The Last of Us Part II Remastered
(PlayStation Creative Arts)
Technical Designer
Mar 2023 - Sept 2023
About the Game
The remastered version of the 2020 hit game The Last of Us Part II, released in Jan 2024.
TLoU Part II is a narrative-centric action adventure game set in a zombie apocalypse. The remaster brought the game to PS5 with brand new modes, accessibility features, and more.
Available on PS5
What Did I Work On?
What is haptic feedback?
The PS5's DualSense controller is equipped with two types of physical responses: haptic feedback and adaptive triggers.
Haptic feedback is the result of detailed vibrations in the controller, replacing the rumble motors traditionally found in game controllers. By playing low frequency audio through the built in speakers, we create a highly tunable tactile feeling instead of producing sound.
The deep, coarse vibration pans from one side to the other as a truck drives past. The gentle yet erratic feeling as raindrops fall. The sharp thud as an enemy surprises you from behind. The tense weight as you draw your bow.
Haptic Effects
I added haptic feedback to cinematics and gameplay in the story mode. Particularly in Abby's levels in Seattle.
Anywhere the player character would be able to feel something, we have haptic feedback. Be it big and obvious like an explosion, or small and subtle like a hand on your shoulder, everything has haptics.
I chose effects from our haptic library and created new bespoke effects when necessary. Each implementation was adjusted to make sure the timing feels natural alongside the animation. In some cases, haptics have variables driven through script, such as the speed of a car you're in determining the strength of vibrations you feel.
Activity Cards
I was the primary contributor on activity cards. I put together activities for the story mode's golden path.
Each of these activities has a series of objectives to complete. I determined where objectives start and end, and scripted the logic to make that happen. I decided what instruction the help text and video gives to complete the current objective. I had a hand in writing many of the titles, descriptions, and objective text that appears in the cards.
In total, this amounted to around 50 activities with hundreds of individual objectives.
What are activity cards?
Each activity card associates to an "activity" within the game, such as a particular level or game mode. Using the card, you may quickly access the activity, see your progress, or seek help in completing an objective.
In TLoU, it was important to us to always offer relevant help for those that wish to use it. Our comprehensive cards offer detailed help with every little objective on the golden path.
Accessibility
LToU Part II Remastered boasts a wide range of accessibility features. Like many other team members, I had a part in ensuring accessibility is just as strong in the newly added modes as it was in the original version of the game.
Specifically, I helped with vision accessibility. I set up text to speech with the screen reader for the start and end of waves in No Return, and fixed bugs with various highlighting issues in high contrast mode.
