As Spider-Man swings into theaters this Spring, we talked to Gregory John, Senior Producer at developer Treyarch about the Spider-Man 3 game and some of the challenges faced along the way. The Spider-Man games so far have been fair to excellent (unlike the Superman ones) and so we’re hoping the trend continues.

Newsletter

Be notified of site updates. Sign-up for the Newsletter sent out twice weekly.

Enter E-Mail Address Below:

Spider-Man 3 Q&A

Conducted by Syd Bolton

Armchair Empire (AE): The game development process can often take just as long (if not longer) than a movie. When you first started working on the game, did you know the plot of the movie or was that kept secret, even from your team?

Gregory John (GJ): Sam Raimi and Sony Pictures were very helpful, and gave us a lot of reference materials and the movie information when we first started. This is the third Spider-Man movie game we’ve done with them, and they’ve always been very supportive.

AE: How did you approach trying to keep Spider-Man 3 true to the movie, but make sure it still feels fresh while playing?

GJ: The movie provides a lot of fertile ground for new and exciting situations and gameplay, so that helps a lot. We always approach our games by asking ourselves how we can make a great game. The movie provides a lot of inspiration and options for strongly integrating the look and feel.

AE: With Spider-Man 3 being multiplatform, was there a specific console that you began development on, and expanded from there?

GJ: We always keep all the consoles in mind as we develop the game. We’re mindful of each console’s strengths and we try to play to them, but the core gameplay experience is, for the most part, a constant across all the platforms.

Advertisement

AE: Fairly early on I understand that this game was targeted towards the next generation consoles. How hard is it to make a decision like that, when the consoles aren’t even necessarily out in the market place?

GJ: It’s always a huge undertaking when developing for a new console, but we’ve

Advertisement

done it for so many of them, now, that we’ve got a pretty good handle on it. We knew the next generations had a lot more power, so we designed the gameplay beforehand to use as much of that power as possible.

AE: Most game developers have to cut a number of ideas from the final game. Was there one item in particular that was a difficult choice to leave out?

GJ: For each Spider-Man game, we’ve had to cut, but the things we cut are often resurrected in the next game after we’ve had some perspective or really just more time to make a feature awesome. So… sorry… the cuts are secret.

AE: The other Spider-Man games have been very successful. How much pressure does that bring on the team to deliver another successful game? Does that make a difference in the overall design of the game?

GJ: Yes, it’s a pressure, but a very positive pressure. It’s about making the game even better every time. I think Spider-Man 3 is now the best Super Hero game, so much so that it transcends the Super Hero genre to be one of the best open-city, action games ever. The successes of the previous games really inspired the team to go further and make an awesome game.

AE: Spider-Man has typical been a single player experience. Are there any online components this time around, and if so, for which system(s)?

GJ: No, there isn’t an online multiplayer part of the game.

AE: The Spider-Man 3 movie trailer shows a nifty new black suit for Spidey. Will we see this in the game?

GJ: Oh, very much so. We made a lot of unique, more powerful moves and specific missions for the black-suited Spider-Man. He is a fundamental part of the game. It’ll be the first time players can fully play both the heroic red-suited Spider-Man and the darker, more aggressive/mysterious black suit. I think people will be very pleased with the experience.

AE: So there you have it – we’ll keep trying to find out what features were cut. In the meantime, check out the game for yourself.

Syd Bolton has been collecting game consoles for over 20 years and has dozens of systems and over 5,000 games. Have any interesting stories about your Spidey experience? Make sure you share with us here.

May 4, 2007


PC \| Gamecube \| DS \| Wii \| PlayStation 2 \| PlayStation 3 \| PSP \| Xbox \| Xbox 360
News \| Reviews \| Previews \| Features \| Classics \| Goodies \| Anime \| Forums