'll write about one of my favorite things ever: Uncharted 2. For the uninitiated, Uncharted 2 is a video game by Naughty Dog studios for the Playstation 3, and sits comfortably in the top 3 of my "favorite games" list (where exactly in those 3, I have no idea). It's basically an Indiana Jones for the new age, a globetrotting adventure following a brave and resourceful male protagonist (Nathan Drake) and his cast of characters as they search for hidden treasures, lost cities, or what have you. It also has the most astounding production values that I've ever seen in anything ever. The picture I posted here is concept art for Uncharted 2 that honestly looks a little worse than the in-game stuff. It's that good. The level of detail is absolutely ridiculous, from not just the graphics, but the animations, the fantastic musical score, gameplay that nothing else can really shake a stick at, and the endearing, albeit predictable, story. Everything that's delivered here is absolutely top notch and worth experiencing at least once by anybody just because of the fact that it's so well made. This all comes to us from Santa Monica's Naughty Dog studios, who I've done a little research on and have realized that they are, indeed, awesome.
Now, I'm a seventeen year old boy who has the world asking me, "What are you gonna do with your life?" and I couldn't be farther away from an answer. College applications ask me to dedicate myself to a specific area of study, every adult jumps on that question whenever I'm around them, and society in general seems to expect me to know exactly what I want to do. And well I'm not sure what I want to study, or major in, I had a moment in my Naughty Dog research when I thought, "I would give just about anything to end up there."
Now going into game design is kind of the go-to pipe dream for my generation, and that's all fine and dandy, but it's been romanticized quite a bit. I watch a web show called Extra Credits that's made by some successful and passionate people within the industry (including Daniel Floyd and James Portnow) who "take a deeper look at games; how they are made, what they mean, and how we can make them better" from an industry perspective. I'd be lying if I didn't say this is where I get most of my information on the games industry, but It's true. I used to be fairly active in the IGN community, but that was a while ago, and they talked more about the games themselves than the industry. The point is (and I do have one) that from what Extra Credits tells me, the industry isn't all coke zeros and sugarpops. As they say, game designers are not toy makers, they are artists, programmers, and people from as many if not more practices than are involved in film. For a project to be successful, every member of the team needs to be extremely competent at their job, and also at communicating with everyone else involved on the project on the different aspects of the game. It's hard, and it's often not done well. The average amount of time someone spends working in the game industry is five years. But that doesn't seem to be the case at Naughty Dog. You don't even have to watch all the behind the scenes videos I did to realize that they are a group of extremely passionate and talented people that work together to create something that they love. And that's really what I want to be a part of.
I've played through Uncharted 2 maybe seven or so times by now, and every time I go through it again I'm reminded at how incredible it is. Not just because it's a fun game and I geek out at that, but because I can feel the love (tonight) that went into every facet of it. I want to be a part of something where what everyone there's doing is out of passion. I know that Naughty dog isn't the only place with an atmosphere like that, but I'm a fan.
The point is that Naughty Dog made something I really love. Something that I truly consider one of my favorite pieces of art. I know Uncharted isn't really one the artsy-fartsy side of the gaming spectrum, but I have emotional associations with it, I think it's beautiful, and I feel like I learn something from it. Maybe about myself. Maybe about the world. I don't know. But I know that I want to help create something that someone else will love just as much.
