The Last of Us: Part II...The Ratking Chase
This gallery is part of my on-going series showcasing my work on The Last of Us: Part II.
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As well as being the vehicle specialist for the duration of the game, I also continued my role as a texture and shader artist with my usual level responsibilities.
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For this particular area, I worked in partnership with Edgar Martinez (modelling and layout) and Bethany Lowe (Lighting). Julian Elwood also came on towards the end to help with the destruction pass on the decontamination room as well as doing a great job working up the ratking escape 'hole' on the right of the garage. For the blood and bile effects, I made use of a 'blood package' shader treatment created by our technical shader wizard, Steven Tang, who's work is incredible and so I wanted to give him an extra shout out here. As always, a huge thanks to the rest of the fantastic Naughty Dog team, without whose contributions none of these levels would be possible.
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My main responsibilities included the creation and adaptation of textures and shaders for application to the environments and contained assets. The levels ended up being so huge that I also did quite a bit of modelling and additional set dressing, working back and forth with Edgar, to continually push and improve each other's work. I also spent a lot of time in researching a new asset pipeline for which these levels became our testing ground.
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Working on The Last of Us: Part II has been an incredible experience and as always, it takes a monumental team effort in order to make such amazing games. Without the hard work and dedication of the entire team, across all departments, none of this would be possible.
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I would also like to take time to thank our incredible outsource studios who time and time again prove to be so vital to our development of these worlds, their contributions are incredible and I am incredibly grateful to have worked with them.
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Edgar Martinez portfolio, please check him out! https://www.artstation.com/edgar_a_martinez
After Abby's discovery of 'the nest' she heads to the ambulance bay. Guided by the path of destruction left by something as yet unseen
We wanted to sell the idea that the Ratking emerged from the nest covered in rotting, decaying flesh and bile, leaving a trail in it's wake that Abby could follow, foreshadowing the inevitable confrontation between the two.
Building shaders like this isn't always (for me it's hardly ever) about creating complex, full texture sets...often I create just a series of masks with which to drive more advanced shader features...
This makes shaders far more flexible, because i can control layer intensity, scale, brdf values across individual layers in real-time. I can also make multiple shaders from just a few simple masks, so it's an efficient way to think about shader creation.
(Includes Audio) Abby's goal is the ambulance to the left, but we encouraged exploration with the 'trail' leading to the right, to show the player something big and powerful had come through and might not be too far away...
Those vehicles that were also interactive involved a back and forth between myself and our incredible foreground team, who would rig, skin and do the technical setup so that they're ready for animation
(Includes audio) I made a lot of custom destruction assets and shaders for this area, often a lot of effort is spent for that one moment of visual appeal, before the player progresses...so here's a little video just to show the details a little more
(Includes audio) The ratking reveal was one of the most terrifying moments in the game and I still feel that when playing, even having watched it so many times during development
The entire interior of this ambulance I unwrapped to one small atlas texture sheet...i was happy with how optimal it was, but you can't stop to check it out because you can't take your eyes off the ratking!
The red emergency lighting that flashes throughout this sequence gives the player the opportunity to see the shadow of the ratking as it gains on you, it's one of my favourite things about this whole sequence...that sense that it's right on your heels
The button sequence on the doors, traversable gurneys, timing of the chase and the final destruction of the 'squeeze' at the end all flash by in a heartbeat, but these moments take hours and many minds all working together to make them 'feel' just right
Closing in...these corridors seem to get shorter and more confined as you progress, adding to the sense that there is no escaping the inevitable..
Dead ends, wrong turns and obstacles make this sequence incredibly tense. It leads to the final confrontation with the ratking and one of the most challenging areas we had to work on
There were a lot of technical and shader challenges presented to us here, i'll hopefully dive in to some of these in the next gallery...