1. William Cafferkey 31/03/14
The Last Of Us - Pipeline
Ideation
The Last Of Us was a new IP (Intellectual Property) so
the team had to start from scratch completely. The
original inspiration for the game was a BBC Planet Earth
documentary about a fungus that grows inside of Ants
called Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, it takes over their
brain and grows out of their head.
Pre-Production
In pre-production they were drawing up ideas and
concept art of characters and infected, casting the actors
for the game and writing the script, drawing the game
world; they took inspiration from the book The World
Without Us, understanding how the game mechanics will
work and finishing the story.
Production
In production they brought the actors in to record the motion capture and the rest of the
script, they then passed the art and footage over to the 3D designers to create the
characters in the game and to create the game world. They then designed the mechanics
for the game, for example the heads up display and the game controls, they added the cut
scenes to the game and created the levels that you play in the game.
Post-Production
In post-production they worked on marketing and advertising for the game, they also
added the music from the soundtrack composed by Gustavo Santaolalla to the game and
any other small sound effects that had recently been recorded. They released multiple
gameplay trailers and online articles but they kept the fact that you play as Ellie in game a
complete surprise and even lied in interviews about it to keep it a secret.
Post-Mortem
Once the game had been released and the team were in the post mortem stage they
reflected on the sales and success of the game and thought of how they could improve the
experience even more for the player, they wrote and created DLC (Downloadable Content)
called ‘Left Behind’ for the game which was a whole
new story to play through that was set before Joel and
Ellie meet. The team are also always working on
patches, updates and improvements for the multiplayer
section of the game and have also recently announced
that a ‘The Last Of Us’ movie is in the works.
GAME COMPLETE!