Brace yourself for a rollicking ride as UNCHARTED: DRAKE'S FORTUNE lead game designer Richard Lemarchand dishes the dirt about the way that California-based Naughty Dog develops their games.
UNCHARTED was Naughty Dog's first game for the PlayStation 3 and presented a unique set of challenges to the developer of the smash-hit Jak and Daxter series. Using examples from the development of UNCHARTED, Lemarchand will describe the fast, collaborative, iterative way that things get done at "the Dog" and how the studio nearly doubled its size without losing its company culture.
He'll also describe the cornerstones of the Naughty Dog development philosophy which include a strong focus on pre-production, recognizing the differences between macro and micro design, embracing change, playtesting, and lots and lots of elbow grease. Naughty Dog is famous for their flat, un-bureaucratic studio structure, open and honest team communication and the fact that they've never missed a deadline, despite not having anyone at the studio with the job title of producer.
This talk will be of interest to anyone involved or interested in the production and design of digital and interactive media, who wants practical examples of ways to optimize their creative processes.
This talk will include practical design and production methods based on honesty and hard work that foster both individual contribution and team strength. Some of the lessons learned by the Uncharted team during the course of their first great adventure into PlayStation 3 territory will be used to highlight the differences between preproduction and full production, and to show how staying focused on your goals helps to ensure that you ship a great game.
RSVP at the Gnomon School website.
Event Details
When: Thursday, January 22, 2009 Meet & Greet: 6 p.m. Presentation: 7-9 p.m. Place: Gnomon School of Visual Effects 1015 N. Cahuenga Blvd. Hollywood, CA 90038
This event is free of charge.
