Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time

3D action-platformer with upgradeable weapons, gadget-based traversal, and clever time-clone puzzle sequences

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Scripter solely responsible for Molonoth Fields, Axiom City, and Nefarious Space Station levels
Insomniac Games
~120
Proprietary Engine, Notepad++, Perforce, Devtrack
2009
October 27, 2009

Scripter solely responsible for Molonoth Fields, Axiom City, and Nefarious Space Station levels
Insomniac Games
~120
Proprietary Engine, Notepad++, Perforce, Devtrack
2009
October 7, 2009

Role:

Studio:
Team Size:
Tools Used:

Years:
Release Date:

Description

Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time is a 3D action-platformer that combines fast weapon-based combat, gadget-assisted traversal, free-flight space exploration, and standout time-clone puzzle sequences where players record and coordinate past versions of themselves to solve challenges. Released in 2009 for PlayStation 3, it serves as the climax of the “Future” trilogy, refining the series’ hallmark mix of humor, platforming, and wildly upgradeable weapons while expanding Clank’s role with deeper puzzle mechanics. It’s often regarded as one of the most polished entries in the franchise, balancing classic Ratchet action with new mechanical experimentation and a sense of scale that set a blueprint for later games in the series.

Responsibilities

I worked as a scripter individually authoring three of the games levels: Molonoth Fields, Axiom City, and Nefarious Space Station while also aiding the rest of the scripting team with their levels and other tasks.

Notable Contributions

Individually scripted entire levels in Lua including events, cinematics, enemy encounters, and unique gameplay
Assisted other scripters and designers with their tasks in order to meet milestone deadlines
Designed and implemented section layouts, enemy encounters, and gameplay for several level sections
Collaborated with art, design, programming, and audio to create high quality enemies, encounters, and boss fights
Coordinated with quality assurance testers to ensure gameplay was enjoyable and bug-free

Key Takeaway

The perfect is the enemy of the good (enough).

This has honestly been an ongoing lesson throughout my career and will no doubt continue to be until I die, so it’s not surprising I started learning it as soon I entered the industry. It is very tempting to try to do something “the right way” the first time you come to it or to get it feeling “perfect” before moving on. This is a trap for a couple of reasons:

The game’s content will change dramatically throughout development. Technical issues, deadlines, and even "finding the fun” will cause cuts and pivots that will leave your perfect setup on the chopping room floor. This will inevitably happen, but the more time you pour into it, the more you’ve wasted when it’s cut.
A level that is mediocre will always be better than one that is unfinished. Time to iterate and polish your content is built into the development schedule. A playable level that is unpolished allows everyone else to keep moving forward while you polish the content. An unfinished level will block other departments from doing their work and puts the level at risk of being cut entirely.

Early in development, speed ends up being more important than quality or reliability. Obviously, you should put forth your best effort, but you need to timebox your efforts to make sure you deliver things on time to keep the project on track. Code doesn’t need to be optimized if it doesn’t affect the end user. Prototypes are made to be thrown away. Build it fast, evaluate the idea, then go back and build it right if/when it becomes part of the game.

Realistically, you cannot do your “best” work everywhere. You are eventually going to have to focus on one thing over another. Making sure you don’t do this in advance helps everyone see where the focus should be and avoids lost work that is bad for the project and often demoralizing for you.