How Insomniac Games Tried to Make a Spider-Man Suit for Every Type of Gamer

For the art team at Insomniac Games, there’s one job everyone seems to want: working on Spidey’s suits. From the first Spiderman For PS4, modeling the game’s costumes has been “a hotly contested task” among the studio’s character team, according to senior art director Jacinda Chew. Over the course of three games, including the recently released spider man 2The team has managed to add a large number of unlockable suits, covering everything from the Through the Spider-Verse animated movie to the Internet’s favorite warehouse cat. “That’s a pleasure,” Chew says, “to be able to work on a suit.”

However, that was not something that was obvious to him from the beginning. Chew says it wasn’t until the first one Spiderman It launched and players started posting photos of their favorite suits and she realized how important different versions of Spidey could be to people. “Some people grew up reading a certain comic or watching a certain movie, and now they’re like, ‘That’s my Spider-Man,'” she explains. “That’s what I started to realize, how loyal the fans are to that Spider-Man that defined his childhood or a moment in his life. So we try to be very respectful when reproducing those costumes in the game.”

(He was especially surprised by Spider-Cat’s response: “Man, people loved that cat. And obviously, we brought him back. Hopefully, there will be more cats in the future.”)

spider man 2 features a number of returning costumes, along with some new ones. It also covers two different characters, as both Peter Parker and Miles Morales (who had his own spin-off in 2020) are playable. That means there were a lot more potential costumes to choose from when deciding what to feature in the sequel. According to Chew, the main goal is to offer breadth. That includes having costumes pulled from different places (he divides them into three categories: comics, movies, and Insomniac originals), but also having several different styles.

“Sometimes we think, ‘We really want to get one with a cape,'” Chew says. “We want to source a variety of materials, silhouettes and even headpieces; if you have a hoodie, helmet or mask. And I just hope we have enough variety for people to find something they like. Because it is impossible to please everyone.”

Some of the potential lawsuits are dismissed for technical reasons; others must be adapted or modified to work in the game. Because you can wear the suits at basically any time while playing and they appear in most cutscenes, they should all support the same variety of animations, as well as features like Peter’s mechanical arms or the new spider webs that allow players to slide through New York City. Several had to have new features added just for the game. “There are certain suits, for example the Agent Shield suit that Miles wears, that traditionally don’t have a mask,” Chew says. “So we had to design a mask for that suit so that it would technically work for us.”

Another challenge was ensuring that Peter and Miles remained distinct from each other, no matter what suit they wore. “Whatever the genre, you should be able to see it and identify the character,” explains Bill Rosemann, vice president and creative director. in Marvel Games. There are some clear physical distinctions between the two: Miles is a little thinner than Peter and his swinging style is a little more erratic, but, according to Chew, the main difference comes down to his personalities.

“The really cool thing about Peter and Miles is that they’re at different points in their lives,” he says. “So their views are different.” For Miles, that means more youthful outfits and several that emphasize his experience and his love of music. (One of my favorites is the “urban sounds” suit that makes Miles look like he stepped out of a 1920s jazz concert, complete with a Spider-Man mask under his fedora.) Meanwhile, Peter’s appearance often takes advantage of the long history of the comics and films.

This time around, Insomniac also partnered with several artists, including Momoko peach and Clarke’s stubbornness, to create unique costumes just for the game. The ultimate goal, again, is to try to offer something for every type of player. However, for Chew, even with all the different options available, she primarily wears one particular suit: the “advanced” one introduced in the original game. And, like many fans, it is something very personal for her.

“The first time I played the first game, I played with the advanced suit,” Chew says. “And I still play with the advanced suit because it is literally my suit.”