How Sony Santa Monica knocked God of War Ragnarok's big narrative climax into shape
Spoiler warning for God of War Ragnarok's late-game story!
With much of the final, climactic level in place and the last few visual effects coming in, the developers at Sony Santa Monica realised they had a bit of a problem: there's a big plot development that happens here, essential to the entire story of God of War Ragnarok — but nobody who played the game would notice it.
The moment in question here is Atreus' big realisation, that bringing about Ragnarok is, after all, maybe not the best idea — something he notices when dwarven companion Sindri sets off a kind of magical shockwave, which destroys the Asgardian villains' defences but, also, takes out a good few innocent civilians, too.
The problem, according to Victoria Smith, a lead level designer at Santa Monica who explained all this in an excellent GDC talk, is that nobody could tell any civilians were getting hurt. Talking to the audience after showing the team's first pass at the scene, she said, «I want anyone to raise their hand if they saw the fifteen civilians at the bases of those war machines getting crushed and murderised,» to no response. «Yeah! Yeah neither did any of our playtesters.»
If you've played it, Smith explained, you'll know that those deaths are «absolutely pivotal» to Atreus and Kratos' big moments of realisation. «The scene makes no sense without it! And our animation team absolutely did not have time to add more.»
Because of the way the levels such as these are built, all of the camera's movements are already blocked out well in advance, with the terrain and everything on it placed within the field of view — which meant that the only options were to play with what was already there. «I rotated and I warped and I did unspeakable things to
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