Principal Environment Artist @ Naughty Dog :) Uncharted and Last of Us franchises. Previously - Halo. Teacher
@CGMasterAcademy
Photographer, Snowboarder.
This is the first time in my 13 year career, across multiple studios that I didn't need to crunch to finish a game. Feels good, really good. Especially hitting the same quality bar as TLOU2. More work to keep doing but proud of the big changes so far to make the studio healthier.
Thrilled to announce The Last of Us Part I has gone gold! 🏅✨
Congratulations to the Dogs and our partners
@PlayStation
who contributed their passion and talent to the growing world of
#TheLastofUs
!
"some creative jobs maybe will go away, but maybe they shouldnt have been there in the first place" says the leech whose entire company is built off that stolen creative work
These useless dregs of society will do anything to steal from others to enrich themselves. Fucking trash
Remember when people who have no concept of game development were complaining about reusing an animation for the games sequel?
I'm still using a rock rubble pile I made in Uncharted 3 lmao
What an absolutely abysmal take. Variety of video games in terms of gameplay and story is what makes them great. We need more DIFFERENT games, not similar
Stop with these awful hot takes where you want all games to pander to just your tastes. You don't need to play every game.
These numbers can be a bit misleading but something great to have a chat about!
1. Credits commonly only list the name of an Outsourcing studio used. We have always listed every individual at those studios. For many its the only time their name will be credited in a game. (1/)
Microsoft 2019: "We are in a very unique position to be able to spend Sony out of business"
Microsoft 2022: Spends 19 times more money than Sony has ever spent.
Microsoft 2023: "Oh that was an old strategy/thought experiment from 2019"
I think this is the first time I have seen someone post about finding this fun little Uncharted 4 easter egg I made. Subtle and well hidden easter eggs are a blast to include😁
I love seeing all the original Last of Us and now Part I comparison shots. Fun fact, all the original cinematics in The Last of Us were Pre-Rendered and looked way better than any in game gameplay. Wait till you see the side by sides of all the real time in game environments 😎
I'm personally all for less exclusive games as that is best for gamers overall but like you literally just had Palworld release on PC and Xbox without coming to PlayStation.
The hypocrisy is just so high here 😂 Both companies do this stuff
Phil Spencer isn’t happy that Helldivers 2 skipped Xbox
“kudos to the team shipping on PC and PlayStation — I'm not exactly sure who it helps in the industry by not being on Xbox”
"but I get it,” says Phil
See more:
Uncharted 4 came out 4 years ago and these are still hands down the best looking video game characters. Well you know, best looking for the next 41 days that is 😏 ND character team is straight 🔥
"If you knew how game development goes, you’d know that visuals are one of the first things done."
True, all you have to do is play this video in reverse to see how accurate this is. I started this level with final art and then we slowly built the design of Uncharted 4
It shouldn't be surprising that people who make their personality traits as rabid gaming fanboys don't understand the business side of gaming at all and why Sony or Microsoft being able to acquire the most dominate IP is bad for gaming. Nintendo/Steam deal is in bath faith (1/)
A lot of the most talented video game artists I know don't have a Twitter, an Artstation or even a up to date online portfolio. They just do industry leading work and are like "cool, onto the next project". Having a big online following doesn't equate to your talent level at all.
Seems like the PR campaign to appease regulators is in full swing. This is so bad for gaming as a whole.
Microsoft to just use its massive fortune to buy up any studio is pleases to eventually smother the competition is terrible. 10 years is nothing when you own IPs forever.
Our acquisition will bring Call of Duty to more gamers and more platforms than ever before. That's good for competition and good for consumers. Thank you
@Nintendo
. Any day
@Sony
wants to sit down and talk, we'll be happy to hammer out a 10-year deal for PlayStation as well.
Excited for this PS5 version of The Last of Us Part II. The Roguelike is SICK and a 10 dollar upgrade for PS4 owners is great 😀
Shout out our Comms & Marketing team who had such awesome plans for yall on the reveal for this over the next month to be wiped out. Leaks are lame AF
The Last of Us Part II Remastered comes to PS5 on January 19, featuring:
💥 No Return roguelike mode
🎙 Lost Levels with dev commentary
🎸 Guitar Free Play
👀 Graphical enhancements
🎮 DualSense integration
⭐ And more
Learn more here:
I feel like the Starfield controller has to be the best looking special edition gaming controller ever made. I can't think of one to top this. Absolutely so cool, love the design and details on this.
People really showing they don't know anything about business dealings thinking the Sony Bungie deal wasn't already in the works for MONTHS and was some kind of response to Microsoft Activision. This isn't like picking up the phone and ordering a pizza 😂
Life as a Game Dev:
"How long do you think this will take you?"
*me in my head* - "I can do this in 1 week ez"
*me out loud* - "2 weeks, no problem"
*in reality* - 3 weeks 😅
A pretty sweet last decade making some awesome games with my friends. 😁 From the 20 year ND vets to those shipping their first game it's amazing to watch people pushing what's possible in this medium with each new game 🐾
#TheLastofUsPart2
#naughtydog
I only have 500 Instagram followers but damn, my DM's because of The Last of Us 2 are more wild than Twitter surprisingly 😂 Imaging being so homophobic and pathetic in life to send messages like these. (most of my DM's are super positive tho so don't worry 😁)
Wish we had way better designed video game tshirts. Designs that are more subtle, styles that iykyk, things that don't scream "video games!". Only fans would get it and would blend into the regular world
Instead we always just get character heads or logos dead center of a shirt
Starting today PC gamers can unleash the full customizable power of the DualSense Edge controller directly on their computer.
With the PlayStation Accessories app, customize the controller’s settings and update its firmware directly from your Windows PC:
I'm surprised how often I see students trying to break into the industry spend incredible amounts of time on everything but creating work for their portfolio.
Building out their own "discord community", streaming and tweeting all day are the new popular things to waste time on.
How did it go again? Get woke something something Go broke! Was it? 😂 Looks like people are interested in compelling characters and more than just your typical pandering super hero story where nothing bad happens. Glad so many are enjoying it despite trolls hateful negativity 😀
Evolution of trendy 3d art portfolio pieces
-Damaged concrete pillar with rebar
-Blue mailbox with graffiti
-Brick building alleyway with large dumpster
-AK-47 with tape on it
-Sci Fi Hallway
-Zbrush rock sculpt
-Tessellated Marmoset shader ball render
-BotW hills of green grass
What if...
id Software made a Halo game? An FPS, specifically.
They have the talent, the tech, & the focus.
(I am not suggesting the closure or demise of 343i, to be clear. I just think it'd be interesting to see id's take on Halo -- maybe as a side-story game, a la Halo Wars)
Is there a better console generation line up by one studio than this 😍 such an amazing team to work with over the years. PS4 is gonna be tough to top but I certainly like what we got cooking on the PS5 👀 😏 hit up the career page and those open positions, we got a ton!
9 years ago today, the PlayStation 4 was announced and Naughty Dog leaped into the next generation with their masterfully-crafted games.
#TheLastofUs
#Uncharted
#PS4
I am hands down way more interested in playing 4 completely different 15 hour AAA games than just 1 60 hour AAA game. I want to explore more worlds and different stories than a game with a padded open world. Love the industry has both but needs more 15 AAA hour games for sure
The former head of PlayStation Worldwide Studios believes the AAA model needs a rethink
"Instead of spending five years making an 80 hour game, what does three years and a 15 hour game look like?"
Ah yes the position I've always wanted, the classic Intern/Volunteer Art Director! How could I pass up this type of opportunity? They don't mention how much exposure bucks I could earn though...
In the spirt of
#Blocktober
here is my first blockout of the Aquarium from The Last of Us Part 2 and how I ended up arting the space. The Aquarium was such a fun section as I took over layout design while also doing the art for it along with
@JaredSobotta
on Texture/Material side
Hi
#MeetTheDev
my name is Anthony Vaccaro, been an Environment Artist for 9 years. Interned at SOE on EverQuests 16th expansion,
@Bungie
on Halo Reach, currently
@Naughty_Dog
on Uncharted 3, 4, Lost Legacy, The Last of Us 1 & 2. I also teach envio art
@CGMA
and love timelapses :)
Absolutely stunning! Cannot wait for Ghost of Yotei. Tsushima was one of the most beautiful open world games and it looks like Yotei will continue that trend 😀
Big congrats to Sucker Punk on the announcement!
Hot take, but I feel for those looking to break into the industry, you will get better advice on where/how to apply from juniors who just got into the industry in the last 2/3 years than a senior dev
Senior devs for what studios look for, but junior devs for what actually works
Absolutely gutting to hear. Laying off 10k people during this acquisition shows how its never been about "saving/building better" studios like Acti/Bliz from Bobby Kotick. Its just about IP gain. Hearing from peeps 343 is basically gone 😞 acquisition would bring more layoffs
Microsoft is laying off 10,000 people today, including in its gaming divisions such as Xbox and Bethesda. This mass layoff arrives exactly one year after Microsoft announced plans to purchase Activision Blizzard for $69 billion
If you want a true in-depth look at all the highs, lows and processes of making one of the greatest games of all time highly encourage checking Grounded II. Trailer has spoilers for TLOU2 so be warned!
For those that want to know what it was actually like creating this game😀
Grounded II: Making The Last of Us Part II is coming! It will be available on YouTube and as part of a post-launch update for
#TLOU2Remastered
.
Watch the trailer for this upcoming documentary here:
@DestinLegarie
Sea of Thieves requires a Microsoft account when played on PSN or when playing Minecraft on a MacBook.
Super common in gaming. Hell I need an account for my Nvidia driver 😂
Never understood gamers wanting to see leaks. Do y'all forget the first time you saw like The Last of Us, Spider-Man, Cyberpunk, Skyrim or God of War trailer play? The insane hype, the complete surprise, the excitement of something new? Why would you take that away from yourself?
I just hit 10 years at Naughty Dog! A Decade Dog 😀 I've been fortunate to work on son many amazing games since starting on Uncharted 3, created art I'm so proud of plus a ton of awards. But its the life long friends and events along the way that truly made it special
#decadeDog
Not only did I have the pleasure of creating the Environment Art for the Aquarium in
#TheLastofUsPartll
I was also the Layout Designer for the level 😁 Very fun fully creating this space from an Art and Design standpoint starting in early Alpha. Some
#Blocktober
before/after!
Sometimes it's hard to see past the small yet extremely loud vocal minority online who hates something for any given reason. But it's always great when you realize the vast majority never shares that sentiment and the amount of real positivity is overwhelming🙂
#TheLastofUsPart2
I understand how almost all disciplines in game development are done expect for Programming.
I cannot fathom how you are just there typing a bunch of letters, numbers and symbols and somehow I now have a game engine I can put my pretty little art in!? Absolutely mind boggling
Was so much fun doing a lot of Layout Design and then all the Environment Art along with Genesis Prado for the Western Ghats level in Uncharted: Lost Legacy.
If you missed it on PS4 now is the prefect time with
#UnchartedLegacyOfThieves
out today on PS5!
#Uncharted
Tomorrow The Last of Us Part I and Part II will be finally be native to the PS5 and both games will be at visual parity.
Excited for everyone who has never gone on this adventure to experience it for the first time as if it was one cohesiveness story 😁
Interesting take from a Blizzard Talent Marketing Specialist. Is this line of thinking why Blizzard has notoriously underpaid their employees for years to the point they shared Excel sheets how underpaid they were?
They are "greedy" for wanting a job they love AND a good salary?
My heart goes out to everyone at Insomniac ❤️ I remember how crushed and devastated I felt when TLOU II hack happened. But this? The scale of this hack? People's personal information leaked? I cannot begin to fathom it at all. I'm so incredibly sorry for everyone affected 😞
"there are no games"
A more correct statement from you would be "there are no AAA first party titles I personally want to play as I only consider those games"
I massively regret the $597 (including tax) that I spent on the PSVR2.
I love great VR game experiences & I was so excited that Sony was doubling down w/a truly powerful second-gen headset, but they burned me. There are no games. It already feels dead. Look at the layer of dust!
The examples used are The Last of Us Part 2 and Bioshock Infinite, a game from 7 years ago on a different console cycle!? Bruh
Like most games ARE black and white morality. "This is bad guy, me good guy kill bad guy because I'm good". 95% of all games.
I love all these meme reference gifs our Animators worked on. They had a blast goofing around making them and it's been great seeing fans use them so often.
The fine print legit says it will not be capturing images of DRM content like Netflix or Amazon Prime but it will be capturing your passwords, bank info, social security, health documents.
Lmao absolutely insane levels of spyware that will easily be hackable/stolen
Satya Nadella says Windows PCs will have a photographic memory feature called Recall that will remember and understand everything you do on your computer by taking constant screenshots
Awesome 10 year The Last of Us celebration at the studio put on by the amazing ops team
@Naughty_Dog
! The original The Last of Us banner that was signed by the team during the launch party hanging on the wall in the background 😀 it's been a special 10 years!
#TheLastOfUs
We have gone GOLD!! 🏅 All the hard work from the team over these years to deliver something so special. From the art team, to design, narrative, animation, audio, QA, operations, concept, localization, social, IT, programing, actors and everyone else at ND/Sony. So damn proud!!
The loading speeds + transitions Insomniac is doing for Spider-Man 2 is insane! This type of thing is so impressive and going to truly change the way games feel!
Imagine games you play where you are hitting loading screens every few min how different they would play on PS5 🤯
👀Insomniac is redefining "Fast Travel" in Marvel's Spider-Man 2 PS5 🔥
Seamlessly go to ANYWHERE on the map!🤯
(Not just some specific markers)
With the coolest, smoothest transition to gameplay
#PS5
SSD paid off big time!👌
#SpiderMan2PS5
#PlayStation5
#StateofPlay
#Xbox
Honestly surprised so many dudes are pressed about playing a female character in a game. Didn't think they had such a strong desire to stare at the backside of a hunky male for 20 to 80 hours.
After trailer drop chillin with a handful of the local Naughty Dog Environment Artists, a good chunk who this is their first ND game!
I am so pumped for you all to see the incredible work they have done bringing Part 1 up to the high quality bar we hit in Part 2!
Absolutely gutting to hear about all the layoffs this week. So many lives upended by incompetent management. We don't seem to have a ton of job listings at Naughty Dog right now beyond a handful programming roles but will leave this here if its helpful 😕
5. Are most AAA games contributed by this many people? Yes to varying degrees of the scope of the game. Most just dont credit everyone.
Why is this? Our credits roll at around 20 minutes which is SUPER long & studios want to make it seems like they did everyone on their game :)
Today was the introduction of the first 5 year award here at Naughty Dog. 108 active employees have hit that mark. It’s been a great 8 years so far at such an amazing studio 😄
2. Many other departments are often left out of game credits that while they didn't build the game world, the scope of the project wouldnt be the same without them.
Such as Studio/Corporate Operations, Marketing, Merchandise, Event Coordinators. They deserve to be credited! (2/)
3. Games are built on an engine and while the people who contributed to that engine might not be actively working on the game itself, the work they did is the reason these games run. They deserve to see their names roll by as without them no game would run. So we credit them (3/)
Happy 6 years to Uncharted Lost Legacy! Was so fun getting to do a lot of the layout design and the environment art for the Western Ghats drivable jeep section 😀
Full timelapse video I made with more shots here for those interested.
It's crazy how this is like the third legal incident for CoD from stolen store art to not legally obtaining building rights just this year that we know of
The legal team we have now in place at ND goes over even trash piles with a fine tooth comb to avoid lawsuits like this. Wild
@weaver_be
Right so Sony was trying to pay for 1 year of exclusivity for 1 game (which Microsoft also does) and instead of offering Bethesda a better deal decided that one year of exclusivity was "shady" so they bought the ENTIRE publisher, dozens of studios and IPs to make all exclusive.
Always love it when a Sony game comes out, all the other Sony studios do some fun fan art of their franchise with the game that is being released. Just a fun little celebration and devs supporting their fellow devs :)
"omg you work for Sony no wonder you say this!" Real adults divorce themselves from the companies that pay them and don't let those decisions effect their views. Dont marry yourself to the company that currently pays your salary or make the console you play your identity (end)
Started to upload the environments I created for
#TheLastofUsPart2
! Environment art, level layout design, 3d modeling and world building by myself and environment textures/materials by the super talented
@JaredSobotta
😀 via
@artstationhq
Love seeing the massive success of a game like Helldivers 2. It really goes to show you that no one knows what will truly pop off at the right time and become a massive runaway success. Devs just try to build games they want to play and make. So awesome when it hits big with fans
4. In a AAA setting you have to deal with a world wide corporate world to get your game across the globe and rightly so those management people should be included in the credits. A lot is done on Sony's end to get a game like this shipped even if they didnt animate anything. (4/)
When studios announce their next game: "Don't announce your game more than 2 years before it's release!"
When studios have yet to announce their next game: "Why don't these studios communicate with fans!"
🤷🏻😂
Microsoft doesn't compete with Steam/Nintendo for business, it competes with Sony. They do not have an online distribution platform like Steam, they sell their games on Steam, so to make a 10 year deal is meaningless as they have no platform of their own, they do not compete (2/)
The attention to detail is unmatched by every department of this studio and something that inspires me every day I am at work be it narrative, design, sound, animation or environments. Every inch of
#TheLastofUsPartII
is unique in a way you haven't seen before.
The new episode of Inside
#TheLastofUsPartII
is now available. This week, we're discussing the development philosophy, technology, and attention to detail that went into the making of the game. Watch here:
Tune in next Wednesday for our final installment.
Sonys strategy has always been about building great IPs and purchasing to build up the IPs they own. They have never been massive IP purchases though. Microsofts kinda failed at building up their own IPs and instead went for the mass IP buyout route (6/)
Watch a basic video on architecture. There is a reason your design feels "off". Humans can tell proper flow of a building having been in hundreds of them IRL, adding stairs, pillars, inconsistent story height/wall thickness, doors with no architectural sense will always feel off.
Nintendo does not make hardware capable of running CoD to the quality level as Microsoft/Sony, so they are not in competition with them for the same demographic. Those who would pick up a Nintendo CoD are a different audience. They don't compete. (3/)
My face reading this article after posting yesterday that this type of deal when an entire publisher is bought out, with dozens of IPs on a scale never seen in the industry is a bad thing no matter if it was Sony or Microsoft.
Got like a thousand angry gamer messages on it 😅
BREAKING: The FTC voted to sue to block Microsoft’s $69 billion acquisition of Activision, saying the tie-up between the Xbox maker and game publisher would harm competition
Microsoft and Sony directly compete with each other for the same core audience/dollars. The offer of a 10 year deal to Nintendo/Steam is done in bath faith to appease regulators to force the deal through and make Sony look unreasonable. (4/)
Fun day in the studio. A little The Last of Us Day celebration, 40 years of Naughty Dog kicking off, sweet speech by Neil to the team, fun studio stuff to check out. Thanks to the Ops team for always organizing a great on site day 😁
I say this without a shred of bias at all but it's for sure The Last of Us Part 2. Again, just trying to give my completely unbiased, 100% correct opinion here.
This February I will begin teaching my first class, Organic World Building in UE4
@CGMasterAcademy
This advanced class will see students building their own organic environment and teach them the tools to succeeded in a production pipeline. Enroll today! :D
This random dude at the mountain bar struck up a convo with me today and he loved that I worked in video games. But he told me he absolutely hated how "political" video games have become.
His 2 all time favorite games are Call of Duty Modern Warfare and Spec Ops the Line 🙃