![]() As players progress, the music they make will surprise even themselves. Playing a great, well-balanced, fine-tuned game is almost like learning a musical instrument in fast forward. What's really rewarding is seeing the change in players by the end of the game. We spend months planning out the distribution of the new abilities throughout the game to ensure that players are not overwhelmed at the start, and from this point forward is getting a constantly evolving experience perfectly balanced with their learning curve. The new abilities, upgrades and most importantly, the player's mastery of the character, give this progression, resulting in an experience at the end of the game which is almost unrecognisable from that at the start. To keep players engaged for this length of time, not only do the characters and the story need to progress, but the core mechanics of the game they are playing need to change and adapt as well. It takes over 25 hours to complete the main stories in Batman: Arkham City. How important is the acquisition of new skills and items, in terms of retaining player interest? Do you work hard on ensuring these aspects are spaced correctly throughout the game? It requires a lot of planning to make sure that every single hour is consistent with each other, is feeding and driving towards a compelling crescendo, while remaining implicitly self-explanatory so players can pick up and play at any time and know what they are doing. You have, say, 15 hourly episodes to fill, each requiring its own narrative arc but each plugging into an overarching storyline. In terms of narrative structure, I think games are much more analogous to an episodic TV series than a film. There's no other medium that can offer this kind of flexible experience where the viewer gets to tailor the experience they want themselves. It's completely down to the player when and how they want to tackle this – there's no right or wrong time. We have around 15 hours of story that's off the main path. The Side Missions in Batman: Arkham City are a good example. There are things we can do in videogames that simply can't be done in any other medium. Because we have an instant feedback loop, we can tailor the experience to exactly what the player is doing. What's exciting about game development at this time is that that developers are still experimenting with many different ways to keep players engaged. ![]() Do narrative-based games have anything similar? But in terms of structure, Hollywood famously has its three-act system – it's easy to spot, but it works. We have a team full of incredibly talented staff and great ideas come from everyone. If there's one thing we always strive to do though, it's to keep the design process as inclusive as possible. Some of these processes involve repeated iterations and reviews by a large group over a number of days and some require monthly reviews by just a couple of people over the entire duration of the project. We have a totally different approach when we design levels, to story, to bosses and to core gameplay mechanics. Depending on what area of the game we're designing, different people will be involved and different processes will be used. At Rocksteady, we believe the solution is to be flexible. There are many different trends, but personally I believe there is no magic bullet design theory that fits all situations. Are there any theories of design that your studio subscribes to? ![]() We don't try and second guess what other people want we make the game we want to play. I believe the only way to make something that people will feel passionate about is if you feel inspired by the ideas yourself. In terms of what the content is, it's simply about what excites us. At Rocksteady, working on Batman: Arkham City, we started with two key driving forces: everything we do is built around creating a fun experience and this experience must be completely authentic to Batman and his universe. No longer is it sufficient to excel in any one of these areas if you want to stand out. You need an engaging storyline created around compelling characters in a beautifully realised world, all built on the bedrock of original and fun core gameplay mechanics. Wow! Let's start with an easy question! I think creating a successful modern action adventure game requires a delicate balance between many critical components with each of these complementing and enhancing each other. What do you think are the fundaments of designing a modern action adventure title? What are your design starting blocks?
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