Game development often lasts for years. And in that stretch of time, studios have their fair share of ups and downs. From humorous game bugs to stress-relieving antics, Game Informer peers behind the curtain of game development. In our first Tidbits column, Rocksteady Studios shares the stories behind the development of Batman: Arkham Asylum.

  • For some of the motion-capture scenes of Harley Quinn, we actually use one of the male producers!
  • Some of the SFX for the air-con vents are recordings of the audio director's fridge at home.
  • Three cans of whipped cream are used to create the sound effects of spraying the explosive gel.
  • When you first enter the penitentiary and are confronted with the wall of sound from the room full of lunatics, this is a recording of the entire development team!
  • Titan Ivy consists of 44,674 polygons.
  • Six Rocksteady babies were born during the development of Batman: Arkham Asylum.
  • The Rocksteady hacky-sack team managed 72 keepie ups between them. (Is this a world record?)
  • The Rocksteady team consists of 14 different nationalities.
  • The word ‘Joker’ is said 384 times in the game.
  • Nine members of the team support Arsenal Football Club, the most supported sports team in the company.
  • There are 4,556 AI navigation nodes on Arkham Island.
  • Combat went through three distinct revisions – the first one being a full rhythm action game! The second one was prototyped in 2D, which popped up whenever you got into a fight, and involved colored circles bashing into each other. This actually formed the basis of the final system.
  • We experimented with hundreds of control systems, right up until first submission.
  • The pictures you can find scattered around the floor of the asylum are of different members of the development team mostly from various team jollies!
  • The top of the Arkham Mansion Clock tower is 145 meters above sea level.
  • The main Intensive treatment lobby map was checked into perforce 883 times.
  • There are 314 breakable TVs on Arkham Island.
  • Over 14,000 post it notes were used on the schedule board by the production team to manage the scheduling of the game.
  • There were 174,405 separate art, code, design, audio and animation check-ins to make Batman: Arkham Asylum.

For other Tidbits entries, click the desired game name: Red Faction: Guerrilla, Scribblenauts