Developers of The Last of Us detail the origins of clickers, the infected enemies seen throughout the game. Naughty Dog has been going all out for the 10-year anniversary with the premiere of the TV series, hinting at a possible The Last of Us 3, and teasing future showcases of the long-awaited standalone multiplayer game.
As promotion for The Last of Us TV series on HBO, lead developers have been doing several press runs detailing behind the scenes information on the game that both long-time and new fans can appreciate. In the second release from Naughty Dog’s new series that is uploaded online to YouTube, developers detail the origins of the iconic enemies from The Last of Us, clickers.
In the video it is explained by Neil Druckmann, the co-president of Naughty Dog, that when the studio was developing The Last of Us they aimed to differentiate their series from the abundance of zombie apocalypse stories. Instead of simply creating zombies, the studio decided to create a new type of infected creature for gamers to experience that is unique to the Last of Us universe.The concept of infectious fungi takes inspiration from the real-life infections fungi known as Cordyceps. In the game, Cordyceps begin to infect humans and travel to their brains, removing their vision in the process. As a result, audio design became a heavy focus in the creation of clickers as sound becomes their main form of communication and locating future prey.
One talented voice actress working on The Last of Us tested a couple of different sound effects until they made a "dolphin-like" sound that peaked the interest of the sound directors that eventually used that sound as the building blocks for the sound effect of clickers. Phil Kovats, one of the senior sound directors for PlayStation Studios, details that the sound design for clickers were purposefully crafted to be a form of dialogue for the infected. Clickers gauge distance with their sounds, change sounds based on searching for prey or attacking, and even have dying sounds as well.
For the remainder of the video, developers detail how clickers are adaptated for the TV series differently than the way they are used in the game. It is great to see The Last of Us still attract so many new fans nearly ten years after its initial release. Whether a fan of the original video games or the TV series, this behind the scenes series is sure to please anyone slightly interested in this beautifully cruel universe.
The Last of Us Part 1 is out now for PlayStation 5. A PC version launches March 3.
