Paul Dini is best known as the creative force behind a number of successful animated Batman animated TV series and spin-off full-length features.

Following his television success he also wrote a number of Batman comics. Most of those echoed the angular, impressionistic look of the animations he worked on with Bruce Timm but he also collaborated with star DC comics artist Alex Ross on the understated, more adult-targeted Secret Origins comic books.

The shadow of Ross’s painterly take on the Caped Crusader falls across Paul Dini’s latest Gotham City venture: The dark, classy, and very, very pretty Batman: Arkham Asylum videogame.

We caught up with him just before the game's release.

Were you much of a videogame player before Arkham Asylum?
A bit, yes: I went through phases where I would play a lot and it got almost like an addiction but I work so much these days I have to restrict myself. Goldeneye was the last one I was really hooked on

The Arkham Asylum game is so good to look at I wondered whether you thought of dispensing with the game element and just making a Batman machinima [animation produced using games technology]?
I’m all in favour of it. When I saw the early renders, before it was as polished as the game we’re releasing, I thought, ‘This would make an amazing movie.’ The crew at Rocksteady have done some great stuff with the look of the characters and I’d love to go back to that world and write some stories that used that engine.

You found a place for virtually every major Batman villain in the game: which would you say was your favourite?
I really love the Joker. He’s just so unpredictable: One minute he’s a clown, just trying to get a reaction and the next moment he’s something darker, more dangerous. The Scarecrow’s great to work on too. The Rocksteady guys have given him a really brilliant new look.

I thought with your interest in Cryptozoology characters like Killer Croc or Man-Bat might appeal...
Well yeah, those guys are great too. We didn’t manage to fit Man-Bat in there for this game but maybe next time.

I imagine that Harley Quinn’s new outfit was brought in principally to keep the polygon count manageable: Given that you created her in the first place, what did you think of the new Harley outfit?
We really brought out the deadlier, more manic Harley this time. The thing about her is, she’s basically wearing nothing – she just tears up a couple T-shirts and she’s good to go.

Does Kevin Conroy (who plays Batman) sound like that all the time?
Not really. His natural speaking voice is very pleasant, normal-sounding. Having said that there is a little bit of Batman in there: Kevin was living in New York around the time of 9/11 and like a lot of people he went down to Ground Zero afterwards to do what he could to help. He was handing out food and water to the rescue workers and one of them stopped and said ‘I know you…you’re Batman’ – I like that story because I think that’s what the real Batman would do, y’know.

There are a million little references for Batman fans hidden throughout the game Jack Ryder on the radio, a sneaky reference to Sandy Collora’s Batman: Dead End. Was that all your work?
I’m hoping to get time to play all the way through game now it’s finished because there are a bunch of little nuggets I put in but there were a lot of Batman fanatics working on this project and everyone pitched in with ideas

Is it too early to ask if you’ve had any sequel ideas?
Well, we’ll see how this one goes first. I’d love to do it though, I have had lots of ideas already.

Finally, a note for obsessive players of the game - Go to this site, and use clues you find in the game to access some secret content. To get you started, Frank Boles's ID is 125845712. His password is somewhere on his body.

Explore Tech & Web

• Personal Tech

• The Web

• Gadgets & Gaming