With Uncharted 2: Among Thieves blazing through retail, we decided to talk to Naughty Dog’s Travis McIntosh, lead programmer of the game, about the technology under the hood. Check out this exclusive interview that sheds light on how the PlayStation 3 and the programmers at Naughty Dog pushed interactive entertainment in a new direction with Uncharted 2.

Can you talk about the engine you created for the original game and how big an undertaking that was?

It was a huge undertaking for us as we had to start from scratch on Uncharted and build our engine from the ground up.  Not one line of code, not a single asset was transferred from the Jak and Daxter games.  On the PS2 we used a proprietary language we called GOAL, based on LISP, which meant we had a really hard time sharing with other teams.  The upshot being, when we decided to switch to C++ as is most common in the industry, we had to start over.  Looking back, I’m not sure we realized how big of a task that was, but we have some very talented people here, and we’re pretty happy with the end result.

What did having the engine complete for this game do for you in terms of development and where did you allocate those extra resources for this sequel?

Pushing the PS3

Probably the biggest advantage in working with an existing engine was the ability to prototype gameplay from day one. The ability for designers to create and play a level from the very first day of the project, without waiting on programming, is an extremely important one.  It means we were able to iterate on gameplay early on in the project, when making changes is easy and simple, as opposed to later on when we have finished art that is very expensive and time consuming to alter. Obviously, there was also a lot of work that we didn’t have to do the second time around, which meant we could focus on new gameplay mechanics, more polish, and a generally bigger, improved player experience.

What are some of the new tech advances that you brought to the table this time around?

In terms of rendering, well, a picture is worth a thousand words right?  Check out any of our screenshots.  Improved lighting, improved shaders, better particles, you name it, we’ve made it look better than before.  In terms of gameplay, one of the biggest changes is the ability for the enemies and player to ride moving objects, not just slow moving platforms, but objects moving at some fantastic speeds.  It required quite an overhaul of our gameplay code to get that working, it meant we couldn’t make any assumptions about the speed of the player or enemies relative to the world, but the payoff was fantastic and I think anybody who gets their hands on Uncharted 2 will agree.

Can you talk about the PS3 in this stage of development and how much processing power you're harnessing this time versus the first?

Nathan Drake is back

There’s a lot of confusion about what it really means to harness more processing power.  We’ve been trying to explain it this way:  Imagine you have a bunch of spinning plates, each plate representing a processor in the Cell, like an old vaudeville act.  The more plates you have spinning at once, the more you get done.  On Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune we had about 30 percent of the plates spinning at any one time.  On Uncharted 2, we’re going to have almost all of them spinning all the time.  Does that mean we are doing all the PS3 can do?  Of course not.  Just because a plate is spinning, doesn’t mean we couldn’t spin it faster, and faster, and faster.  What it does mean though, is that we are getting a lot more done this game than the last one, and that means more objects, more effects, and better looking environments.

What have you learned about this console over the past two games and how does it compare to PS2 and the way you were able to push that tech over the years?

The big difference between the PS2 and the PS3 has got to be dealing with multiple processors at once.  It requires a complete shift in the way you approach every problem.  On the PS2 the question was always just “how can I do this faster?”  On the PS3 you have an additional question, and it’s often a more important question, which is “How can I do all these different things at the same time?”  Really, we’re just getting started with understanding how to write code in a multiprocessor architecture, everyone is, and, if anything, I think we can push this hardware a lot harder and lot farther than we were able to with previous generations.  I think we’ve only just started seeing what the PS3 can do.

Are you still working with a team of 70? What impact did their experience on the first game have on this one?

Skeletons in the closet

We've grown a bit bigger for this project, but we’ve retained a lot of the core people that helped make Uncharted so great. It's crucial to have experienced developers in all our departments, so on that level their impact is huge, but the new faces coming in are no less important and their contributions have been equally as great. Their energy and enthusiasm for our game is infectious! People are excited about the Uncharted universe and are coming in having already played the first game, so they already get what we're going for here. That's a nice thing to have.

How do you guys encourage group participation for a franchise like this?

Absolutely everyone at Naughty Dog is encouraged to play the game and give feedback, regardless of what their day-to-day responsibilities are. Everyone's ideas are heard, old dogs and new. Not all can be used of course, but you'd be surprised how many ideas are incorporated into the end product. We've got such a flat structure here that we require and rely on people from all departments to step up and make what they're working on as awesome as possible! It’s been kind of "the Naughty Dog way" since pretty much the beginning.