In One and One, Game|Life asks a member of the gaming industry two questions: one about gaming, and one about something completely random.
As the lead cinematics animator for Naughty Dog, Josh Scherr supervised the team responsible for all of the story sequences in Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. He also played a large role in the story development and writing. His current project is, we hope, the sequel to Uncharted.
Do you think the characters in games have become stuck in a rut, or is it just that players are more comfortable with certain archetypes (the world-weary savior, the plucky hero with the heart of gold)? Why is it so difficult to create truly memorable and unique protagonists?
Scherr: Hey, wait, that's two questions!
I don't think it's so much that players are comfortable with certain archetypes, but that they want to play as certain types of characters. Narrative-based videogames have a wish fulfillment aspect to them, and gamers expect their protagonist to match the setting and game play. People don't buy Gears of War so they can hear Marcus Fenix wax philosophical on the nature of the soul, crying softly every time he curb-stomps an enemy.
Certain kinds of games lend themselves to certain types of characters – the taciturn (or completely silent) protagonists in Call of Duty and Half-Life, the big gun-toting badass you see in most 3rd person action adventures (Gears, Crackdown), and the aloof, emo warriors seen in many role-playing games. If anything, the fact that games themselves are stuck in a bit of a rut hasn't helped characters deviate from their well-worn templates. There are some deviations from these archetypes, of course -– Ico being one that immediately comes to mind.
Genre and archetypes aside, it's difficult to create memorable protagonists in any storytelling medium, but there are challenges unique to games. Characters in any type of story are defined by their choices and actions, but with games, the gamer expects to control those actions and make their own choices. So the trick becomes creating a character that's memorable, appropriate to the genre, but whose choices
(whether controlled by the player or not) aren't so out of character that you're taken out of the experience.
It's a tricky balance that we worked hard to maintain with Uncharted.
The goal was to make Nathan Drake an "ordinary guy," albeit one who was good with a gun and whom you believed was capable of all the feats of daring you see in the game. Our biggest challenge was creating a fully fleshed-out character rather than a quip-slinging caricature.
We did this a few different ways. The cutscenes got up close and personal with Drake, establishing his character and sense of humor through dialogue, and showing his interaction with other characters. His gameplay animation sold the idea he was not a superhero-acrobat-commando, but someone who really had to work hard for every leap and climb, and who got visibly nervous when under fire.
Last but not least, his dialogue during gameplay fleshed out his character by allowing him to react appropriately to each situation.
Who's your favorite James Bond, and why?
It's changed over the years. When I was a kid, the first Bond flick I saw was The Spy Who Loved Me, so naturally I associated Roger Moore with the character. And I liked Moonraker at the time because, well, I was eight, and anything with spaceships and lasers was an instant win.
Once I was old enough to appreciate Sean Connery's take on the character, he became my favorite. That said, Daniel Craig in Casino Royale took a series that had become a parody of itself and made it cool again. One of our goals with Uncharted was to bring a modern sensibility to an old and slightly played-out genre, and watching Casino Royale was very instructive in that regard.
Photo: Josh Scherr
