In a new developer diary, Sony Santa Monica revealed details pertaining to the boat sequences in God of War. Players spend a lot of time rowing to a fro and experiencing the relationship between Kratos and Atreus so it’s not all that surprising to see just how much work went into creating these emotional outings.
If you’ve played God of War you’ll probably know that a lot of the game’s most touching moments occur when the two are gliding through the water. And while I’d love to believe that the magic stops there, here are a few statistics that might blow your mind.
- There are over 600 unique animations for the boat
- There are more than 750 lines of dialogue on the boat
- Alfheim has a unique boat, oar and light
- Every enter and exit animation is different when you acquire Mimir
- On docks the boat knows if it’s on the left or right side and the enter/exit animations adjust accordingly
- The DualShock 4 LED changes to an “aqua blue” while you are in the boat
- Even though it stays in the boat, the oar is considered a weapon pickup in the game engine
- At one point there was a bug where Kratos would be able to exit the boat holding the paddle
The developer diary also goes in-depth into the difference between when the boat landed at a dock and when you beach it on the sand. The team goes on for a bit about AI and navigation mesh and I won’t pretend to know what that means, so here’s a shiny infographic you probably won’t understand.
Finally, one of the most interesting details the team provides (for me at least) is that Mimir’s stories are a blend of previous dialogue cues from events that occurred in your game. When Mimir speaks it may sound like one long coherent (and captivating story) that was recorded in one take, but in reality, it is lots of small clips “stitched” together. This is why Mimir is able to pick up right where he left off when you hop back in the boat. They also made sure to have unique outros depending on where he stops his story, each of which is timed to be shorter than the boat animation.
Hopefully, you found some of that interesting as I did. God of War has been one of the most critically acclaimed games of all time. DualShockers gave it a 10/10 (masterpiece) and you can read the full review here.