8 "Simple" Video Game Features That Took YEARS To Perfect

1. The Cape - Arkham Asylum

Arkham Asylum famously made you be the Batman, but nothing quite epitomised just how well the developers nailed the character quite like looking at his silhouette against the oversized moon as his caped billowed in the wind. It's a simple but effective image, and one which apparently caused one unlucky developer two years worth of hard work to achieve.

Because, in their pursuit of making this the most detailed, dynamic version of the character ever seen in a video game, Rocksteady needed to make it appear as if the cape was its own entity, and not just rigidly stuck on the back of the costume. Though it's the kind of effect that's common place now, cloth physics interacting with the world was rare back in 2009, especially on this level.

Before release, the president of publisher Eidos specifically singled out the cape as an example of how much care had been poured into the game, saying:

"There was one person working on nothing but the cape for two years, so there are over 700 animations and sound clips attached to the cape alone. That's why it looks so beautifully realistic."

I think we can all agree that the end result was worth it.