According to Insomniac, Spider-Man’s web swinging was the first thing they worked on when starting to develop the game, making sure it was fast and fluid.
For fans who want a more in-depth look at the web swinging in Insomniac Games’ upcoming Spider-Man for the PS4, a new interview with the developers goes into great detail on the subject. The video comes courtesy of Game Informer and is a 3-minute excursion into digital New York through the eyes of our favorite radioactive wall-crawler.
Heavy doses of information regarding Spider-Man have been making their way onto headlines these past few days, including the game’s official release date. Arguably, one of the most important features of the game is the web swinging, with some fans curious as to whether or not Insomniac can properly emulate Spidey’s fluidity of movement. The developers are assuring fans that they are aware of the importance of this gameplay mechanic, and have focused on ensuring its enjoyability.
Now that we know how well the game will run on consoles, creative director Bryan Intihar and game director Ryan Smith speak in depth on gameplay. Specifically, they describe how the game tailors button inputs during web swinging to limit the amount of time a player spends idly in the air, and accentuate the amount of time they spend swinging.
According to them, gamers won’t be crashing into walls or going splat, as Spidey has been doing this for 8 years now and is no longer a novice. Instead, players can expect to be catapulting themselves off of New York City buildings and engaging in free falls to get back to swingable areas. Notably, the button inputs for movement won’t be complex; instead, the developers are opting to rely on simple but chainable commands to create a fluid traversal of the city. When discussing their initial thoughts on what they wanted for web slinging, they said:
It’s the number one thing we knew we had to get right. It’s the first thing we ever worked on in terms of building a Spider-Man game. It’s all come together in terms of prototype space to now you really get the sense of speed with the visual effects that are there. Similar to what we’ve thought talking about combat, we want you feel great instantly when you pick up the controller, but over time you start to see the complexity. You start to see the depth.
Another interesting aspect of swinging is that webs won’t stick to imaginary buildings. If Spidey is high above all of the skyscrapers, players will have to latch onto a building beneath them to regain their momentum.
Overall, this interview serves to curtail any fears fans have that Spider-Man’s movement will be any less than stellar. Although gamers can’t expect to play this on Xbox, the game is looking well so far for those anxiously waiting.
Spider-Man will release for PS4 on September 7th, 2018.
