‘Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales’: Discover the New T.R.A.C.K. Suit

Next time we see him in Marvel’s New York, Miles Morales is going to have a brand new look. The upcoming follow-up to blockbuster hit Marvel’s Spider-Man, Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, introduces players to a brand new Spidey suit, the Time Response Activated Circuit Kinetic Suit — or T.R.A.C.K. Suit, for short, which is completely unique to the game, and uniquely Miles in so many ways.

“The thing that was important to us from the beginning was to make sure that each design captured a bit of his style, flair, and personality,” Tim Tsang, Creative Director for Marvel Games, explained. “The challenge then becomes ensuring that each costume feels fresh and unique, but more importantly, instantly Miles Morales. We always made sure to ask ourselves, how are we designing for Miles, and not just another Spider-Man suit? This was definitely a challenging but extremely rewarding experience working through these as we had the opportunity to partner with our friends at Insomniac games to bring some never-seen-before Miles Morales suits to life.”

You’ll have to wait until November 12 to see the actual T.R.A.CK Suit in action in Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales. But, if you want to know more about the new design right now, Marvel.com talked to Gavin Goulden, Art Director for Insomniac Games, and Marvel artist Javier Garrón who not only brings Miles to life on the page but also helped design the suit in-game.

Marvel.com: Where did you draw inspiration for the T.R.A.C.K. Suit?

Javier Garrón: You have all the classic elements from the Spider-Man lore: the webs, the pointy-shaped big eyes, the spider logo. I wanted to have a new take on the mythos, design-wise, but always trying to keep it coherent and part of the larger picture.

There are those elements that make Miles unique as a Spider-person. Black and red colors. The sport accessories and vibe in some iterations of the suit. I tried to be as aware as possible of how design in games is now in. Try to make it current and vibrant. Unique but definitely Spidey.

Marvel.com: Were you given direction for specific elements and features that needed to be included on the suit, and then allowed to modify it during the creative process?

Gavin Goulden: When we start designing any unique suit, we typically work broadly at first to land on a basic idea of what the suit brings to the game – what makes this suit different from everything else, what makes it unique and interesting. Then we gather a lot of sketches in a rough form to figure out silhouette and color blocking, to find what will work best for the game.  Typically, we work closely together from the beginning and answer big questions upfront before narrowing down on details and bringing a single design to finish, which helps reduce the need for modifications late on.

Javier Garrón: I was given information about the costumes that were already in the game for the character so I could avoid repeating elements, and present something really different. After presenting the first approach to the suit, we started tweaking and tinkering with it. Discarding those elements that didn't add to the whole and playing around with those that truly spoke to the character. A costume tells you who the character is without a word. Colors, shapes and details must speak to the personality of the hero.

Marvel.com: When it comes to the design of the new suit, what classic Spider-Man and Miles Morales elements did you want to keep?

Javier Garrón: I would definitely start with the Spidey eyes. That's something you always want to keep. Those big, white, bug-shaped, pointy eyes. Kind of the trademark alongside the chest spider symbol. The webbing is also essential. Whether in the classic Peter Parker suit, in the original Miles Morales costume, where its use is more reduced, or even in the iconic Spider-Gwen one, where the webs are practically minimal.

Of course, the spider symbol too! Bigger or smaller, it has to be somewhere. I played with the placement several times and I even had some iterations of the suit where it was smaller and placed on the side. Overall, I wanted to keep it as slick in action as the great Spider-Man costumes, with dynamic lines and colors that talked about the youth and power of the character.

Gavin Goulden:  We want this to instantly read as Miles Morales rather than other heroes who have put on the suit. The color scheme of red and black are key; the black mask with red webs, and the red chevron.  We took these elements and created a unique version of the design, staying true to the classic, but giving a new look that implies speed, athleticism, and youthfulness.

Marvel.com: Can you speak to the webbing that we see on his mask and neck for the T.R.A.C.K Suit?

Javier Garrón: As I played with the spider logo on Miles' chest, I realized it could be interesting to make it one element with the one of the back, connecting their lines through the trapezius muscle. I was always keeping the webbing in Miles head and shoulder but as I started joining the symbols it kind of started creating zones in the costume, little frontiers. And that zonification is the perfect composition set of lines to make shifts in color and texture. I definitely wanted to keep the black color and as I finally did bleed it to the hands. But trying to make the whole thing more straightforward too, since I tend to complicate things too much and I need to edit myself down constantly, I found it interesting to reduce the webbed area.

Conceptually this way Miles' head and the Spider head in the chest symbol are connected by webs, and the rest of the body is connected and commanded by lines coming from this nexus. The costume is telling you something even though it is not in your face or underlined. Just an idea telling you something about the character visually. It doesn't get in your way when playing the game but adds up in the whole experience.

Gavin Goulden: When designing the webbing for the T.R.A.C.K. Suit, we wanted to have it feel similar to the iconic suit, but with its own unique twist.  By isolating it to stay within the legs of the spider emblem, this allows us to have a natural section for the details.  We also wanted this section to still feel sleek, so there isn’t much depth change to the webs itself, keeping the suit mostly form-fitting and giving the powerful red spider to stand out that much more.

Marvel.com: How does Miles’ character (and new suit) align with what we see in the comics?

Javier Garrón: In my humble opinion they align perfectly. Miles is a strong, powerful, perfectly constructed character.

The Miles Morales from the comics and the Miles Morales from the animated movie have very different details in their stories. But their core is the same, the spirit of the character, and thus they align perfectly. And I think that's the same case here. Details may differ but this the Miles that we all love and care for is the same.

Marvel.com: What is one Spider-Man feature you knew you wanted fans to see in the game?

Javier Garrón: Well, I'm really proud of the whole thing! I love the detail in hands, more like a [workout] kind of workout glove. And the feet, a more agile and ninja-like type of approach. Also the sidelines and the way they work as individual elements but also coming from the great design I think works well. They all come from the main Spider and branch out from there. You see, I can start listing things here and there but, in the end, I really like what we finally brought to the game.

Gavin Goulden:  Bringing a large read of white to the red and black theme gives an instantly recognizable, unique look to the game.  Larger details like our unique emblems that expand through the entire suit, to smaller details like unique shoes, lenses, and gloves give a lot of information to appreciate while swinging through the city.

Marvel.com: What are you most excited to see in the game, and for Miles?

Javier Garrón:  Definitely see it in motion! I'm really excited and looking forward to seeing the design come to life in-game and how the creative team took the design sheet and all the little details and transferred that vision through their own creative lens. One of the most beautiful things in a collaborative process is to enjoy the feedback and all the different inputs and point of views, how they all finally converge in creating the final thing.

Gavin Goulden: I am most excited to see the fans reaction of a completely unique suit developed by Insomniac Games, Marvel, and Miles comic artist Javier Garrón.  It is a very unique collaboration where we get to work with an artist that is very familiar with the character, and I think we are all very excited by the opportunity to take this collective knowledge and build a completely new version of Miles Morales that is unique to our game.

Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales Ultimate Edition will launch both physically and digitally on the PlayStation Store for $69.99 on launch day, November 12, 2020.

For more information about Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales and Marvel's Spider-Man: Remastered, along with additional details and gameplay design, head over to the PlayStation blog!

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