Uncharted lead designer leaving to teach

Uncharted 3 co-lead designer Richard Lemarchand is leaving Naughty Dog to pursue teaching at the Interactive Media Division of the University of Southern California.

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One of the primary designers of the Uncharted series is leaving Naughty Dog to pursue a professorship at the University of Southern California. Richard Lemarchand was co-lead designer on Uncharted 3, but soon he'll be teaching at the Interactive Media Division, and working on experimental games for a research project.

Gamasutra reports that Lemarchand has been closely tied to USC for years, having been a guest speaker and lecturer. He'll begin teaching next year, after a three-month backpacking trip around the world. He'll be bringing his laptop on the trip to begin his research and start toying with the experimental game ideas.

"It seems like a natural transition point," said Lemarchand. "I was involved with the development of the Uncharted series not quite from the beginning, but almost... and even though the Uncharted series isn't intended to be viewed as a trilogy, maybe there's something about the number three that felt... there is a certain amount of completeness for me."

He says he's always wanted to try to make a more "avant-garde" game, but felt Naughty Dog deserved his full attention. Now that Uncharted 3 has wrapped up, he says he feels "very lucky" to be given the opportunity to explore smaller games in an educational setting.

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    April 30, 2012 9:00 AM

    Steve Watts posted a new article, Uncharted lead designer leaving to teach.

    Uncharted 3 co-lead designer Richard Lemarchand is leaving Naughty Dog to pursue teaching at the Interactive Media Division of the University of Southern California.

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      April 30, 2012 12:41 PM

      That sounds awesome.

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        April 30, 2012 5:11 PM

        Indeed. I am a recent graduate of USC's games program (computer science graduate program) myself and there were already a lot of folks there that were formerly of or currently still involved in the games industry. Glad to see another great addition to the staff.

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          April 30, 2012 8:10 PM

          I talked to one of their advisors recently, that is a ridiculously expensive program...and they aren't known for handing out a lot of scholarship money.

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            May 1, 2012 5:17 PM

            I can't speak to their undergraduate program, but their graduate program is comparable to what you would pay at any upper tier private university. You are right though about the relative lack of scholarship money. I have a very good academic track record and was choosing to leave a fully funded PhD program with a nice stipend to pursue games but that didn't win me anything in terms of scholarships or grants. I graduated with over a hundred-thousand dollars worth of student loan debt, but I would do it again in a heartbeat; it's hard to put a price on personal fulfillment.

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