
#206 - Gabriel Betancourt Interview On Naughty Dog, Last Of Us, Neil Druckmann, Lighting, Nintendo
From Kiwi Talkz by Kiwi
April 18, 2026 · 1h 40m · Episode 206
About this episode
Gabriel Betancourt discusses his career in game development, particularly at Naughty Dog, and shares insights on the industry.
Gabriel Betancourt is a former lighting artist at Treyarch and of course Naughty Dog. We cover his career at Naughty Dog and various other topics on the game industry. #thelastofus #lastofus #lastofuspart2 WEBSITE - https://gabereel.com/ CALORIE GAME - https://www.caloriequest.app/ TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Intro/Gabriel Watches Kiwi Talkz & Lists His Favourite Guests 01:44 - It’s Hard To Find Info On Lighting Artists/Early Days As A Lighting Artist 03:00 - Naughty Dog Has A Designer First, Speciality Second Philosophy 06:25 - Naughty Dog Devs Had Huge Arguments During The Last Of Us 09:17 - Game Development Requires The Risk Of Offending People 13:00 - Delivering Negative News In A Positive Way 14:54 - Game Devs Being Passionate & Emotional 18:45 - Naughty Dog Changed As The Studio Got Bigger/AAA Team Sizes Are Too Big 24:43 - The Brilliance Of Nintendo/Making Your Game Fun 27:35 - 60 People Worked On World Of Warcraft/Small Teams Make The Best Games 29:38 - Graphics & Gameplay Were Even During The Seventh Generation 31:00 - Art Is Used To Cover Up Gameplay Issues 32:34 - Everyone At Naughty Dog During The Last Of Us Was A Monster In Skill 33:00 - How Gabriel Joined Naughty…
People in this episode
Host: Kiwi
Guest: Gabriel Betancourt
Topics covered
- game development
- lighting artists
- Naughty Dog
- The Last Of Us
- Nintendo
- game industry
- career insights
Keywords
- Gabriel Betancourt
- Naughty Dog
- lighting artist
- The Last Of Us
- game development
- Nintendo
- Bruce Straley
- Neil Druckmann
- Treyarch
- World Of Warcraft
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Naughty Dog, Treyarch, Nintendo, Calorie Quest
Products: World Of Warcraft
Books & works: The Last Of Us, Uncharted 2
Places: California
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