A developer who worked on Naughty Dog’sThe Last of Us Part 2has provided some insight into his work on a hugely important, yet subtle element of the game’s many combat encounters. Often hailed as one of the most brutal and engaging third-person shooters of all time,TLOU2banks heavily on the weight of its combat animations, and even the smallest features needed to be pulled off just right.While not everyone was thrilled with the fact thatcruelty was the only real optioninThe Last of Us 2, no matter from whose perspective the game might’ve been played, there’s a point to be made about the brevity of its movement and violence. This briskness of motion was, it would appear, effectively baked into the game’s DNA, with the developers working around the clock to make each and every animation satisfying, even when it didn’t seem like they would matter all that much.RELATED:Incredible The Last of Us 2 Fan Art Fits Perfectly Into Ellie’s JournalSpecifically, Maksym Zhuravlov, lead animator at Naughty Dog, has provided some valuable insight into his work onThe Last of Us 2. One of the items on his docket was the animation system for the game’s combat doors, which would serve as interactive funnels and potential opportunities for the player to break the enemies' line of sight, for example. While the feature seemed simple enough at first, Zhuravlov explained how his team ended up having to set up fluid, responsive, and smooth animations for virtually every set of actions the player might take before, during, and after their interaction with a given set of doors.
SinceThe Last of Us 2’s combatrelies heavily on player agency and there being virtually no canned, locked-in animations for characters to get stuck in, doors needed to be handled in much the same way. As Zhuravlov’s video plainly shows, this meant a huge uptick in feature and animation complexity compared to what his team had expected.
The effort that’s gone into mere doors inThe Last of Us 2didn’t go unnoticed, however.God of War RagnarokCombat DesignLead Mihir Sheth responded to Zhuravlov’s video, saying how impressed he was with animation blending in the game. Aside from having fun with the game’s doors, he also admitted to going in and out of prone just to see how organically the character could change their animations and states.
Now thatThe Last of Us 3is in development, it seems all but certain that much of Naughty Dog’s impressive work on the previous title could be updated and reappropriated for an all-new scenario. While it remains to be seen whether Zhuravlov’s doors make their way into it, too, it would be a bit of a shame if they were to stay behind, considering their complexity.
The Last of Us Part 2is out now for PS4.
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