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How can the ps5’s cpu make new york in insomniacs Spiderman 2 more interesting?

Umbasaborne

Banned
I think spiderman and miles morales are really fun games. New york is nice enough in those games, well detailed, lots of traffic and pedestrians. But despite that, it still feels sort of hollow.

I think the power of the ps5 could make things more interesting by making new york denser, rather than simply adding Brooklyn and queens and calling it a day, they could make buildings that you can actually go inside of dynamically, maybe using procedural generation.

Like what if you were fighting outside and the fight seemlessly transitioned into an office or a reasturant because you were thrown through a window, now what if that could happen dynamically outside of scripted scenes?

Little touches like that, or cars being affected/denting by you if you throw something at them could go a long way towards making spiderman 2’s new york feel not just bigger, but more alive as well.

an example of what im talking about is seen in early trailers for the first game, but was likely cut for technical reasons. Imagine if this could happen dynamically outside of scripted interactions!

tumblr_o9co6bjGZ31rvkwl5o1_400.gif
 
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Kuranghi

Member
Not getting too crazy with overhype and keeping it simple:

I think the ragdolls were a nice step up going from SM18 to SM:MM already, the destruction of objects in interior locations also looked excellent, physics-wise, so it would be great to have that same destruction outside as well (You had boxes and some other objects but nothing like the scale of destruction of the interiors).

It would add a lot for me if you could throw thugs through windows in the open world and have them deform metals and such, like you mentioned. I have a feeling they maybe didnt do stuff like that because they don't want it to seem like Spidey is smashing fuck out of everything, it doesn't really fit his style so maybe not really a technical/budgetary limitation.

Not sure how the CPU would be involved, but I would really like for their to be some more advanced web-slinging you can engage in to go faster or just to spice it up a bit, still keep the old simple method for general travel but make it so you can maintain extra speed via a mini-game sort of thing, maybe tie it to the suit mods or something similar. In Shadow of Mordor/War, when sprinting you can gain a burst of speed when you hurdle a rock or the like, they even had a legendary rune in the first one that let you chain it forever so you could really haul ass across the map near the end, which is much more fun than fast travel to me and avoids the issue of you missing environmental storytelling or literal scripting because you didnt make the journey there.

So many ideas I have don't really fit the Spiderman style so its a hard nut to crack, he probably wouldn't be taking shortcuts through houses a la AC:III/Unity and he wouldn't cause destruction for no reason, will have a think and come back to this thread later.
 

Pagusas

Elden Member
The experience lacks the appropriate amount of vial stench found in NYC, so maybe use the extra cpu power to get smellovision working?

honestly though I don’t expect much change to the npcs, rather I expect Ratchet and Clank was a test of their portal systems to use in the next game which will be alllll about the spider-verse and jumping between different dimensions.

going to see things like future nyc, noir nyc, cartoon nyc, and all that
 
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Umbasaborne

Banned
Not getting too crazy with overhype and keeping it simple:

I think the ragdolls were a nice step up going from SM18 to SM:MM already, the destruction of objects in interior locations also looked excellent, physics-wise, so it would be great to have that same destruction outside as well (You had boxes and some other objects but nothing like the scale of destruction of the interiors).

It would add a lot for me if you could throw thugs through windows in the open world and have them deform metals and such, like you mentioned. I have a feeling they maybe didnt do stuff like that because they don't want it to seem like Spidey is smashing fuck out of everything, it doesn't really fit his style so maybe not really a technical/budgetary limitation.

Not sure how the CPU would be involved, but I would really like for their to be some more advanced web-slinging you can engage in to go faster or just to spice it up a bit, still keep the old simple method for general travel but make it so you can maintain extra speed via a mini-game sort of thing, maybe tie it to the suit mods or something similar. In Shadow of Mordor/War, when sprinting you can gain a burst of speed when you hurdle a rock or the like, they even had a legendary rune in the first one that let you chain it forever so you could really haul ass across the map near the end, which is much more fun than fast travel to me and avoids the issue of you missing environmental storytelling or literal scripting because you didnt make the journey there.

So many ideas I have don't really fit the Spiderman style so its a hard nut to crack, he probably wouldn't be taking shortcuts through houses a la AC:III/Unity and he wouldn't cause destruction for no reason, will have a think and come back to this thread later.
If anything id want a more interactive/reactive world. Small details, like the way vegitation reacts to the player, are usually cpu bound. Hopefully on the ps5 we do get realistic material deformation
 

IntentionalPun

Ask me about my wife's perfect butthole
Can you expand on this idea? Because in a way this was there, like the robbery of bank trucks, but in general it was globs of enemies
Those were also just clearly "generated near you" events... like the game just decides "robbery nearby" and then they are all exactly the same and they spawn as a set of cars speeding away from somewhere.

A simulated world would instead maybe be something like:

- There are gangs all over town, you could recognize them by some distinct look
- You can see individuals from those gangs hanging out sometimes doing nothing, sometimes maybe just 1 of them is smoking a cig, other times maybe a few are standing around
- You could watch as a few get into a car.. maybe 6 get into 2 different cars, and drive to the same place.. maybe when they do that, sometimes it's nothing, other times they all enter a building at the same time and then come running out w/ ski-masks on a few seconds later.. that's how a "robbery" would be found in a simulated world, it would just happen.. and it'd be happening on parts of the map you aren't even in being "simulated"
- Or maybe other times a group of gang members runs into a rival gang and a fight erupts... again, a simulation occurring.. you might see this start, you might come upon it mid-fight, or maybe never see it
- Maybe randomly you'd spot someone doing a hold-up on the street mugging someone for a purse as a thing you could stop.. or don't stop, maybe he gets away as you are too late

Maybe there are special "wanted" people on the map.. that have a flashy outfit on.. and you could spot them, and follow them around for a while.. you have to catch them in the act of a crime w/ your camera, but you have to follow them to do this.. and you can watch them go about their day trying to catch them doing something, or maybe the goal is to catch them meeting up w/ a particular person.

And if you weren't following that person, they'd be going about their day whether you were around or not, as part of a simulation.. which is how you could be swinging around town and randomly see them.. or not see them.
 
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Spidey Fan

Banned
I dont care about freaking graphics. I need faithful spiderman. First one didn't deliver that.
I want spiderman to hit walls, when he cant change the direction on time. I want spiderman to hit the ground, if he fails to swing on time. I dont want non of that crap super hero fking landing.

And most importantly, give me a fucking good boss fight. I dont want a simple dodge shit boss fight. I want a boss that makes spiderman on his knees. I want a challenging boss. If it weren't for Octo story, I would have dropped the game, because of the garbage boss fight. Shocker had a more interesting fight, than that shit Mr Li fight.

I also need a better conclusion. Mr Li conclusion felt shit. There was no tension. That helicopter scene with spiderman, had more interesting scene than Mr li ending story.
 
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Turk1993

GAFs #1 source for car graphic comparisons
The speed of slinging around, SM1 is great and one of my fav last gen but i expected faster web slinging. With PS5 it should be easy to double the current speed. Outside that SM:MM look great already hard to complain, maybe dynamic tod?.
 

yurinka

Member
I think to make the city more dense will help making it feel more alive. But more than the hardware, is the creativity of the devs who make it more interesting. Please don't repeat a gazillion times each mission type, the first Spiderman needed to remove that number (amount of pigeons you have to catch etc) to the half. By doing that the game won't feel too repetitive and too long.

If you still want to make the game that long, instead of repeating missions that huge amount of times just add more mission types.
 
I’m just looking at that gif thinking “Man, shit would ruin my day if Spider Man just busted through the window of the coffee shop I’m in while spilling my coffee off the table”.
 

Nester99

Member
I want a shattered dimensions reboot with all the different worlds of Spider-Man given similar details as the most recent one. Add a crazy way to switch back and forth like Ratchet and Clank dimensional portals.
 

SafeOrAlone

Banned
I know it is old hat to some by now, but I still want a nemesis system in a superhero game. Take 5-10 Spider-Man baddies and give them branching nemesis paths. It could replace most of the side missions in game.

Also, I’d like to see more power into making the environment interactive. Whether that is destructiblity, more transitioning between interiors and exteriors, or whatever.

also, power aside, I’d love an expert mode, where swinging is more challenging, there is fall damage, perhaps fewer checkpoints. That would really bring the game to life for me.
 

Kholinar

Banned
I want spiderman to hit walls, when he cant change the direction on time. I want spiderman to hit the ground, if he fails to swing on time. I dont want non of that crap super hero fking landing.
Why would Spider-Man hit anything during swinging? He has Spider-Sense to avert bumping into walls when swinging, or he could just convert into wall-running if the player has him colliding into buildings regardless. Also, they have Miles hitting the ground and ragdolling if he fails to swing in time whilst doing mid-air tricks, and I think that works better for Miles than it would for Peter since he's more inexperienced.
I want a boss that makes spiderman on his knees.
You got that on the final boss.
 

Spidey Fan

Banned
Why would Spider-Man hit anything during swinging? He has Spider-Sense to avert bumping into walls when swinging, or he could just convert into wall-running if the player has him colliding into buildings regardless. Also, they have Miles hitting the ground and ragdolling if he fails to swing in time whilst doing mid-air tricks, and I think that works better for Miles than it would for Peter since he's more inexperienced.

You got that on the final boss.
I know spidey has those senses, but I wanted that early spiderman feelings. The 1st spiderman movie, when he goes hard swinging, and hit a board.

As for bosses, I just wanted some difficulty on normal bosses.

I guess I won't get that feeling of hitting walls, its a bummer.
Disappointed Big Daddy GIF
 

Kholinar

Banned
I know spidey has those senses, but I wanted that early spiderman feelings. The 1st spiderman movie, when he goes hard swinging, and hit a board.

As for bosses, I just wanted some difficulty on normal bosses.

I guess I won't get that feeling of hitting walls, its a bummer.
Disappointed Big Daddy GIF
Yeah, tbh, it is Insomniac's first go at the series, and I personally think SM2018 was fairly decent. If the next installment is being developed from the ground up for next-gen, then I think you'll see a lot of the improvements you've been wanting.
 

Spidey Fan

Banned
Yeah, tbh, it is Insomniac's first go at the series, and I personally think SM2018 was fairly decent. If the next installment is being developed from the ground up for next-gen, then I think you'll see a lot of the improvements you've been wanting.
I hope so. With batman being dead, spiderman is the only super hero single player game left. I dont want this genre to die fast.
 
Simulation is hard to balance with gameplay, having buildings you can enter with procedurally generated rooms and NPCs would be neat for a few minutes but end up just bogging the gameplay down, it would create a lot of dead space in the game where it's impressive on a technical level but nothing interesting can ever happen in them.

They should go the opposite route and just up the ante with bigger set pieces, more interesting villains, stronger story-telling.

If you were holding a gun to my head and making me design something that could only be done on PS5, I would say to expand on the crowd dynamics - have it so when you fight crowds gather, and if you fight in open spaces you also have to worry about the crowd getting hurt so that introduces a meta of trying to bait the villain away from the crowds so you don't have to QTE save them all the time. Or maybe have a nemesis system but have it so their are agents in the game-world who are trying to uncover your identity, they'll try to follow you around, take photos of you when you are fighting and your suit is getting damaged etc, so it would add an extra layer of keeping an eye out and being careful where you suit up etc.
 
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NeonDelta

Member
more dynamic weather, more civilians on the street,, especially during the day. i want to see crowds of people in times square. more internal areas

id also like them to expand on the side missions, maybe things like rescue someone from a fire where you actually have to move around the house and find them and carry them to safety etc..
 

Lethal01

Member
I know spidey has those senses, but I wanted that early spiderman feelings. The 1st spiderman movie, when he goes hard swinging, and hit a board.

Not everything needs to be the origin story the point of showing how inexperienced he is at the start is to show how much he grows later. It's not "unfaithful" because they don't make him act like he's only had his powers for a month when he's been doing this for years.
 

Kuranghi

Member
I know spidey has those senses, but I wanted that early spiderman feelings. The 1st spiderman movie, when he goes hard swinging, and hit a board.

As for bosses, I just wanted some difficulty on normal bosses.

I guess I won't get that feeling of hitting walls, its a bummer.
Disappointed Big Daddy GIF

Can you explain how failing to swing or taking fall damage would be fun in the long run? Fair enough you want immersion but how would it evolve in the game? Just eventually it stops happening or...? I'm struggling to see how it would pan out.

Have you played Just Cause 3? The wingsuit in that works more in the way you are describing than webslinging in SM, you can't touch anything or you crash/ragdoll so you have to constantly be aware of what you are doing and plan ahead a bit. Even if you don't like the rest of the game I'd recommend trying it, because there are wingsuit challenge courses that can be quite tough, having to manage your momentum and choosing your grapple points.

Rico in JC3 is just a guy so it makes more sense to me that he wouldn't be able to kick off walls at speed and would just crash, but Spiderman has super strength and reflexes.
 
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Kuranghi

Member
Those were also just clearly "generated near you" events... like the game just decides "robbery nearby" and then they are all exactly the same and they spawn as a set of cars speeding away from somewhere.

A simulated world would instead maybe be something like:

- There are gangs all over town, you could recognize them by some distinct look
- You can see individuals from those gangs hanging out sometimes doing nothing, sometimes maybe just 1 of them is smoking a cig, other times maybe a few are standing around
- You could watch as a few get into a car.. maybe 6 get into 2 different cars, and drive to the same place.. maybe when they do that, sometimes it's nothing, other times they all enter a building at the same time and then come running out w/ ski-masks on a few seconds later.. that's how a "robbery" would be found in a simulated world, it would just happen.. and it'd be happening on parts of the map you aren't even in being "simulated"
- Or maybe other times a group of gang members runs into a rival gang and a fight erupts... again, a simulation occurring.. you might see this start, you might come upon it mid-fight, or maybe never see it
- Maybe randomly you'd spot someone doing a hold-up on the street mugging someone for a purse as a thing you could stop.. or don't stop, maybe he gets away as you are too late

Maybe there are special "wanted" people on the map.. that have a flashy outfit on.. and you could spot them, and follow them around for a while.. you have to catch them in the act of a crime w/ your camera, but you have to follow them to do this.. and you can watch them go about their day trying to catch them doing something, or maybe the goal is to catch them meeting up w/ a particular person.

And if you weren't following that person, they'd be going about their day whether you were around or not, as part of a simulation.. which is how you could be swinging around town and randomly see them.. or not see them.

This all sounds great but the issue is that its an open world game, they can't simulate very complex happenings in places too far from you (ie when you aren't there and the world isn't rendered), so the way that would have to work is there would be set points when you happen upon them, ie inside gearing up, leaving the building, on route, inside during the robbery and leaving the crime scene.

So in the end it would just be the exact same as we have now but with more variety as to when you come across them, I don't think they didn't think of that, all devs want to make it more of a "living world" but its just not possible right now/with open world due to how it works technically. You can have this but it needs to be a much smaller map, like a Hitman sized map, but then its kind of contrived because they'd just be driving 100m from their hideout to the crime scene.

Maybe the new console specs could allow this now but I think its going to be a hard problem for a good while, if we want the same world size as we have now.

edit - I realise you aren't thinking about technical limitations and just dreaming of what could be, I just think they definitely already tried to do what you are saying, just its not technically possible.
 
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Those were also just clearly "generated near you" events... like the game just decides "robbery nearby" and then they are all exactly the same and they spawn as a set of cars speeding away from somewhere.

A simulated world would instead maybe be something like:

- There are gangs all over town, you could recognize them by some distinct look
- You can see individuals from those gangs hanging out sometimes doing nothing, sometimes maybe just 1 of them is smoking a cig, other times maybe a few are standing around
- You could watch as a few get into a car.. maybe 6 get into 2 different cars, and drive to the same place.. maybe when they do that, sometimes it's nothing, other times they all enter a building at the same time and then come running out w/ ski-masks on a few seconds later.. that's how a "robbery" would be found in a simulated world, it would just happen.. and it'd be happening on parts of the map you aren't even in being "simulated"
- Or maybe other times a group of gang members runs into a rival gang and a fight erupts... again, a simulation occurring.. you might see this start, you might come upon it mid-fight, or maybe never see it
- Maybe randomly you'd spot someone doing a hold-up on the street mugging someone for a purse as a thing you could stop.. or don't stop, maybe he gets away as you are too late

Maybe there are special "wanted" people on the map.. that have a flashy outfit on.. and you could spot them, and follow them around for a while.. you have to catch them in the act of a crime w/ your camera, but you have to follow them to do this.. and you can watch them go about their day trying to catch them doing something, or maybe the goal is to catch them meeting up w/ a particular person.

And if you weren't following that person, they'd be going about their day whether you were around or not, as part of a simulation.. which is how you could be swinging around town and randomly see them.. or not see them.
Those are all great ideas. And to clarify, I wasn't purporting that those robbery missions in the original were worthwhile. The game had so much potential, but I never finished it because of the rinse and repeat mission structure.

The only issue I see with your suggestions is the two gangs fighting. It's not as if marvel or Sony would likely allow gunfights with people dying to happen.. I think. BUT that suggestions is also the coolest! Because if two gangs are having melee brawls in the middle of the city that you have to interact with, then that'd be awesome! And maybe even there would be a scenario where spiderman encouges a young scrapper to get out of the gang and he comes around in the end to thank him.

Great ideas!
 
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Kuranghi

Member
more dynamic weather, more civilians on the street,, especially during the day. i want to see crowds of people in times square. more internal areas

id also like them to expand on the side missions, maybe things like rescue someone from a fire where you actually have to move around the house and find them and carry them to safety etc..

It would be cool if the weather actually affected your webslinging in some way, like cold weather disabling your regular style because its too brittle so you have to locomote in a different way.
 

Spidey Fan

Banned
Can you explain how failing to swing or taking fall damage would be fun in the long run? Fair enough you want immersion but how would it evolve in the game? Just eventually it stops happening or...? I'm struggling to see how it would pan out.

Have you played Just Cause 3? The wingsuit in that works more in the way you are describing than webslinging in SM, you can't touch anything or you crash/ragdoll so you have to constantly be aware of what you are doing and plan ahead a bit. Even if you don't like the rest of the game I'd recommend trying it, because there are wingsuit challenge courses that can be quite tough, having to manage your momentum and choosing your grapple points.

Rico in JC3 is just a guy so it makes more sense to me that he wouldn't be able to kick off walls at speed and would just crash, but Spiderman has super strength and reflexes.
Its all about immersion. Spiderman is swinging in a city, where there are tall buildings. Having been careful from those buildings, makes you familiarize with the world.

If you play gtav for 20 hour, you will know the entire map from your memory. Because it has the same settings as the real world. 20 more hours, and you wont even need a map for your destination.

And as for the fall damage, it makes your more familiar with how webbing works. These usually helps with combat, since you are consistently trying to not fall or hit anything. It makes your brain work with a strategy, instead of mindlessly throwing webbing nonstop.

Watch the scene where Spiderman talks to Morales, or when he is fighting with the 6th. All those movements are hard to do for players. From the cinematic, its awesome feeling Spiderman just casually starts swinging like a cool superhero. Same when he is fighting the 6th. That fight was magnificent, even though I wasn't controlling him, that was the Spiderman I used to love as a kid.
 

Spidey Fan

Banned
Not everything needs to be the origin story the point of showing how inexperienced he is at the start is to show how much he grows later. It's not "unfaithful" because they don't make him act like he's only had his powers for a month when he's been doing this for years.
Let's be honest, from your heart, you want to experience those moments from the Spiderman movies right?
 

Synless

Member
The issue I have with Spider-Man as a series is we have been playing the same thing for years now. It’s mostly Spider-Man swinging around the same looking city. Gameplay needs to be diversified to use that beautiful and packed lower city.

Example: Things I would suggest to Insomniac would be incorporating Peters job as a journalist for some of the side quests. They could easily make these more entertaining by incorporating his powers on some of the more intense missions.

let’s be honest, the side quests in the first Spider-Man game were absolute trash, uninspired. I pray to god they improve it this next go round. Miles Morales didn’t give me much more hope In that regard.
 

Lethal01

Member
Let's be honest, from your heart, you want to experience those moments from the Spiderman movies right?

Not at all, I'm personally not interested in the slightest in them trying to make things "realistic" and making it so that you can't swing too close to the ground or something.

What I am interested in is them making swinging feel more fluid and making you feel even more powerful. I want when you got "too close" to the wall for spiderman to cleanly transition into a wall running animation that gives you a sense of momentum and speed.

I want if you swing too close to the ground for him to smartly adjust and improvise, There is a movie scene that showcases this.


So Nah, I'll skip on the bumbling spiderman.
 
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Spidey Fan

Banned
Not at all, I'm personally not interested in the slightest in them trying to make things "realistic" and making it so that you can't swing too close to the ground or something.

What I am interested in is them making swinging feel more fluid and making you feel even more powerful. I want when you got "too close" to the wall for spiderman to cleanly transition into a wall running animation that gives you a sense of momentum and speed.

I want if you swing too close to the ground for him to smartly adjust and improvise, There is a movie scene that showcases this.


So Nah, I'll skip on the bumbling spiderman.
That is cheating. You know they can't even come close to what that movie did. For the time being, give them a low bar. Spider verse is hard thing for Insomniac to do. The leap of faith, kingpin fight, spiderman fight. If they did those scene, I will be soaked wet.
Swimming Pool Peter GIF by Family Guy
 

EverydayBeast

thinks Halo Infinite is a new graphical benchmark
I had a lot of fun with the map design in Spider Man MM, very organized with lots of secrets to discover. The world of Harlem, NY is legit, is classified as "open world" but most players will play it linear moving to objective to objective, you're going to admire the scenery, just incredible. I think add safe houses like in Yakuza, at some point have a “go anywhere” mindset, going into a random smoothie shop isn’t important but adds to the “feel” of the world.
 
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