The Creators of Spider-Man 2 and Alan Wake 2 Reveal The Secrets Behind Two of 2023's Best Games - IGN
Alan Wake 2 and Marvel's Spider-Man 2 may not have much in common on the surface. One is a dark mystery thriller with a story that unfolds alongside its protagonists minds, while the other is a fast-paced and exhilarating action game about bright and colourful superheroes.
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The Creators of Spider-Man 2 and Alan Wake 2 Reveal The Secrets Behind Two of 2023's Best Games
POSTED: DEC 25, 2023 9:00 AM
Alan Wake 2 and Marvel's Spider-Man 2 may not have much in common on the surface. One is a dark mystery thriller with a story that unfolds alongside its protagonists minds, while the other is a fast-paced and exhilarating action game about bright and colourful superheroes.
Looking a little deeper reveals several solid similarities though. Developed by Remedy Entertainment and Insomniac Games respectively, Alan Wake 2 and Spider-Man 2 are both narrative-driven adventures, both feature dual protagonists, and both build off stories told previously.
IGN invited Remedy creative director Sam Lake and Insomniac narrative director John McAdam to chat about designing these games, from early development decisions, to dealing with the media, handling complicated narratives, and much more.
John McAdam, Senior Narrative Director, Insomniac Games: Hi, I am John McAdam. I'm senior narrative director at Insomniac Games.
Sam Lake, Creative Director, Remedy: And I'm Sam Lake, the creative director of Remedy.
John McAdam: Let's talk about Alan Wake 2 and Spider-Man 2.
Sam Lake: Yes. Congrats on shipping, okay?
John McAdam: Congrats to you as well. Yeah, you know what I like is that I think now, the marketing lead times are shorter. It used to be we would announce a game two years out and then we'd talk about it for a long time. I think it's a little less now. I think there's so many more games out there.
Sam Lake: Sure.
John McAdam: You know?
Sam Lake: And it's better that way also the game is more in a form you are actually making.
John McAdam: Yeah, exactly.
Sam Lake: When it used to be like Max Payne or the original Alan Wake, we were already doing a lot of press while we were still figuring it out, or then you end up switching the direction. And then it ends up being: "We said this, but sorry."
John McAdam: Yeah, I know. How many E3s have you had where you've shown something that is not going to be in the game and you're like, "Okay, well, that's not going to work."
Sam Lake: It's more condensed, but it's more intense. But also, the closer you get to the end and the more you have done the introductions, the more fun it is to talk about it. Because earlier on it's like, "It's these three things, and we are not talking about these things." Then you are always like, "Okay, yep," and needing to watch what you say more. But at this point when it's already out and you can talk about everything related to it. It's more fun also if you talk about it that way.
John McAdam: I agree. Are you at the point now where you can do spoiler interviews?
Sam Lake: Yes, some. Still being mindful it's only a month, so knowing that there are probably plenty of people who want to play who have not played, and I would hate to spoil some things. Although these days if you are online, if you're reading everything, it will be spoiled day one. You need to be careful, but at the same time, ultimately it's everybody's own responsibility not to look if you don't want to be spoiled.
John McAdam: Yeah. When you were doing your marketing, did you have a say in, "Hey, we're going to put this narrative out there about what the game is because I want to set some expectations for the player that we might twist and turn," so basically doing storytelling in the media? Did you guys do any of that?
Sam Lake: Yeah. We spend quite a bit of time discussing, "How do we go into this?" There are so many different aspects in a big game. What do we want to start with? And kind of planning the campaign and planning the beats on showing this and focusing on this.
John McAdam: Yeah, we did a lot of that too. We knew that one of the big questions for us was going to be, who is Venom, right?
Sam Lake: Yeah, for sure.
John McAdam: And there was a lot of fans online were like, "Oh, it's got to be this person," so we were aware that that was going to be a narrative that I think people wanted to talk about. So with a lot of our trailers, we played into that. We didn't want to reveal too much, but we wanted to tease it enough so that people could get a sense for who it might be, which is always fun.
Sam Lake: Which is the mystery and speculation and all of that, that's so valuable and so much appreciated, the passion of the fans keeping the discussion going, and making sure that you are helping with that.
John McAdam: Let me ask you a question about mystery, mystery versus suspense: how do you define that with your storytelling style?
Sam Lake: It is a great question because it is really important. I love mystery. When I am a fan of something or engaged about something. I love that there is room for mystery, and that's a big reason because it excites me when I'm watching or playing or anything, I want that to be a part of the story and narrative in the games that I'm making. I feel that it's the balance of giving answers so that everybody's on board, but also posing enough questions. And even when giving answers, leaving room for interpretation, having blanks in there and making it fragmented so that you are actively engaged in piecing the whole thing together.
And also on the level that you are... Even if we know, because it's really important for us to know the answers. It can't be like, "Whatever," but there is a huge element of trust that you need to build and establish because if the gamers are not trusting you that there is an answer and it's not like it's going to build into something that falls apart or... That said, I feel you don't ever need to give a full, conclusive one truth.
And even inside the fiction, there can be conflicting views, especially if it's a character's interpretation, like you will never need to fully go, "Well, really, it's about this," because we are in the point of view of the character and characters. So, it's just leaving that somebody might be fully committed that this is the truth, but leaving enough room for interpretation that somebody goes like, "I don't think so. I think it's this," and somebody else comes in and says, "No, but maybe you missed this bit," and having people engaged and thinking about it. That's such a crucial thing that people can play the game through, and they're still thinking about it.
John McAdam: Well, I think for me, what Alan Wake did really well was it could have been confusing. There was a lot of things going on, but the gameplay when you were in Saga's mind space with putting the stuff on the wall, the way that was written was beautiful, because you would basically repeat the things that were happening. And I'm sure you did that on purpose, which was, again, really great because it helped me understand what was going on. When I switched back to gameplay, I was like, "Oh, okay, so that's who that is. That's where they're going. I get it. I'm up on it," and if I ever got confused, I would go back to the mind place and I would look at things and figure it out. I think for Spider-Man, for us, I think we tend more toward the suspense and I think it's a genre thing.
Sam Lake: Yes, it is.
John McAdam: Yeah, it's a big time genre thing. I think our audience for the superhero stuff, they want to be with the characters. They don't want to be ahead of the characters. I guess with suspense you can be ahead of the characters a little bit, but we want to know everything that's going on. And then, when we put them in these really dramatic situations, we don't know...
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