Marcadia is a planet in the Solana Galaxy, featured in Up Your Arsenal. It is the location of Capital City, the metropolis which is home to the presidential palace where President Phyronix resides as the leader of the Solana Galaxy government.
Ratchet and Clank visited Marcadia after it was breached by a tyhrranoid invasion force. In response to a distress signal from the President, Ratchet and Clank arrived alongside a group of Galactic Rangers to defend the planet. After successfully defending the presidential compound, President Phyronix tasked them with repairing the city's damaged laser defense shield, providing them with the Refractor for the job.
History[]
Marcadia was breached by a surprise tyhrranoid invasion force operating under the orders of Dr. Nefarious.[1] President Phyronix sent a distress signal to the Starship Phoenix, which was interrupted by a galaxy-wide broadcast from Dr. Nefarious calling for a revolution. Sasha Phyronix directed the Phoenix to fly to Marcadia, deploying a Galactic Ranger force while Ratchet flew in his personal ship to join the defense.
The duo meeting the president.
Ratchet and Clank fought through tyhrranoid forces to reach the presidential compound in the mission "Get to the palace". They then met up with a Ranger dropship and traveled directly to the palace to secure the area alongside Ranger forces in Operation: IRON SHIELD. After successfully repelling the attack, President Phyronix greeted the duo, thanking them for their help. He then informed them that the city's laser defense shield had been damaged and asked them to repair it.
Ratchet and Clank find Al.
In "Repair the Laser Defense Shield", Ratchet used the newly-acquired Refractor to stabilize the network's lasers. Inside the facility, he was surprised to find Al using the main computer to play a Qwark vid-comic, having bypassed the server with a "626-hex-matrix adaptor". Clank pointed out a feedback loop in Al's setup, which Al corrected. Clank then asked to borrow the vid-comic, believing it could help restore Captain Qwark's memory, and Al obliged.[2]
Geography[]
Marcadia has a dark orange atmosphere and surface water. When viewed from space, it has one large orange continent with a few southern islands.
Capital City[]
The Capital City.
Capital City is a grand metropolis with regal, orange structures built over prominent canals. The city is characterized by numerous skyscrapers, many topped with gilded domes, while smaller buildings feature rooftop gardens with palm trees. During Ratchet's visit, the city showed signs of battle, with blast marks and rubble visible.
The compound, containing the palace, is a secure area accessible via a rear courtyard, due to the destruction of the bridge connecting the front. It is heavily fortified with a wall and a lava moat, and a prominent turret platform in the courtyard is a key feature during Operation: IRON SHIELD. The palace itself is an imposing tower, flanked by two smaller structures.
Accessed via dropship, the laser shield facility hosts the laser network that is supposed to guard the city. It is a series of indoor hallways with blue lighting and serves as a puzzle segment where Ratchet must use the Refractor to redirect laser beams to activate machinery and open doors. The complex consists of ten rooms containing various mechanics, including bolt cranks, a spider bot, grav-ramps, and a retractable bridge that plays musical notes. The network's main terminal is located in a force-field-protected room at the very end of the facility.
Multiplayer[]
The Marcadia Palace multiplayer map.
Map layout of Marcadia Palace.
Marcadia Palace is a multiplayer map set in a modified version of the presidential compound. The map is available for Capture the Flag and Deathmatch modes.
The layout is a mirrored, nighttime version of the compound. The central turret platform remains, but the moat has been drained, allowing access to the lower level. The main palace doorway holds a Minirocket Tube, and is flanked by curved walls that provide cover. The area behind these walls contains Charge Boots and a Lava Gun. The drained moat contains powerful weapons, including Mine Gloves and Flux Rifles, and jump pads to return to the main level.
Behind the scenes[]
The level design for Marcadia was a collaborative effort, with Colin Munson designing the main level[3], Sean Wissler designing the Operation: IRON SHIELD battlefields[4], and Mike Stout designing the Refractor segment.[5] Tony Garcia programmed the tyhrranoids, while Jerrod Putman programmed the Galactic Rangers' behavior.[6]
The Operation: IRON SHIELD missions were originally intended to be optional. An unused cutscene from an early build reveals a Ranger offering to pay Ratchet in bolts for each battle he won.[7][8]
Difficulty tuning for Marcadia became complicated because different people managed the standard level and the battlefield sections separately.[6] The developers were limited to six enemies on-screen at once but used careful design to create the feeling of a much larger battle.[9] At the time, Insomniac designers could not script enemies and could only place entities and splines, so Sean Wissler had to manually rig each wave, sometimes taking a week per battlefield mission. .[4]
Mike Stout received high praise from Mark Cerny for the Refractor puzzle segment. Cerny's backhanded compliment noted that the level was "as good as Ratchet design gets" and "totally makes up for the Inspector Bot segment in the Maktar Resort". Stout's design philosophy was to make the player feel smart by providing a limited decision space, leading them to the single correct solution.[5] However, Stout was not proud of the spider bot puzzle within this segment, as focus testers consistently failed to understand its purpose, even with a large spider image painted on the wall as a hint.[10] A second, more complex spider bot challenge was cut and replaced with a titanium bolt.[11]
The musical bridge in the Refractor segment was programmed by Peter Hastings as his main contribution to Up Your Arsenal, as he had largely moved on to the early development of Resistance: Fall of Man.[12]
Citations[]
- ↑ Up Your Arsenal script § "Meet Sasha on the Bridge (gameplay)"
- ↑ Up Your Arsenal script § "Repair the Laser Defense Shield (gameplay)"
- ↑ Stout, Garcia March 2012 6:01
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Stout, Garcia April 2012 1:14
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Stout, Garcia April 2012 8:21
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Stout, Garcia March 2012 11:21
- ↑ Up Your Arsenal, August 11, 2004 build on The Cutting Room Floor
- ↑ Up Your Arsenal, May 26, 2004 build on The Cutting Room Floor
- ↑ Stout, Garcia April 2012 0:58
- ↑ Stout, Garcia April 2012 13:12
- ↑ Stout, Garcia April 2012 16:09
- ↑ Stout, Garcia April 2012 12:21
References[]
- Video games
- Insomniac Games (2004). Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal [Game]. PlayStation 2.
- Videos
- Stout, Mike; Garcia, Tony [@uselesspodcasts] (2012, March 26). Ratchet & Clank 3 Dev Commentary: 3 - Starship Phoenix [Video]. YouTube.
- Stout, Mike; Garcia, Tony [@uselesspodcasts] (2012, April 4). Ratchet & Clank 3 Dev Commentary: 4 - Marcadia Refractor / Battlefield [Video]. YouTube.