For God of War, the team at Sony Santa Monica was tasked with creating an entry in a long-running series that both stayed faithful to some aspects of its predecessors while giving its protagonist Kratos considerable room to grow.

Working Kratos’ son Atreus into both the gameplay and the story complicated this, but in the end including him as a fully realized companion AI paid off.

In this talk, senior staff technical combat designer Hayato Yoshidome walks through several approaches and iterations from Atreus’ creation, addressing how the ups and downs of each influenced different elements of God of War.

About the GDC Vault

In addition to this presentation, the GDC Vault and its accompanying YouTube channel offers numerous other free videos, audio recordings, and slides from many of the recent Game Developers Conference events, and the service offers even more members-only content for GDC Vault subscribers.

Those who purchased All Access passes to recent events like GDC or VRDC already have full access to GDC Vault, and interested parties can apply for the individual subscription via a GDC Vault subscription page. Group subscriptions are also available: game-related schools and development studios who sign up for GDC Vault Studio Subscriptions can receive access for their entire office or company by contacting staff via the GDC Vault group subscription page. Finally, current subscribers with access issues can contact GDC Vault technical support.