#205 - Benson Russell Interview On Naughty Dog, The Last Of Us, Uncharted, Neil Druckmann, Scope..

Benson Russell was a former designer at Naughty Dog on The Uncharted Trilogy and The Last Of Us.He has now started his own consulting firm to help game developers navigate a lot of the pitfalls in game development. #uncharted #thelastofus #naughtydog WEBSITE FOR CONSULTING https://www.unhandledexceptions.io/ TIMESTAMPS00:00 - Intro00:32 - The Most Important Aspect Of Design/Player Fantasy02:50 - Why Games Take So Long To Make/North Star You Need For Development05:45 - Why Naughty Dog Games Are So Well Made/Story Is Their North Star08:18 - Games Shouldn’t Take So Long To Develop/Wandering13:30 - Scope Neglect/The Doomsday Clock16:00 - Why Intergalactic Crunch Happened/Naughty Dog Treats Internal Deadlines Like External Deadlines18:23 - Bureauacracy/How Games Differ From Other Creative Outlets23:13 - Naughty Dog’s Work Structure26:20 - Planning/Core Mechanics27:00 - Flexible Working Hours At Naughty Dog/Crunch At Naughty Dog29:00 - Why Benson Left Naughty Dog32:45 - Benson Was P!ssed Off With Naughty Dog Deleting His Work On Last Of Us Part 146:01 - Working With Evans Wells & Neil Druckmann47:00 - Clashing With Neil Druckmann50:14 - Working With Amy Hennig51:20 - Uncharted 2’s Introduction/Creating Introductions In Games56:00 - Focus Testing At Naughty Dog/Companies Interpret Data Wrong1:02:30 Q+A - How Much Naughty Dog Looks At The Competition When Designing Games1:06:10 - AAA Studios Pivoting When They Are Too Deep/Games Should Be Cheaper1:10:00 - Cost Of Game Development On The West Coast/China’s Meteoric Rise1:16:04 - Uncharted 2 Was Influenced By Resident Evil 51:16:48 - Q+A - What Is Naughty Dog’s Hiring & Training Process1:24:00 - Why Naughty Dog Started Losing Talent1:26:00 - Is Game Development A Young Person’s Game/Knowledge Isnt Being Passed Down1:31:00 - Closing Comments