See How The Last of Us Was Originally Envisioned Using Sticky Notes

Long before anyone began worrying about its frame rate or who would play its characters in a movie adaptation, Naughty Dog's Bruce Straley and Neil Druckmann spent a period of time brainstorming ideas for what would become The Last of Us. Those ideas were then laid out on a corkboard using sticky notes (okay, note cards and pins), a picture of which Straley has now shared on Twitter.

"Over 4 years ago now, and months of brainstorms, Neil Druckmann and I had an idea for a game," Straley wrote in a tweet sent out with the image above (click on it for a full-size view).

SPOILERS AHEAD

The note cards consist of both locations players were to visit throughout the game and major events. It's interesting to see which ideas did and didn't end up making it into the final game--Joel is still dying early in winter and later visits a cannibal town, for instance.

But this early look at the game still contains ideas we've heard about before that ended up being changed dramatically, like Tess being envisioned as a villain. If you look at one of the white cards in the bottom-right, you can see one that states "Ellie kills Tess." If you've played the game--and I certainly hope you have if you're still reading--you'll know Tess dies much earlier in the game, sacrificing herself after becoming infected to protect Joel and Ellie.

It's a fun look at a game that was received a great deal of acclaim, and with good reason. Just this week, the PlayStation 4 version of the game, The Last of Us Remastered, was released, and a stage performance of portions of the game was performed in Los Angeles (you catch a replay here).

What stands out most about this outline to you -- what didn't change, or what did? Let us know in the comments.