Almost a decade ago, Naughty Dog faced many entirely new challenges in the creation of
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves - in expanding the gameplay through the use of new traversal, combat and AI technologies, introducing characters that shed new light on hero Nathan Drake, and tackling the studio's first foray into multiplayer in four years.
At GDC 2010, then co-lead game designer Richard Lemarchand candidly described how they tackled these problems, and how the studio's philosophy of collaboration, open communication and investment of responsibility in the people who create the game allowed Naughty Dog to avoid a "sophomore slump" and surpass the original game.
It's an interesting talk because he also discussed how a (comparatively) small studio of around one hundred people tackled the issues faced in executing Naughty Dog's most complex production yet, giving practical examples and telling interesting stories of crisis points overcome and valuable lessons learned.