There are all graduates - as our Game Director Geoff Ellenor put it - of the “Batman school of crimefighting,” but throughout their stories, they experienced their greatest growth when forced to step out of the shadow of their famous mentor. Nightwing, Batgirl, Red Hood, and Robin were largely defined by their proximity to and working relationship with the Dark Knight himself. We could give them heroes they could become invested in. We knew that if we could cast the right combination of heroes, we’d deliver tantalizing asymmetry and unique gameplay opportunities for players with a broad range of playstyles. We were excited about bringing to life a roster of playable heroes in a way that celebrated their potential both as future versions of themselves, but also as teammates. We talked about how the heroes were different from each other, and how they could become more different. Someone would occasionally jot down a signature move and draw a line to one of the heroes, offering an early glimpse into how a particular character might flavor combat, stealth or movement. Players enjoy taking on a challenging encounter, but for some that enjoyment deepens as communication and coordinated action between teammates opens up new choices. Players love narrative, but some players love narrative even more when they can experience it with their friends by their side. And for a number of us, this echoed experiences on other games where co-op play and social connection became a driving force. On the second point, we could see time and again how the superhero fantasy was amplified when two (or more) heroes joined forces to finally bring down the arch-villain. To set goals for themselves and discover new ways to reach those goals. They want to start as awesome, aspirational heroes, but they also want to know they can get better.
Reinvention and growth are staples of the genre, but also a natural reflection of how players engage with games. Barbara Gordon had started her Batgirl career as the rebellious teen daughter of Commissioner Jim Gordon, then adapted to a life-altering injury by developing a new approach to crimefighting as Oracle. Dick Grayson’s version of Robin had parted company with Batman at college age and gone on to lead the Titans and eventually adopt a completely new (non-sidekick) identity as Nightwing.
On the first topic, we could draw on some eight decades of DC comics publication history to see just how comic characters grow. Over several sessions, the group of veteran developers from game design, narrative, animation, art, and other disciplines began finding their focus in two main aspects of that fantasy: The evolution from street-level crimefighter to legendary superhero, and the superhero team-up.
Games Montréal had spent weeks talking about the superhero fantasy - the kind that tends to dominate in DC’s Batman Universe - and what aspects of that we could bring to life for the first time. The conversation in the meeting room had shifted to a handful of names written on a whiteboard, some underlined for emphasis.Īs part of our exploration around a different kind of game set in Gotham City, our team at Warner Bros.
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