God of War 3: Sex and Resolution

• by Patrick Shaw
• October 19, 2009 00:00 AM PST

GP: We know the Trophy system is something people will be diving into with God of War III, which is also being supported in the God of War Collection. How are Trophies being implemented in God of War 3?

Todd: Well, a couple months ago, we opened up Trophy idea brainstorming to the team, looking for maybe one or two Trophy items they'd like to see. I think we got over 350 remarks and items of feedback. We're looking through those, and as we tune and polish the game, we're determining which ones would work for Gold, Silver and Bronze.

We want to make sure the Trophies are spread out. There are two different thought processes behind it. Either you're only giving out Gold Trophies and they're few and far between, or you want to dole them out in the beginning and get people a little excited about them. We're still messing around with them, and seeing what feels right. It might not be part of other people's philosophy, but I wish that with Trophies you could trade them in and get some swag or downloadable content.

Personally, I would love something like that as a gamer. As a game maker, I don't know. [Laughs.] But as a gamer, I would love to see something like, "okay, I spent my time and money doing this and now I'm getting something truly worthwhile." I'd like some kickback or reward.

GP: What's the main incentive for gamers to buy the God of War Collection, which contains the first two God of War games? Is it just to play the games over again running in high-definition?

Todd: It's more to get people up to speed who haven't played God of War or God of War 2. When God of War 3 releases, there are going to be a lot of people who haven't played the older games, and people who don't have a backwards compatible PS3 or a PS2. It's also sort of like, you've got the old Star Wars movies on VHS and now you've got DVD. So let's get them all on DVD.

GP: One thing we were talking to Stig Asmussen about was that when you put together the E3 demo, all this hard work was put into it and you basically had to tear it down and redo it.

Todd: Well, we're not tearing everything down. Think of it like a movie set: you built everything for a quick little 30-minute promo, but now you have more pacing. You adjust it so that it feels a bit better for the game. There was a puzzle we had in the demo that was ripped out before E3.

Stig was basically having nightmares of looking down at the show floor and seeing everyone stuck on the same puzzle. We just wanted a high-action demo, but when it comes to the final game, you can't keep on going up and up. We want to have those slow-down moments too so that the peaks had more impact on the player.

GP: What do you guys do with portions of levels or scenarios that don't quite fit into the final game?

Todd: Well, the general philosophy is "don't ship crap." So, if it's not going to be polished or fit our standards, then we have to cut it and usually save it for the next game. The Icarus Wings are a good example of this. We wanted to have an Icarus puzzle or a brief flight section in the first God of War game, but it didn't work out. So, we put it in God of War 2, and in God of War 3 we've still got a new twist on it.

GP: Is there anything that you wanted in God of War 2 that didn't work out, but eventually went into God of War 3?

Todd: Issues with A.I. pushed the Chimera's appearance from God of War 2 to God of War 3. We actually had it built, but we just didn't have time to animate it. That was one of the first creatures we worked on for God of War 2. Also, regarding Kratos' Blades, you can just barely see the never-used Medusa Blades at the end of God of War 2. This is a snippet of something that we were thinking about putting in the game at the time. We don't have Medusa Blades in God of War 3, but that different take on Kratos' chained weapons evolved into something else. Through that, you can see how the new Cestus weapon came about, which are heavy metallic gloves that can extend similarly to Kratos' blades.

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