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Stories By Dev Blogger

  • Fallen Earth dev journal: Character builds

    Although classless advancement in Fallen Earth gives players more freedom to build the characters they want and level with skills of their choice, learning how to navigate a wide-open system can be a bit daunting for even the most experienced players. With a little help from the dev team and some crib note suggestions, players can learn how to make the most of the classless advancement system.In Fallen Earth, characters may advance in rank and abilities regardless of their class or faction, and they can do so steadily. For each rank a character gains, players earn 2 AP (20 AP per level). Some APs can also be gained by completing missions, and all APs are spent however the player desires. The resulting system allows players to raise the skills and stats they think are most important for the character they play.

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  • City of Heroes dev blog talks character customization

    Massively is proud to host a new dev diary from the folks at Paragon Studios. This particular dev diary was written by Christopher Bruce, Senior Lead Animator/VFX Artist for City of Heroes, and it pertains to the character customization options that have been improved with Issue 15. Enjoy!In addition to supporting the two new task forces for Issue 15, we also wanted to focus some attention on expanding our character creation system. Character customization is a hallmark of City of Heroes and we're always striving to improve and expand upon our players' ability to create a truly unique super powered hero or villain. For Issue 15, there are two new costume sets available to everyone, created by the newest addition to our character artist team, Cheryl Austin. "Vines" is a new pattern while "Ulterior" is a new texture set, both of which work with most of the existing costume pieces. Cheryl has also created over twenty new face textures, something we haven't done since City of Villains launched. While our options for individual costume pieces and sets have continued to expand over the years, our selection of faces hasn't received the same amount of attention. Her goal was to create a set of new face textures that were a bit more subtle and realistic and while also working well across our full range skin tones.%Gallery-64392%

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  • Fallen Earth Developer Diary: Exploring the Cult of the Dead lair

    Massively is proud to host a brand new five-part developer journal from the Fallen Earth team which will explore various levels in Fallen Earth, their storylines and how they make the player experience richer. This third dev journal from Grace Hagood leads us into Sunset Cemetery, the lair of The Cult of the Dead. There is no peace for the dead at Sunset Cemetery. Vile cultists have desecrated the graves, while their vampiric masters lurk in the dank mausoleums. Beware, stranger, or you may join the mouldering corpses there.Sunset Cemetery, also known as the Cult of the Dead lair, is a small instance available to players in the Northfields area of Fallen Earth. Unlike the massive Old Kingman Prison instance or the sprawling Hoffa Bunker level, the Cult of the Dead lair provides a linear experience. The tone of the story and instance design represents a departure from earlier gameplay.

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  • Developer Diary: Exploring Levels in Fallen Earth

    Starting today, Massively is proudly hosting a brand new developer journal from the Fallen Earth team. This five-part series will explore various levels in Fallen Earth, their storylines and how they make the player experience richer. This first one takes us through Kingman Prison, and was written by Grace Hagood.From high on a hilltop, gray prison walls cast a bleak shadow over the town of Old Kingman. Designed to keep society safe, Old Kingman Prison's purpose has been perverted. The tyrannical Casta Gaunt has captured the stronghold, and now leads his raiders from the safety of its cell blocks and guard towers.Old Kingman Prison is the first major instance available to players in Fallen Earth. The level offers a compelling end to one of the early overarching plotlines in the game, and provides interesting group gameplay through a structured series of encounters. When we created the prison instance, we agreed on a few rules for our design. We wanted players to contribute directly to furthering the plot. We wanted the instance to be easily accessible. And of course, it had to look great and have enjoyable fights.

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