Spider-Weaver

Growing up in inner-city Los Angeles, I spent a great deal of time around an older Navajo gentleman who frequently shared stories about his life, his people, and the traditions that shaped him. One lesson stayed with me: Stories are woven. They carry identity, responsibility, and connection across generations. That philosophy became the foundation for Spider-Weaver.

Rather than creating a character whose powers happened to reference weaving, I wanted to create someone whose worldview, motivations, abilities, and visual identity all emerged from the same cultural foundation.

My Contributions

Character Creation

I originated the character concept and developed the initial narrative vision. To communicate the concept internally, I created a pitch deck that included:

• Character backstory

• Narrative themes

• Visual references

• Cultural inspiration

• Gameplay opportunities

• Event integration possibilities

After internal approval, I owned the creation of the pitch deck presented to Marvel.

Authenticity Through Collaboration

One of my primary goals was to make sure that Spider-Weaver felt authentic rather than superficial. To achieve this, I worked closely with:

• Art

• Combat Design

• Product

• External cultural consultant

Together, we evaluated every aspect of the character through both narrative and gameplay lenses. Questions we explored included:

• How would this character move?

• What would her powers look like?

• How would her culture influence her decisions?

• How could her visual design communicate her identity?

• How could gameplay reinforce her narrative role?

Narrative Design Through Gameplay

One of our most interesting challenges was to translate these narrative ideas into gameplay systems. Spider-Weaver lives in the deserts of the American Southwest. Traditional Spider-Man-style web-slinging didn’t feel appropriate for that environment. Instead, we explored movement and combat inspirations rooted in desert-dwelling spiders. This approach helped create a character whose gameplay identity felt distinct from existing Spider-Verse heroes while remaining grounded in her story.

Similarly, her powers were designed around her connection to the Web of Life and Destiny. Rather than functioning as a purely offensive character, her abilities focused on protecting and guiding Spider-People throughout the multiverse, reinforcing her role as a guardian and caretaker.

My goal throughout development was to ensure that gameplay, narrative, visual design, and character identity all supported one another.

Event Ownership

Following successful narrative contributions on previous content, I was given ownership of Spider-Weaver’s launch event. This included:

• Story outline creation

• Dialogue writing

• Mission narrative design

• UI text creation

• Enemy encounter creation

• Character storytelling implementation

• Collaboration with Art, Localization, and Quality Assurance

• Content release support

Narrative Goals

This event needed to:

• Introduce players to a brand new Marvel hero

• Establish her place within the Spider-Verse

• Support Spider-Man’s 60th Anniversary celebration

• Remain authentic to existing Marvel character voices

• Encourage player investment in the character’s future story