DC Universe Online director Chris Cao on the balance of power(s)

As one of the few MMOs headed for consoles, DC Universe Online presents the challenge of satisfying both long-term PC MMO fans and lifelong console players experiencing the genre for the first time. Developer Sony Online Entertainment also has to feature the DC pantheon of heroes and villains, while simultaneously making room in the DC Universe for millions of new heroes and villains -- and it has to let people build their own unique mixture of powers without sacrificing game balance or allowing everyone to be Superman.

Of course, judging from history (hello, True Fantasy Live Online) just releasing an MMO on consoles is enough of a challenge. SOE Creative Director Chris Cao told Joystiq that this was one of the major reasons for the recent delay of DCUO from this month into early 2011. "An MMO is already a complex thing to launch," he said, "let alone on two platforms, with two kinds of audiences, and so we've been running closed beta and internal beta for a long time, most of this year." As the team found more to work on through these betas, they asked for, and received, permission to delay the game.%Gallery-107095%

PS3 players outside of SOE will have access to a beta at some point. "It's upcoming right now," Cao said. "Basically, we have to make sure, because we have to go through the PlayStation Network as well, they have higher standards for how they develop the things and whatever else, and we just have to make sure all of our ducks are in a row there." Cao said there is "some [Playstation Plus] involvement" for the beta, suggesting that there might be access for Plus members, but noted that the best way to ensure access is to pre-order the game.

During the extra time afforded by the delay, SOE worked on refining the user interface ("because when you're making an MMO there's obviously an intense amount of UI"), and also worked on refining the existing content -- "adding a lot more interest," as Cao said, to what was there, rather than "adding more breadth." As an example of an improvement made in this intervening period, Cao cited the "mental" class of powers, which allows players to change their appearance by creating illusions. "We were looking at the different illusions and what they did and how they worked," Cao said, "and we realized that we could actually make them a lot cooler in PvP by adding even more stealth elements to them, adding debuffs when you attack out of them. So instead of just being a simple thing that makes you look like another guy, it actually now grants you powers that you can use only when you're in that form."

The powers fall into wide categories like this: 'mental' instead of 'reading minds like the Martian Manhunter,' 'super-speed' instead of 'power from the Speed Force.' Instead of being able to imitate any DC character's powers precisely, SOE built a set of powers that make sense in gameplay, based on things from the universe. "You have interesting cases like Superman," Cao explained, "where beyond his immunity to everything, the heat vision and the cold breath and the superstrength, and the flight, how do you translate that?" The answer is they don't. "We don't one-for-one translate that because we have the game systems involved, but we do make him an ice-based character, because then he's able to freeze things." Superman's heat vision appears as an "iconic" power, which players can earn over time. It's also included with the Superman character playable in a certain mode. The "real" DC heroes and villains can also be seen wandering the world, and frequently pairing up with players in missions.

In the effort to make a working game, Cao notes that many DC hero powers weren't built into DCUO. "Being the DC Universe, what's missing is any of the million things some guy thought of in 75 years," Cao said, adding that he could include the ability to make any power, "and then in character create [players] would be happy, but then when they played the game they wouldn't be, because things would be imbalanced and watered down." That said, some powers might be worked in later, like the Green Lantern's ring. "We wanted to make sure to pay off on that when we do do it," he said. "Light isn't a typical generic power in the DC universe."

This balance-first approach to characters means, unfortunately, that you can't be an omnipotent 5th-dimensional imp like Mr. Mxyzptlk. We asked.