The Last of Us 2 dev tricks video features spinning trees and blocky NPCs

(Image credit: Naughty Give chase)

Many The Last of Us 2 development tricks have been outlined in a new video that showcases the extraordinary talents of the devs at Naughty Dog.

The video, from YouTuber Speclizer, highlights nine techniques the studio used to facilitate evolution on its latest game. By manipulating the game's television camera, Speclizer gets a close deal parts of the game that most players never bother see, and that Naughty Dog did its best to keep hidden.

A a few of those tips are purely visual. I case shows the clever use of photographic camera angles to prevent animators from needing to create complex serve, like Ellie putting on her place. Others explain how the 2D lighting in the barn trip the light fantastic toe scene is made to look 3D, or how complex textures - the likes of the mess the mutilated moose successful of the lead by the nose - are added to the game. I particularly amusing clip outlines the Billboard technique, which moves flat objects to ensure they're always lining the player. Traditionally reserved for objects FAR inaccurate from the player, Speclizer's use of the camera results in the trees of country-style Washington spinning in place as they turn to luff towards the dynamic viewpoint.

Spell near focus on visual trickery, other tips have gameplay and performance ramifications. Cardinal clip explains how Racy Tag along simplifies the appearance or animation of distant NPCs to save computing space, showing some charmingly stuttery characters wandering around Jackson, and some extremely blocky, entirely anonymous people patrolling the WLF stadium in Seattle. Other shows how developers sack utilize extreme close-ups to teleport the actor without them noticing; in the fight betwixt Abbie and Ellie, the two characters need to be in a special spot when they flop the floor, and Racy Dog moves them there zero matter where the scuffle takes set.

This isn't the first time Speclizer has seen on the far side what Naughty Dog foreseen the player to see. In previous out-of-bounds videos, they've revealed that The Last of Us 2 models are so detailed that they have fingerprints, and that Abby give the axe kill Tommy in the sniper section - if she's fast adequate.

I'm GamesRadar's deputy news editor, working with Ben T across our gaming news program articles. I started my journalistic career piece getting my degree in West Germanic Literature at the University of Warwick, where I also worked as Games Editor on the scholar newspaper, The Boar. Since then, I've run the news sections at PCGamesN and Kotaku UK, and also regularly contributed to Personal computer Gamer. As you might be healthy to recite, PC is my platform of choice, so you can regularly find Maine playacting League of Legends OR Steam's latest indie smasher.