cruel world
Neil Druckmann, co-president of Naughty Dog, said: “During the production process, we made this rule for ourselves: everything must be seen through Joel’s or Ellie’s point of view. That’s it, because we want players to spend time Follow them from one space to another in real-time synchronization, and become them.”
Bryant Wilson, lead film animator, said: “Boston’s segregated area is full of oppression, and we want to use everything we can see from the outside to reflect that atmosphere. When you go out on the street, you will see people patrolling with guns, and there are fences everywhere. , to prevent people from leaving the area restricted by the government.”
“The first street seen by the quarantine zone does a lot to interpret the world these people live in. They were forced to evacuate their homes and come here to be tested for infection. When the player reaches this stage, you can choose to stop It’s a deliberate design,” Wilson said. “That’s how it is in the real world.”
“Quarantines are about one group of people trying to control another group of people, and the way they try to control the world and nature,” Pangilinan explained. “A lot of the materials in the quarantine area are very solid and angular, and what we want to create is the tension that people live with every day under the control of this authoritarian agency.”
The development team uses artistic techniques, each created animation and clips to realistically present the difficult reality faced by survivors under the control of FEDRA in the post-epidemic world, highlighting the tone of this part of the world.
“The lights in the area were gloomy and blue. We deliberately created a prison-like atmosphere…People in the quarantine area are very depressed, and we just want to outline their depression and despair,” Pangilinan explained. “You can see that feeling in the marketplace, and when designing this part, we tried to represent the harshness and lack of life in the area. You’ll see people selling rats and scrap metal because that’s all they have , and they can only eke out a living by bartering.”
“There’s always one thing we always check out first, like the quarantine market: ‘What was the original intent of this scene?’ If you’re not careful, it becomes just filling the place with merchandise,” Pangilinan said. “But actually, the main purpose of that scene was to show how deprived life was in the ghetto and how desperate the people were. So it was important to show their food and what they were selling, and how they arranged everything, Be prepared to pack up and run if you get caught.”
“If there’s room for improvement in any of the animations, we try to try, but we don’t want to add too much detail, mainly because we don’t want to spoil the feel of the original,” Wilson explained. “Every animation in that sequence was retouched, reworked and improved, even if some were done in more subtle ways.”
“Through TV series … we have the opportunity to step away from the main characters for a while and blend in with other characters,” he explained. “You’ll see Marlene talking to the new character, Jean, and we were able to add some detail to Marlene so that the audience can see how she responds to the situation as the leader of Firefly. The game just understates her, And now you have the opportunity to see what kind of hot potato this character is dealing with, and the pull she feels between the different layers of her role.”
“One of the things I love the most is being able to move away from imagining her life and her experiences,” explains Merle Dandridge, who plays Marlene both in the game and in the show. “Obviously we’ve had a lot of conversations, imagining and speculating about who she is and where she’s been. And the details that the audience will see about her will be fresh interpretations in some ways. , but remain true to who she is and where she came from.”
“Dangerous” beautiful world
“It’s in a world carefully planned and crafted by a man, and it allows the player to take a little breather and take a look at this beautiful area,” Wilson explained. “That’s what freedom looks like. It’s dangerous, but it’s also beautiful. Nature returns and takes over.”
“The town of Bill is like an independent world. It has become a personal castle, his territory. He is in charge of all access, and nature is one of the members who can enter and exit freely. Therefore, we sprinkled in nature and The sunset glow on the buildings, hoping to create a warm environment for the town of Biel,” Pangilinan said. “The aesthetic presented here is in stark contrast to places you’ve been to before, such as those thrilling dark tunnels and sewers.”
“In the small town of Biel, he seems to follow nature, but he is actually building his own small isolation area. And we hope to create an ecological environment where nature and humans coexist in balance,” Pangilinan said. “But the town of Bill also represents Joel, reflecting his state of mind, his isolationism, his paranoid side of character. That’s why we built walls and many traps that will trigger traps to fight back, so that They can live in isolation.”
“The town of Bill is an intriguing place. It is a wonderful adventure in the game, but it is actually a beautiful encounter. You have just left the quarantine area where you are, and come to this place with a completely different environment. This is A small town in Massachusetts where you meet this eccentric guy who has a bad temper and is kind of fun, and you move on from the game.” Executive producer Craig Mazin explained the series’ shift in direction.
“The characters Bill and Frank have a philosophical debate that ends in the game and takes up much longer in the show—yes, you can survive, but for what purpose?” Druckmann said . “There are two philosophies presented here, Bill’s position is: ‘Survival itself is the purpose of existence.’ And Frank’s position is: ‘No, life is more than that.’ In the game, the two eventually parted ways, and Frank left alone. And in In discussions[with Craig and me]we agreed that it would be interesting for the show to turn it upside down.”
“I think there’s another way of thinking about it (with this passage in the game and the message it’s trying to convey), which is that Joel and Ellie love people in different ways,” Mazin explained. “We can make a good argument that we need both: extroverted love and protective love. Both can get you into trouble, and on the show we have the opportunity to expand on Bill and Frank’s storyline to tell a previously unseen story.”
“I passed the content to Neil with trepidation… I talked to him about the idea of deviating from the original plot, but he thought it was very good! His reaction was beyond my expectation: ‘This is the story so far. My favorite part!’” shares Mazin. “It proves that…he gave me a lot of room to be creative and come up with new ideas.”
“The tragedy of the third episode culminates in a text message Bill leaves Joel, which roughly reads: ‘Here’s your job, you have to protect Tess.’ That message comes too late for Joel, But this is where the turning point begins,” says Druckmann. “He thought to himself, ‘I’m too late to protect Tess, but maybe I’ll still have a chance to protect this kid.’ That’s what Joel turns to at the end of the episode. The whole episode of Bill and Frank’s reflections goes back to In Joel and Ellie, it is beyond words, and we all received the major decision that Joel secretly made in his heart at the moment.”
“There’s no core (gameplay) loop in the TV series, the audience just sits there and enjoys it. Because of that, we have to crank up the drama,” Druckmann explained. “That allowed us to really enrich the world and the characters in it in some ways, and I’ve heard from some people who have seen the series and then come back to play the game, it makes their gaming experience richer.”
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