Combat Development For ‘The Last of Us’

Coming from Gamer Informer, a new video has surfaced featuring Naughty Dog game director Bruce Straley and creative director Neil Druckmann.  In the video they discuss the steps they went through in developing the game’s radical new AI for both enemies and allies.  Everything, from the way enemies react to different scenarios that you’ll encounter throughout the game, to the way that Ellie (you ally) will help you when you’re pinned down behind cover, has been taken into consideration.  From what they say in the video, they’ve gone far deeper into the strategy and methodology of video game combat than almost any other developer has ever gone.  Let’s hope that it all works out.

Straley says that making both your allies and enemies feel real to the player “creates a balance of power” that the player will react to in real time, affecting both decisions and consequences.  So, if you’re really interesting in the way that developers think about and create more realistic and active AI’s in games, click the link below.

The Combat of ‘The Last of Us’ – Game Informer

So, what do you think?  Personally, I feel that Naughty Dog  has taken the right path to developing a game that may finally offer what gamers have been craving for so long: Realistic and intelligent enemies and allies that will react in real-time to the decisions that the player makes.  Let me know what you think in the comments below!