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New Champions Online preview hints at villains
The guys over at 1up.com have a great two page preview/interview covering Champions Online. The preview itself covers quite a bit, including Cryptic's time with the Marvel MMO, customization in Champions Online, combat, the Xbox 360 version and of course some hints at what we may see for villains. Overall the preview expands on a lot of these subjects, with quotes for Jack Emmert giving away a detail or two here and there.The big tease about the villains has really piqued our curiosity, as Emmert says, "But it's something we're thinking about in Champions: Is the gameplay experience the same for a hero and a villain? But that's part of our top-secret plan we're not talking about."A lot of people on the official forums have been clamoring for some kind of villain gameplay and Cryptic has previously shown they pay attention to the community. We would love to see the villain side play dramatically different from the hero side of Champions Online. The big question left to Cryptic is exactly how villains will be a different experience from heroes?
Part two of Champions Online dev's game design discussion
Following up on a piece earlier in the month on "Breaking the Wall" and getting into game design, Champions Online developer 'Heretic' has posted part two of this series, which looks "Beyond the Wall" -- once you've broken into the field, what next? The article chops the game designing process into four steps: vision, design, implementation and iteration.The vision is the first step in game design, and involves determining the basic principles of the game -- from things like the genre, to what will make it different to other games, and various rules that the game will be designed around -- but none of this should touch on how the principles will actually work.
Cryptic Studios coming to PAX and GenCon Indy this August
It's no lie, Cryptic will be at GenCon Indy from August 14th through the 17th and then not more than a couple weeks later, they'll be at the Penny Arcade Expo from August 29th until the 31st. A more important piece of news is that they plan on bringing all sorts of prizes, demos and games along with them. Sounds like we'll get a chance to score a ton of Cryptic-related real-world loot.Don't worry if these events aren't ones you attend, as Cryptic is quick to point out that they will be announcing other appearances.
Champions Online's content designer talks games, miniatures and fiddles
Of all the team members we've met that are working on Champions Online, Zeke Sparkes is possibly the most important yet. That's not to say that the previous team members haven't been anything but incredibly important. You see, Zeke is the guy in charge of designing, creating and testing the "meat n' bones" of Champions Online. The shape, color palette, mob layouts and generally everything you interact with in both persistent and instanced areas are all streaming from this man's brain.He is -- in a sense -- the Game Master of all our future excursions into the yet-to-be world of Champions Online.
New Champions Online wallpapers feature wider pixels
It wasn't very long ago that there were only two Champions Online wallpapers to plaster across our pixel-powered screens. Now Cryptic has been kind enough to add Menton and Ironclad to their desktop background selections, bringing the total to four wallpapers. We hope this becomes a regular thing as they reveal more NPCs, as we're very certain that some of the coolest characters are still beyond the lore horizon.Thankfully, Cryptic has seen fit to make their wallpapers fit widescreen monitors as well. Which is something we -- and apparently a lot of you -- asked for the last time Cryptic was nice enough to offer us these things in the first place -- so thank you Cryptic. Now would you kindly keep working on bringing our utmost superhero fantasies to life? Thanks, we owe ya one.
Meet a Champions Online concept artist, Imario Susilo
It's been a surprisingly info-heavy week for the Champions Online fans, as yet another post has been placed onto the official website by the awesome community content writer, Kestrel.The concept art that's been coming out for Champions Online has definitely been impressive. With every new character that's revealed, the game seems to develop a personality all its own. One of the guys we have to thank for that is Imario Susilo, who's one of the concept artists working at Cryptic and the focus of this week's "Meet the Team" article. Born and raised in Indonesia, Imario (who apparently stands at seven-feet-tall) moved stateside during his high school years.Imario himself goes over his method for designing a new character for Champions Online, which sounds like an exhaustive -- but very fun -- job. We're certainly grateful for the people designing this game -- be it character, world or story -- because without them, our superhero fantasies would fall flatly onto their collective faces.
Ironclad destroys Champions Online evildoers
A new heroic character has come charging out of the Champions Online website. We've all seen these "alien from far away" characters before, but this alien (by the name of Drogen Lar) was involved in an accident that fused his DNA with a molten experimental alloy. Instead of dying horribly, he was given a ridiculously resistant living-metal body. Don't try that one at home though, even if you're sure your highly experimental alloy is perfectly safe.
Paragon City: All But Child-Free
There seem to be two children in all of Paragon City, and their names are Penny and Jimmy Preston. If you don't already know Penny, she's a mutant 'store' contact in Founder's Falls. Okay, there aren't any schools for kids to go to, even if one of the Westin Phipps villain missions does have you destroying a shipment of schoolbooks. But what strange side-effect of the Rikti Invasion has apparently concealed all of Paragon's other children from view?Super-powered kids are a comic book staple. The Marvel Power Pack is the best known, but super children have been showing up in comics ever since the infant Kal-El revealed his Kryptonian nature. So why aren't there any in Paragon, except for the Prestons? (Baby New Year doesn't count. That bizarre little anthropomorphic personification is a law unto himself.)
Ask Cryptic answers custom animations query
This week's Ask Cryptic is kind of all over the place. While there may not be a nicely organized cohesion to the questions and answers, there are some very cool new bits of information. Last week the community finally got their answer on the subject of custom animations. That is: tweaking and adding personality to your typical energy blasts and martial attacks. The verdict was unfortunately no, as that something of that nature would be far too time consuming for the animators to tackle. This is true, animation -- the high quality kind -- takes quite some time to get just right.
CoH Players Salute the 'Surviving 15'
Since Massively reported Melissa 'War Witch' Bianco's comment (from the Heroic Weekend at Omega Sektor) that the City of Heroes/Villains live team had been cut to only fifteen people in the days after CoV's release, the reaction from the player base has been surprise, appreciation and gratitude. They are as impressed as we were that a drastically cut-down team had managed to deliver some of the best content so far, including the Invention System and auction houses.So who were those fifteen stalwarts, now dubbed the 'Surviving 15' by the forums with a nod and a wink to the 'Surviving 8' of CoH backstory? After some debate, Matt 'Positron' Miller has taken a moment off working on Issue 12 to settle the issue.
Meet the man responsible for Champions Online's combat
Remember this name: Geoff Tuffli. If the combat in Champions Online ends up disappointing you, then you've got your scapegoat.All right, we're just kidding -- sort of. The truth is that while Geoff may be the combat systems designer for Champions Online, he's not exactly solely responsible for making the moment-to-moment aspect of the game fun. His is a position of various roles, the coolest one being that he gets to design player powers for Cryptic's new superhero MMO. However, he's also responsible for removing any roadblocks facing the combat team and keeping the lines of communication open from his team to other teams. Those are two hectic sounding roles we're not so jealous of, but it's all in a day's work for Geoff.And if you're wondering what his past work includes, then you'll be in for a surprise. While he did lead the internal balance assessment team for City of Villains, he also majored in Aztec Cultural Linguistics -- go figure. There's a lot more in-between Geoff's graduation and current job at Cryptic and you can find it all at the official Champions Online website.
Champions Online's newest villain is Menton
A brand new villain has been revealed on the Champions Online website. His name is Menton and he's the most powerful human psionic alive. He harbors a massive contempt for humanity and considers everyone else -- even the supremely powerful Doctor Destroyer -- to be stupid in comparison. There's a lot of very good back-story to read concerning Menton at the official site. It's a real treat for anyone who enjoys some good comic book-style stories, so check it out.This is some early proof that Cryptic made a good choice going with the Champions world for their next MMO. Granted, we say early because until we get a taste of John Layman's writing of these characters we won't really know how compelling they are in-game. Still, Menton looks and sounds pretty cool so far and that's a strong start.
The writer for Champions Online is awesome
Yet another 'Meet the Team' article has gone up on the Champions Online official website. This time around we meet the man responsible for making the the story for Cryptic's upcoming superhero MMO -- John Layman. The most important thing to know about Mr. Layman is other than being able to weep ultra-luminous tears he's also an bonafide comic book writer. His works include Marvel Zombies vs Army of Darkness and House of M: Fantastic Four, which were both great reads. We're expecting some very entertaining writing in Champions Online, especially from a guy who got to write a character like Ash.When Jack Emmert said that Cryptic wanted to push the importance of story and character in CO, he wasn't exaggerating. The act of hiring John Layman speaks a lot for what we can expect from the sure-to-be-crazy world of Champions Online. He wrote a scene with a zombie Howard the Duck chomping the brains out of Ash for crying out loud -- we mean, come on! This game had better have a great story.
First Champions Online wallpapers appear
If you're looking to spruce up your old wallpaper with some of the nifty Champions Online artwork then head on over to Cryptic's official website for the game. The two new -- as well as first -- official wallpapers feature the Defender and Doctor Destroyer and coming in a variety of resolutions. The only downside is that there are no resolutions offered for those using a wide screen monitor. We understand that wide screen is in the minority, but we like to be loved to you know Cryptic -- especially on a cold April morning like this one.All right enough of that, we'll just remain hopeful that in the future our wide screen needs won't be forgotten.
New 'Ask Cryptic' talks class balance
Behold, a new 'Ask Cryptic' is here to appease all who have been awaiting it! It is again time for Cryptic to answer community questions about Champions Online -- this week is especially interesting as we've gotten some fairly insightful answers. Everything from how Cryptic is adapting the Chapions paper and pencil IP to whether or not players can expect custom power animations and the reason why is discussed. Of course, the most interesting question ends up being about the biggest problem facing a game like Champions Online -- class balance. With an open system where players can grab any type of powers they like, a lot of thought has been and is being put into making the game as balanced as possible.
Meet Champions Online's art development director
For the past few week's we've been receiving these intriguing interviews with members of the Cryptic staff who are working on Champions Online. So far, it's been an interesting month, as each week we've gotten a look into the varying madness of each team member -- in a good way. This week's interview with Cryptic Studios' art development director Shayne Herrera is especially fun to read through, as Shayne seems like the goofy-fun kind of guy everyone has a blast hanging around. We take it as a good sign that the guy in charge of CO's art development has a sense of humor -- it explains the game's rather bright and cheery color scheme a bit.If this is your first time seeing one of these developer profiles, make sure to check up on the last three we've spotlighted as they're also quick, interesting reads.
A day at Cryptic with Jack Emmert
It may not be the biggest piece of Champions Online news, but Jack Emmert was nice enough to give the public eye a look into his daily activities as chief creative officer at Cryptic Studios. The most curious thing about the entire read is the mention of 'Project X' and 'Project Y' as well as Jack's involvement in the two titles -- whatever they may be. There's no real information here other than the fact that these projects exist, but we kind of already knew that.There's also a bit of talk about the endgame design for Champions Online, which lead designer Randy Mosiondz has been working on. Jack says it's a really nice system, so we hope that in a few months time Cryptic will be able to share some of their ideas with us -- especially considering the importance of end-game content.
The Daily Grind: Do you want real-time combat?
Quite a few MMOs are eschewing the standard auto-attack combat for newer and -- some would say -- better methods. Auto Assault and Tabula Rasa were two of the first major MMO titles to try this with varying success, but we've still got a good amount of games coming down the pipeline with a real-time combat focus. Age of Conan, The Agency and Champions Online are the games which seem to be creating the most buzz at the moment.So we thought -- in the spirit of curiosity -- that it would be interesting to see just how many of you are genuinely looking forward to real-time combat over the auto-attacking standard of most modern-day big budget MMOs. Would you like to run around in the world of Hyboria, swinging your great-axe every which-way to your heart's content? Or would you rather keep closer to the current system of locking on, auto-attacking and stringing together binded special attacks? %Poll-11738%
Superhero MMOs get an overall thumbs up
Ever since the announcement of Champions Online, there's been a good amount of discussion on nearly every facet of the upcoming superhero massively multiplayer online game. Everything from the initial information given about the game, to the bits and pieces that have dribbled out since. There's also been some of discussion concerning the differences of Champions Online and City of Heroes -- two games which are most likely going to end up seeing further comparison and eventual rivalry.Well, you can add yet another discussion on the two games to the ever-growing list and although it may be a particularly long one -- it's quite good. The basic conclusion of this lengthy talk on the two games? City of Heroes is in great shape and Champions Online is looking exceedingly promising. Are there some bothersome kinks in the upcoming Issue 12 update such as lame duck epic villain archetypes and questionable costume unlock prerequisite? Sure, although that's not to say that Champions Online isn't still very early on and while looking very promising -- isn't actually out yet. Things could look entirely different in just one year from now -- we only hope that the difference has all continued to be mostly positive.
Jack Emmert emphasizes story in Champions Online
You might be surprised (or maybe you wouldn't) to know that some of us here at Massively are comic book geeks. You know, the types who look forward to Wednesdays because that's the day comics come out each week -- yeah we're practically prisoners in a comic book-build jail. So you can imagine our lingering excitement for a massively game like Champions Online -- which has Cryptic promising a lot of features above and beyond what City of Heroes is capable of providing.One particular feature is a stronger emphasis on the characters that populate the world of Champions Online. It's a promise that has made us skeptical, to be sure, but a recent post by Jack Emmert as assuaged or worries slightly. It's a long post so if you don't have the time or patience to read it -- there's a fairly good way to sum it all up.
