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Neil Druckmann is an American writer, creative director and former programmer for the video game developer Naughty Dog.

Career
Druckmann began his work in the gaming industry as an intern at Naughty Dog in 2004 through connections with co-president Evan Wells. He was later promoted to a programmer and worked on Jak 3 and Jak X: Combat Racing between the years of 2004 and 2005. He then joined the design team for Uncharted: Drake's Fortune from 2005 to 2007, and was later lead designer for Uncharted 2: Among Thieves in 2009.

He gained worldwide acclaim for his creation The Last of Us, a video game released in 2013, in which he played the critical position of creative director. In his 2013 keynote speech in Toronto, Druckmann stated that he was titled the role of creative director for the next Naughty Dog game after completion of Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. He was tasked with rebooting the Jak and Daxter series. However, after much thought and deliberation with his team, he states that the idea of another Jak and Dexter game was “more for marketing… and that we weren’t doing service to the fans of this franchise”. After speaking with their boss, Druckmann and fellow director, Bruce Straley, were given free reign over what the next game installment in the Naughty Dog franchise would be. At first, they were unsure which direction they should take next; however, Druckmann’s educational background had helped spark the idea for the next installment.

Behind His Rise to the Gaming Industry
Back when he was completing his major at Carnegie Mellon, Druckmann and his classmates were tasked with coming up with a concept for a Night of the Living Dead game for George Romero, to which he mashed up the mechanics of the Playstation 2 Game Ico, along with the character and protagonist John Hartigan of Sin City. Druckmann drew most of his inspiration from them, and although his concept was rejected by Romero, they would later be the starting point for the story behind the Last of Us. However, before the ideas and brainstorming began for the game, Druckmann had written and illustrated a comic titled The Turning between 2004 and 2006, in which he had planned into making it into a six-part series; however, it had been rejected by publishers. Eventually, the ideas and themes behind his comic and his concept for a Night of the Living Dead game had morphed into the back story for the Last of Us.

The Last of Us
See Also: The Last of Us: Development

Druckmann stated that the basis of the apocalyptic world was a fungus that would spread through the human brain, and the idea came from a BBC documentary of a fungus known as Cordyceps, which has similar implications in insects. Druckmann and Straley had then tossed around the idea of a world in which this fungus would jump to – and infect – the human race. This had eventually become the grounds for an apocalyptic world in The Last of Us, in which is one of Druckmann's most notable works.

American Dreams
Main Page: The Last of Us: American Dreams

Druckmann also co-wrote the four part comic series titled The Last of Us: American Dreams with writer and artist Faith Erin Hicks and colorist Christina Strain. It was published by Dark Horse and was first released in April of 2013.

Focus Groups and Gender Equality
When The Last of Us was still under production, the research firm in charge of gathering focus groups focused solely on male gamers, as well as recommended removing the female lead character from the cover art. Druckmann stated an interview: "Another aspect that influences how a game is promoted is focus-testing. Players are rounded up and are asked to view materials and answer some quantitative and qualitative questions about it. My big surprise during this process is that the research group wasn't planning on focus-testing female gamers - it's something we had to specifically request. I hope this is a relic of the past that will soon go away."