Insomniac Animator Says Sunset Overdrive Helped Form Spider-Man, Miles, and Rift Apart Games

Lindsay tweets: "I think a really cool thing to note is how all of our recent games have paved the way for the next one. This game was a huge proving ground for all the work we ended up getting to do later in Spider-Man, Miles, and Rift Apart. It was super fun to make too! #sunsetoverdrive"

[isarai]

I mean that's just incorrect. R&C has all the same navigational mechanics just used differently. From r&c to sso and Spider-Man is just a natural evolution of the mechanics they've been refining for years

[FallenAngel1984]

Spider-Man was literally built on the same engine Sunset Overdrive used

[Zeref]

No it isn't. If you played Sunset Overdrive, you can definitely tell how it's mechanics influenced Spiderman.

[GhostofHorizon]

Which mechanics are you reffering to? Other than both games being open world, they don't share a lot as far as game mechanics go.

Ratchet & Clank is by far closer to Sunset Overdrive than Sunset Overdrive is to Spider-Man.

EDIT: I think Lindsay is talking about the spirit and the tone of the game. Just that fun nature that Insomniac games tend to have.

[Nitrowolf2]

@Nariro

Insomniac hasn’t been shy about their influence being Sunset Overdrive. This is from 2018

“And that's exactly what Intihar says the team has done, citing Sunset Overdrive as the basis for making Spider-Man, "especially for swinging and overall world creation".

"We knew Spider-Man was going to move a lot faster, and we knew that we wanted our New York to be bigger. Another thing is that Sunset didn’t have vehicles, didn’t really have a lot of NPC or pedestrians walking the street, so we had to take all that stuff into account. But I think if it wasn’t just for getting our feet wet with Sunset as an open world, we would have had a harder time doing it, but our very talented team was able to run with it."

And then these two went on to influence Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart

[brewin]

There's a quote from one of the developers saying as much in the article. If you'd read the article you'd know it's not incorrect 🤷🤦

[Profchaos]

This is a tweet from the animator of the studio not an opinion piece.

[GamerRN]

I love how people can argue against the people who actually MADE the game 🤦

[Crows90]

You didn't play sunset overdrive. The same parkour and traversal mechanics were used in sunset overdrive that spiderman took as its own and improved.

[Tedakin]

You know more than an actual Insomniac animator?

[FallenAngel1984]

It’d be nice if they rereleased Sunset Overdrive on PS4 & PS5

It’s like the only PlayStation owned IP that’s never been on an actual PlayStation console before

[LoveSpuds]

Couldn't agree more, hopefully this would also lead to a sequel. Sunset Overdrive was an absolutely brilliant time and I don't understand some of the commenters here getting so defensive about the fact that Sunset Overdrive set the groundwork for the traversal design in Spidey, I pretty sure I have read as much from the developers themselves.

I suppose the title of the article is kind of flamebait as I am pretty sure the Spiderman games would have existed regardless of Sunset Overdrive and Insomniac are talented enough for us to assume that they would have nailed it with or without their experience of working on Sunset Overdrive.

[SDuck]

Because Microsoft owns the publishing rights so it's not a PS IP

[Nasdac]

The main reason why Insomniac publish Fuse and Sunset Overdrive outside of PS was initially because Insomniac were allowed to keep the rights to the IP's, so this is incorrect. Sunset Overdrive owner is Sony. 2019 Sony registered a trademark about it.

[IanTH]

Interestingly enough, I think there's truth to both. Sony may own the IP now, but MS must have time remaining on their publishing rights. If you check Steam, it is still listed as being published by Xbox Game Studios. I can't imagine Sony wouldn't have put themselves as the publisher at this point if they could.

Someone with more time to dig, or knows specifically, could maybe help me out here. Is it just that the publishing rights need to expire, or is it something else entirely?

[Mr Logic]

@Nasdac

Yes and no. Insomniac owns the Sunset IP, and in turn now Sony does.

MS retains the exclusive publishing rights for the first game. If this deal was structured similar to Alan Wake (IP owned by Remedy) then those rights will expire after ~10 years.

[badz149]

@SDuck

MS published it the first time like they did with the first Mass Effect on the 360. and just like what EA did with Mass Effect after they acquired Bioware, Sony can do the same for Sunset Overdrive as Insomniac, and that IP belongs to Sony now.

[neutralgamer1992]

Sduck

Absolutely incorrect Sony owns the IP just like how obsidian owns outer worlds IP so take two can't dictate it's future

And sunset overdrive will get a PlayStation release sometimes soon. It's easy money and Sony recently bought few studios experts in ports

[SDuck]

To everyone downvoting and replying to me, I worded myself wrong. It is a PS IP but the original game isn't available for Sony to relaunch

[AmUnRa]

No thats not true, Insomniac ownes the rights for Sunset Overdrive, MS only published the game. Now thats Sony owns Insomniac, therefore Sony owns the Sunset Overdrive IP.

[CptDville]

Don’t worry, you are not missing anything special. It’s a fun game, but no as special as Spider-Man.

[neutralgamer1992]

I agree but I think the IP has a much better future on PlayStation than it ever did on Xbox. Games like ratchet, sly, jak, sunset overdrive, crash have PlayStation gamers willing to give them a chance while Xbox gamers like a bit different games

[Exvalos]

Funny thing is it is only not on playstation because insomniac wanted to retain the right to the ip. And sony said no. Now sony owns the game and the studio.

[Profchaos]

Yeah it's a bit weird maybe there's some technical complications or more so insomniac are way to busy to revisit it.

We've had Spider-Man and it's DLC packs, miles Morales, ratchet and Clank since 2018 and Spider-Man 2 and wolverine in the works I just don't think they have the time to revisit a game that is awesome but sold poorly.

[Terry_B]

Total bs.

[FallenAngel1984]

BS you say? Let’s see what Ted Price had to say about this matter in 2019

"We realized that this game we had just made, Sunset Overdrive, really does help us think about how we could take traversal to the next level in a Spider-Man game," Price said, "because we had been focusing on many of the same challenges within Sunset Overdrive."

https://www.ign.com/article...

So you’re saying the president of Insomniac is wrong about how his own company developed Spider-Man?

[Teflon02]

Tbh most higher upside in a company don't actually know what's going on lol. I can tell you this 100%, does Ted? More likely than a average company. But the context is a bit of a stretch. As sunset overdrive is essentially a sandbox version of Ratchet and Clank. Saying that is no different than saying Ratchet and Clank is the reason they could make Sunset overdrive in such a way. Sure, every game teaches you new things unless you play it safe. The people who are against the statement are because it's a bit misleading. Ratchet and Clank for example is still Ratchet and Clank. It really doesn't take anything from sunset. If anything it went back to A Crack in Time more than anything. As someone who's designing characters I can assure you EVERY single character, pose etc done influences everything I do in the future. That's what it is. Either way, good on them because A Rift Apart was my game of the year and the Animation was superb

[FallenAngel1984]

How many people from Insomiac have to say the same thing?

Insomniac’s creative designer, Brian Intihar, cited working on Sunset Overdrive as experience for Spider-Man

https://www.gamesradar.com/...

People denying what so many Insomniac devs are stating are living in denial. Yeah Sunset was helped by their experience from Ratchet, just like the sandbox and traversal from Sunset helped Spider-Man

[Terry_B]

The article had a different and rather provocative sounding headline before, my BS comment was a reaction to that. Guess they had to change it..since it was..BS.

[CantThinkOfAUsername]

Terry_B is right. The original headline was quite sensational. 'Spider-Man wouldn't exist without Sunset Overdrive.'

[GhostofHorizon]

To claim it wouldn't exist is a bit silly, developers continue to learn and evolve with each game they create. This is no different, Sunset Overdrive used a lot of mechanics already present in Ratchet & Clank games.

I would love to see a Sunset Overdrive release on Playstation 5 though, it seems like a fun game. The new Suicide Squad game seems to be trying to tap into some of that energy as well.

[Magog]

R&C had lots of grinding mechanics.

[Zeref]

you clearly haven't played Sunset Overdrive if you think it's just about grinding mechanics lol

[TreMillz]

I've played it, and it's completely about over the top action while incorporating free movement.... That's basically R&C in a nutshell

[rippermcrip]

@zeref

No one really said SO was just about grinding mechanics, but the game literally is built around grinding. You have to grind. That's one thing that drove a lot of people away from it including myself. I just couldn't get past having to do that all the time. I'm not putting the game down, just wasn't for me.

[Outlawzz]

Sunset overdrive, wt a great time sinker lol good times..good times

[Jay767]

I would like to thank Xbox fans for not buying sunset overdrive without you we wouldn’t have spider man ps4/Miles Morales 👍.

[phoenixwing]

I wonder how things would have gone had ppl bought sunset overdrive

[Lexreborn2]

Spider-Man wouldn’t have existed if it wasn’t for Sony and Marvel working out a licensing deal for games. Spider-Man wouldn’t exist if when Sony asked Insomniac which hero they wanted to do they wanted Spider-Man. Spider-Man wouldn’t exist if Sony didn’t purchase Insomniac because you know they would’ve given it to a different 1st party studio.

There are a lot of ways/factors Spider-Man wouldn’t have existed. I’m glad all of them came together to make an amazing experience

[Elda]

I don't see it. One has nothing to do with the other. Spiderman was the newer game with newer mechanics,something the developers learned & implemented.

[brewin]

To quote developer Lindsay Thompson, "This game was a huge proving ground for all the work we ended up getting to do later in Spider-Man, Miles, and Rift Apart."

[SavageFlamingo]

Most of these people seem to have not read the article.

[brewin]

SO was one of my favorite new IPs last gen. There's a few gems Microsoft had exclusivity to that got the cold shoulder from gamers. There's always been this notion that Xbox One had no exclusive games yet they were some big time exclusives that, for some reason, get left out of the conversation. Dead Rising 3, Quantum Break, Sunset Overdrive are the big 3 imo that should have gotten a much better reception. Those still hold up well and are underrated gems.

[IanTH]

Mainly down to the fact that "exclusive", before that point, had always implied hardware exclusive. It was only in the middle of XBO's lifecycle that it changed for MS to mean "can't play it on the other console". So last gen, games on PC meant it wasn't a "true" exclusive.

Times they are a changin', as Sony is now seemingly adopting the same terminology. So I think if those games were out when Sony started their shift to PC, the discussion around those games would have changed. It didn't help that those games were mostly just liked "ok" - DR3 & QB were sub-80, and SO was just a hair over. A lot of people hold Metacritic in high regard for these kinds of conversations. It'll be interesting to see how these conversations play out now this gen, given a number of exclusives follow the same definition this time around.

[MrNinosan]

And Sunset wouldn't exist without Ratchet who wouldn't exist without pixar etc etc

[Aloymetal]

...And Sunset Overdrive wouldn't exist without Insomniac! Happy now??

[GamingSinceForever]

I think the title should have said that Sunset Overdrive inspired Spider-Man and Miles Morales. Saying that it wouldn’t have existed is an attempt to create a silly back and forth.

[MadLad]

Interesting that we could have had a much different Spider Man experience had they not already put in the leg work years prior with SunsetOverdrive.

[monkey602]

That's actually one of the big reasons that the laser focus on non stop sequels from developers is draining creativity from the market.

Developers are restricting themselves within the perimeters of existing properties and new techniques / ideas / risks aren't being explored. There are many examples over the years of Developers creating new properties between their familiar projects, that they grew and learned new skills with.

[Pancit_Canton]

Spider-man & Miles Morales would not exist without Spiderman 2 on PS2.

[Deathdeliverer]

Personally I think who cares. The same can be said about any game. Resogun died so returnal could live. Project Gotham died so Forza can live. Urban chaos riot response died so Arkham Knight could live. With every game you make you learn something new. Apply it to the new game. Learn something new during THAT game and apply it to the next game. Again… this is obvious. If any game in the chain of games hadn’t happened who knows what would or wouldn’t have happened. That’s a whole butterfly effect conversation though.

[darthv72]

Project gotham died... and nothing took its place. Forza is its own thing but you are right about resogun and returnal. HM made one after they made the other.

That is the point of this piece. Not just about any random game influencing another but one from a specific company influencing another from the same company.

[Deathdeliverer]

@Darth

It’s always you Darth….
Guess what game series the vast majority of turn 10 worked on before forming turn 10 and making Forza?
And what are you talking about random game influence? Every game from a developer influences the next game, even if it’s in another genre. You use what you learned and apply what you can towards the next project. Sometimes I think you respond to people for the sake of responding to people.

[Shane Kim]

What is the point of these articles? So we must be grateful for Pong otherwise God of War wouldn't be made.

[Deathdeliverer]

That’s about the gist of it Shane. They are trying to make it about those two games but in the grand scheme it’s exactly that.

[Zhipp]

Hey, just because you can't appreciate gaming history doesn't mean the rest of us can't. "How gaming evolved from Pong to God of War" is a documentary I would happily pay money to see.

[ziggurcat]

Uh... no?

[ziggurcat]

Much better title, now.

[Godmars290]

Didn't the Spiderman games exits well before SO?

[darthv72]

Spiderman games in general... yes. But not the Insomniac iteration.

[Godmars290]

Point is Insomniac's version is just a refinement of the older version's gameplay.

Not saying that's a bad thing, in fact, that sort of thing needs to happen more often. Charges of copyright infringement or no.

[ocelot07]

Such a shame it didn't sell well it was alright. I played it on Xbox and it was fine but some of the fps dips was off putting. Then played it on pc a year or so later and it was enjoyable.

[ForwardDude]

Ok, I think we have understood: a Microsoft exclusive is the savior to the most sold superhero game ever. Ok we get it. Microsoft >>>> Sony. Is this why these articles get written? So as to "prove" one thing is better than the other? Ok, we get it. Without SunsetOverdrive ( which is indeed an excellent game 10/10 in my book ) Spiderman wouldn't be as great since Insomniac wouldn't have as much experience. That's great! Thank you Microsoft! Can we go back to talking about Days Gone sales now... ( that was the funny part, go laugh now! )

[Harryvok]

Sunset Overdrive is the only Insomniac game i've played I didn't like. It was too silly for me and I just didn't like the setting, characters or enemies.

[Killer73nova]

Sunset was and is an amazing game

[Samonuske]

They said the same thing before Spider-man PS4 launched. I thought this was common knowledge?

[MegaLogic]

The credit goes to Insomniac regardless, doesn't matter either way.

[Dir_en_grey]

Somebody asked why Sunset Overdrive didn't get more love, the dev just answered in a nice way that it helped paved to make ways for Spiderman (nice way of saying Xbox is dead play on Playstation). When Sunset overdrive just came from Infamous and Microsoft just payed to make Xbox version of Infamous-like game.

[Gamer79]

Clutching at straws there, besides insomniac didn't make infamous.

[Gamer79]

Obviously, developers use experience from making a game to help their next project.

[babadivad]

It's obvious after playing both games.

[SurgicalMenace]

I see that the title was changed. Now, all is good in the universe. Inappropriate....🤣

[Crows90]

I remember thinking this very thing when spiderman came out. I was like.,..yeah thank God for sunset overdrive. That game gave insomniac the experience with parkour flow.

In spiderman that move that slings you from one side of the building to another while wall running...yeah that was directly taken from sunset. The vaulting as well.

[boing1]

Duh

[NotanotherReboot]

Thank you Microsoft for paving the way for Spider-man!