The Insomniac Museum appears in A Crack in Time, as a secret location with developer commentary, unused content, and minigames. Among its developer commentary are on unused content from A Crack in Time and the broader Ratchet & Clank Future series, and unfinished test levels that were intended for A Crack in Time before being cut are playable within the museum.
The Insomniac Museum in A Crack in Time can be accessed at the very end of the game. After collecting all Zoni in "Rescue all Zoni", and then defeating Lord Vorselon in "Vanquish Lord Vorselon" (available only after beating the final boss), the Insomniac Museum is available. It can be traveled to from within the Corvus Sector at this point, or simply warped to. Once it is accessed, it can be visited in challenge mode.
The Insomniac Museum can also be accessed immediately by using the Discovery Package DLC with A Crack in Time.
Exhibits[]
The Insomniac Museum's layout resembles the Insomniac Games office at the time of A Crack in Time. Exhibits are located around desk cubicles and inside conference rooms, and at the lobby, any one of its three elevators (named "Service Elevator") can be used to exit the museum.
At the lobby's front desk, the following message is displayed:
Welcome, weary space traveler, to the fabled Insomniac Museum! Come inside, kick off your hoverboots and feast your eyes upon all that makes up the Ratchet universe. Lost levels, forgotten enemies, tantalizing videos; it's all here in one place, ready to fuse your synapses into a tangled mess of smouldering goo!
The Insomniac Museum
To the left of the lobby is the "Facilities" area, and the small enclosed room adjacent to it is named the "Burn Room".
The men's room and ladies' room can be found nearby. The men's room contains a large, laser-eyed cat effigy, while the ladies' room contains multiple tracking robot eyes.
A small enclosed room to the right of the lobby is named the "Qwark Conference Room", but is empty. Directly next to it is the "Server Room", but is also empty.
Animation[]
The "Animation" section is located across from the "Facilities" area. A few exhibits are located in the animation area:
Upgradeable Armor[]
A concept art of armor in A Crack in Time in the animation area gives the following description:
When you can buy and wear any type of armor before a pre-rendered cutscene, we have to render a different version for each type of armor or the cutscene won't match what he's wearing when you go back into the game.
If you play previous Ratchet games, you may notice that Ratchet does not appear in any of the pre-rendered cutscenes. In-game cutscenes work because we can do a check on which armor you've bought and display it in the scene. In this game we wanted our pre-rendered cinematics to help tell the story and make it more personal. Our solution was to give Ratchet special armor that he can deactivate before a pre-rendered cutscene. This allows you to upgrade your armor and still see Ratchet's sensitive side up close and personal!Upgradeable Armor
Proto Ratchet[]
An image of the prototype 3D Ratchet model contains the following description:
When we first started out on Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction, we had a plan to use the new console's processing power to create a more detailed model of Ratchet that would have more human facial features and expressions. We went with this concept for a while before thinking "You know what? That's not Ratchet anymore." The model was changed to a higher resolution version in the style of the classic Ratchet.
Proto Ratchet
Support[]
A narrow section adjacent to the animation area contains a desk with a miniature Dr. Nefarious on. It has a single exhibit:
NanoRatchet[]
An info icon gives the following description:
For a while, we toyed with the idea of a mini-Ratchet device that would let the player investigate small areas. In the end we decided it was more of a one-off gimmick and it was more important to create gadgets that could be used in many places.
NanoRatchet
QA[]
The "QA" area is adjacent to the "Support" area. It has a few exhibits.
A Farewell to Crouching[]
Between two corner desks in the QA area:
Ratchet's crouch maneuver has been consistent throughout the series. With the new wrench tether and hoverboot gameplay, it seemed like "crouch" was taking up too much real estate on the controller. Ratchet isn't really the type to hide behind cover and pop up to take shots at his foes. He's more likely to jump into the battlefield with guns blazing. As an alternative to crouch we have the new "wrench ready" position to show the player they're winding up for a wrench throw or a kinetic-tether move.
The downside? No more squatting on felled enemies.A Farewell to Crouching
Tools of Destruction[]
In an info area next to metal crates:
A big part of Ratchet is blowing stuff up! We can design objects to break apart, create new objects, or shatter in unique and interesting ways. The strength, weight, and force of explosion can be modified to get the right feeling.
Tools of Destruction
Rigging[]
A hovering platform adjacent to the QA area:
Rigging is the process of adding joints to an object and setting it up to use one of our gameplay classes. Classes determine how an object behaves in game. We have enemy classes, destructible classes, and many more. One type of class is a wrench grapple platform. By rigging up joints in a specific way and using this class, we can create a platform that Ratchet can move along a path, in 3 dimensions, and so forth.
Rigging
Art[]
The Art section is located just across from the QA area. A few design-related exhibits are located here.
Retro and Deco[]
By a retro machine model in the art area, the following description is shown:
Retro Appliances and Art Deco furniture has the clean line with visual functionality featured in almost every Ratchet & Clank character asset. The main reasons that these forms lend themselves well to the franchise are the large surface areas that are complimented by the small clusters of detail. In most cases it will be small clusters of tech, but this rule also applies to organic forms like creatures and, well, more creatures.
Retro and Deco
Building Stuff that Works... Sort Of[]
By a moving machine model in the area:
When it comes to showing functionality, many of the most successful joints and articulation systems come from actual machinery. This allows the exaggerated and outlandish designs to be grounded and provides a trace of plausibility. This helps the player suspend disbelief and remain immersed. Implausible functionality often leads to, "Yeah right!" or "That could never happen!" even though they just flew a spaceship through the solar system to get to that enemy segment.
Building Stuff that Works... Sort Of
Silhouettes[]
By a portrait of character silhouettes:
With every design, whether its a gun, space ship or NPC character, the main focus should always be the silhouette read. If the character works from a distance and remains iconic, then the character has a good chance of being a successful design. Iconic silhouettes are memorable, which in a stylized platformer is very important.
Silhouettes
Genre Consistency[]
By an image of concept art of vullard vehicles:
Conceptually, the forms we use can be from all different genres and time periods. But they should have definitive reasons why they draw from a particular era or culture. If a character is a cowboy, then the vehicle or creature he rides would most likely draw from that same era, but if he were in a futuristic space port, we may want to have the vehicle have some elements of the surroundings if we want to imply he is from that area.
Genre Consistency
Audio[]
The enclosed rooms across the art area is named the audio area, and comprises a few rooms, with their own exhibits.
Tetramites[]
The first audio room contains tetramites within. Upon viewing the info from outside:
Tetramites were actually based on a similar "flying swarm" enemy from Resistance 2™. We adapted them to crawl along the ground and eat Breegus nectar (or anything else that got in their way). We're always looking for ways to create new creatures that are part of the environment instead of just an enemy plopped down in a spot for no reason. Hazards that make creative use of our gadgets add to the puzzle element of Ratchet and make the gameplay more diverse.
Tetramites
The OmniSoaker can be used to obtain Breegus nectar elsewhere in the Insomniac Museum, to then direct these tetramites to the voltan ivy vine also located elsewhere.
Epic Fairy Tale Style[]
The second audio room contains concept art of an ancient landscape. The concept art describes the Breegus System setting:
The Breegus System is a mysterious and enchanted place. Time behaves strangely and there are many bizarre phenomenon. It is home to the Zoni, a race that was once worshiped and now thought to be mythological. It's a section of the galaxy that feels both beautiful and haunted.
The worlds are overgrown. Alien vegetation grows rapidly and has invaded the architecture and taken over many structures. The worlds have both artifacts created by ancient Zoni worshippers and ethereal technology constructed by the Zoni. There's a romantic beauty to these worlds. Streams of sunlight, puffy clouds, rolling hills, and golden sunsets can be found. There are also haunted woods, gnarled trees, and spooky mists that give some locations an eerie and mysterious tone.Epic Fairy Tale Style
Zoni Themes[]
As located in the second audio room is info on Zoni pillars:
A lot of the Zoni structures use their large, round eyes and as an architectural theme. Look around for hints of Zoni history.
Zoni Themes
Rocket Ride to Oblivion[]
In the fourth audio room is a rocket model. Viewing is info gives the following description:
The end of the first trip to Vorselon's ship originally involved traversing an escape rocket hurtling through space with Vorselon in the nose cone. The player would start at the bottom and have to negotiate a gravity boot path peppered with obstacles. The hook here was that the rocket was dropping sections off starting from the bottom up just like a multi booster rocket. The player would reach the nose cone and Vorselon would escape.
After several iterations, we learned that the amount of time and work needed to polish this segment would bleed into too many important aspects of the game.
Sadly, this rocket ended up going nowhere.Rocket Ride to Oblivion
Unnamed crates area[]
Though unnamed, an area contain two types of cut crates.
Dice Crate[]
The info next to the three morphing crates is as follows:
The Dice Crate would cycle between ammo, bolts, health, no reward, and explosive states. If the player timed it right, they could get whatever they needed most of the time by striking it when the appropriate icon flashed up. Unfortunately, there were a lot of minor polish issues to address and players couldn't really figure out what the symbols meant. It was a relatively low-cost interaction: you only got a few bolts, a little health, or took a little damage, and ultimately we decided to cut it instead.
Dice Crate
Dimension Crate[]
An image of a purple crate is located nearby, with the following description:
Like other crate types, the Dimension Crate is triggered by damage being inflicted upon it. Once damaged, the crate implodes, then explodes into a frame large enough for Ratchet to walk through. The inner part of the frame fills in with a portal to the bonus dimension which Ratchet can see a preview image of. Stepping into the portal will warp Ratchet to a randomly generated bonus challenge. Completing or failing the challenge warps the player back to the portal entrance. If the player succeeds, the portal implodes. If they fail, they can jump back in for another try.
Dimension Crate
Teleport Floors[]
Near the unused crates area is a teleporter to an unused puzzle from the Nefarious Space Station.
The following description is given:
The Nefarious Space Station originally had a set of puzzles based around a security grid. If the player threw a time bomb, they would be able to navigate a path of panels to the other side. In our focus tests, lots of people were trying to jump over the panels (which wouldn't work) or repeatedly take the dead end paths without watching where it went. If they made a wrong move, the puzzle would send them back to the beginning of the puzzle. This caused many players to throw their controllers at us and shout some horrible things we won't mention here.
The difficulty in communicating the rules of this puzzle in a reasonable amount of time, as well as the numerous head injuries received as a result of thrown controllers, convinced us to cut the puzzle.Teleport Floors
Players can return to the Insomniac Musem early or attempt the challenge.
The challenge is completed by throwing a Time Bomb at the security grid in the middle. Doing this will slow down the rotating floors, allowing the player to move to the floors that light up green. Navigating it successfully to reach the end will complete the section and return the player to the start.
Unnamed weapons and gadgets area[]
An area close to the crates area contains cut weapons and gadgets. There are a number of exhibits here:
Razor Talons[]
Next to the image of the unused "Razor Talons" (a melee weapon based on Razor Claws from Tools of Destruction):
The Razor Talons were energy blades designed to cut through enemies in close quarters. They were based on Razor Claws from Tools of Destruction, but as we were nearing the end of production we lacked the time to add all of the cool attacks necessary to make this weapon fun. Therefore, we made the tough decision to cut the talons and focus more on our ranged arsenal.
Razor Talons
Shotgun Chuk[]
Next to the image of the "Shotgun Chuk" (a weapon from the My Blaster Runs Hot weapon contest that did not make it):
The Shotgun-Chuk was a submission to the "My Blaster Runs Hot" weapon design contest. While it didn't win the contest, it did win the heart of Thom, one of our character artists. This is a quick version he whipped up just for kicks.
Shotgun Chuk
Phoenix Launcher[]
Next to the image of the "Phoenix Launcher" (a glove weapon similar to the Predator Launcher):
The Phoenix Launcher was based on the Predator Missiles from Tools of Destruction. Ratchet locks onto enemies and these fiery birds of prey would be released from the glove, circling around Ratchet's head. When Ratchet fires, all of the phoenixes would descend on their targets in a fiery explosion. While this weapon looked phenomenal on paper, it ended up not being a player favorite. It took too long for the Phoenixes to get into position, and from a gameplay perspective they were exactly the same as the Predator Missiles. Hence, the decision was made to donate it to the museum and focus on polishing our other weapons.
Phoenix Launcher
Babel Horn[]
Next to the image of the Babel Horn (an unused gadget designed to hack Nefarious Troopers):
The Babel Horn was a gadget used to hack through doorways by communicating with Nefarious Troopers. We also wanted the player to 'talk' to some of them using patterns of flashing lights. When we reached the implementation stage, we realized how much design work would go into creating all of these sequences. Since it really boiled down to a timing-based mini-game without the humor of the pirate holo-guise in Tools of Destruction, we ultimately decided it wasn't worth it.
Babel Horn
The Grav-Sphere[]
The Grav-Sphere is an unused glove gadget that has three different descriptions.
Next to the image of the Grav-Sphere:
The Grav-Sphere was one of the four main gadgets designed to be used anywhere throughout the Breegus System. It gave the player the sensation of being very light as if being on the moon, or super heavy as if on Jupiter. This light/heavy mechanic offered an empowering feeling of control and the potential for some interesting platforming and puzzle gameplay, but production constraints prevented us from being able to give this gadget the love and attention it needed.
The Grav-Sphere
Next to its concept art is a second info description:
When equipping the Grav-Sphere, Ratchet is enveloped in a sphere of energy made up of hexagonal tiles. The default state of the sphere is light weight and Ratchet's jump height is increased due to his light gravity. In low gravity mode, Ratchet can glide further, jump higher, and travel on objects that normally could not carry his weight.
Grav-Sphere Uses
Next to the Grav-Sphere model:
The Grav-Sphere was a great idea, but the work it would have required to take it up to Insomniac standards would have taken away from other gadgets used more frequently throughout the game, like the hoverboots. Once those were in and working properly, it became clear we wouldn't be able to support two alternate modes of travel that you can activate anywhere. And so, the Grav-Sphere went the way of the Cragmite.
So Long, Grav-Sphere!
Unnamed creatures area[]
Located next to the weapons and gadgets area and next to the mail room is an area with three exhibits for different unused creatures.
The Astrolabe[]
A model and image of the concept art of the "Astrolabe", a creature to appear in the Great Clock, has the following description:
The Astrolabe channels time energy (Ribbons) through the major components in the Great Clock. It forms a large centerpiece in the middle of the Great Clock with several large time ribbons extending from it to the buildings along the play area. When we re-enter the Great Clock after Clank's awakening, the Astrolabe is broken, spinning oddly, smoking and with broken time ribbons. When we return after Clank repairs parts of the facility, it is fixed, with fixed time ribbons attached.
The Astrolabe
Time Cleaners[]
A concept art of the "Time Cleaners", creatures to appear in the Great Clock, has the following description:
Time Cleaners are natural denizens of The Great Clock. They were created by Orvus to be used as "temporal energy eaters". You may have heard him refer to them during his recorded message to Sigmund.
While incapable of doing major time reconstruction, they are — unfortunately for Clank — able to devour and digest small temporal anomalies such as Clank's recorded selves and his Time Bombs. In their non-aggressive state, Time Cleaners are small, cute, playful creatures. However, when alerted to the presence of an edible time anomaly, they swell up to a vicious eating machine.Time Cleaners
Extinct Enemy[]
An unnamed extinct enemy, based on drophyds from Tools of Description and intended to appear on moons, has a concept art with the following description:
These creatures were a moon-specific race of squishy brain organisms in powered suits. We were going to use the Drophyd models from Tools of Destruction as a base. They would communicate telepathically whenever Ratchet approached them and use telekinetic waves to pull him in and attack, similar to the thrashers in the arena. Our character team was overbooked and we decided to go with our existing Nefarious, Agorian, and feral enemies instead.
Extinct Enemy
Mail Room[]
The Mail Room is a small room adjacent to the creatures area. It has a single exhibit.
Agorian Carrier[]
The Agorian Carrier model and concept art appear in the room. Its description reads as follows:
The Agorian carrier was a huge space vessel Ratchet would need to strafe repeatedly to bring down. As he would come down for a strafing run, the carrier would open up with gun batteries and launch fighters to take him down.
Agorian Carrier
Agorian vs. Nefarious Troopers arena[]
An arena in between desks contains a minigame, begun at the entrance. There, players can create two agorian warriors to fight Nefarious Troopers over a four-round match. These can be customized by the player to set up their forces.
The player first chooses from one of seven possible warriors:
| Warrior | Weapon |
|---|---|
| Warrior | Armblades |
| Soldier | Flameshot |
| Grenadier | Timed Explosives |
| Hunter | Clusterbomb |
| Blademaster | Energy Blades |
| Crusher | Atomic Clusterbomb |
| Phalanx | Exoshield |
Having selected a warrior, they can choose between several different gear options (which make purely aesthetic differences):
| Equipment type | Option 1 | Option 2 | Option 3 | Option 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Headgear | Battle Cap | Hunter Helmet | Horned Helm of Suffering | — |
| Right shoulder | None | Spikes | Plate | — |
| Left shoulder | None | Spikes | Plate | — |
| Right chest | None | Strap | Ring | Plate |
| Left chest | None | Strap | Plate | — |
| Barbarian Bling of Argos | None | Golden Shoulder Spines of Sharpness | Golden Sash of Fortitude | — |
Upon beginning a match, the player can move the spectator camera while their agorian warriors battle the troopers.
If the player's agorian warriors are defeated, the message appears "Disaster, Commander! We have been defeated. Mistakes were made, and now is the time to point the Claw of Blame!"
If the player's agorian warriors are victorious, the message appears "We have vanquished the filthy cowards! Popcorn and sodas for all!"
Core[]
The "Core" area is located directly adjacent to the agorian battle arena. It has a number of exhibits with little connection to each other.
Character Texturing[]
The "Character Texturing" exhibit info is located next to valkyrie concept art. It has the following description:
The color data for a character should hold up as simple blocks of color from a distance on every asset. When too much grit and detail is added to the main forms of a character, as the character moves further from the camera, it becomes difficult to parse visually. An asset should have distinct "first read" and "second read" levels of detail.
The different materials (glass, rubber, metal, skin) should be consistent throughout the entire game. These consistencies help unify the look of the universe and add to the toy appeal of the franchise. It also helps to unify the entire character effort making the game more polished. Stay away from too "believable" for a texture's surface. Photo reference in texture data can cause a break in style. Stylized and hand designed surfaces are far more relative to the franchise.Character Texturing
Teleporter Moon[]
An exhibit for an earlier version of Bernilius Beta (the teleporter moon) is available in the museum. A teleporter leads to the moon, where it is playable. An info icon gives the following description:
This is an early design for the teleporter moon. The basic concept was to litter the moon with teleporters and force the player to find the correct path to get the reward at the end.
Before this design was implemented, there was already concern about being able to orient yourself and find your way across the moons, and this design made that flaw even more apparent. Now we had a moon where you didn't know where you were, where you've been, or where you're supposed to go ... and there were practically no visual indicators to help you out. After watching multiple people run around in circles, it became painfully obvious that having multiple paths just led to frustration and confusion. So we decided to cut down on the paths and focus more on the gameplay aspect of the moon.Teleporter Moon
Unlike Bernilius Beta in the final game, the version in the museum has a forked path, and is more difficult to navigate. Reaching the end (where the Zoni presumably would have been obtained) will lead back to the teleporter to the museum.
Physics Attachments[]
A group of attached spheres is an exhibit for a new tool to attach objects with physics to each other. It has the following description:
Our tech department gave us a new tool — the ability to attach objects with physics to each other. The result is more organic than our previous tool, which had us creating objects with the attachments built in. We also have more control over how the objects break.
Physics Attachments
Lombaxes Don't Swim[]
Concept art for an underwater level that was abandoned can be found around the core area. The explanation for its exclusion is given in the description:
We originally planned to support Ratchet swimming as we have in other titles, but in the end we decided to focus more on his faster-paced run-and-gun gameplay. Also, our new water is very cool looking on the surface, but we haven't dedicated the time to get the underwater look to match the surface quality.
Lombaxes Don't Swim
Junk Totem[]
Concept art for an unused object named "junk totem" can be found, with the following description:
Junk Totems are structures of cobbled-together scrap parts that will fall apart when the player unscrews the primary bolt. When the player unscrews the bolt, the totem would crumble to bits and reward the player with a few bolts.
Junk Totem
Nefarious Carrier[]
A model for an immense capital ship, the Nefarious Carrier, can be found in the core area. The capital ship would have been used in space gameplay, but was removed and replace with valkyrie war ships. It has the following description:
The Nefarious Carrier is a large ship that launches waves of fighters and bombers to defend an objective. They can dock with the smaller ships to put up shields for their central dome, which acts as a weak point and a large beam weapon. When the dome is shattered, the ship's 'brain' is revealed and swarms of small enemies will emerge, encircling the carrier and defending it from Aphelion.
In general, our large capital ship gameplay did not pan out as we'd hoped and the destroyers were converted to the Valkyrie boss ships. There were too many issues with attacking a static object in space. Players were constantly ramming into it, getting into position for a run, or struggling to fire at it in a limited amount of time.Nefarious Carrier
Ted's office[]
Two enclosed rooms appear behind the Nefarious Carrier. One is named "HR" (but has no exhibits), while the other labeled "Ted's office" has two.
Classic Ratchet[]
A model of the original Ratchet from Up Your Arsenal in a T-pose is placed, so players can compare the PlayStation 2 model with the PlayStation 3 model. It has the following description:
The R&C 1 – 3 version of Ratchet had 6912 polygons. His head and hands are a bit larger, which makes him look a little younger.
Classic Ratchet
Modern Ratchet[]
Directly adjacent to the model is an image of the A Crack in Time Ratchet model, which draws direct comparisons.
The RCF version of Ratchet has 9,435 polygons and 253 joints. He's got a trimmer waist and more delicate features that let us create more expressive and subtle actions. The high definition era lets us make more and more realistic characters. In Ratchet's case, we can make our stylized characters more believable without sacrificing his exaggerated design.
Modern Ratchet
Community[]
An area marked by a stellar leviathan is known as the "Community" area.
Stellar Leviathan[]
The model of the stellar leviathan, a creature that heavily resembles the leviathan from Tools of Destruction, is visible. The stellar leviathan would have been fought in space while using Aphelion, but was removed because the animation system had to be re-done from Tools of Destruction, and there was not enough time.
The Stellar Leviathan was the ultimate evolution of the Leviathans from Tools of Destruction. These space-faring creatures would travel in packs like sharks and circle Aphelion, using a telekinetic tractor beam to pull it in and chomp down on it with a massive bite. We could not get the animation system for the Leviathan going again: he used a procedural animation to undulate his body in Tools of Destruction. We needed the time to get the core space combat working, and therefore had to cut him.
Stellar Leviathan
Finance[]
The finance room is an enclosed room near the community area.
The First Hypersonic Brainwave Scrambler[]
The original, much smaller model of the Hypersonic Brainwave Scrambler can be seen in the room. It was unused because it was considered too small to be threatening given the damage that the Hypersonic Brainwave Scrambler would cause the Great Clock.
The original version of the Hypersonic Brainwave Scrambler was smaller and more reminiscent of a certain pesky droid from another galaxy far, far away. The H.B.S. was so destructive to the Great Clock that we needed to beef it up to a larger shape. That way it could smash through walls and be a little easier to identify from a distance.
The First Hypersonic Brainwave Scrambler
Kitchen[]
The kitchen room is large, enclosed room across from the unused weapons and gadgets area. One of the enclosed rooms nearby is named the "Pantry", but has no exhibits.
Agorians[]
An exhibit describing the agorians is located in the kitchen. Its description is an abridged version of the full Who is the Agorian Warrior? present elsewhere in the museum. The description describes how the agorians were designed as a sci-fi version of high school jocks.
Agorians are dimwitted warlike creatures who abide by an asinine warrior code which they make up as they go along, usually to suit their own purposes. They are known to conquer civilizations at the slightest provocation, and operate a traveling coliseum known as the Agorian Battleplex.
During the early days of Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time production, we decided it would be fun to see the Breegus System as a sci-fi version of high school. The Agorians were designed as the "alphas", meaning they were the brawny, athletic bullies with limited mental faculties and a tendency to consume massive amounts of protein bars.Agorians
Clank Conference Room[]
An enclosed room next to the kitchen is named the "Clank Conference Room". The room has several models of different Nefarious Troopers, along with Dr. Nefarious himself. The models are each performing idle animations. Each exhibit describes different aspects of concept art and design, namely for Dr. Nefarious' forces.
Throughout the room, the player can interact with the models to cycle through their animations.
Sci-Fi B-Movie Style[]
The floor pad info describes the art direction for Dr. Nefarious and his forces, namely the sci-fi B movie inspiration.
Dr. Nefarious and his gang of robots have invaded the Breegus Star System hoping to create a new dystopia where the villains rule the universe! With him, Dr. Nefarious has brought a flair for the dramatic and over the top b-movie designs. Dr. Nefarious and his robotic cohorts prefer presentation and dramatic flair over functional and working designs.
Sci-Fi B-Movie Style
From Pencil to Computer[]
The second floor pad in the conference room contains a description of the process of designing the characters from 2D concept art up to describing them in a 3D world.
All these characters are described in a 3D world while still maintaining the qualities of a 2D world. Most of the deciding factors for having the clarity of a 2D design is whether the silhouettes are clear. Whether the internal details are easy to parse visually both from afar and from a closer view point, and if the overall mood or personality of the asset can be read accurately on the first read. One great aspect of these designs is seeing the opposition of forms between two related characters. Even with the contrast between the characters, the characters maintain a unified style and look which keeps them grounded in the same world (or universe, in RCF's case).
From Pencil to Computer
Animal Influences[]
The third floor pad gives info describing the use of real-world animals in making the creatures feel more believable.
The creature aspects of any given character have become more and more abstract. But like the tech, many of the designs are derivative of surface and form qualities of animals. The endless number of patterns, rhythms and anatomical structures can add to the sense of believability. This idea of believability is hugely subjective and should be stretched as far as it can go. The question to ask about any asset is, "Can I imagine that working?"
Animal Influences
Fun Factor[]
The fourth floor pad describes another aspect of character design, mainly the use of "fun factor" and making charcters somewhat exaggerated.
And of course lets not forget the fun factor with our characters. Often when a character's personality is described, we lean towards archetypal designs which has been a staple for this franchise. Once in a while, we can take forms that are in direct opposition of the character's traits to allow the personality to be even more dramatic.
Fun Factor
More Shiny![]
The final floor pad, rather than describing the art design process, specifically talks about the technology developed for A Crack in Time that allows surfaces to handle lighting better.
We've vastly improved how our surfaces handle lighting. Specula highlights — the shiny reflections from nearby lights — have a lot more detail and range of brightness and shadow. The tech team really pulled this one off. Now our scales can be slimier, our robots shinier, and our game looks more 'polished' all around!
More Shiny!
Ratchet Conference Room[]
Adjacent to the Clank conference room is the Ratchet conference room. This has a large screen with a video exhibit, describing the agorians in detail.
Who is the Agorian Warrior?[]
"Who is the Agorian Warrior?" is a video describing the design for the agorian warriors. In it, various developers for A Crack in Time describe the agorian's creation and characteristics, including Bryan Bernal (Project Manager), T.J. Fixman (Story Writer), Herschell Bailey (Audio Apprentice), Chris Olander (Sound Designer), Brian Allgeier (Creative Director), Guthrie Iddings (Character Modeler), and Ben Van Dyken (Character Animator). These team members provide a description of the creation and characteristics of agorians.
It discusses the conceptualization of agorians as high school jocks, with a focus on combat and a mutable code of honor. It then describes the design process from the sketches to 3D modeling and animation, explaining how each agorian warrior type's combat ranges to match the player's weapons. Team members also given anecdotes and experiences to highlight how each contributed to the agorian's development to result in a memorable enemy.
Angela Conference Room[]
A small room adjacent to the Ratchet conference room is the Angela conference room. It has only one exhibit.
Pole Moves[]
Concept art for acrobatics moves for Ratchet is located. Info gives it the following description:
We've always wanted to give Ratchet some more acrobatic moves to highlight the Lombax's animal nature. One idea was to give him a series of climbing and swinging moves to climb vertical and horizontal poles in the environment: pipes, scaffoldings, etc. With the amount of custom animations required for what was basically a complex jumping puzzle, we decided to cut out Ratchet's pole moves.
Pole Moves
IT[]
An enclosed room near the Angela conference room contains a model of Alister Azimuth, and a teleporter for a major exhibit, namely a hoverboots racing track.
Hoverboot Track[]
Early versions of a planned hoverboot racetrack are present and can be played. The tracks were planned to be included as a way to reintroduce racing to the series, but were removed due to the amount of resources required. The following description is provided:
A hoverboot racetrack was one of the major features of the Agorian Battleplex. We've had races in some of the past Ratchet & Clank games, but we haven't had any in awhile and it seemed like a good time to give it another go. Our hoverboots were shaping up to be a fun mechanic, but it quickly became clear that getting the races up to the standard of the rest of the game was akin to making another fully featured game on top of RCF2!
What's featured here are a few variations on our existing track with a simple version of Azimuth hovering along a path. He'll slow down and speed up based on how far he is from the player, but you're really just racing the clock (and trying to stay out of his way).Hoverboot Track
The player can begin one of two possible races, both of which are timed challenges (with no rewards). Each are linear paths with obstacles on the way, speed boosts, and rings to extend the timer.
Chimera Conference Room[]
Near the back section of the museum is a larger room named the "Chimera Conference Room" (named after the Chimera from the Resistance series. It contains a single exhibit.
Nefarious Destroyer[]
The Nefarious Destroyer is another ship that would have been fought in space with Aphelion. These ships were intended to be fought alongside fighters. A model of it is present in the conference room.
The Nefarious Destroyers were larger versions of the common Nefarious Fighter ship and would dock with the fighters to increase their strength and available moves:
The Destroyer would launch a volley of Seekers and try to dock with a pair of Bombers. If the Bomber docking is successful, a wave of energy would build up along the edge of the ship's hull and fire away from the ship, sending a crescent-shaped wall of energy toward the target. The Destroyer would then pull up and out of the fight, returning to the attack pool until the time came to make another pass.Nefarious Destroyer
Hale Conference Room[]
Nearby the Chimera conference room is the Hale conference room (named for Nathan Hale from Resistance). It also has a single exhibit for a playable section.
Procedural Arena[]
The procedural arena is an unfinished procedurally generated area set to appear in the Agorian Battleplex lobby. The generator would produce a timed platforming challenge, and could be integrated with PlayStation Network. It was cut for being too resource-intensive.
The prodedurally generated arena is a virtual set of platforming obstacles originally intended as one of the Battleplex lobby games. When activated, the generator would produce a series of platforms and hazards for Ratchet to traverse in a timed challenge. The player would also get a number for that challenge and, if they liked it, they could enter that number into the generator to play it again. The number could also be sent to a friend for them to try out.
Ultimately there were too many potential testing, lighting, and generation issues with the huge number of possible combinations, so we decided to cut the generator from the game.Procedural Arena
Gameplay[]
An area near the Hale conference room is named "Gameplay". It has a few exhibits in pieces of concept art related to level designs.
Level Design[]
Concept art for Krell Canyon is used to describe principles behind designing a level in Ratchet & Clank. The main points given are emphasis on fun over realism, worlds saturated in color, levels with a sense of exploration, and inclusion of cartoon violence combat.
There are core principles behind the level design of Ratchet and Clank:
— An emphasis on fun, not realism or simulation.
— Worlds are highly saturated in color.
— A sense of exploration, adventure and wonder.
— Fun cartoon violence combat (non-realistic).
The key to successful level design is the interweaving of gameplay mechanics and grounding the player in the fiction of the world. As designers, we must seek to create a perfect synergy between the two.Level Design
Setup Design[]
Concept art for a fongoid village describes the importance of setup design to make a world feel more believable.
Enjoyable setups alone are not enough, and good use of the environment is necessary to sell the world as a whole. In order for this to happen, the designer must have a good understanding of what the world is and how it functions. This means investigating the world to learn about its ecology and architecture. The environment should increase the fictional value of the product and make the player want to find out more about the universe. In terms of pure gameplay it should provide obstacles and scenery that fit naturally and compliment the mechanics.
It is also critical to involve representatives from design, art and programming during the process. This enables the designer to bounce ideas off peers, to gain the perspectives of the other disciplines and to understand their wants and needs.Setup Design
Design Theory[]
Concept art for the Odin Caves from Lumos describe fundamental design theory for the levels.
Fundamentally, a Ratchet level can be thought of as an exploration of a sci-fi world that is densely packed with a variety of fun interactions and mechanics uses. These activities themselves are separated out into what we refer to as 'setups' each its own micro story of things conspiring to obstruct Ratchet's progress before they are overcome by the player. These obstacles can be things such as enemies trying to defeat Ratchet, navigational problems or simple puzzles that must be solved.
Each of the setups should be treated as its own little micro game that should be interesting, fun and provide the right amount of difficulty and challenge. They should vary the pacing, dangers involved and what skills and techniques are needed to successfully overcome them.Design Theory
Creative[]
The "Creative" area is located in a section adjacent to the gameplay area. It has a single exhibit.
Gameplay Philosophy[]
A collage of concept art, next to a Breegus worm root. It explains the gameplay philosophy of the series, namely: the primary gameplay involving exploration, combat, and platforming; the integration of story and gameplay; compelling secondary gameplay with optional missions and secrets; and layouts allowing multiple paths.
In this game, we will consider the following:
— Strong primary gameplay in the form of multiple missions and goals that emphasize exploration in addition to platforming and combat.
— Integrating the story and gameplay to provide a supporting fiction for the reuse space and making the environments feel more meaningful.
— Compelling secondary gameplay in the form of optional missions, secrets and rewards that take Ratchet to the corners of each map.
— Layout that allows, where possible, Ratchet to tackle objectives in any order and/or from multiple different angles.Gameplay Philosophy
FX[]
Near the "Creative" area is the "FX" area. Though there are no descriptions here, walking through this area will have time slowed, and a pyramid of crates stacked, which can be broken to show the effect of slowed time. This suggests testing for time anomaly effects.
Vullard Settlement[]
A teleporter locked behind voltan ivy allows the player to teleport to an area intended to be included in Krell Canyon. The voltan ivy can be passed by consuming the Breegus nectar from elsewhere to direct the tetramites from the nest in the Tetramites exhibit. Doing so will grant teleporter access.
The vullard settlement was an area in which the player could interact with locals after defeating the agorian invasion. It was removed because the level was too memory-intensive, meaning it did not fit.
The following description is available upon entering the level:
After saving Krell Canyon from the Agorian invasion, we wanted the player to be able to interact with the townsfolk they had saved and open up some optional collection quests. The area at the top of the canyon was fully completed, but we ran into problems with the level memory. There was just too much stuff in Krell Canyon, and after a while the game started crying real tears trying to make it run. We had spent a lot of time on the battlefield and decided to simplify the area to get the level running. Some of the things we planned included hoverboot chases for Zoni, a Tetramite puzzle, and an optional mission to put out fires for the Vullards.
Vullard Settlement
The entire settlement can be viewed, and has a number of other exhibits both for the area and for other features from the rest of the game.
Hydroid[]
The hydroid creature was an animal hydroplant that could be picked up and carried (similar to heliogrubs in Quest for Booty), while being fed water by the OmniSoaker. It is usable throughout the area to climb to otherwise unreachable platforms (though the player will find no rewards for this).
This little guy used to be in a few levels. He's an animal version of the Hydroplant, and the player could pick him up and carry him around to new areas requiring big jumps. Unfortunately this meant the player could lug him all over the level and jump out of the world! Even though we all found him hilarious, we had to downgrade him from endangered species to extinct species.
Hydroid
OmniSoaker Functionality[]
A lava dispenser gives a description of two unused OmniSoaker functionality: gelatonium (similar to the Gelanator in Tools of Destruction) and lava. These were removed largely for redundancy.
The OmniSoaker started out with 5 different fill options and was a much bigger part of the design. In addition to water, oil, and nectar, the three fills that made it into the game, we also planned on lava and gelatonium. In Tools of Destruction, we introduced Gelatonium — a springy gelatinous fuel also used as a bouncy platform.
The puzzles we were planning used the different effects of each substance in different combinations. We didn't really need the gelatonium for big jumps — we had catapults and hydroplants for that — and putting down gel anywhere would lead to players jumping out of the level. Lava seemed a bit unnecessary. Ratchet already has a ton of weapons to damage enemies with, and for burning through blocking objects the tetramites controlled by nectar were more fun and Ratchet-y.OmniSoaker Functionality
A set of unlit torches nearby can be lit by using lava from the OmniSoaker.
Wrench Tether[]
At the cliff edge following a series of hovering platforms is a description about the use of the wrench tether.
We tried out the wrench tether in our downloadable game Ratchet & Clank Future: Quest for Booty. We had always wanted to do more than the standard bolt screw, and detaching the head of the wrench let us interact with objects from afar. Ratchet could now move things into place, pull bolts out of objects to make them collapse, and perform a variety of non-combat actions.
Wrench Tether
Future Frontier Style[]
At the summit of the settlement is a description of the technology in the Breegus System, namely how much of it is primitive compared to the rest of the Polaris Galaxy due to being secluded.
The civilizations of the Breegus System have been secluded from the technical innovations of the Polaris Galaxy. As a result, their technology is older, clunkier, and makeshift.
The worlds are a combination of space age technology and old world construction. Planets may feature ion thrusters and video screens yet have makeshift construction and old mechanical designs, a "Wild West" feel of old costumes with new hi-tech gadgetry. Characters could wear a leather vest or robe while carrying a hi-tech blaster.Future Frontier Style