What do you all think about the Batman: Arkham City News

[Brent]

http://xbox360.gamespy.com/xbox-360/...1118292p1.html

The fact that the game is done (wow can't believe how fast they got it done, Valve could learn a few things from them lol) but are still taking a year to "polish" it.

Personally, I think this is pretty neat. On the one hand I can see how gamers will say: "but I want it now! It is done so release it!" But on the other, I can appreciate that a game dev is taking the time to polish it, which will hopefully mean less bugs and a very stable game plus who knows what graphics or physical improvements to the game in a years time, maybe they'll get some new fancy shader in there to wow us during this time, or maybe some new feature that will just really enhance the gameplay. Batman: Arkham Asylum was a very good game, the gameplay was great, the graphics were great and that game is still fun even today, if they spend this much time polishing Arkham City I see a very long lifetime for that game, but I do wonder if not having it out for an entire year will kill any buzz about it.

Thoughts?

[RoJoHen]

But I want it now!

Seriously, I appreciate them taking their time to perfect it, but I do have to wonder if a whole extra year is necessary.

[PsychoPere]

Damn, they really must be serious about trying to top Arkham Asylum. Sounds good to me. I'll buy it Day One regardless of when it's released.

[Jax]

With it being done already apart from polishing as they claim, makes me wonder how long is the game?

[RoJoHen]

How long do video games even take to make? I mean, they probably have a lot less work to do with the sequel than the original game because much of the controls and designs and stuff can probably just be carried over.

[darthraidr]

good to see them taking time for polish.

games development times vary. i've been on projects where we've had about a year to get it done. most of the time, at that studio, it was about 18 months. i know some guys that have worked on a game for years before having it released (but those games are the exception in the industry).

i'd probably say the average is between 18-24 months.

[Brent]

Jax wrote:

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With it being done already apart from polishing as they claim, makes me wonder how long is the game?

from the article

What makes that bit of information particularly impressive is the fact the devs state that Arkham City is roughly "four or five-times bigger" than Arkham Asylum.

So four or five times bigger, but don't know how much longer

darthraidr wrote:

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good to see them taking time for polish.

games development times vary. i've been on projects where we've had about a year to get it done. most of the time, at that studio, it was about 18 months. i know some guys that have worked on a game for years before having it released (but those games are the exception in the industry).

i'd probably say the average is between 18-24 months.

In Valve terms YEARS or decades lol

Yeah, just depends on the project and the size of the team, a couple years is standard for the big games, others take less if they are sequels, but yeah, Valve, man, still waiting on Episode 3, heh

[Lonemagpie]

Sounds fine to me- they know it works to AA quality and they've got a year to uprate it.

Nice to see the words "September 2011", brought forward from November, so it won't be *such* a crowded month...

[Jax]

RoJoHen wrote:

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How long do video games even take to make? I

Sequels normally have a 2 year gap from the last release and an original game 2-3 years depending if your making your own engine or modifying a current one. I know they say its several times bigger but the way they worded it sounding like they mean the map size, I want to know actual story length.

Still a september release is great news and this will be a Day One buy for me most likely.

[Arrqh]

I think it's an odd thing to say... the game isn't "done" until it reaches whatever quality bar they've set internally. So saying "it's done but we want to polish it for a year" just sounds like marketing speak to put a positive spin on waiting another year for a release.

Certainly just because a game is fully playable doesn't mean it's in a releasable state.

[Reverend]

^It really depends on your definition of "done." One can only presume that in this particular case it means everything (level design, animation, dialogue, gameplay mechanics etc.) is "in place" and in a playable Beta state.

It might be worth keeping in mind that the sequel must have been in at least the planning stages before the first game was even out last year. For those who don't know there's a secret room the the warden's office that has a blueprint of the proposed 'Arkham City' project.

Given the quality of the game I think they would have been very confident that had a guaranteed hit on their hands and immediately made a start on the sequel. Just seeing how soon that original teaser came out should tell you how fast they were moving on it. So when you think about it it's not so surprising that they managed to develop it so fast.