A Deep Dive Into Level Design Behind The Last of Us Part II

A few weeks ago, the Game Developers Conference (GDC) team published one of its 2022 talks, revisiting the wonderful Museum Flashback scene from The Last of Us Part II and offering a closer look at the level design behind it.

In this talk, Ex-Level Designer at Naughty Dog Evan Hill, who was responsible for the game in question's The Overlook, The Museum, Finding Strings, and The Chalet sections, broke down his contributions as Level Designer for one of the game's most memorable levels, covering the theories and methods behind the design, providing an overview of the production process from start to finish, discussing the level from the gameplay perspective, and much more. You can check out the full session attached above or by visiting GDC's official YouTube page.

This session, however, was not the first time Hill broke down Museum's level design. Prior to that, the creator also shared a sizeable collection of early blockmesh shots, showcasing how the level looked during its early stages of production. You can check it out by clicking this link.

If you would like to learn more about how the other three of Hill's levels were designed, we also recommend checking out the author's other breakdowns, where he provided a comprehensive overview of each level and shared tons of neat behind-the-scenes shots and videos.

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