The Last of Us Part II - Naughty Dog explains why in-game window breaking is gripping

On June 19, one of the biggest videogame expectations of the year 2020 came out: it is obviously The Last of Us Part II, the last production of Naughty Dog, focusing this time on the multiple adventures. Ellie. As the various tests and the many opinions of the players show, the title with the post-apocalyptic atmosphere has managed to heal all its aspects, starting with the astonishing construction of its scenario, or even its gameplay always more violent and visceral. .. But it seems that the Californian studio also dwelled with precision on much more anecdotal details to reinforce the immersion of the players like the way in which it is possible to destroy the windows.

While browsing The Last of Us Part II in length, width and across you surely noticed that it was possible to break certain windows of shops to slip inside them, or even car windows or even windows of confectionery distributors ... If you had expressed a feeling of pride in breaking these different windows, it would seem that this is normal, since Naughty Dog has worked on this aspect for many months to make the action of e "break down" deeply satisfying. Indeed, in an interview conducted by GameSpot, the developers of the game have expressed themselves on this so-called "complex" game mechanics.

The main objective that I remember was for the player to see a "single" glass. break every time he breaks a window. However, since the glass doesn't actually fracture in real time, we had to get creative. Neilan Naicker, Technical Artist at Naughty Dog

In fact, in order to avoid require a lot of computing power on the part of the PlayStation 4, the developers of The Last of Us Part II have made the choice of fracture in advance the different windows that you can see as you explore this devastated world, while ensuring that this tip is actually invisible to the player. According to the developers at Naughty Dog, this has been a huge challenge.

The biggest piece of work to be done from my side was to help implement a system that pre-treats the glass so that the broken edges appear only when the glass breaks. Do a melee on the window applies a different force compared to an interaction based on the physical, such as throwing a brick through the window, for example. The windows are in the end a configuration based on the physical and react accordingly. We tested a bunch of different ways to break the glass (bricks, bullets, melee, explosions) in order to propose a result which ensures that every way is satisfactory. Neilan Naicker

To arrive at such a result, Neilan Naicker said that he has not only tried to imitate the reality, but he has chosen to step up the latter in the manner of a moving character in an animated film.

I don't think being realistic is always absolutely desirable, but it is often necessary to get closer before you can begin to "intensify" the reality. Neilan Naicker

obviously, to offer this unique feeling when the player breaks the glass, the developers are not only just work the visual aspect, but have made it so that everything fits naturally into the part gameplay of the game working including sound-design of this mechanical.

I liked the broken glass in the film John Wick. You hear a nice explosive effect and after that, of very fine debris from the glass roll around on the floor. This extra layer of detail has not only given the sensation of breaking the glass, but also the consequence that there is now glass everywhere. This type of narration was exactly what we wanted to accomplish (for The Last of Us Part II). Jesse Garcia, sound designer at Naughty Dog

once a window has been broken in the game, the different pieces don't magically disappear, but remain well and truly scattered all over the floor. And to signify the presence of the tracks, Jesse Garcia has chosen to intensify the sound of pieces of glasses each time the hero interacts with it. To make this credible, several methods have been used : of course, Jesse Garcia had to break a lot of glass, but it was not enough. On his side, the sound designer Neil Uchitel has, therefore, modeled different sounds to transcribe pieces of broken glass of different sizes, and Jesse Garcia recorded the sound that produces the electricity in order to convey the idea that a piece of glass is composed of several distinct layers.

The electricity can be used in all kinds of designs. When it is used correctly, it can be completely hidden to not give you only one part of a item you're looking for. Jesse Garcia

finally, as we said above, the debris of the glass serves not only to decorate the different environments of post-apocalyptic The Last of Us Part II , but is directly involved in the gameplay of the game. Once the player has broken a window, it will have to be careful not to step on the debris not to signify its presence to the guards who monitor the area.

The system of glass in The Last of Us Part II is not the result of a single person. It takes a village to operate a single element of the game, from the programming, the animation, the design, the foreground and the audio. Jesse Garcia

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