Richard Lemarchand

Richard Lemarchand is game designer, educator, and author. He is known for his work as a lead designer on the Uncharted video game series from Naughty Dog.

Game Design
After graduating from Balliol College, Oxford University with a B.A. Hons in physics and philosophy, in 1991 Lemarchand began work as a game designer at the British studio of American company MicroProse.

In 1995, Lemarchand became a senior game designer at Crystal Dynamics, where he worked on the Gex and Pandemonium! series and later the Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver series with Amy Hennig.

He joined Naughty Dog in 2004, where he worked on Jak 3 and Jak X: Combat Racing, and he was the lead or co-lead designer for the three Uncharted games for PlayStation 3. He left Naughty Dog in 2012 after eight years.

Academics
Since 2012, Lemarchand has been an associate professor in the Interactive Media & Games Division at the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts.

A Playful Production Process
In October 2021, Lemarchand's book A Playful Production Process: For Game Designers (and Everyone) was published by MIT Press. The book discusses the integration of game design and game project management processes, playtest-centered game development, and story structure for game designers.