 |
While the last two Batman films have done well both critically and commercially, most of the previous games for the franchise haven't had as much luck, to put it nicely.
And even though this summer's "The Dark Knight" was one of the biggest movies in history, there hadn't even been a Batman game released this year until this week.
With "Lego Batman: The Videogame" is in stores this week, I spoke with the game's lead designer, Jonathan Smith, on Monday about his thoughts on transforming the iconic superhero into block form and how the caped crusader's sorry video game legacy and amazing movie did -- or didn't -- shape his team's game.
(And, no, Smith can't talk to us about why there's no "Dark Knight" game, rumored or otherwise. What "Dark Knight" game?)
"We knew exactly how we wanted [the game] to feel when being in control of Lego Batman and Lego Robin."
MTV Multiplayer: What lessons did you learn from the some of the not-so-good Batman games?
Smith:I don't think we learned any lessons from other Batman games. Honestly, I'm trying to think if we did, but we really looked at the opportunity to work on "Lego Batman" as just completely in its own terms. How can the world of Lego and Batman come to life in the fun way that we believed it could? We totally looked at the options on its own terms and built it accordingly. We actually hadn't looked at the other games in one way or the other. ...
The world of Lego and Gotham City just seemed so shining and clear to us right from the start. We knew exactly what we wanted to do in that world. We knew exactly how we wanted [the game] to feel when being in control of Lego Batman and Lego Robin. We knew what we wanted the villains to look like and how we wanted them to behave. And so the game grew out of our knowledge and experience and our fan interest in the DC universe, and the experiences we've had in the past making Lego games.
MTV Multiplayer: Had you played any of the other Batman games before?
Smith: Not recently to be honest. I played a couple of games a few years ago with some of my sons when we were still just Batman fans. But no, we certainly haven't brought anything into the office or put them side by side with what we've been doing. Is that surprising? Would you think we would? We don't have time. We're too busy working to play games! [laughs]
MTV Multiplayer: Why do an original story instead of basing the game it on the movies, like the other Lego titles you've done?
"There is not one best-ever Batman story."
Smith: We didn't want to be restricted to any one interpretation of Batman. Over the years, Batman's had lots of different interpretations. Lego Batman is based on the core of Batman, and in particular, the comics. So over the decades there have been so many different Batman stories, that it wouldn't have made sense for us to pick one in preference to the other. There is not one best-ever Batman story. There are lots and lots of really good ones. The villains are all, in our minds, almost equally important. Some of them have more prominence than others butwe know we want to make each of those characters shine and give them life in the game. So we wanted to go back to the essence and sort of distill a lot of the great work that people have done in lots of different comics over the decades and tie it in to "Lego Batman."
MTV Multiplayer: Was it ever considered at all to make the game based on any or all of the Batman movies?
Smith: No, not at all. The [Lego Batman toyline] the Lego company makes was already well established. They charted a course that we merely followed.
MTV Multiplayer: But do you think a Lego game based on any of the existing Batman movies would've worked?
"Love the characters, love the universe and have fun."
Smith: Um... I think they would've worked. I think Lego can turn into anything, to be honest. Yeah, like I said, I haven't considered it before, so I can't imagine what a Lego movie game would've been like, but it would've been quite different -- both visually, I think in terms of some other elements in it, to what we ended up doing. I feel we had the broadest possible canvas, which is what we always strive for looking from a Lego game point-of-view. We always want to try to get in as much as possible, really fill the game and really not feel that we can't turn our head to look in any direction. And with "Lego Batman," we were able to look anywhere and bring anyone we liked in or to go all over Gotham and that was brilliant.
[Note: I asked Smith if he had heard about the allegedly canceled "Dark Knight" movie game and if he thought that the lack of a Batman game tied to the movie was a missed opportunity. A publicist on the call interjected, saying that there was no Dark Knight game ever announced and that Smith could only speak for TT Games and not Warner Bros.]
MTV Multiplayer: What advice do you have for other Batman game makers?
Smith:Love the characters, love the universe and have fun. That's very simple. Those are definitely the three pieces we took, and we feel it worked out pretty well for us.
Related Posts:
TT Games' Must-Do List For 'Lego Batman: The Videogame' Players
Exclusive 'Lego Batman' Character Trailer And Screenshots
Giant Lego Batman Sculptures, Cakes Spotted At Launch Party
One-liner: 'Lego Batman' Developer Will Never Make 'Lego Halo'