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City of Titans gives a cab's-eye view of the city
Superhero games aren't just about having fantastic powers; they're about the space you live in. Cities have characters all of their own; Metropolis is all gleaming idealism, Marvel's New York is like an enlarged version of the real New York, and Gotham City is approximately 85% gargoyles by volume. So it's important for City of Titans fans to know what Titan City is like before they start playing. And who better to explain the city than your average Titan City cab driver? As it turns out, pretty much every joke you can think of about superhuman battles has already been made. In a city filled with heroes, you know that every so often there's going to be a villain knocked through your office, and a support structure exists for dealing with just that eventuality. Read the full Kickstarter update for more details on how the game world works and how people can keep living in a city where you occasionally find a portal to nether dimensions opening right above your favorite Thai restaurant.
City of Titans team discusses following and evolving from City of Heroes
There's a hole in the heart of every City of Heroes fan, a hole that City of Titans intends to fill. With the game's Kickstarter quickly moving toward half a million dollars of funding (for an unknown team of volunteer developers), a lot of attention is being focused on the project. Project lead Chris Hare sat down to discuss some of the team's goals in a recent interview, both in terms of mirroring and building upon the foundation laid by Paragon Studios. Hare explains that while the team at Missing Worlds Media wants to recapture the spirit of City of Heroes, there's also a desire to do things that the original game could or would not do. The active combat of Champions Online is cited as an inspiration, as are the public quests of Warhammer Online. At the same time, promising too much and underdelivering is a trap no one wants to fall in. Take a glance at the full interview for more details about how the game promises to evolve while keeping true to its roots.
City of Titans reaches its Kickstarter goal after five days
After launching its Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign on October 2nd, City of Titans has met and exceeded its $320,000 funding goal. The self-proclaimed spiritual successor to City of Heroes still has 27 days left in its campaign as over 2,200 backers chipped in to see the project become a reality. Community Manager Lauren was thrilled at the news: "Well, that'll brighten up a Monday! As a special thank you to everyone for your support, your patience, and everything you've done for us, we've decided to unleash the beard! Everyone who backs us in the Kickstarter will be given a very, very special costume piece: The one, the only Nate 'Doctor Tyche's' beard, complete with animated eyes. Wear it with pride in Titan City. Thank you, guys. Watch this space for stretch goals and heartfelt thank yous from our developers. You are all amazing. Never let anyone tell you differently." Future stretch goals for the title include an Android port of the avatar builder at $350K, an iOS port of the avatar builder at $400K, and a MacOS version of the game for launch at $450K. [Thanks to Zjeven for the tip!]
Make My MMO: Crowdfunding September 22 - October 5, 2013
Not all games that turn to crowdfunding need a boost to get off the ground. In fact, one new addition to our column this week -- 8BitMMO -- is utilizing this avenue to help accommodate the exponential growth it has experienced over the last couple of years. The other newcomer, however, is actually trying to build from the ground up; City of Titans wants to give displaced City of Heroes fans a new home. In other news, Star Citizen was the news! Videos, interviews, new goals, and more poured forth from this crowdfunding giant this week. We also heard from Embers of Caerus (which has been pretty quite for a long while). Even Neo's Land chimed in with a new demo. And you can get the whole scoop here!
A Mild-Mannered Reporter: A marvelous, titanic super-hero September
I'm breaking up my usual format a bit for this month. Part of that is just out of necessity; DC Universe Online launched a big DLC pack that I talked about in the last column, which obviously was the focus for most of the past month. Champions Online just had an invasion event going that I didn't actually take part in; I've had enough invasion-style events to last the remainder of my natural life, even if the rewards for this one do look pretty awesome. Call me cynical. No, this month I'm focusing on two games, only one of which is actually out at the moment. One of these games has been firing on all cylinders and might force cynical old me to eat a bit of crow, which I'll happily do if it means that the game is better for everyone enjoying it. And the other... isn't. You can probably guess what I'm talking about, but you can also go ahead and jump past the cut to eliminate any possible doubt. I encourage it!
The Phoenix Project dubs itself City of Titans and launches on Kickstarter
So how have you been doing since the closure of City of Heroes? If you haven't been doing so good, City of Titans is certainly meant to be your sort of game. If you've been fine... well, maybe you'll still want to check it out. One of the fan-made spiritual successors to City of Heroes, this game was previously known as The Phoenix Project but now has both a finished title and a Kickstarter project available. The game is taking aim at a modest $320,000 goal (and is already $60,000 toward it as of this writing), with the funding paying for servers and necessary production software. Developers are promising that the game is meant to focus on character attitude rather than skills or classes; players choose how a hero wishes to do something and abilities changed based upon that. Whether you're an old friend of the movement or just like the idea of a different sort of superhero game, consider throwing a few dollars toward the campaign. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]
A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Superheroic news for July
So how's everybody been? You all doing well? Because I'm super, and thanks for asking. For some reason, July was one of the first months since its announcement that seemed to be fairly quiet for Infinite Crisis; I can only guess that most of the staff was too busy playing to make announcements, which would be the ideal situation. But the other superheroic games on the market certainly didn't quiet down, with Marvel Heroes and Champions Online both making plenty of noise. Even DC Universe Online got in on the action, or tried to until SOE Live wound up being all about one game. But I'm getting ahead of myself. You want a rundown on the super scene from last month? It's all here behind the cut, so come on down and take a look. It's the third month since we moved over to the new format, and I can't help but hope that I'm starting to get into the cadence.
The Phoenix Project developers talk passion, grieving, and moving forward
When life hands you lemons, you make lemonade; when life kills your favorite game, you make a better one in its honor. That's the philosophy behind The Phoenix Project, and a recent interview with the team behind Missing Worlds Media talks about what it's like to try making a new game after the closure of City of Heroes. And one of the game's core design principles has come about precisely because of that closure, because the team wants to make sure that even if the game isn't a major hit it can keep running in maintenance mode. Kickstarter is not the last chance for the project, as the team has no plans to shelve it if funding goals are not met, but no outside sources have been approached yet. The interview also stresses that the game is not meant to simply be a clone of City of Heroes, with a development focus on including the best parts of the game rather than simply copying everything. For a deeper look behind the scenes, read through the full interview. [Thanks to Asteria for the tip!]
City of Heroes spiritual successor plans Kickstarter for Sept. 8th
One of the candidates vying to be the spiritual successor to City of Heroes will be moving into its fundraising stage come this September. Missing Worlds Media's The Phoenix Project, is preparing a Kickstarter campaign for September 8th. The team says that if all goes well (read: the project gets the moolah it needs), the title could be launched by the end of 2015, although it's hoping to get an avatar creator in our hands by next summer. In an interview with Polygon, Technical Director Nate Downes said that the project is 25% to 33% done, although the game is being made completely by 136 volunteers who have other jobs or are full-time students. The Phoenix Project is being built using the Unreal Engine, as Epic has licensed the engine to Missing Worlds with no money down until the team gets funded. Downes hopes that fans will continue to rally to the cause: "This project has grown out of the community that was left behind when City of Heroes closed, so it's really just a lot of passionate people getting together to rebuild that home for themselves."
A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Another look at Plan Z
When life hands you lemons, you build a new life. Out of lemons. The metaphor is a bit tortured, but the ultimate point is still the same: When City of Heroes fans found out the game was shutting down, some decided to band together and make a new game to incorporate all of the best of CoH while not being, you know, shut down completely. It's something that I've discussed a few times now because it's a really neat idea that also has some really big potential pitfalls. The Phoenix Project and Heroes & Villains are the two big games working at getting themselves together, and they've had about half a year to do so. Both have been moving forward, networking, and putting together everything needed to make the games actually exist. And there's good news and bad news about both, some in tandem and some separately. So despite the possibility of missing an important context clue or two, we carry on with our look at what's going well and what is... less so.
A Mild-Mannered Reporter: The rocky road ahead for city revivals
I can't currently talk about The Phoenix Project or Heroes & Villains in great detail because neither game is actually a thing just yet. They're both products of the best parts of City of Heroes fandom, of players deciding that if the game was going to shut down, they were not going to go gently into that good night. No, they were going to just make a new game that keeps all of the feel and winds up better besides. Rather than decrying what happened, they're building something new. This is a good thing, and the thought of having a new game in the same vein as the lost one makes me happy for understandable reasons. But at the moment, it's just that -- a thought. Both projects have big goals, and I don't fault either of them for lack of ambition. Nonetheless, I wonder whether either will wind up coming to fruition. The fact of the matter is that making an MMO is really hard, even more so when you're working in a genre with several pitfalls, and ambition alone does not make a game.
A Mild-Mannered Reporter: How superheroes died and why it's good
2012 was probably the worst year ever for fans of superheroes in the MMO space. The best months of the year were just kind of there, and then the biggest game in the genre unexpectedly closed. Unpacking what caused the City of Heroes closure is something that's ongoing to the moment, and I'd be remiss to not talk about the recent anonymous claims that City of Heroes was profitable up to its closure combined with a denial that... isn't, really. At the same time, I'm a firm believer in the idea that bad things can have positive outcomes. So I think that for all the bad that happened in 2012, we might be looking at 2013 as a banner year for superheroes. Not that it's certain by any means, but between last year's media and the current state of affairs, there's space for some awesome possibilities. And a lot of screwups, too, but isn't that always the case?
A Mild-Mannered Reporter Extra: Interviews with Champions Online and The Phoenix Project
I promised you that we would be doing interviews next time, but astute readers would note that I did not say "next week." So welcome to our special extra installment of the column looking at two different sides following the City of Heroes shutdown. We've already seen two projects coming from the ashes of CoH; The Phoenix Project and Heroes and Villains are both currently being assembled by passionate fans of the now-departed game. But we'd be remiss if we failed to note the impact that the game's closure has had on existing games like Champions Online and DC Universe Online. Rather than just speculating on any of this, we decided to just ask. So today you've got two interviews. One is with Brad Stokan, Executive Producer at Cryptic Studios, about how the City of Heroes shutdown has affected Champions Online and the studio that helped bring the game to life in the first place. The other is with the lead staff at Missing Worlds Media, the team behind The Phoenix Project. So let's take a look behind the scenes, yes?
The Phoenix Project aims to give a new home to City of Heroes expats
In the wake of City of Heroes' closure, one group of fans has decided that it's not enough to move on to a new game. The Phoenix Project aims to become a spiritual sequel and recreation of the game for players and by players, with a new trailer showcasing concept art as well as serving as a statement of purpose. Formed by several regulars of the Save CoH movement, The Phoenix Project is the work of Missing Worlds Media, a studio composed of several independent designers, programmers, and artists united by their love of the lost game. The game is still very early in the concept stages, but the studio has already announced that it will be built using the powerful CryENGINE 3. If you're looking forward to the prospect of running around in Titan City, check out the trailer past the break, and keep your eyes peeled for an interview with the staff from our regular superheroic column, A Mild-Mannered Reporter.
