Naughty Dog Working To Optimize Uncharted 2 Engine

How do you make Uncharted 2: Among Thieves better? Usually, we critics have tons of suggestions but in this case, we're left groping for ideas. Really, Naughty Dog has us covered.

Oh, but there are ways. The idea of the cell phone used to be science-fiction, too. The talented team still hasn't officially confirmed that they'll be working on a third installment (despite the fact that in our minds, it seems inevitable) and many want to know, "when you go to make it, how do you take the next step?" Well, an Official PlayStation Magazine interview with multiplayer designer Justin Richmond reveals that Naughty Dog simply plans to optimize what they have and give us "more." Sounds good to us. Said Richmond in response to the direct question, "How do you top Uncharted 2?":

"Haha! More of it. The guys back at the office are already starting to look at optimising the engine, getting more stuff on screen - all the stuff that we've done in this project that we could do better with."

I'm certainly glad you guys can spot parts of the game that need improvement. We figure it's a lot of fun to work at perfecting something that's almost perfect to begin with, especially within an industry that continues to grow and expand in both the technical and artistic realms. "More of the same," only bigger and better, seems like the correct path to take. But if Naughty Dog wants to implement other changes, we have total faith that such decisions will be correct.

Related Game(s): Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

11/3/2009 9:25:05 PM Ben Dutka

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Comments (43 posts)

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bomba2812
Tuesday, November 03, 2009 @ 9:55:56 PM
Reply

sounds good to me it would be great if they could top what they did with uncharted 2

1 up, 1 down

HeXeN
Tuesday, November 03, 2009 @ 10:00:01 PM
Reply

I can't wait too see how amazing Uncharted 3 would look; hopefully it will be after I see how amazing Jak & Dexter 4 looks.

3 up, 2 down

Jakintosh
Sunday, November 08, 2009 @ 11:21:48 AM

I'm glad you're excited for a new Jak game, but why do all these "fans" always write "dexter"? its "dAxter". come on.

And yeah, after Lost Frontier, Naughty Dog better make some kind of joke in Jak 4 about how they didn't make that. It was horrible...

0 up, 0 down

WorldEndsWithMe
Tuesday, November 03, 2009 @ 10:13:18 PM
Reply

Naughty Dog really is poised to leave other devs in the dust across the whole generation aren't they?

7 up, 1 down

Scarecrow
Tuesday, November 03, 2009 @ 10:55:41 PM

I can honestly say that only Kojima Productions and Polyphony can reach the level of perfection Naughty Dog is reaching with Uncharted 2

Square-Enix is not even in the same league anymore. I know, haven't played it, but from the demo, meh, don't see it.

6 up, 2 down

godsman
Tuesday, November 03, 2009 @ 11:15:26 PM

I haven't played the Square Enix demo of FFXIII, but if it can be ported to XBox and will look the same, they obviously couldn't take the cell 100% like they have claimed, certainly not up to the level Naughty Dog did. Maybe 100% of filling the blu-ray disc.

2 up, 1 down

www
Wednesday, November 04, 2009 @ 5:57:02 AM

godsman,

Tekken 6 made use of the blu-ray, its a 20GB game compared to the 6.7GB or so on 360, thus I heard the cutscenes are much smoother on the PS3, 60FPS for PS3 and 30FPS for 360. I'm hoping Square having dumbed down anything and following Namco's way.

2 up, 1 down

jdt1981
Tuesday, November 03, 2009 @ 10:32:18 PM
Reply

You have to admire these guys for shooting for perfecting and pushing themselves to do better. This is why every time they release a new game they always outdo themselves.

3 up, 1 down

Scarecrow
Tuesday, November 03, 2009 @ 10:57:03 PM
Reply

Uncharted 2 looks ridiculous
These guys make most games look like last gen games

Uncharted 2 in every aspect looks and feels like a next gen game

1 up, 2 down

Snaaaake
Wednesday, November 04, 2009 @ 4:28:54 AM

It doesn't make other game look like last gen, it's so beautiful that it looked like the beginning of the 8th gen.

1 up, 1 down

ohmikkie
Wednesday, November 04, 2009 @ 2:09:22 PM

it's not really: "other games LOOK last gen" for me. Is that it makes a lot of game FEEL last gen. I feel that there are a lot of games these days which re-iterate last gen game-play but with improved sound and graphics.

And no. I'm not an advocate of motion control.

1 up, 1 down

Highlander
Wednesday, November 04, 2009 @ 8:47:51 PM

It's not so much that it looks next gen or makes other games feel like last gen, it's more a case of Uncharted 2 being exactly what THIS generation was supposed to be.

3 up, 0 down

godsman
Tuesday, November 03, 2009 @ 11:11:31 PM
Reply

I really didn't appreciate Uncharted 2 excellence until I have played Uncharted 1. The graphical and gameplay improvement is really worth applauding. I really can't wait to see the next installment.

(My personal favorite improvement was that Drake no longer skips around like a sissy when he jumps)

3 up, 1 down

frostface
Wednesday, November 04, 2009 @ 7:07:19 AM

for 'skips around like a sissy' you get a thumbs up!

1 up, 1 down

Shadow_Ninja
Tuesday, November 03, 2009 @ 11:14:36 PM
Reply

Or how about keeping the graphics how they are and just improving resolution and sound?

Im up for that!

1 up, 1 down

___________
Wednesday, November 04, 2009 @ 12:12:18 AM
Reply

ive got plenty.
1 remove the circle button as the take cover AND roll button.

2 polish the stealth techniques almost every time i go to do a stealth attack, drake stands up and swings at thin air.

3 make it longer, it was longer than the first but i was still disappointed in its length.

4 speed up the connection times with the server, it takes bloody forever to connect to the servers and find a game.

5 when in a co-op match and a player is holding triangle trying to open up the next area, the other 2 players should automaticly spawn there and help.
it pisses me off when im the only one sitting there holding triangle when the other idiots are buys screwing around.

6 polish melee in MP, every time i use melee in MP i end up dying because for some reason i punch the guy 3 times than he turns around punches me once and im dead.
so let me get this stright.
1 punch to the head deals more damage than 3.
oooooooooooooooooooookkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk

7 add some different weapons in there, none of this flamethrower or plasma gun but normal every day weapons like a 50 caliber rifle.

8 damage detection would be really cool, dont know if the hardware power is there yet but it would be really cool if you could see the flesh wounds and such after a enemy is shot.
see the different layers of skin and such, like the trailer they showed of dead island.

9 peppy up the sound effects, when the massive explosion goes off in the jungle it just sounded crap!
i turned my speakers up all the way, expecting to go deaf and it sounded like crap.
like in the matrix reloaded where neo bursts the door down with a trail of fire and the glass explodes.
thats what i was expecting, that almost made me deaf and almost brought the house down.

10 allow the player to cancel a melee move.
ive lost count the amount of times i have died because i went to melee a enemy not noticing theres another one behind him.

11 that gives me another one, enough with the magically spawning enemies.
i swear to god this always happens.
you search a entire room, killed all the enemies bar 1, you position yourself in the best spot to kill the final enemy.
your in that perfect spot, kill him, than get killed yourself because another 50 enemies magically fell out of the sky.

12 make it that your team mates communicate to you, and you can give them orders.
nothing like the military, but some simple basic requests would be nice.
for some reason elana always goes for the smallest threat, there would be a guy with a rocket launcher 1m away and a guy with a pistol 1m away.
so who does she shoot?
the one with the pistol,obviously.

13 it would be nice if you could lob grenades back at your enemies.

14 make drakes one liners more often, i dont know how there controlled when they come out or whatever.
but ive heard the "oh, shave and a hair cut, 6 pents" line a million times.
and only heard the "HA! KITTY GOT WET!" line once.

15 make U3 as a 2 part game, one with drake and another with another character.
like for instance with uncharted 2 they could have you play drake as per normal, than the second campaign you play as Flynn.

ooooooooo come to think of it, thats what they should do for DLC, that would be fu**ing crazy!
now thats DLC, none of this 2 extra maps for MP BS!

eh, give me a few days and im sure i can think of another 10.

0 up, 18 down

Naztycuts
Wednesday, November 04, 2009 @ 2:06:54 AM

SOLUTIONS TO HIS PROBLEMS
1 dont listen to that guy thats a horrible idea that seems to not be broke so lets not fix it eh
2 get closer to ur enemy before you stealth attack
3 enjoy the fact they didnt overload any 1 area of the game to milk the gameplay (Its very well balanced)
4 be glad the online exists n doesnt suck
5 get a mic and direct them where to go
6 punch him 4 times
7 there are enough weapons to keep it balanced/fair this isn't COD
8 you should rely on instinct
9 sounded good to me
10 whats next cancelling a roll move?
11 everyone has to spawn somewhere
12 see #5
13 that would be nice glad we could agree on something
14 those could be situational
15 worst idea ever drake is the man, plus this is uncharted not resident evil 2

16 up, 1 down

Banky A
Wednesday, November 04, 2009 @ 2:27:12 AM

________ why do you keep doing this? lol. Making negative lists for highly praised games ;)

Besides, this is about the Uncharted 2 Engine, not the gameplay mechanics. Which are in fact very hard to balance out. And normal people like us will have a hard time problem solving all the variables ^_^

3 up, 1 down

Alienange
Wednesday, November 04, 2009 @ 10:15:35 AM

@ Naztycuts - Your responses are brilliant and on the money. Only number 5 is off. Who would want this pompous fool to have a mic and have to hear him tell you what to do?

6 up, 1 down

Highlander
Wednesday, November 04, 2009 @ 10:30:38 AM

You've got plenty.....of time on your hands...apparently!

3 up, 2 down

maxpontiac
Wednesday, November 04, 2009 @ 12:00:37 PM

...

2 up, 1 down

Random_Steve
Wednesday, November 04, 2009 @ 1:56:17 AM
Reply

im yet to play it, but apparently the graphics are so average, nah im kidding, but my only complaint is that there weren't enough puzzles in the first compared with the amount of shooting

0 up, 1 down

chucknasty
Wednesday, November 04, 2009 @ 7:45:20 AM

this one should make you happy then, more puzzles and more shooting:)

0 up, 1 down

Banky A
Wednesday, November 04, 2009 @ 2:30:10 AM
Reply

Sweeeet.

0 up, 1 down

tes37
Wednesday, November 04, 2009 @ 2:32:21 AM
Reply

It would be nice if developers would approach Naughty Dog about licensing the Uncharted 2 engine out. Especially the ones who are having problems grasping the ps3 architecture. I read an article awhile back that stated John Carmack became a billionaire by licensing the engine he designed for id in the early 90's. I was kind of finding that hard to believe until I saw Carmack on the discovery channel working on software to enable anyone to race real jet aircraft. Pretty amazing stuff.

0 up, 1 down

Snaaaake
Wednesday, November 04, 2009 @ 3:54:48 AM

I don't think many developers will approach Naughty Dog, most of them are just too busy screwing with the Unreal Engine 3 which most developers used, and most of them are lazy that's why they just use Unreal Engine 3.

Here are the engine that's better than UE3 yet not many developers use:
1) Naughty Dog engine
2) Deffered Rendering Engine(for Killzone 2)
3) Cry Engine 2 and 3
4) The one used for MGS4 which I don't know
5) Maybe, just maybe the engine used for Modern Warfare 2

3 up, 1 down

LegendaryWolfeh
Wednesday, November 04, 2009 @ 6:53:19 AM

Lol, the mgs4 engine was.... the mgs4 engine XD
also they already finished cryengine 3? =O

1 up, 1 down

Mornelithe
Wednesday, November 04, 2009 @ 4:19:53 AM
Reply

There's always room for improvement in code. And ND continuously shows how stellar a company they are, by never being satisfied with their engine *cough* Valve *cough*. Always seeking to improve, always seeking to trim the fat where it's not needed. Loved Uncharted 1, absolutely adored 2....can't wait for their next installment.

3 up, 1 down

tanner1
Wednesday, November 04, 2009 @ 6:41:13 AM
Reply

I thought i loved my wife more than anything but i dunno now i seem to be spending more time with Nate. To improve on this game just max the Blu ray storage like MGS4, then the audio will be crystal clear. Thats all i can think of. Graphically its up there with Crysis

1 up, 1 down

furbiesmustdie
Wednesday, November 04, 2009 @ 9:36:49 AM
Reply

crysis didn't have anything on unhcarted 2 and now they're saying theya are going to take it to the next level? absurd!

2 up, 1 down

Mornelithe
Wednesday, November 04, 2009 @ 6:30:10 PM

Well...no, actually, that's not true at all. Crysis: Warhead was certainly far more 'graphically' superior. Texture work, environmental destructibility, are 2 of the major standouts. What's important though, is that Naughty Dog...far FAR surpassed Crytek in story, immersiveness, control fluidity, and the like, and then went on to tie all of those things together into a seemless, experience.

Graphics do not automatically make a game great. Crysis was fun, I won't lie, but part of the reason I bought it was because it I wanted to see what my new gaming rig could do. And was summarily floored by the result. Still...I'd take Uncharted 1 or 2 over Crysis any day of the week, simply because the SP experience is so much more enjoyable, exciting and well thought-out.

0 up, 0 down

isaya85
Wednesday, November 04, 2009 @ 10:03:17 AM
Reply

I can't imagine what U3 could possibly look like, here I was thinking KZ2 is as good as it gets then here comes U2, whats next cg graphics??

2 up, 1 down

Alienange
Wednesday, November 04, 2009 @ 10:21:37 AM
Reply

The engine is pretty darned brilliant as it is. If there are improvements to make then I'm sure ND knows what to do. I just hope they keep focusing on the great writing and excellent set pieces.

2 up, 1 down

daizycutter
Wednesday, November 04, 2009 @ 10:37:07 AM
Reply

some of the scenery in uncharted 2 was visually stunning for a game ..bizarrely i enjoyed watching it beening played as much as playing it!!

4 up, 1 down

Ricochet
Wednesday, November 04, 2009 @ 10:43:39 AM
Reply

Naughty Gods can make a 4-sided triangle.

Back on topic, devs intentending to create exclusives for the PS3 should take the opportunity to get the Naughty Dog 2.0 or Killzone 2 engine to create games. I'd like to see what they can do with it just like how Batman:AA could be done with UE3.

Last edited by Ricochet on 11/4/2009 10:43:50 AM

3 up, 1 down

Cavan
Wednesday, November 04, 2009 @ 4:50:11 PM

as in a pyramid??

0 up, 2 down

maxpontiac
Wednesday, November 04, 2009 @ 12:02:17 PM
Reply

I have said it before, and I'll say it again, Naughty Dog is the best developer around.

4 up, 1 down

Scarecrow
Wednesday, November 04, 2009 @ 8:12:40 PM

Have loved their games since the ps1 era

Amazing how they've always delivered quality
This is one company which knows what it's doing and is right at home with Sony!

2 up, 0 down

Banky A
Wednesday, November 04, 2009 @ 9:52:29 PM

LOL Scarecrow avoided the infamous '1 thumbs down'.

3 up, 0 down

maxpontiac
Thursday, November 05, 2009 @ 11:30:13 AM

Indeed Scarecrow. But to me, ND has placed themselves above the pack this generation.

The best of the best per se..

1 up, 0 down

badradio
Wednesday, November 04, 2009 @ 1:40:24 PM
Reply

I have to say that all things considered, Uncharted 2 is excellent.
With that said, I do have to say that the time it takes to get into a MP match is horrendous!!!! It's embarrassing next to COD 4 where you can get into a match instantly.
I'm shocked that they haven't patched it yet. Will stay with single player.

2 up, 2 down

Cavan
Wednesday, November 04, 2009 @ 4:56:24 PM

true, it does take a lil long to get into a game, however i had Cod 4 on launch day, and it took them a month to patch the game to get the online working, i had a dart board in my room, used to play it while waiting for cod as it took up to half n hour to get into the game, point of the story, cod wasnt quick at match making online straight away, Uncharted 2 is much quicker to get into matches than cod was originally, so maybe in a short amount of time uncharted will quicken up, to say its embarrassing is very harsh, only takes a minute or two, not upto half n hour like cod originally did.

0 up, 1 down

BikerSaint
Thursday, November 12, 2009 @ 1:57:04 AM
Reply

Thank you Naughty Dog,
What a bunch of great tweakers you are
(with your engine, that is)

0 up, 0 down

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