Prepare for adventure\u2013we\u2019re thrilled to celebrate this week\u2019s launch of Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection on PC!<\/p>\n
We\u2019ve previously equipped aspiring treasure hunters with the PC features and specs<\/a> so you can enjoy Naughty Dog\u2019s Uncharted 4: A Thief\u2019s End and Uncharted: The Lost Legacy optimized for PC by Iron Galaxy Studios.<\/p>\n Whether the series is, well, Uncharted territory for you, or if you\u2019re a seasoned spelunker who\u2019s survived crushing encounters, we thought the Uncharted series\u2019 PC debut offered a chance to look back on how these two adventures pushed the franchise forward. We unearthed some details about how Naughty Dog took a core pillar of Uncharted gameplay to brand new heights.<\/p>\n With Uncharted 4: A Thief\u2019s End marking the franchise\u2019s first original PlayStation 4 outing, the team saw a chance to push the franchise forward. Climbing is a prime example of that next-gen evolution; Uncharted 4 introduced a level of control players never had before while grounding Nathan Drake\u2019s movements with stunning animations.<\/p>\n \u201cWith Uncharted 4, we wanted to add more depth to the climbing and look at it more realistically,\u201d Animation Director Jeremy Yates explained.<\/p>\n A trip to an indoor climbing gym and lessons from an instructor early in production helped ground that endeavor. That trip resulted in some pretty meaningful lessons for Uncharted 4\u2019s new climbing system. The team was equipped with firsthand experience and visual references to understand balance and weight placement, as well as the thoughtfulness that has to go into each movement.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen we climbed on the wall ourselves, one of the first things we noticed was how much your weight is on your feet. That really translated into how the animations work,\u201d\u00a0 Lead Game Designer Emilia Schatz said.<\/p>\n The team tried out a host of potential routes to take the system, from including a stamina bar to free-climbing that would allow players to scale a mountain in a route of their own choosing. There was a lot of fun and tension to be had, but the team needed to consider how climbing fit into the overall game.<\/p>\n \u201cIt almost became too complex. The important thing about any of our systems is we layer them with other systems. So while climbing itself may have been really amazing, we had to remember Uncharted 4 is not only a climbing game,\u201d Schatz said.<\/p>\n With some of those systems stripped away, the focus came more clearly into view: leveraging climbing in Uncharted 4 to connect the player to Nathan Drake and eventually Chloe Frazer in Uncharted: The Lost Legacy. And that meant giving players more control over Uncharted\u2019s climbing than ever before.<\/p>\n \u201cWe wanted to be able to give the player very fine control and complete analog control over where Drake places his hands. That\u2019s where the reach system was formed,\u201d Yates explained.<\/p>\n The reach system in Uncharted 4 lets you do much more than simply hop from one handhold to the next along a clearly defined route. Using the left analog stick on the controller, the player can precisely direct how far and what angle Drake reaches out his hand. In practice, it looks fluid and realistic, but behind-the-scenes, there\u2019s a clever system of rings that accounts for Drake\u2019s possible moves. Many<\/em> animations are needed to pull off each movement.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThat was a huge challenge to animate and design all those poses, and then from each of those [points], the delta between your base and wherever the handhold will be, that position might have a number of very specific animations,\u201d Yates explained.<\/p>\n To ensure what was depicted in-game mirrored real life climbing terrain, the team constructed an adjustable rock wall in the mocap stage and captured parkour athlete Jesse La Flair\u00a0 going through the motions of Nate\u2019s various movements.<\/p>\n \u201cWe replicated those rings, and there are holes pre-drilled in all those different positions so we could move handholds around easily\u2026We had Jesse climb every conceivable combination we could give him,\u201d Yates explained, noting that this allowed him to really ground the physicality of Drake\u2019s motions.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/a><\/a><\/p>\n To help achieve the reach system\u2019s fluidity of movement, Principal Programmer Ryan Broner was among those working on getting this in-depth climbing system to function properly.<\/p>\n \u201cThe big change from Uncharted 3 was being able to hold onto two edges at once, and they could just be any distance apart,\u201d Broner said. This meant work had to be done to ensure the upper body would move in the right direction, but, as the team learned at the climbing gym, the feet were also just as essential to consider.<\/p>\n \u201c[We worked to have] the feet actually look for an edge instead of having them just dangling and swinging.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cRyan was\u2026really getting full-body [inverse kinematics] working with all four limbs and your root and how they move together. That helped us create a much more organic system to climb on than we\u2019ve previously been able to,\u201d Yates said.<\/p>\n Imbuing climbing with more natural and variable movement also benefited making the actual paths Drake takes more dynamic and rewarding for the player.<\/p>\n \u201cIt allowed us to make more organic rock faces. It used to be that the distance you could move handholds from where Nathan Drake was [felt] pretty short,\u201d Schatz explained. \u201cIn Uncharted 4, we were able to space those out, because Nathan Drake could reach quite a bit. By being able to space those out, we could make it so that the handholds themselves, visually, did not always imply a precise route. They were spaced out enough that you had to try it yourself and get used to how far his reach is.\u201d<\/p>\n Not only are climbing routes more naturally embedded within the environment, but thanks to a set of tools the team worked with, more complex routes could be carved out to allow players creativity in how they wanted to progress.<\/p>\n \u201cThe organic integration into the wall was automated. What you see in-game\u2026that\u2019s dynamically placed,\u201d Yates said, noting that background artists didn\u2019t have to go in and virtually sculpt out each handhold\u2019s spot. \u201cIn real time we could move the handholds around\u2026It was so easy to add those handholds, so it was easier for us to develop what we called \u2018Swiss cheese\u2019 for some of these walls. We tried to give the player the ability to find their own path.\u201d<\/p>\n Players can experiment with how they scale each stretch of rock or dilapidated building. Another way players have more agency over climbing is the piton. Born from the experimenting done with a more free-climbing system (you can see the idea of using two pitons at once below), the piton presents a bit of puzzle solving for the player to work through.<\/p>\n The pitons come into play as players hurtle toward specific walls, requiring the right timing and angle to hook the piton into the wall where they want to continue progressing.<\/p>\n \u201cWe want you to have creativity in how you can move around and place your handholds. You got a sense of, as a player, I need to decide \u2018Where do I want Nathan Drake\u2019s piton to be so I can jump to this ledge over there,\u201d Schatz said. \u201cThe piton is a really cool thing we wouldn\u2019t have been able to do without the analog reach of Nathan Drake [introduced in Uncharted 4].\u201d<\/p>\n With all the ideas the Naughty Dog team implemented \u2013 and the lessons learned from those they didn\u2019t \u2013 Uncharted 4\u2019s climbing offers more precise, analog control over Nathan Drake\u2019s climbing than ever before. That implementation continued with Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, which features Chloe Frazer as its protagonist while retaining all the work that went into Nathan Drake\u2019s climbing mechanics. Lost Legacy allowed the team to integrate the piton, which features later in A Thief\u2019s End, throughout more of Chloe\u2019s adventure.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were really happy with how it turned out in Uncharted 4\u2026and we were able to put it in a lot more in The Lost Legacy, and it was really able to come into its own there,\u201d Schatz said.<\/p>\n Following the journey of this feature\u2019s development, the team had some big takeaways.<\/p>\n \u201c[Uncharted 4\u2019s climbing showed] the importance of feedback in player systems,\u201d Broner said. \u201cIn Uncharted 4, you push the stick, and even if you can\u2019t reach anything, you see the body start to move in a certain direction. \u00a0Getting that feedback allows you to adjust to your intended direction in a way that feels natural, and makes you feel more connected to the character.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe always really strive for the feeling of groundedness\u2026because when that works really well, you identify more with the character, you\u2019re invested more with the character,\u201d Schatz said.<\/p>\n Everything evolved about the climbing system, from the reach system to the piton to the sheer fluidity and realism of movement, allows players to become invested in Uncharted\u2019s characters like never before. We hope longtime fans can appreciate this essential part of the Uncharted experience on a deeper level, and we\u2019re so excited for newcomers to experience Nathan and Chloe\u2019s climbing, combat, and much more.\u00a0Uncharted: <\/strong>Legacy of Thieves Collection is available October 19, 2022 on Steam<\/a> and Epic Games Store<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Naughty Dog breaks down Uncharted 4\u2019s climbing evolution as Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection launches on PC this week<\/p>\n Prepare for adventure\u2013we\u2019re thrilled to celebrate this week\u2019s launch of Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection on PC!<\/p>\n We\u2019ve previously equipped aspiring treasure hunters with the PC features and specs<\/a> so you can enjoy Naughty Dog\u2019s Uncharted 4: A Thief\u2019s End and Uncharted: The Lost Legacy optimized for PC by Iron Galaxy Studios.<\/p>\n Whether the series is, well, Uncharted territory for you, or if you\u2019re a seasoned spelunker who\u2019s survived crushing encounters, we thought the Uncharted series\u2019 PC debut offered a chance to look back on how these two adventures pushed the franchise forward. We unearthed some details about how Naughty Dog took a core pillar of Uncharted gameplay to brand new heights.<\/p>\n With Uncharted 4: A Thief\u2019s End marking the franchise\u2019s first original PlayStation 4 outing, the team saw a chance to push the franchise forward. Climbing is a prime example of that next-gen evolution; Uncharted 4 introduced a level of control players never had before while grounding Nathan Drake\u2019s movements with stunning animations.<\/p>\n \u201cWith Uncharted 4, we wanted to add more depth to the climbing and look at it more realistically,\u201d Animation Director Jeremy Yates explained.<\/p>\n A trip to an indoor climbing gym and lessons from an instructor early in production helped ground that endeavor. That trip resulted in some pretty meaningful lessons for Uncharted 4\u2019s new climbing system. The team was equipped with firsthand experience and visual references to understand balance and weight placement, as well as the thoughtfulness that has to go into each movement.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen we climbed on the wall ourselves, one of the first things we noticed was how much your weight is on your feet. That really translated into how the animations work,\u201d\u00a0 Lead Game Designer Emilia Schatz said.<\/p>\n The team tried out a host of potential routes to take the system, from including a stamina bar to free-climbing that would allow players to scale a mountain in a route of their own choosing. There was a lot of fun and tension to be had, but the team needed to consider how climbing fit into the overall game.<\/p>\n \u201cIt almost became too complex. The important thing about any of our systems is we layer them with other systems. So while climbing itself may have been really amazing, we had to remember Uncharted 4 is not only a climbing game,\u201d Schatz said.<\/p>\n With some of those systems stripped away, the focus came more clearly into view: leveraging climbing in Uncharted 4 to connect the player to Nathan Drake and eventually Chloe Frazer in Uncharted: The Lost Legacy. And that meant giving players more control over Uncharted\u2019s climbing than ever before.<\/p>\n \u201cWe wanted to be able to give the player very fine control and complete analog control over where Drake places his hands. That\u2019s where the reach system was formed,\u201d Yates explained.<\/p>\n The reach system in Uncharted 4 lets you do much more than simply hop from one handhold to the next along a clearly defined route. Using the left analog stick on the controller, the player can precisely direct how far and what angle Drake reaches out his hand. In practice, it looks fluid and realistic, but behind-the-scenes, there\u2019s a clever system of rings that accounts for Drake\u2019s possible moves. Many<\/em> animations are needed to pull off each movement.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThat was a huge challenge to animate and design all those poses, and then from each of those [points], the delta between your base and wherever the handhold will be, that position might have a number of very specific animations,\u201d Yates explained.<\/p>\n To ensure what was depicted in-game mirrored real life climbing terrain, the team constructed an adjustable rock wall in the mocap stage and captured parkour athlete Jesse La Flair\u00a0 going through the motions of Nate\u2019s various movements.<\/p>\n \u201cWe replicated those rings, and there are holes pre-drilled in all those different positions so we could move handholds around easily\u2026We had Jesse climb every conceivable combination we could give him,\u201d Yates explained, noting that this allowed him to really ground the physicality of Drake\u2019s motions.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/a><\/a><\/p>\n To help achieve the reach system\u2019s fluidity of movement, Principal Programmer Ryan Broner was among those working on getting this in-depth climbing system to function properly.<\/p>\n \u201cThe big change from Uncharted 3 was being able to hold onto two edges at once, and they could just be any distance apart,\u201d Broner said. This meant work had to be done to ensure the upper body would move in the right direction, but, as the team learned at the climbing gym, the feet were also just as essential to consider.<\/p>\n \u201c[We worked to have] the feet actually look for an edge instead of having them just dangling and swinging.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cRyan was\u2026really getting full-body [inverse kinematics] working with all four limbs and your root and how they move together. That helped us create a much more organic system to climb on than we\u2019ve previously been able to,\u201d Yates said.<\/p>\n Imbuing climbing with more natural and variable movement also benefited making the actual paths Drake takes more dynamic and rewarding for the player.<\/p>\n \u201cIt allowed us to make more organic rock faces. It used to be that the distance you could move handholds from where Nathan Drake was [felt] pretty short,\u201d Schatz explained. \u201cIn Uncharted 4, we were able to space those out, because Nathan Drake could reach quite a bit. By being able to space those out, we could make it so that the handholds themselves, visually, did not always imply a precise route. They were spaced out enough that you had to try it yourself and get used to how far his reach is.\u201d<\/p>\n Not only are climbing routes more naturally embedded within the environment, but thanks to a set of tools the team worked with, more complex routes could be carved out to allow players creativity in how they wanted to progress.<\/p>\n \u201cThe organic integration into the wall was automated. What you see in-game\u2026that\u2019s dynamically placed,\u201d Yates said, noting that background artists didn\u2019t have to go in and virtually sculpt out each handhold\u2019s spot. \u201cIn real time we could move the handholds around\u2026It was so easy to add those handholds, so it was easier for us to develop what we called \u2018Swiss cheese\u2019 for some of these walls. We tried to give the player the ability to find their own path.\u201d<\/p>\n Players can experiment with how they scale each stretch of rock or dilapidated building. Another way players have more agency over climbing is the piton. Born from the experimenting done with a more free-climbing system (you can see the idea of using two pitons at once below), the piton presents a bit of puzzle solving for the player to work through.<\/p>\n The pitons come into play as players hurtle toward specific walls, requiring the right timing and angle to hook the piton into the wall where they want to continue progressing.<\/p>\n \u201cWe want you to have creativity in how you can move around and place your handholds. You got a sense of, as a player, I need to decide \u2018Where do I want Nathan Drake\u2019s piton to be so I can jump to this ledge over there,\u201d Schatz said. \u201cThe piton is a really cool thing we wouldn\u2019t have been able to do without the analog reach of Nathan Drake [introduced in Uncharted 4].\u201d<\/p>\n With all the ideas the Naughty Dog team implemented \u2013 and the lessons learned from those they didn\u2019t \u2013 Uncharted 4\u2019s climbing offers more precise, analog control over Nathan Drake\u2019s climbing than ever before. That implementation continued with Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, which features Chloe Frazer as its protagonist while retaining all the work that went into Nathan Drake\u2019s climbing mechanics. Lost Legacy allowed the team to integrate the piton, which features later in A Thief\u2019s End, throughout more of Chloe\u2019s adventure.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were really happy with how it turned out in Uncharted 4\u2026and we were able to put it in a lot more in The Lost Legacy, and it was really able to come into its own there,\u201d Schatz said.<\/p>\n Following the journey of this feature\u2019s development, the team had some big takeaways.<\/p>\n \u201c[Uncharted 4\u2019s climbing showed] the importance of feedback in player systems,\u201d Broner said. \u201cIn Uncharted 4, you push the stick, and even if you can\u2019t reach anything, you see the body start to move in a certain direction. \u00a0Getting that feedback allows you to adjust to your intended direction in a way that feels natural, and makes you feel more connected to the character.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe always really strive for the feeling of groundedness\u2026because when that works really well, you identify more with the character, you\u2019re invested more with the character,\u201d Schatz said.<\/p>\n Everything evolved about the climbing system, from the reach system to the piton to the sheer fluidity and realism of movement, allows players to become invested in Uncharted\u2019s characters like never before. We hope longtime fans can appreciate this essential part of the Uncharted experience on a deeper level, and we\u2019re so excited for newcomers to experience Nathan and Chloe\u2019s climbing, combat, and much more.\u00a0Uncharted: <\/strong>Legacy of Thieves Collection is available October 19, 2022 on Steam<\/a> and Epic Games Store<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":8637,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[16],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.bwgamespot.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8636"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.bwgamespot.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.bwgamespot.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.bwgamespot.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8636"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.bwgamespot.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8636\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.bwgamespot.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8637"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.bwgamespot.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.bwgamespot.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.bwgamespot.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Climb time<\/h2>\n
Reaching out<\/h2>\n
Climb time<\/h2>\n
Reaching out<\/h2>\n