After playing through Batman: Arkham Asylum and its sequel, Batman: Arkham City, you’re probably wondering how it got to be so awesome, right? Rocksteady only had one other game under their belt prior to Arkham Asylum, so the games being this great is definitely a surprise. Speaking at DICE, Rocksteady’s Sefton Hill explained the London studio’s methods for success:

Make the game instantly fun and accessible. Hill said that the free-flow combat of Arkham was meant to instantly convey the feeling of being Batman:

“We believe it’s our job to entertain.”

•   Deep core mechanics, with a constant, incremental challenge to maintain engagement.

“We developed combat by introducing new enemy types … it keeps giving you more, it keeps challenging you.”

•   Complementary Orthogonal Design. Boiled down, it’s that systems like navigation, combat and story “all have their own distinct and strong uses.” He encouraged designing complementary design elements that don’t step on each other.
•   Authenticity. “The restraints of the character define the character.”

Hill said certain elements may seem like a pain the ass, but that one must embrace those constraints. The fact that Batman can’t kill anyone was something the team had to maintain at all times. “It stops us from falling back on a lot of game cliches.” Takeway: Celebrate and explore the limitations of characters and what makes them unique.

It looks like these methods have helped gain Rocksteady success and fame, don’t you think so? Maybe they’ll try it out on another comic book franchise and put the same amount of care into it.

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