Director Cory Barlog Talks Game Development

God of War is coming very soon, yet we are still learning more as we go. Some prospective players may be pondering the length of the game, and director Cory Barlog recently revealed the approximate time it takes to complete 100% of the experience.

Speaking to Greg Miller on the Kinda Funny Gamescast, Barlog revealed that one of Sony Santa Monica’s designer played the game from start to finish. After completing 100% of the game, the clock showed 43 hours of play time. Of course, since this was a dev playing their own game, it will likely take a regular player far longer to complete the levels in their entirety.

Barlog also spoke about the studio’s method for building God of War. According to him, the engine, the design, and the mechanics were constructed simultaneously. In other words, Sony Santa Monica was a cacophony of developers trying to get their work done so that others could get their work done so that others could get their work done. “I highly recommend never, ever doing it that way,” Barlog told Kinda Funny. “It was literally 150 people screaming at each other.” He also mentioned that using a close-up third-person camera was a decision made to give the player a more cerebral experience. As such, there’s a little more strategy involved in the gameplay than previous installments.

As a last special tidbit, it turns out that Barlog originally came up with the idea to have live music at Sony’s E3 2016 press conference. Initially, he suggested the idea as a joke, but the organizers of the event were so intrigued by the idea that they greenlit an orchestra. The rest is history.

God of War arrives for the PlayStation 4 on April 20. Make sure you have enough space on your hard drive and stay tuned for an impending update on the game’s photo mode.

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