VGTimes Interview with Meghan Morgan Juinio, Former Santa Monica Studio Director of Product Development (God of War & Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions)

At gamescom asia x Thailand Game Show 2025, VGTimes Editor-in-Chief Rodion Ilin had the opportunity to speak with Meghan Morgan Juinio, who formerly was part of teams that brought to life games like God of War (2018) and Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions. In addition to questions from the editors, we asked her about what interests our readers.

VGTimes: What mechanics and game design elements do you think make gameplay engaging?

Meghan Morgan Juinio: I'm definitely not a game design expert, but I work closely with developers, so I'll try to answer. As I understand it, appealing gameplay is made up of mechanics and design elements that are easy to achieve at a basic level, but extremely difficult to master. Initially players need to feel like they’ve figured out how to proceed and then you layer mechanics on top of each other, making things more difficult and complex, challenging them. Players may feel they can’t proceed, but if you’ve delivered something fun and engaging, hopefully they will be hooked — ready to learn, try again and die again and again — to keep playing because they are interested and want to move forward.

VGTimes: This way, the player doesn't stop or get stuck.

Meghan Morgan Junio: Developers should leave hints where the player might get stuck. Or give the choice whether to show them or not. If so, the player should be gently nudged toward the right decisions. But, at the same time, they should feel successful. Of course, achieving this effect isn't easy. It's important to connect with the player.

VGTimes: How was the God of War storyline translated from the universe of ancient Greek legends to a new setting?

Meghan Morgan Junio: I joined the God of War development team early in the game's development in 2015. At that point, an early prototype was ready. But it was noticeably different from what we'd seen in the series before. Moving away from Greek mythology was a risky move. Many on the team were nervous, wondering whether players would accept such changes. I remember a heated online discussion after the official announcement at E3 2016. Some fans didn't want the new God of War to be set in Norse Mythology. The hashtag #notmykratos even appeared.

VGTimes: You've probably heard the story about Assassin's Creed Shadows, where the Japanese didn't like certain aspects of the game's plot and character designs. How do the developers deal with this? Is it possible to predict before the official announcement that your decisions won't be accepted by certain cultures?

Meghan Morgan Junio: Glen Schofield outlined nine steps for working with interesting ideas in yesterday's lecture. I want to highlight two points that Glen mentioned that also were used in God of War and other games I've worked on. If you're setting the action in a country that's not your native land, you need to actually visit it yourself. Or at least visit a region that's similar. That way, you can see the building designs, see what the trees and the sky look like in winter. Seeing all of this in-person is really important. It's also a good idea to bring in cultural experts. We constantly invite them to collaborate to ensure we're accurately conveying the specific mythology, history, language, and more. They can really help the developers.The main thing is to strive to make the game as authentic as possible, especially when you're working with a culture that's foreign to you.

VGTimes: How deeply did you research the Spider-Man multiverse during the development of Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions?

Meghan Morgan Junio: Really deeply! Let me remind you that the game came out before the movie (referring to the animated film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, which was released eight years after the game's release — VGTimes). We had a Marvel Comics expert on our team who is well-versed in the various universes of the comics. But the developers at Beenox were also fascinated by the various universes in the Spider-Man franchise.. For example, at the time, Spider-Man Noir remained little known to the general public. It was a similar situation with Spider-Man 2099. While comic book fans knew about it, most gamers weren't familiar with it. Marvel was impressed with our idea and allowed us to bring in comic book writer Dan Slott (he worked on the Spider-Verse graphic novels — VGTimes) to work on Shattered Dimensions.

VGTimes: Which Spider-Man from the movies and comics is your favorite?

Meghan Morgan Junio: My favorite is Amazing Spider-Man from the comics. But overall, I like all versions of the character.

VGTimes: Have you seen all the Spider-Man movies?

Meghan Morgan Junio: I might have missed some of the recent animated films. But I've definitely seen most of the films.

VGTimes: Thanks for the interview! It was interesting.

Meghan Morgan Junio: Thank you!

Interview conducted by Rodion Ilin.

VGTimes has been operating since 2011 and during this time has attended dozens of exhibitions and festivals where our journalists gathered numerous exclusive materials. For example, at the year 2025 we saw with our own eyes one of Asia's major gaming exhibitions — ChinaJoy in Shanghai.