As part of an exercise to gain exposure in narrative prototyping and creating branching narratives, I undertook the task of writing my own Batman storyline. In particular, I wrote my own conclusion to the Telltale Batman saga titled, The Enemy Within. I chose Batman because Batman is a superhero that I grew up with and still have a great appreciation for, and I think that the Batman mythos is one that is narratively rich, with a wide array of deep characters and fascinating villains. I felt confident that I could pull on my extensive knowledge of the comics and combine it with my own perspective on Batman to make something interesting.
Since this prototype was meant to play like a Telltale game, the first design question that I tackled was, “What types of decisions can I offer players that are both narratively engaging and mechanically interesting. In other words, I wanted to offer players decisions that were both challenging to make and that would impact the greater story in some way. In some cases that meant creating a branch in the story, and in others it meant smaller but still significant shifts in the story.
To come up with an idea, I brainstormed tough questions that Batman wrestles with in the larger mythos, and after coming up with a list, I thought about which ones could be adapted to the decision-style gameplay of the Telltale games. In the end, there was one moral question that I felt really lay at the center of the Batman mythos, and that is the moral question of whether or not it is okay to kill for the greater good. While the question is quite prolific, it ultimately comes down to a binary–kill or don’t kill, and those two simple choices seemed narratively impactful while avoiding the problem of too many choices or branches.
What I eventually came up with is a story surrounding Batman and the Joker, where Joker takes over part of Arkham Asylum traps some of Batman’s friends inside. Joker turns the Asylum into a sort of “moral funhouse,” where Batman must enter the funhouse, play Joker’s games in which Batman is asked to answer tough moral questions, and then face the Joker and make the ultimate defining choice in determining who Batman is as a superhero.
Currently, I am in the playtesting and iteration stage, where I am seeing what choices in the story are working and which aren’t, as well as how well the larger story is working. The hardest challenge thus far has been creating meaningful choices for players, particularly at the beginning of the story. It sort of feels like there is an obvious thing that Batman would do in a lot of the scenarios, so creating multiple choices that feel like true Batman choices has been challenging. My plan is to get feedback from playtesters about whether or not the decisions listed feel authentic or not, and then to iterate accordingly.
So far, though, the project has been a ton of fun, and its been incredibly rewarding writing a story for the Batman mythos!
Justin's Game Design Blog 