User:TheJoebro64/drafts/flash

The Flash: The Fastest Man Alive was the working title of an action-adventure game based on the DC Comics character the Flash. It was developed by BottleRocket Entertainment for the PlayStation 3, Wii, and Xbox 360; a Nintendo 3DS companion developed by WayForward Technologies was also planned.

Premise

Gameplay

The Flash: The Fastest Man Alive was an action-adventure game in which the player controlled the Flash (Wally West) in an open world. Video game journalists have likened its gameplay to other open world and speed-based games, like Batman: Arkham, Sonic the Hedgehog, Grand Theft Auto, and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater. As he walked, West gradually gained momentum and had several levels of speed: he would start off walking before breaking into a sprint. He had two levels of super-speed and could gain more momentum by performing tricks and grinding on rails. With even more speed, he could scale buildings, propel himself through the air, and find previously inaccessible areas. By going at high speeds, West would also gain body mass, and could plow through objects. He could perform a 180° turn; one of developers compared this to the light cycles from Tron. Gradually, more game mechanics were introduced: as the player progressed through the game, West learned more about his powers, and the player would be able to use them.

West could freely explore two cities: Keystone City and Central City.

Notes

• Open world
• Wally West
• Sort of like "Batman: Year One" for Flash: first 12 months of career, and meeting most of his rogues gallery
• Cross between Sonic the Hedgehog and Batman: Arkham
• Marv Wolfman provided story assistance
• Combat similar to The Mark of Kri: buttons would appear atop enemies and to attack them you'd press that button on your controller. Beating up enemies would fill up a Speed Force meter that would give special powers
• Missions
• Online multiplayer pitting four players against each other in race to finish line. Wide variety of characters to chose from, including Barry Allen, Jay Garrick, Impulse, Kid Flash, and (possibly) Superman.

Development

After the release of the 2006 Game Boy Advance game Justice League Heroes: The Flash, the video game rights to the Flash and other DC Comics superheroes were acquired by Brash Entertainment. Brash hired BottleRocket Entertainment to develop a Flash game; the Brash staff assigned to the project were fans of The Mark of Kri. BottleRocket had recently lost the opportunity to develop a tie-in game based on the Zack Snyder film Watchmen and was eager to work on a Flash game. According to BottleRocket's lead designer Greg Miller, "I could see there was something special to it. I’ve worked on a lot of games, but there wasn’t anything that excited me as much as that one." The project was given the working title The Flash: The Fastest Man Alive and a tentative release date of 2009. 30 staff worked on it for over a year. It progressed well; BottleRocket met every deadline and relationship with Brash and DC Comics parent Warner Bros. went smoothly.

By July 2007, development was underway for the PlayStation 3, Wii, and Xbox 360. As soon as production began, the team envisioned The Fastest Man Alive as an open world game built from a custom game engine. They were inspired by the open world games Grand Theft Auto and The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction. Initially, BottleRocket staff wanted the game world to span across the DC Universe, with players traveling to locations associated with other DC superheroes and helping them in various missions. The concept was dropped early in production because the team realized it was too ambitious, deciding to focus on two cities integral to the Flash mythos: Central City and Keystone City. The visual appearance of the environment was inspired by The Incredibles and Mirror's Edge. The plot was original to the game and was mostly written by BottleRocket designers, while Marv Wolfman provided guidance and supervision.

• http://www.syfy.com/syfywire/flash-almost-had-open-world-video-game-heres-what-it-looked
• https://www.cbr.com/take-a-look-at-the-flashs-cancelled-open-world-video-game/
• http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2016/12/video_check_out_the_open_world_flash_game_that_never_was
• https://www.bleedingcool.com/2016/12/24/take-deep-look-cancelled-open-world-wally-west-flash-game/

• Open world had been finished; were beginning to implement boss battles
• No voice actors cast, but Ryan Reynolds was desired to voice Wally
• Progressed well;
• The game was canceled due to mistakes made by Brash that were out of BottleRocket's control: had been founded to publish high-quality licensed properties but by 2008 had failed to live up to these vows. Management had no experience of running a game publisher and most had no experience in the industry itself.
  • Run out of Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood so they essentially tried to run their business like a Hollywood movie studio; tried making lower budget/lesser quality tie-ins first as a means of funding ambitious projects like Flash
  • Deals forced developers to make games very quickly
  • Scathing reviews and bad sales. Investors pulled out one after another—crippled Brash financially
• In November 2008, Brash was shut down. With no publisher to fund Flash BottleRocket ceased development indefinitely

Aftermath

• BottleRocket survived into 2009 and worked with Namco to reboot Splatterhouse
• Namco didn't want BottleRocket to challenge them as much as they did with the game, pulled it away from them and changing it drastically.
• BottleRocket now had no work so they closed in September 2009
• Flash only survives through prototypes owned by former developers. Most of the assets also were preserved because they felt so passionate about the project.