The Insomniac Musem in Up Your Arsenal is the second Insomniac Museum in the series. Much like the previous Insomniac Museum in Going Commando, it is a secret location containing developer commentary on unused material from Ratchet & Clank, Going Commando, and Up Your Arsenal. It features commentary from twelve different developers throughout each of the rooms.
The Insomniac Museum can be accessed in two ways. A teleporter in the Starship Phoenix becomes available after obtaining all trophies for the trophy room, leading directly to the Museum. Another way to access it is through a teleporter in Metropolis, Kerwan, found on the balcony of the tower located directly left of the first, which is available when the console's internal clock is set to 3:00 AM.
The Insomniac Museum's soundtrack is an unused track that was going to be used for the vid-comics, but no place for it was found.[1]
Exhibits[]
Exhibits of the museum are found in various rooms throughout the Museum, and can be visited in any order. They are donated and sometimes commented on by one of twelve developers, listed as the donor for each item, which provide text commentary when playing their help message, marked by a floating icon over a pad.
A few of the exhibits are located in a large room to the right of where the ship lands, locked behind a forcefield. The Hacker must be used to disable the forcefield and enter. This room mostly contains elements of the vid-comics, and has a replica of Ratchet's quarters in the Starship Phoenix, with the Insomniac game pyramid instead of the VG-9000.
The commentary behind the developer's donation is listed along with their exhibit below.
Mike Stout[]
Mike Stout was a Designer on Up Your Arsenal and had designed the original Insomniac Museum in Going Commando.[2] His donations include the Hacker puzzles and an editable Hacker puzzle, as the designer and programmer of the Hacker.[3] Another of Stout's donations is the enemies, as he was involved in the original design of the vid-comics.[4] He also donated the return of editable effects.
QA Hacker puzzles[]
A set of challenging Hacker puzzles appear, that were created by the QA testers. These include Ed Kim, Bill Powers, Chris Towne, Bryan Bernal, and Tyler Moore. The Hacker puzzles are extremely challenging, but completing them will earn 40,000 bolts.
Our QA testers put their heads together and came up with a number of fiendishly hard Hacker puzzles. See if you're good enough to beat them! If you can, you can win some bolts!
Mike Stout
Editable Hacker puzzle[]
An editable Hacker puzzle appears close to the Hacker puzzles associated with the QA testers. Though donated by Mike Stout, he provides no commentary. By holding 
and 
when approaching the Hacker port, the player can edit the variables for the Hacker puzzle, which will change how the puzzle plays. This the same interface and the same set of variables that the developers used when creating Hacker puzzles, and had previously been used in the Infiltrator.[5]
Editable effects[]
A group of four effects clustered together appear. The player can edit the variables on these effects by standing on one of the devices around them and entering their debug menu. This feature originally appeared in the Going Commando museum.
Back by popular demand, you can edit your own special effects. Just enter the debug window and change the values and see what you come up with.
Mike Stout
Vid-comic enemies[]
Located in the large room where the cut vid-comics can be played, a showcase of the models for each of the Qwark vid-comic enemies is found. By approaching each model and pressing 
, it is possible to play their different animations.
Because the enemies appear so small on the screen when playing the Qwark vid-comics, we thought we'd bring them closer for your viewing pleasure.
Mike Stout
Cory Stockton[]
Cory Stockton donated the turboslider races, and provides commentary for them.
Turboslider race track[]
In the room at the back of the Museum is an untextured model of a turboslider, which looks different from the turboslider seen in single-player and multiplayer, in that it uses jet thrusters behind its skies at the front, and a much smaller turret on top. This is used to showcase the unfinished turboslider races. The turboslider racing was cut early, and no gameplay for it was finished; the race track and model seen in the museum are the only things that were completed for it.[6]
Pressing will transport the player to an unfinished race track on Florana, with a turboslider in it that is identical to the one in multiplayer. The race track goes through Florana's jungle, underneath several nabla native treehouses, and is located next to a temple. The track is filled with several ramps along the road, and partway through has mud and water that would presumably slow down the turboslider. However, many of the rocks and trees of the path are not solid and can be driven through. There are many branching paths in the track, though the track has no clearly defined path. Pressing when outside the turboslider will return to the museum.
Cory Stockton provides the following commentary on the races:
Early on, we planned to have Turboslider races included in Ratchet and Clank 3. Due to a lack of time, however, they were eventually cut. However, you can still drive around on the only race track ever to be created.
Cory Stockton
Scott Reeser's image also appears adjacent to the turboslider, suggesting both donated it to the museum.
Ken Strickland[]
Ken Strickland was a programmer on Up Your Arsenal. He and Sean Wissler were responsible primarily for the final product of the Qwark vid-comics.[4]
Captain Blackstar[]
A model of Captain Blackstar, the leader of the robotic pirate ghosts fought in the first Qwark vid-comic Booty is in the Eye of the Beholder, is found in one of the cubicles. Though still seen in the cutscenes, Captain Blackstar is not fought as a boss in the final game. Pressing allows the player to cycle between Blackstar's animations.
This is Captain Blackstar, the original boss enemy at the end of Qwark vid-comic 1. He ultimately proved too complex and was cut.
Ken Strickland
In addition to this showcase, Blackstar is seen in the Special Edition of the vid-comic that can be played in the vid-comic room on the Insomniac Game Pyramid.
Vid-comic 1: Special Edition[]
Vid-comic 1: Special Edition is the original version of Booty is in the Eye of the Beholder. Compared to the final version, it is more complex, slower-paced, and has an entirely different boss in the form of Captain Blackstar. Notably, it requires wall-jumping much more often, and near the end of the level, the path splits in two, with the player required to traverse two different areas to obtain the red and green crystal required for the path forward. The level has an entirely different soundtrack than the final level, and instead uses the soundtrack from the grind rail segment on Batalia in Ratchet & Clank.
The reaction of this version of the level by focus testers was negative due to its difficulty and the fact that games on a 2D plane were unpopular at the time, resulting in the final version being much more stripped back.[7]
Now you can play the original, uncut, uncensored version of the Qwark vid-comic 1, "Booty is in the Eye of the Beholder" featuring different gameplay and the cut boss, Captain Blackstar.
Ken Strickland
Sean Wissler[]
Sean Wissler was a designer on Up Your Arsenal, and along with Ken Strickland, was responsible primarily for the final product of the Qwark vid-comics.[4]
Unnamed vid-comic[]
The unnamed vid-comic was the first level designed for the Qwark vid-comics. The level uses the same soundtrack as the museum, and is set in a mining area. It has a robotic eye boss at the end, and uses enemies that would appear in the vid-comics Shadow of the Robot and The Shaming of the Q.
Wissler provides the following commentary explaining its removal:
This unnamed level was the first level ever designed for the Captain Qwark vid-comic rounds. Because it was very early, many of the concepts we tried here didn't work and as a result we cut the level. It is preserved here for historical purposes.
Sean Wissler
Scott Reeser[]
Scott Reeser donated the multiplayer mini-mech, on which he provides commentary. He also donated the turboslider race tracks alongside Cory Stockton, though only his image appears next to the turboslider and he has no commentary for it.
Multiplayer mini-mech[]
Two models for walking robots appear within a cubicle next to Reeser's commentary. One is an arched blue robot with a single red eye and two turrets on its back in absence of arms, which has a few animations that the player can cycle between using . The other is an untextured model with no collision detection and is simply a tank with a pair of legs. These robots would have been used for multiplayer. As explained by Reeser:
Originally, if any team in Multiplayer controlled all nodes in a battlefield, this monstrosity would appear and wreak havoc across the map. It was ultimately cut because it was too complex.
Scott Reeser
Unused text for the term "Mini-mech" makes reference to them.[8]
Carl Grande[]
Carl Grande donated a showcase of Hank, his dog who was a mascot for Insomniac Games, and a concept of the sandshark from the original Ratchet & Clank.
Hank showcase[]
One room in just behind the Qwark vid-comic room contains only grav-ramps and posters featuring Hank. One of these posters is an image of Hank with the caption "HANK Says I'm Proud of you ... so stand tall like me!", another is a poster of Ratchet riding Hank's back with the Ratchet & Clank logo altered to spell Ratchet & Hank, and another is Hank with another dog with the caption "Hank Says When a friend is down rise them up!".
Hank, the fearless Wiener Dog, was chosen by his owner, Carl Grande, as a De Facto mascot for Insomniac Games. These are pictures made by Carl to push Hank's celebrity status.
Carl Grande
Sandshark concept[]
An untextured model of the original concept of the sandshark is found in the top-left of the room. This concept is a quadrupedal creature that is bigger than the basic sandshark, with a much taller fin. As Grande explains:
This was an early design for the sandshark enemy from the original Ratchet and Clank game. It ended up not being the look we were going for, however.
Carl Grande
Gray Ginther[]
Gray Ginther donated original concepts for the Qwark mask and the hovership.
Qwark mask concept[]
A fully textured concept of Qwark's mask from Florana is found in one of the cubicles, with a different design, notably on the mouth. As Ginther explains:
This is the original mask Captain Qwark wore when Ratchet first finds him on Florana. It was found to be too silly, and was replaced with one a little more somber.
Gray Ginther
Hovership design[]
An untextured model of the hovership is found in one cubicle on the left-hand side. This model has a similar round shape, but has larger thrusters at the back.
This is one of the early designs for the Hovership vehicle, which can be found in both the single and multiplayer parts of Ratchet and Clank 3.
Gray Ginther
Steve Moore[]
Steve Moore donated the Hound of Doom.
Hound of Doom[]
Two models appear for a weapon designed for Going Commando, the Hound of Doom. One is a larger, untextured model with animations that the player can cycle between, while the other is a smaller model with metal textures. Its appearance and described functionality are similar to the Agents of Doom from both Ratchet & Clank and Up Your Arsenal. It is unclear why it was removed.
Moore explains the weapon's behavior stating:
This robotic Canine was originally intended as a weapon in Ratchet and Clank 2. The so called "Hound of Doom" was supposed to seek enemies, attack, and then hang onto them until they shook him off or were defeated.
Steve Moore
Tony Garcia[]
Tony Garcia was a programmer for Up Your Arsenal. Though he has four major donations, three of them have no commentary at all. His commented donations are two enemies that would have featured in the optional area on Daxx.
Though Garcia provides little commentary in the museum itself, he featured in a developer series hosted with himself and Mike Stout on the channel uselesspodcasts, in which he elaborated more on these donations.
Unused Daxx enemies[]
In one cubicle, two enemies appear that would have been featured on Daxx. In the final version, Floranian blood flies and guard bots appear instead. The enemies are fully textured, have sound effects, and are partially programmed. On approach, they will both attack Ratchet, but can be defeated in one hit from any weapon.
One of the enemies is a striped grey creature with an ape-like body. It will pick up a crate or attempt to pick up an adjacent enemy and throw it at Ratchet, and after its attack, beat its chest. Failing this, it will walk towards Ratchet and throw a punch. Garcia explains in his commentary:
These enemies were originally for Planet Daxx. They were cut because their behavior was too complex for an enemy that only appeared once in the game.
Tony Garcia
The other enemy is a smaller, red enemy with a hedgehog-like appearance. It will hop towards Ratchet, and then in range, curl into a ball to roll forward a short distance to attack. This enemy can also be picked up by the other.
This swarmer was also going to appear with the ape enemies on Daxx. They were cut in favor of the fireflies because the fireflies were much less bug-prone.
Tony Garcia
In uselesspodcasts, Garcia elaborated further, saying that the lack of inverse kinematic, which was very difficult to achieve on the PlayStation 2, meant it was extremely hard to sync their movements.[9] This is evident in the museum as the larger enemy will attempt to pick up the smaller enemy often while the smaller enemy is acting on its own.
Chainblade with whips[]
In one cubicle, Chainblade, from Going Commando, will appear, but using purple whips in place of his swords. He will remain stationary in his position, and can be defeated in one hit. Garcia's image appears next to this, though no commentary is provided.
Garcia explained the story behind this Chainblade in uselesspodcasts. Garcia was a fan of Chainblade, and during pre-production, used his model to test the idea of using a whip on enemies, inspired by Ivy's whip from Soul Calibur. Garcia during pre-production tested the whip using Chainblade for two weeks, attempting to make a whip that was not animation driven; rather, it reacted to Chainblade's attacks and worked programmatically. Garcia originally only planned for this to appear on enemies, but this work resulted in becoming the Plasma Whip after design director Brian Allgeier was impressed and suggested this be used on Ratchet.[10]
Bombs Away![]
A teleporter located in a cubicle will multiple desks will transport the player to a room that is the setup for the minigame Bombs Away!, for which Garcia provides no commentary. This minigame features Qwark, Ratchet, a ninja bot, and a Thugs-4-Less Henchman from Going Commando in an enclosed room. When entering the setup they will match the player's 
movement, meaning they move alongside Ratchet.
This minigame can be played properly in the VG-9000 in the Starship Phoenix, by pressing 
when selecting a vid-comic and entering the password 'YING_TZU' then pressing 
.
Pirate vs. Ninja[]
A teleporter found by exiting the balcony at the back of the Museum and heading along the balcony to the right leads to the Pirate vs. Ninja minigame. The minigame features a ninja bot and Captain Blackstar together, and when entering the setup, both are static.
The minigame itself can be played properly in the VG-9000 in the Starship Phoenix, by pressing when selecting a vid-comic and entering the password '_MEGHAN_' then pressing . It is a two-player game, in which the players control either the pirate or the ninja. , 
, and 
are used for various melee attacks, while using 
performs a jump and 
crouches.
John Lally[]
John Lally is listed as the donor of "Mister Fister", but provides no commentary.
Mister Fister[]
"Mister Fister" is the unfinished model of a creature slightly taller than Ratchet, with a goblin-like appearance, and an enlarged right fist. No commentary is provided for it, though standing near it will give the message "All hail Mister Fister!". It is unclear what it would have been used for.
Ryan Schneider[]
Ryan Schneider is found in the top-right corner of the Museum in front of the balcony, and only provides a simple community message:
Check out www.insomniacgames.com to learn more about the Ratchet & Clank Universe and the fine folks who developed it. If you join our online community, you'll be able to unlock additional multiplayer skins!
Ryan Schneider
Other[]
A few of the exhibits are not clearly attached to a developer.
The Joaquin[]
The Joaquin is a picture inside the cubicle where the multiplayer mini-mech is found. The description explains that a drawing submitted by Joaquin Barlow served as the inspiration for the gladiator enemy in Annihilation Nation, and puts the drawing side-by-side with the concept art for the enemy.
Tank Room[]
The Tank Room is reached through a teleporter in the cubicle where the multiplayer mini-mech is found. The teleporter leads to a wide, open space containing only the Megacorp Hover Tank from Going Commando, which can be driven by the player. The stick is used to move, while the 
stick aims the tank's turret. and 
can be used to fire missiles from the turret, and holding will zoom out to a top-level view above the tank from which the reticle can be aimed to where the missile will land. It is unclear what this would have been used for, and is possibly a relic of pre-production.
Passwords[]
Though most computers on the desks simply have concept art, two of them contain the passwords 'YING_TZU' and '_MEGHAN_'. By pressing when selecting a vid-comic in the VG-9000 on the Starship Phoenix, the player can properly play the Bombs Away! and the Pirate vs. Ninja minigames respectively.
Citations[]
- ↑ Stout, Garcia September 2012 6:15
- ↑ Allgeier, Fixman 2018 50:40
- ↑ Stout, Garcia May 28 2012 4:15
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Stout, Garcia April 2012 0:41
- ↑ Stout, Garcia May 28 2012 9:10
- ↑ Stout, Garcia May 24 2012 0:27
- ↑ Stout, Garcia April 2012 6:00
- ↑ Up Your Arsenal, Scrapped Items on The Cutting Room Floor
- ↑ Stout, Garcia June 4 2012 1:01
- ↑ Stout, Garcia March 2012 14:30
References[]
- Video games
- Insomniac Games (2004). Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal [Game]. PlayStation 2.
- Videos
- Allgeier, Brian; Fixman, TJ [@GDC] (2018, June 26). 15 Years of Ratchet & Clank: A Lombax Story [Video]. YouTube.
- Stout, Mike; Garcia, Tony [@uselesspodcasts] (2012, March 26). Ratchet & Clank 3 Dev Commentary: 3 - Starship Phoenix [Video]. YouTube.
- Stout, Mike; Garcia, Tony [@uselesspodcasts] (2012, May 24). Ratchet & Clank 3 Dev Commentary: 12 - Hate Missiles (Snowbeast Award Winner) [Video]. YouTube.
- Stout, Mike; Garcia, Tony [@uselesspodcasts] (2012, May 28). Ratchet & Clank 3 Dev Commentary: 13 - Hacker and VR Training [Video]. YouTube.
- Stout, Mike; Garcia, Tony [@uselesspodcasts] (2012, June 4). Ratchet & Clank 3 Dev Commentary: 14 - Crates, Crates, Crates [Video]. YouTube.
- Stout, Mike; Garcia, Tony [@uselesspodcasts] (2012, September 30). Ratchet & Clank 3 Dev Commentary: 30 - Music (No Video) [Video]. YouTube.