Spider-Man GDC notes

Script to Screen : the Development Diary of «Marvel’s Spider-Man»

Brian Wyser (Lead Animator on Spider-Man PS4), Insomniac Games

**please acknowledge that those notes aren’t exactly representative of the speaker’s presentation. I tried to stick to the slides as much as possible. Those notes are here to give you a first taste before the original presentation releases on internet**

COMBAT

. Spider-Man would climb on his enemies during fights, not just simply punch them (explore new ways for interesting combat)

. Who’s holding the camera? questions we asked ourselves...so different camera settings were created to manipulate them with precision

. 90 min of cinematics… 12 animators, 2 years...it was daunting

SETUP

. previz

. layout/animation

. performance capture

. lock n’ release

. polish to final

PREVIZ

. 1 scene/animator

. iterate!

. integrate it ASAP

CINEMATOGRAPHY

. environment can help

. use depth (think with planes/layers)

. what’s the mood, emotion, subtext?

. show emotion

EDITING

. emotion, story, rythm : feel the emotion through editing

. power of discontinuity : 2 shots following each other showing the same action (e.g. : a shot with a huge kick on an enemy, the following shot « rewinds » a bit showing exactly the same kick, from a different angle. Showing twice the same thing to accentuate it)

. mocap isn’t everything

INNOVATION

. seamless transitions from cinematics to gameplay

. issues, bugs? Often because of miscommunication —> importance of meetings

. many different Spider-Man costumes the player can put...so sometimes, just brute force it (come back and re-animate for a specific outfit)

FACIAL ANIMATION

. include lighting ASAP (for eyes reflection, readability…)

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