The Art of Rocksteady’s Batman
This is an impressive, detailed tome that shines the Bat Signal over the work of this creative London-based developer
Author Daniel Wallace eveloping a game for an intellectual property like DC’s Batman is a blessing and a curse. You’re blessed with characters and lore that your audience are already familiar with, there’s a wealth of costumes and gadgets to choose from, and every nook ’n’ cranny of their world has been previously detailed.
Too much choice can be a curse, though – or at least a huge challenge. How do you decide which direction to pursue in order to appeal to both
dPublisher Abrams Books
Price £25
Web www.abramsbooks.com
Available Now gamers, comic-book and movie fans alike, while injecting your own ingredients into the toxic vat? Rocksteady’s answer was to give its concept art team free rein to explore Gotham’s dark avenues, to reveal their unique Arkhamverse.
Over the course of 320 pages we discover an array of weapon and vehicle concepts, and an abundance of character development: highlights include ImagineFX regular Kan Muftic having fun painting Gotham’s protector. You often hear about settings within narratives becoming characters in their own right. This is evident in the openworld games of the Arkham series, so it only seems fitting that there’s a definite leaning towards environment art gracing these pages.