Design and Rendering Strategies for Blockbuster VR Games - Batman: Arkham Shadow

This GDC 2025 session features Camouflaj developers Kevin Call (Rendering Engineer) and Ryan Darcey (Design Director) sharing crucial design decisions and rendering techniques that enable AAA experiences on Meta Quest. Learn how they balanced game design and visual elements to create an authentic Batman experience in VR. Discover practical lessons and best practices to elevate MR/VR games to blockbuster status, with valuable insights for creating immersive experiences on the Meta Horizon platform. The presentation covers design philosophies including preserving authenticity, balancing innovation with familiarity, combat design, player expectations, avatar design, and environment creation. Technical aspects include detailed explanations of lighting techniques (baked lighting for static and dynamic objects, realtime lighting, mixed lighting), shadow rendering, and reflection implementation. Access additional design considerations and documentation through the provided link.

Syllabus

00:00 Introduction
0:41 Manta Mantras
01:05 Preserving authenticity
01:35 Striking balance between “new,” “better,” and “same”
03:49 Embracing an “easy to learn, difficult to master” philosophy
05:16 Combat design
07:59 Meeting player expectations
08:40 Designing players’ avatars
09:07 Designing environments
12:04 Technical background
12:39 Baked lighting for static objects
15:52 Baked lighting for dynamic objects
17:21 Realtime lighting
19:01 Mixed lighting
21:16 Realtime shadows
26:08 Reflections