Spider-Man comics writer Dan Slott, who helped with the narrative in Insomniac Games‘ take on Marvel’s Spider-Man, has revealed that the studio originally didn’t want to include Aunt May in the game because older, “wrinkly” characters are difficult to animate properly.
Speaking to GamesRadar, Slott said that Insomniac Games’ contention was that the developers wouldn’t be able to make someone as old as Aunt May look good and realistic. The studio wanted her presence to be limited in voice form, but Slott insisted upon her inclusion as a non-playable character.
They wanted Aunt May to just be a voice on the answering machine or over the phone. In a very early version, they didn’t want Aunt May to even be an NPC. They were telling me the reality of it; according to them, old characters – wrinkly characters – to make them look good and realistic, it takes a big amount of work. Equal to what they could use to create five other characters.
With Slott being “adamant,” Aunt May ended up in the hit game, especially when he said to Insomniac Games “‘Look, Marisa Tomei [Aunt May actress in the movies] isn’t that old. Aunt May doesn’t have to be super wrinkly; she can be less wrinkly.'”
Despite this little bit of disagreement, Slott went on to praise Insomniac Games. He told GamesRadar that it was an “early bone of contention” between the two parties, but the studio was “fantastic” to work with, and he’s “very happy they ended up using her.”
[Source: GamesRadar]
