Hi, we're Neil Druckmann (Creative Director) and Bruce Straley (Game Director) of The Last of Us and The Last of Us: Left Behind at Naughty Dog. AUA!

Let's do this!

Hi Guys! Glad you can do this!

Neil, previously you’ve said that Ellie loves Joel for everything he’s done for her, but hates him for robbing her of her choice.

Seeing how much Ellie loved Riley made me think of course she would hate Joel for taking away her chance to find meaning in Riley’s death. I felt like Ellie saving Joel shows us her love for him, but the flashbacks show us why she would also hate him. But many have argued that Left Behind actually supports the view that Ellie is complacent about Joel's lie, by showing how much Ellie loves Joel and wants to stay with him.

I was hoping you might elaborate on that. Do you still stand by your view that Ellie hates Joel for robbing her of her choice?

Like I said in my talk... her feelings are complicated. You can love and hate someone at the same time. But this is MY interpretation -- which by the way is different from Ashley Johnson's. All other ones are valid.

What was it like working with Gustavo Santaolalla? Was it hard to convince him to do it as it was his first videogame?

The soundtrack to TLoU is one of my favorite game soundtracks of all time.

Gustavo came on board right after hearing the pitch for the game. It was incredibly easy collaborating with him... didn't have to give him much direction. His music was inspirational for the storytelling since we got some of it so early.

The Last of Us really grabbed me on an emotional level. Does it take a lot out of the crew and staff as well while developing this game or other games?

The team works insanely hard and on that level it takes a lot of effort/stress to make something like TLoU come together. The material can be draining at times, but for the most part we goof off and joke a lot that it never affects us too much (see the musical alt. ending as an example of that).

Hey guys!

First off, I'd like to thank you for an amazing game and an equally amazing follow up with Left Behind. Truly one of the best Franchises around and Congrats on all your awards!

Now for my question (SPOILERS for anyone who hasn't played the latest DLC yet):

The kiss between Ellie and Riley was probably what stood out the most from Left Behind as far as the story goes. From the beginning of the gameplay you see their friendship is very unique. I feel that kiss was bound to happen by seeing their chemistry but still surprised the hell out of me when I saw it. Truly great writing. What was the inspiration behind Ellie and Riley's kiss, and why did you feel it needed to happen? Thanks again!

Their characters needed somewhere else to go. If it was just about friendship, their arc would be over as soon as Ellie forgave Riley for leaving (in the Halloween store) and they were friends again. By having a romantic relationship it have another layer of subtext to the performances and allowed the story to still evolve as Left Behind went on. We also wanted to create a meaningful/moving kiss in a game -- which is super rare.

Hey guys! Thank you so much for doing this. I am a massive TLOU fan. I have a few questions…

1. The relationship between Joel and Ellie is the most genuine and touching in gaming, that's a given. I also consider it, however, one of the greatest relationships in fiction. What do you consider the most outstanding fictional relationships?

2. The final shot of TLOU is totally flooring. The look in Ellie's eyes is so ridiculously human. As the credits rolled, I sat there absolutely gobsmacked, not only at the whole game, but specifically at that final shot. Considering you didn't use motion capture for faces, how did you portray such raw and complex 'humanness'? It was seen to some extent throughout the game (certainly more than other games), but that final shot is absolutely amazing. Can you tell me any more about it?

3. Some writers find that their characters end up writing themselves. Was this the case with any of TLOU's characters, or were they developed more consciously with careful consideration put into character choices etc?

4. You guys have mentioned in the past that whether you do a sequel or not, you are probably done with Joel and Ellie. Now that you are done with them, do you miss them? How do you feel about the possibility of never being with them again?

5. In 'Grounded', it is mentioned that this story wouldn't be different if it were a man and a boy, or a woman and a girl. It is also mentioned that in creating TLOU, the genders of Joel and Ellie were rather irrelevant, and they were just characters. In saying this, was the story always going to be an adult and a child/teen? Did you play around with the age of the child? Why did you settle on Joel and Ellie?

A five-parter! Here we go... 1. Red and Andy's relationship in Shawshank Redemption (which is also my favorite movie of all time). 2. We worked on that shot for weeks, studying Ashley's performance and trying to do it justice. Tal Peleg was the animator for it and he knocked it out of the park. 3. We're strong believers in structure -- that's where we do most of our wrestling with the story. When it comes to writing the scenes, I do find that the character write themselves. After a while you can just hear their voices in your head. Or maybe I'm just insane? :) 4. I miss them dearly. I'd love to see them again -- maybe in a different medium? We'll see. 5. It was always adult/teen relationship. I don't remember why we settled on those two. Maybe it was just a gut thing.

whew...

What do you have to say to people who keep brushing off the Ellie/Riley kiss as "something between friends" and "totally platonic"? As a girl who likes girls it meant a lot to me, and I cried with joy. It was refreshing to finally see flawless representation, and I feel closer to Ellie in knowing that, while I may not slay zombies, we have a completely other fight in common!

It wasn't my intention in writing that scene for it to be platonic... but at the same time I can't tell people their interpretation is wrong, even if I disagree with it.

What were your reactions, when Ellen Paige came out the same day that Left Behind was released? Lol

"Everything happens for a reason." -David

Hey guys, thanks for doing another AMA! My question is: Did the plot for Left Behind change throughout the development of it and if so, how?

Riley's character evolved throughout. At one point we rerecorded a big chunk of the dialog to make sure we were doing proper setups for the climactic payoffs at the end of the story.

Is there any behind the scenes stuff recorded for Left Behind? If so, are we ever going to see it?

Also, thank you for making TLOU and LB. Never been so moved by anything in my whole life.

Yes. We have a short making-of video that we'll release in the next couple of weeks.

Hello guys!

First of all, I just wanna say thank you to you and the whole crew at Naughty Dog for creating not a simple video game, but a dream. This game brought me so many emotions, feelings…I can't really describe how I feel about it. It's really one of the best things that I could get in these tough times. No one right now has a simple life. And on my side, I can't say I'm living at my best. The Last of Us is one of the really few things that makes me go ahead: seeing characters as Ellie, Joel and the others, how much they've been through, how they keep surviving for what's worth fighting…keeps me going.

"No matter what, you keep finding something to fight for". That's what I always say to myself. It's like a echo in my mind, everytime I feel bad. I became so attached to this game, to its characters, that it became something like a way of living everyday. It changed me in so many ways, it feels like I see the world in a different way now. The Last of Us is one of my "something to fight for". In 10 years of gaming experience, I never felt like this for any other video game. Even talking about movies, books and so on. I may seem exaggerated, but I'm just saying what I really feel about it. So THANK YOU for creating this masterpiece!

Now, here's what I wanted to ask: Since it's a game, as I said, that influenced me deeply, that somewhat is now part of me, I presume it's somewhat the same for those who created the game. Talking about "Left Behind", I was wondering what exactly created the ideas behind it. I mean, I don't know which part of the game was created first, the part set during the main game or the one that happens three weeks before, but I guess it all came from a big idea in the first place, and this idea is bound to be somehow "part" of you, part of its creators. So I was wondering, how much of the game is actually in you, how much "The Last of Us" and "Left Behind" are actually Druckmann and Straley, and how much, viceversa, Druckmann and Straley are IN the game and in those ideas?

Cheers from Italy!

Melania

It's a mishmash of ideas and concepts. Our jobs as directors is to filter the ideas (story & gameplay) that fit with the themes we're after. Our philosophy is that if the concepts are personal to us that it'll become personal to the players.

When is the PS4 version coming out?!

First we have to finish our Vita port. (just kidding... please don't let this be an N4G story).

Neill and Bruce, I have so much respect for you two - so talented!

• Were there any other ideas for the DLC you were planning for The Last of Us? I know you were aware that Ish's story was requested, but were there any others you'd have liked to explore?

Thanks for your time!

Not really. Whenever we brainstormed we always came back to the story that ended up being Left Behind.

Hi Bruce and Neil. First I wanted to say thank you very much to you and the rest of Naughty Dog for The Last of Us and Left Behind. I really enjoyed them.

My question is that why is the trophy which you earn by playing Jak X in Left Behind called Nobody’s Perfect?

Because no one is perfect. :)

It's funny how last year people were saying that GTA 5 would sweep the GOTY awards and The Last Of Us ended sweeping Lol. How do you guys feel about The Last Of Us having over 240 Game Of The Year awards? I mean..it beat out Skyrim. So far, it's the most awarded game in history.

It's crazy. We're happy for the team that all their insanely hard work is being recognized.

First off, thanks for doing this AMA. I'm a huge fan of TLOU.

Second, why did Ellie say "I've done this before, I'm kind of an expert" When stitching Joel up at the end of the game? Is it implied that she learned it in the military prepatatory school? Somebody in /r/thelastofus suggested that the recording you find of Ellis could be a hint that the girls cut off Riley's hand in desperation once they relized Ellie wasn't turning. It was probably a sarcastic comment by Ellie and I'm putting too much thought into it though.

Knowing you guys though it's probably just left up to my interpretation.

She worked in the school's infirmary, stitching up soldiers. We had some lines that we recorded where she tells Riley about it -- but we had to cut them since they didn't really help build their relationship and felt too expository.

First of all, thank you for doing this AMA. Now my question. Does it ever make you sad that you never got to experience playing through The Last of Us without knowing what's going to happen? Edit: Thanks to both of you for answering!

Yes! We joke that we'd love those MIB mind wipe things so that we can play Naughty Dog games as fans.

[deleted]

<3

I think the universe of The Last of Us is one of the most interesting ones I've ever explored and I'd really love to see how society dealt with the cordyceps in the years after the prologue of the game but before the game starts proper. Is that a story you guys want to tell?

We care less about society as a whole and more about personal stories between characters. That's usually where our ideas start.

Was there any particular rationale you guys had for trying out bits of branching dialogue and player choices in Left Behind, or was it something you just wanted to experiment with to see how you liked it?

Do you think you’ll be incorporating more of that in future games?

It felt natural for those beats in the story to make the player more engaged with Ellie and Riley's relationship. Definitely intrigued to explore more of it.

does ND stands for Neil Druckmann or Naughty Dogg?

It's open to interpretation. :)

Thanks for doing an AMA, loved tlou from start to finish!

Do you think that the high expectations for your next project is going to affect the workflow in the studio? (ex. being more picky / scraping more ideas that aren't perfect)

We came off of Uncharted 2. I feel like as long as we follow our gut and make games that we want to play we'll be OK (here's hoping).

Hi, guys! Long time fan here. I grew up playing Crash Bandicoot, played through the Uncharted trilogy, and finished The Last of Us the week of release. First off, all of these games have been phenomenal, incredible, cinematic and interactive stories. I also recently watched Area 5's amazing documentary "Grounded" about you guys. Just wanted to ask a few questions:

• What led you to give Joel and Ellie their names, if anything specific?

• Neil, what's your favorite book?

• Did TLoU have large inspirations from Cormac McCarthy's The Road?

• Do you guys plan on working with Santaolalla in the future?

• Will we be seeing any info on Uncharted 4 in the near future?!?!

• Why did you choose to end TLoU the way you did?

• Lastly, how good are the chances of us entering the world of The Last of Us again?

Thanks for doing the AMA, keep up the work; you're easily one of the best in the gaming industry!

1. Joel got his name after we realized Ethan sounds too much like Nathan.
2. Probably City of Thieves.
3. Not directly... but that book had a big impact on me when I originally read it.
4. I'd keep working with Gustavo as long as he was interested.
5. You have to ask the Uncharted guys... I'm not involved with that project.
6. It was the most honest ending we could come up with.
7. If you're asking about a sequel... right now I'd say it's 50/50.

Out of all of Ellie's puns, which are your personal favorites?

Also, how many bad puns did you go through, and what was involved in the process of deciding which ones to use?

The one about the post-apocalypse where Ellie says, "too soon" is by far my favorite. That reaction was improvised by Ashley, btw.

We went through dozens of them before settling on the ones you heard in the game.

No particular question, I just wanted to say The last of us is one of the greatest games I've ever played, totally worth buying a PS3 for. Even if I had to pawn that sucker a few weeks later to afford food, still, worth it. I feel I need a question...Oh, here's one. I can see the ending of the last of us being a rather divisive moment for players, how do you feel about the reactions and the ending itself now that you'd had a solid amount of time since release?

Super proud of the ending. I love hearing people's different interpretations of it.

I don't need to tell you this, but the Last of Us was an absolutely amazing experience from start to finish. With that said, it was very dark and only had faint glimmers of happiness (I'm thinking specifically of the giraffes, a scene juxtaposed with the most brutal scene in the game).

I guess my question is: How did you guys manage to put yourselves in such a dark place, and stay there, while making The Last of Us? Was it difficult to go from Uncharted to TLoU? Thanks in advance, I can't wait to see what's next.

I'm pretty dark (I wanted to kill Elena in Uncharted 2). Bruce is the one that would balance me and push for more levity.

Love the game guys. Other than coming up with the story, what was the biggest challenge in making Left Behind?

And shoutout to /r/thelastofus

As always... getting the story to flow with the gameplay was the most challenging part for me.

If you had one sentence to describe The Last of Us, what would it be? :)

Where did four years go? :)

Seriously... The game of my dreams.

I read somewhere that Tess was considered to be a "villain" in The Last of Us instead of the "anti-hero" that she is now--is this true, if so, why was her being the "villain" decided against?

The story structure with Tess as a villain, while having some great moments, was overall too contrived. Removing that aspect gave much more believable (honest) motivations for the characters.

In a purely hypothetical world where anything goes, what do you think a Last of Us sequel would be like?

I know you guys have said this and that about not doing a sequel but in some kind of alternate reality where you do make one, how do you imagine it? The story? Setting? Gameplay?

There are clickers as big as buildings. Also you have lots of new gadgets and weapons (more lasers!). Oh and Ellie can now control the infected with her new powers. We'd also probably dive into the government conspiracy of creating a secret weapon that broke loose and that's how the outbreak started. There's probably a shadowy secret agency in all this that you find out Joel has been a member of this whole time (that's why he came home late in the prologue!)

What happened in the time between Riley and Elle in the mall (where the DLC ended) and Riley dying? Did they just stay camped out in mall for a few days (since it takes up to 2 days for someone to turn)? And if so, did Elle have to kill Riley or did she just leave her as clicker before she went to Marlene for help?

It's an interesting story to explore (although it was left out because it wasn't necessary for Ellie's arc in Left Behind).

First off, Just a simple thank you for the great game and content. Also, how many people invoked in both projects knew the whole story from the get go? Like did you keep any of the actors in suspicion, or did you outline the whole story for them from the get go?

We pitched the story to the company pretty early on in development... there's some articles out there of the original pitch. While it changed quite a bit during production -- the themes and the heart of it was always the same. The actors were always in the loop of where the story's at.

You guys said in an interview with ign earlier in the month that you "got crashes IP back" that was a joke right? I couldn't really imagine ND making another crash game, I've seen so many rumors around and I'd appreciate if you would put this one to rest!

Every joke has some truth to it...

Except for that joke.

Hey Neil and Bruce, can I get a hello? I got a clean pair of boxers waiting just in case you do.

Hello! Oh dear...

If you had to change one thing about the game after it was released, what would it be?

Thanks guys!

I would have Fireflies rush into the operating room and shoot you dead if you took too long to kill the doctor.

What was your biggest challenge in approaching the creation of single player DLC for The Last of Us?

Not fucking up the original game. Basically making sure we create a story that can stand on its own while giving new insight to the original story. Also, getting the nuances of Ellie and Riley's relationship was really difficult -- took a lot of iterations that are probably invisible to the player.

2 questions! First what was going through your mind when you were making David. That guy still scares the shit out of me and im 19. 2nd do you think Ellie and Sarah would have been friends if they were around at the same time? And thank you so much for creating my all time favourite game ever! You guys are incredible. And FYI - Im actually doing 2 different projects in College on the Last of Us!

With David I wanted to create someone that was charismatic, kind, and yet had this totally twisted contradiction to him.

And I'm with Joel, I think Sarah and Ellie would have made good friends.

Do you feel you can take gaming further than TLOU in terms of storytelling and gameplay? I've never felt more immersed AND invested in a game before the TLOU - to the point I felt like I MUST take a break before continuing in some parts - truly amazing.

If I didn't think we can continue to advance what we do I'd probably quit and do something else.

SPOILERS FOR LEFT BEHIND DLC

Did you always plan for Ellie to be a lesbian/bi/pansexual? Or did you decide on this aspect of her character after the initial concept was created and while midway through creating the game/dlc?

Considered it during production of the main game, but didn't have to commit to anything since it wasn't necessary for that story. Pinned it down for Left Behind since it was integral for its story.

Hello! I'm just curious as to how the ending of TLOU came to be. Was that final choice of Joel's and Ellie's decided at the beginning of the process or did it slowly develop over the course of development? If it developed, can you describe why you ultimately decided to go with the ambiguity?

As Ellie was more fleshed out... the original ending (where she believed him) didn't feel honest. Ending on that note felt like the most honest ending for those characters.

Last of Us quickly gained great critical acclaim and has been hailed as one of the greatest game's of all time. How do you guys think it compares to other great games? Also, what are your favorite games(not including your own)?

I still can't believe the success of our game -- so it's hard to compare it to other games. One of my favorite games is Castlevania II: Simon's Quest.

I know you have said there will be no Jak and Daxter sequel for now, but say one were to be released, would you expect it to be on the PS4, PS5 or will it just happen when there is a good plot idea/free group to produce a game?

It's dependent on coming up with a good idea that we (as a studio) are passionate about.

My favorite scene in The Last of Us was the Diary scene. That scene, always brings tears to my eyes. In that moment I was feeling Ellie's emotional distress and Joel's struggle to sympathize. No other game has ever moved me as much as the Diary scene did.

Could you guys tell me what it was like writing this emotional scene and actually seeing the performances come to fruition? Troy and Ashley were remarkable.

Thanks for an amazing game.

It was one of the first scenes written for the game -- it was one of two scenes we used to audition Joel and Ellie. Seeing how Ashley and Troy brought it to life was incredible. The hairs on the back of my neck were standing and I had tears in my eyes.

What's an easter egg no one's found in the game yet?

You can see where Ellie got her palm tree t-shirt in Left Behind.

Hey guys, love your games, been having these two burning questions since June.

1) After leaving Boston, we don't see Joel sleep until they prepare to leave Pittsburgh, which is over 48 hours, yet there are no signs of him being especially tired. What's the deal with that?

2) When David and his buddy are about to chop Ellie into little pieces, she says she is infected and "so are you." That second line makes no sense to me, could you explain it?

Left Behind was awesome btw, don't really have any questions about it.

1) You're assuming that he was driving the whole time from Bill's until they reached Pittsburgh. 2) She was using her wits to throw David off.

I loved the game, you guys really put a lot of effort into it and it really shows! My question is why were there no infected kids that attacked you in gameplay? Was it because you didn't want to make the gamers have to kill kids which would raise the restricted rating of the game or is there a reason that fits into the story as why? Thanks!

Didn't have time to implement infected kids (other than Sam in a cinematic).

Hello Neil & Bruce! My question is: Do you two believe that with amazing story-line, art visuals and everything shown within both The Last of Us and The Last of Us: Left Behind, that music has to be needed to fully complete the emotional feel of the experience?

Absolutely! The game wouldn't have nearly its emotional impact without Gustavo's incredible music.

Hello! My question is related to my only real complaint i have with the game. Was there a story reason as to why there were only Male hunters who fight Ellie and Joel but no female ones? It's not a massive problem but I thought it was quite strange to me. Thanks!

It was mostly a tech/time issue (Melee animations for a different rig required a whole new set of animations and more memory).

Where we could, we included female antagonists (there are female soldiers that shoot at you that are outside of melee range).

Neil, you have an amazing beard. What's your secret?

Not shaving.

Wow, I've been waiting for this. I have one question for Neil, but I just want to preface something for you talented folks.

I appreciate a good story in a video game. I absolutely love the Assassin's Creed franchise and I've played each game multiple times. When I played The Last of Us, I played for 12 hours straight. I started at around 5, and played until the sun set and came back up. When I heard birds chirping outside, I realized I had played for so long. American Dreams (I HIGHLY recommend this, its kinda short but very good), and Left Behind gave me the same emotions I felt after playing TLoU the first time. I'm sure you've heard people say this before, but if I could wipe my memory to play it for the first time again, I would not hesitate. As an aspiring writer, my final goal is to create a work of fiction that creates half the relationship between two people that you've made. Thank you for this game. You have changed the way I play and enjoy games.

Now, for my question. I've read in your previous AMAs what your inspirations were for TLoU (No Country For Old Men, ICO, etc). But I would love to know what your top 3 must read books are. Thanks for the AMA and I look forward to play any other games you will write.

Top 3 must read books... oh boy... 1. A New Earth 2. City of Thieves 3. Story (by Robert McKee)

Hey guys! TLoU is, in my opinion, the best video game ever made, but my question is about Left Behind:

Did criticisms like NY Times' Chris Suellentrop's (calling TLoU "another video game by men, for men and about men.") impact the tone of Left Behind? Without spoiling Left Behind, it's certainly not that.

edit: I thought that review was asinine.

Not at all. We were already working on Left Behind when that review came out. I respect Chris and his writing, but I disagree with his assessment of the game.

Hey Neil and Bruce! Most of us would agree that The Last of Us was the Game of 2013, but what game did you guys enjoy the most? (excluding TLOU)

For me it was between Papers, Please and Gone Home.

Will we see any more the last of us comics? Will there be a the last of us 2? Will you guys add more stuff to multiplayer factions? Ex: more layers, more hats, masks, seeing a Bloater attack the winning team in factions would be an interesting concept...aka adding infected to multiplayer factions. Is Ellie gay? I'm tired of seeing debates I want the info straight from you guys to clear the air...

I'd like to do another comic... several things would have to line up for that to happen.

First off id like to thank you guys for your amazing work.

Joel and Ellies bond at the end of the game is amazing and really emotional. Do you guys have some sort of inspiration for that bond? Is there someone in your life that has a similar sort of emotional attachment? You guys know how to it someone right in the feels so I am just wondering. Weird question but I am interested.

My daughter was a huge inspiration for my writing in the game.

As much as I would love to see a sequel to The Last of Us, I think part of why I absolutely loved it so much was because it was so unexpected, and it's own story. Due to the success of Last of Us, have you guys considered making more new IPs, or one-off games? Has Sony shown interest in letting you take more chances?

I would assume Sony would want to steer you into making sequels to your critically and commercially acclaimed series, but TLOU really showed your studio's ability to make something different and unique and still have that level of polish Naughty Dog is known for.

Sony has complete trust in us. It's really up to us to come up with something that will keep the team inspired for the next several years -- which is why we don't take the decision of what we'll work on next lightly.