The Studio: Naughty Dog
As the studio* is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year it's quite appropriate to look back and recall how I discovered Naughty Dog and how the studio, the artists there and their work has influenced my work and affected my life/career choices over the years. I've selected only the most important projects, in this case games, which have had the greatest impact on me and after briefly describing the games I will tell how I discovered them and discuss how they have influenced me and my work. I shall proceed chronologically and start from one of my first gaming moments.
On Naughty Dog's website they state that the early game developments started in somebody's garage back in the year 1984 but I discovered the studio through Crash Bandicoot at the age of 6 or 7 right after Crash Bandicoot was released.
*I will only be using the word studio when I'm referring to Naughty Dog and not repeating the actual name because I feel the company as a phrase sounds too corporate and dry to use as the describer for a group of extremely talented artists creating amazing interactive art.
Once again the post is spoiler free, so keep calm and carry on.
Crash Bandicoot (1996 - 1999)
Naughty Dog was the main developer of this platform adventure from 1996 until 1999 and during those years they shipped tittles Crash Bandicoot, Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back (which I particularly remember), Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped and Crash Team Racing all of which I used to run to play at the neighbours when my sister's SEGA and Sonic weren't enough and if we weren't platforming around the neighbourhood ourselves.
Crash was one of the first games I've ever played and it really lit up my passion for games and animation. However, the masterpiece that has had the greatest impact on me and as I later learnt also changed the course of my life is The Lion King. You can find the story of how I discovered the effect this tremendous film has had on my life in my article about Disney. Crash, nevertheless, introduced me to the interactive world of gaming where your actions affect the course of events.
Fast-tracking a couple years ahead to the year 2007 I found myself following a game review show every Saturday afternoon and there was this one particular game caught my eye. The game footage I saw looked amazingly rich and unique but the 3rd person shooting aspect made me stay away from the game for a couple of years until I eventually bought my very own Playstation 3 console in 2009.
Fast-tracking a couple years ahead to the year 2007 I found myself following a game review show every Saturday afternoon and there was this one particular game caught my eye. The game footage I saw looked amazingly rich and unique but the 3rd person shooting aspect made me stay away from the game for a couple of years until I eventually bought my very own Playstation 3 console in 2009.
Uncharted Series (2007 - hopefully forever)
As mentioned Naughty Dog released the first game in the series Uncharted: Drake's Fortune in 2007 which then was followed by Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (2009) and the latest release Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception (2011). I immediately fell in love with the cinematic style of Uncharted. These games were something I always had dreamed of - being part of and living a film! And Uncharted has always been exactly that, it is as if you're playing a film! Witty dialogue is delivered by amazing voice actors and what really has amazed me is the quality of the facial animation Naughty Dog has produced for these games. All the subtle details in the facial animation really bring the characters to life and make you care about them and emphatise and really connect with them. You feel that you're really interacting with the characters and the world around them.
The studio's cut scene's have really sparked my enthusiasm towards character and facial animation as well as cinematography which is somewhat weird because I'm referring to a game but very impressive and shows how games and films are actually quite similar visual art forms. It's beautiful and very interesting how films are being pushed towards interactiveness and at the same time games are trying to become more and more filmic experiences in which you interact and the cutscenes are perfectly blended with the gameplay. The next game certainly has done all of the above and it definitely is one of the best games and game experiences ever created - if not the best!
The Last of Us (2013)
The Last of Us was released last year and it has won over 300 awards worldwide which probably tells a lot about how amazing work Naughty Dog does and who wouldn't want to be part of something like that! In this post-apocalyptic game we follow Joel and Ellie's survival journey. The game is almost like road trip during which you get to know these two characters and witness their relationship growing. The gamer(s) are show the path to walk this journey and realise that the journey itself is the key. Everything comes to an end, especially everything good comes to end at some point, and because of that when you reach the end of the game you feel you want to start over.
All this, the fact that you want to play the game again, the fact that you cry and you laugh, you're entertained and frightened during the game comes down to the animation (and the voice acting) - the way the characters are portrait and presented. If the animation is poor you will focus on the mistakes that draw you out of the hypnosis and the believability is lost. A lot of motion-capture was used to help the voice-actor emerge themselves into their roles and to let animators focus on the areas that need the extra detail which is the character's faces. The amazing facial animations in The Last of Us were all hand animated by some of the best animators in the industry whose work I greatly admire.
The Artists: David Lam
I could have chosen so many other inspiring artists to talk about but this time I chose David Lam because he probably is the person I'd first and for most would like to meet from Naughty Dog. At the moment David is the lead cinematic animator at Naughty Dog and responsible for the animation in some of the most memorable gaming moments in history. I could go on and on about how much I like his work but it's better if you see for yourself and check out his latest animation reel.
As a conclusion, Naughty Dog has not only sparked my interest in facial animation but also shown that detailed animation isn't only for films anymore. Naughty dog definitely is one of the game studios I'd be very very happy to work for because I think they've defined and refined the art of games to be what it really should be - emotionally engaging and life-changing experience you can follow along and also really be interactively part of.
As ever, stay tooned and play some games - they might just move something in you!
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