Batman: Arkham Asylum

[SPTO]

Re: Batman: Arkham Asylum

Damn PS3 folks

Hopefully the X360 has a similarly interesting exclusive.

[Flawless]

Re: Batman: Arkham Asylum

New Blog: AI and Stealth

As Lead AI programmer on Batman: Arkham Asylum I have a range of responsibilities over the overall AI of game – that covers combat, stealth, the NPC’s and some input into the boss battles. I’ve been at Rocksteady since the very beginning when they formed from Argonaut, originally working on the AI for Urban Chaos before naturally moving onto Batman: Arkham Asylum.

I think the decision to focus so heavily on the stealth and detective elements of Batman’s character came initially from looking at how he’s been traditionally depicted in the comic books and even some of the more recent films. It’s not so much about beating people up all the time, and a lot of the very cool stuff comes from making enemies afraid using stealth tactics. From the very beginning we just looked at the stealth and detective mechanics and thought - “why has no one done this in a Batman game? That’s what it should be” and it seemed like an obvious fit for us.

We wanted our AI to feel different every time you played, and if we did different things then enemies would react accordingly and you wouldn’t be able to predict exactly what they would do. But the player would be able to control them on a higher level in terms of how scared they were. We really wanted our AI to be dynamic. I wouldn’t say that this was something that couldn’t have been done on previous generation technology, more that is was a specific design decision that seemingly no one had made before. That said, more power always helps, of course!

In terms of backdrop, Arkham Island provides such a good fit for really feeling like Batman when you’re manipulating these enemies and creating fear. If it was set in a bouncy castle for example, it certainly wouldn’t have the same atmosphere. There are so many varying areas and styles throughout the Asylum and it really feels like a genuinely scary place to be. If you were one of those thugs walking around with Batman about, you would definitely be afraid, and that’s something we’ve really tried to capture.

In all games you’ve got to design your levels around how your mechanics work and Batman: Arkham Asylum is no different. Fail to do this and you’re not going to make a very good game. I don’t think the environment styles have limited what we’ve been able to do with AI or vice versa. We’ve come up with some good combinations of rooms that look both impressive and realistic and that also work well from the point of view of the AI and how you as a player interact with that.

What we wanted to capture was the idea that you’re making your own set pieces as you play, and at moments where other games might use a quick time event to show something cool, we wanted to give the player the ability to plan and execute exciting scenes themselves. Because of this, it’s difficult for me to pinpoint and highlight specific moments and say this is a point that highlights how great our stealth gameplay is. But the player will definitely experience these moment when playing as Batman. Each of the different rooms that feature the “Invisible Predator” mechanic all give you different possibilities for setting up these set pieces, such as hanging upside down from gargoyles and grabbing people off their feet, or swooping in unknown from the shadows, and these can be strung together in an infinite number of ways, combined with all your gadgets to make great looking “wow” moments which showcase stealth and detective AI mechanics.

Obviously, within the game itself you can only do so much of this stealth-based gameplay and we couldn’t really have every room so heavily predator focused - they require so much thinking and planning from the player that you’d be too worn out by the end of it! What we wanted was for people to keep trying new things and seeing what was possible and what we had to offer. This is where our challenge modes come in to play and are set up with various challenges to really showcase the many different combinations of things possible whilst encouraging replayability.

We’re all such perfectionists here at Rocksteady and are aware there is always more we can do. We just want the game to be the best it can possibly be. We’re all still working very hard and look forward to seeing the reactions of the fans come release.

[goh]

Re: Batman: Arkham Asylum

Hope the 360 version gets playable Harley. I liked her trailer best so far.

[Fresh Tendrils]

Re: Batman: Arkham Asylum

I want to play as Mr. J.

[Moses Shuttlesworth]

Re: Batman: Arkham Asylum

I love my PS3 for many reasons, and this is just one more.

[ExtremeGamer]

Re: Batman: Arkham Asylum

That's a cool exclusive. The game mode is kinda blah, not sure how it would work with The Joker, but it's cool.

That game mode is what the Best Buy demo has on it. You're Batman, start off in a room fighting like 5 unarmed guys, every level it goes up and then they get weapons and what not.

Not sure who you would fight as the Joker.

[Misfit]

Re: Batman: Arkham Asylum

That's a cool exclusive. The game mode is kinda blah, not sure how it would work with The Joker, but it's cool.

That game mode is what the Best Buy demo has on it. You're Batman, start off in a room fighting like 5 unarmed guys, every level it goes up and then they get weapons and what not.

Not sure who you would fight as the Joker.

The Best Buy demo is just one example of a challenge though. We know of at least one other one where its stealth oriented. I imagine another will be the obligatory boss battle gauntlet mode or fight two boss characters at the same time or something similar.

[Flawless]

Re: Batman: Arkham Asylum

Official Site is up.

http://batmanarkhamasylum.com/start

...

http://twitter.com/XboxWorld360/statuses/1602232312

You've heard The Joker is playable in Arkham Asylum on PS3, right? Those stages are DLC on 360. It's our May covergame; look forward to it.

[Fresh Tendrils]

Re: Batman: Arkham Asylum

Official Site is up.

http://batmanarkhamasylum.com/start

...

http://twitter.com/XboxWorld360/statuses/1602232312

Sweet.

[Complex]

Re: Batman: Arkham Asylum

Where can I get the demo? DO I have to purchase anything?

[Misfit]

Re: Batman: Arkham Asylum

There isn't a demo at the moment, Best Buy just has it running on PS3 machines in store.

[Flawless]

Re: Batman: Arkham Asylum

Batman: Arkham Asylum FreeFlow Blowout

What is FreeFlow Combat? Well, we know it'll let you engage tons of enemies at once, but rather than us stumble through trying to describe it, we've got the video below and an interview with Game Director Sefton Hill.

<embed src='http://videomedia.ign.com/ev/ev.swf' flashvars='object_ID=14273491&downloadURL=http://xbox360movies.ign.com/xbox360/video/article/977/977703/batman_trl_combat_042909_flvlowwide.flv&allownetwo rking="all%"' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' width='433' height='360'></embed><div style='width:433;'><a href='http://xbox360.ign.com/objects/142/14273491.html'>More Batman: Arkham Asylum News & Previews</a></div>

[thaima1shu]

Re: Batman: Arkham Asylum

That looked FANTASTIC.

[23]

Re: Batman: Arkham Asylum

Unless that's Bain, I dont understand why all of these games have to have huge monsters in them. That's not fun to me

[Fresh Tendrils]

Re: Batman: Arkham Asylum

Wow, that looked amazing - I loved how the caped moved during all of that.