Earlier this week at the DICE summit in Las Vegas, Nevada, Naughty Dog Head Neil Druckmann and Sony Santa Monica, Cory Barlog, sat in front of the audience chatting on a very personal topic: doubts.
Two grabbed this and back for about an hour to a series of topics, which were clearly very close to both of them, from their doubts as to themselves as creators, as they knew that the idea was “right” or not. They both answered several pre -admired audience questions, including those that Barlog read Druckmann about the continuation: “How do you and your teams approach the development of character in many games?
Druckmann’s answer, however, was surprising to someone who did quite a lot of continuation in his time: he doesn’t think about many games.
“This is a very uncomplicated question for me, because I never think about many games because I am a game ahead of us, it is so absorbing,” he replied. “I think you have yourself if you start thinking about continuing when you work on the first game. So when I did the last of us 2, yes, clear. From time to time, an idea appears in your head where it can go if we have a chance to do another. But I’m just approaching how: “And if I can never do another?” … I don’t save ideas for the future. If there is a nice idea, I try to get it here. “
Ten years of payment
Druckmann explained that in this way he approaches everything, perhaps the exception of The Last of Us television program, because he already knows that he will have many seasons. So when the continuations appear, instead of having a plan, Druckmann says that he looks at what he has already done, and asks what elements are unsolved and where they can go. “And if I feel that the answer is, they can’t go anywhere, I say:” I think we’ll just kill them. “
“I am kidding in half, but we just find the next game. When we did Uncharted 1, we had no idea that we would do the uncharted 2 train sequence or where Nathan Drake would be. We did it when we did Uncharted 2. And finally, the same when we worked on Uncharted 3, just as when we worked on Uncharted 4, where we look back and say: “How will we not be repeated? Where else could this character go? And we have to come up with a fresh answer. And if we do not have a fresh answer, we should ask ourselves if this is the right character? Is this the right game we can work on? Or maybe it’s time to find something fresh? “
Barlog replied, saying that he did not work at all. Barlog says that “he has too much Crazy Conspiracy Council Charlie Day, consisting in trying to combine and plan with all these songs,” and especially likes when he is able to connect something he works with with something that he has planned ten years ago.
“It’s so magical, but it is absolutely, unambiguously the most unhealthy thing in history, because it is amazing to stress trying and connect each of these elements” – continued Barlog. “Because it gives or takes five years, hundreds of people are at stake, and then a completely fresh group of people often move in the next project. These are many different and prospects, and likes and reluctance, which will negatively affect something early. And they will be like: “Let’s talk about it because it was a kind of stupid. I don’t know if I want to do it. “
“I think that for me it requires a level of trust that I just don’t have,” Druckmann later answered. “As if it is successful, I know where it will be. I’m just, I just want to focus on the next five days ahead of me, let alone 10 years. “
The reason to wake up
Chat Fireside included a number of topics, and Druckmann and Barlog discussed their own experiences with doubts, and their appropriate innovative processes to determine when the idea is “correct”. Later in the conversation they made their feelings about their career when they are now standing. Druckmann talked about how he did not want to permanently enter television or movies, sharing this anecdote about his love for games:
“Because we are talking about television, I once gave a direction to Pedro Pascal. And I think he was frustrated with my direction, but he said it playfully. He says, “Do you like art?” And I said defensively: “Yes, do you like art?” And without losing the rhythm, he says: “This is a reason to wake up in the morning. That is why I live and breathe. And that’s why we do it.
“… sometimes I had panic attacks. That’s so much stress, but you do it because you love him so much. I love games so much. I love the stories that we tell in games so much. This is the reason to wake up in the morning. That is why we do what we do, and despite all the negatives that are associated with this, sometimes death threats and all negative and all these things, you just reject these things and say: “Yes, but I can do games with the most talented people. How are we lucky? “
Druckmann then asked the Barlog, pointing to the Barlog’s multi -story career in the light of the recent retirement of his colleague Ted Price. “When is it enough? … when is this coercion enough? When did you prove enough? “
Barlog gave a long answer she received true true:
“Is that enough? A compact answer, no, it’s never enough. This is a voice in your head that leads you more and more, more, more, and more … you fight, fight, work, work. And this is ungrateful and you are not heard. Or the thing you do does not resonate. Then you reach the point where you looked at her, you dreamed of it, aspired. Finally, you reach the top of this mountain. And this is the most amazing and terrible thing at the same time.
“Because when you reach the top, this demon of obsession with the head does not close and does not allow you to appreciate the moment, the smell of air, the sound of this kind of successful silence that you persecuted, you fought, you worked so hard to get it all. And so many people gathered and used this collective creative brain space to give birth to something that was just an idea or concept. Just enjoy, enjoy, and see that you have achieved it, and you are at the top of the mountain. NO. The demon simply looks and says: “There is another mountain there, which is much higher.” Okay, what’s next? You don’t even take this time often. And I don’t want to believe that it is deliberate. It’s so strange, I think it’s quiet, not so quiet part of your individual makeup. The reason you are is that you can’t stop. You drive forward and to the detriment of everyone, giving you advice to stop and circulate, and you don’t. “
Druckmann repeated this sentiment, but more softer, ending with an anecdote about Jason Rubin of Naughty Dog. After leaving Druckmann, he remembers Rubin that he tells him that he will leave a space for all others to arise behind him. “I think about these possibilities. After all, when I finish it, it will create many opportunities for people. So for me it’s like I was slowly getting up. I am less involved in everyday things, for example in this project where I am … and ultimately I think I will be able to remove. I don’t know how long it will take, but I think about it. And I think about the possibilities that I will create for the next people to take this stress and take my ideas, be sensitive and do all these things. “
Barlog joked back, summarizing the conversation: “Very convincing. I intend to retire. ”
Rebekah Valentine is a senior Ign reporter. You can find her post on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.skyla. Do you have a hint with history? Send it to ralentine@ign.com.
