Richard Lemarchand: You know, I don't know! I've been very focused on doing game design and building out Uncharted, so I'm not quite sure when Evan (Wells) and Christophe (Balestra), our company co-presidents first heard of them, but they're usually first in the loop for everything.
SPOnG: So, the game was to some degree ready for Trophy support before it shipped?
Richard Lemarchand: Well, we created our Medal system and we built it, as we do everything, in a nice clean way so that when we had to hook it up to a piece of new code everything would work cleanly and neatly. That's the way we go about most of everything.
It really was a breeze, yeah. It's easy for me to say that, though, I didn't have to code it (Grins).
Richard Lemarchand: That's a very good question! I would guess that it'll be – knowing what gamers are like, how amazing gamers are – I would guess that it will be within the time of a full Uncharted play-through.
I think that someone will download the patch and, well, I wouldn't be surprised. Maybe it'll be 24 hours, let's say, just to give them some slack. I think it'll be quick. Everything on the Internet happens much more quickly than you think, doesn't it?
SPOnG: Sometimes it scares me a little that people are that good. You should have a competition: 'Are you the scariest gamer in the world?'
Richard Lemarchand: 'Are you the most Awesome gamer in the world?'
SPOnG: So, what are you guys working on right now?
Richard Lemarchand: Well, we're working on an unannounced Naughty Dog project. And that's as much as I'm at liberty to say, I'm afraid. I know you had to ask (Grins).
SPOnG: Are you able to say when you'll be able to say more?
Richard Lemarchand: No!
SPOnG: Fair enough. Again – had to ask!
Richard Lemarchand: Suffice to say, it won't be too long.
SPOnG: I was going to ask if it's a departure from Drake's, but I can see that won't get me too far... How have you found the feedback from Uncharted?
I don't know that people necessarily understood what kind of game Uncharted was going to be from the time we first showed it – which we take responsibility for.
So, yeah. It was just brilliant. The reaction from the gaming press, the scores that we got and the reaction of gamers. The way people commented on it on the bulletin boards, which we read all the time. We just thought that we couldn't have asked for a better, warmer reception.
We were also really interested in people's constructive criticism, as well. Because we're always looking to push ourselves and to do better next time and to excel. So, we pay even closer attention, if anything, to constructive criticism than we do to all the nice compliments.