Richard Lemarchand of Naughty Dog talks sand and peril with JOE GRIFFIN

UNCHARTED 3, the new action game from Naughty Dog, again throws treasure hunter Nathan Drake into difficult situations, whether in a sinking cruise liner or dangling from an aircraft's cargo hold. As usual, historical events figure strongly, and the shadow of TE Lawrence looms large.

Richard Lemarchand, a game designer on Uncharted 3,tells me about it.

Which came first: the desert location or Lawrence of Arabia?

“The location. We like to set ourselves a new tech challenge for each game, and we had visited lush jungles and snow [before], so early on we decided to tackle a new environment. While often barren and featureless, the desert is also a place of great, stark beauty. It was going to give us the chance to model sand and its behaviour in ways that hadn’t been seen in games.”

How important is research?

"Hugely important. We're lucky to have set Unchartedgames in the real world. There's nothing more fascinating than the reality of this world and its history and geography, but you have to do your research to find the right story to tell."

Is it hard to maintain a sense of peril when the player knows the character will have another life?

“This is much discussed in game-design circles. It’s my belief that the way you create that feeling of suspense and peril is not by threatening to punish and having the character die; it’s more to do with subtle psychological cues, like where you have the camera, or music. Those have the biggest emotional impact, whether it’s peril, fear, amusement or sentiment.”

I suppose the lead character’s occasional panic helps too . . .

“It is important. It was very much part of our conception of him that as well as being a tough action hero, he had to be a regular person who showed vulnerability.”

Any news of the film?

“It’s been in the works for a while. There’s a new director, Neil Burger. It takes a long time to make a feature film, so, I guess, watch this space.”

With Neil Burger on board, does that suggest his Limitless star – Bradley Cooper – could play Drake?

“Well . . . wow! That’s an interesting piece of speculation. Cooper is a very talented actor. Maybe I’m biased, but I think the actor who plays Drake [in the game], Nolan North, would make a terrific screen star too. We’ll see.”

theplayer@irishtimes.com