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I typically prefer playing games by myself, but every so often, I’m pulled into an online experience without warning. Naughty Dog’s swan song on PlayStation 3, The Last of Us

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As IGN’s reviewer of The Last of Us, I had access to the game quite early, and learned before it launched that I really, really liked its online functionality. But it wasn’t until after the game was released to the masses that I started to lose an incredible amount of time playing with the anonymous hordes online. All-in-all, TLoU online claimed over 40 hours of my life. And it left me wondering how that happened.A couple of weeks ago, Sony and Naughty Dog were kind enough to dispatch David Ballard to San Francisco. Ballard is one of the creative forces behind what I’d argue is The Last of Us’ most underappreciated feature: its multiplayer. He was kind enough to sit with me in a video bay for a couple of hours as we went over each of the game’s seven multiplayer maps, which he helped design and build.In the seven videos below, Ballard goes into the ins-and-outs of each and every map, showing off a plethora of easter eggs, design philosophies, and more. He even provided a bunch of never-before-seen footage and a behind-the-scenes look at how the maps formed and the design choices that were made as maps were pruned, reworked, and finalized. It’s truly fascinating stuff.Fans of The Last of Us’ online modes – and there are a lot of you out there – will definitely want to check these videos out. And if you’re a fan of Naughty Dog, you’re certainly want to keep an eye on IGN in the coming weeks, because we have something awesome coming up.But in the meantime, enjoy these videos.

Colin Moriarty is IGN’s Senior Editor. You can follow him on Twitter and IGN and learn just how sad the life of a New York Islanders and New York Jets fan can be.