One Excel spreadsheet was the backbone of God of War Ragnarok
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God of War Ragnarok is nothing to sniff at. With players playing anywhere from 20 to 50 hours of gameplay, this venture into Norse mythology is extensive and quite difficult to plan.
Organizing the story, battles and exploration in God of War Ragnarok would give anyone a headache. in a interview with Game Informer (opens in new tab) God of War, Ragnarok director Eric Williams explained how he and his team overcame this formidable task.
The solution to all this was simple: create one Excel spreadsheet that will rule them all. This spreadsheet broke every moment of the game and “how much time you’re going to spend on it,” Williams said.
Despite the spreadsheet’s size, it ultimately only predicted “10% of the final product,” Williams added. Even after pages and pages of content, it still proved extremely difficult to rule in the God of War.
Excellent planning
While making God of War Ragnarok, Williams learned he had Aphantasia
Some may think that a master Excel spreadsheet of this size is quite intimidating. However, it turns out that this detailed planning was crucial to Williams as the director of God of War Ragnarok.
While making God of War Ragnarok, Williams found out that he had Aphantasia. This describes the inability to form a mental image of an object that is not directly in front of you. Williams described it as if you were telling him “think of a green apple.” I can not see it. I can’t imagine anything in my head.”
That’s why the comprehensive Excel spreadsheet was so groundbreaking for Williams. “I had to compensate for this with an insane amount of reference,” Williams said; I need “images for everything”.
hiero-gif-ics
There were definitely images for everything in this spreadsheet. From fight scenes to dialogue, if you could think of it, it was probably in there. But the icing on the cake was the terrifying amount of GIFs.
In the end, the spreadsheet contained about 6,000 GIFs. One of the best moments was when Williams described through images and GIFs exactly the kind of roundhouse kick he wanted in a fight scene. When his team told him they already knew what a roundhouse kick looked like, he replied “yes, but not this one”.
Some developers even accused Williams of “taking away all the creative fun” by making fight scenes. It took a while for both sides to get used to each other. “They had to get used to me because it’s very different from Cory [Barlog, director of God of War 2018]’ said Williams. At first he thought, “Why are they so hard?” until he realized his love of GIFs and elaborate Excel spreadsheets wasn’t the norm.
Fortunately, everyone was able to work through their differences, and the final product is something we thought was truly memorable. As it turns out, Williams’ need for spreadsheets and GIFs may have been the best thing that happened to God of War Ragnarok, as the game has an incredible sense of identity and direction.