GameShark Q&A with Randy Mosiondz

maskedweasel

 Cut and Pasted from here

 

"Thanks for taking the time to chat with us, Randy. For the uninitiated, can you give us an idea of what Champions Online is all about?

Champions Online is an action-heavy superhero MMORPG set in the modern world. Players can create their own superhero from a wide variety of power, costume, and animation choices. Players face a wide variety of threats ranging from alien invaders to evil geniuses to giant monsters, and travel all over the world from shining Millennium City to the underwater depths of Lemuria. You can team up with your friends to form super groups and take on even greater super-powered enemies.

 

 

 

 

 

From a design standpoint, how much does it help using an established license over one where you basically have to make everything from scratch? Is there a drawback?

There are actually three categories: building from an established license that somebody else owns, building from an established license that you own, and building from scratch. We’re in the middle category; Cryptic Studios purchased the Champions property fromHERO Games and has been using that as a framework for Champions Online. It really is the best of both worlds: we have a very rich game universe to draw upon for ideas but we don’t need to go through extensive approval processes and costly revisions that licenses owned by third parties sometimes experience.

We’ve since licensed Champions back to HERO Games for continued development and work closely with them as both games develop. They’re a great bunch of guys who are always full of amazing ideas on how to integrate the games more closely.

 

Can you explain the real time combat model? How is this different from what MMO fans are used to?

We wanted Champions Online to be more action-oriented than your standard MMO. Superhero comics are all about fast-paced battles between heroes and villains and we wanted to capture that feeling. You’ll never have to worry about getting stuck doing nothing during a battle – you always have a power that you can use to build your energy levels and you can always actively try to break out of holds.

We’ve also minimized the use of recharge timers; you’ll still have some of these for your big powers, but for the most part if you’ve got the energy to pull off an attack, you can do it. We’ve also incorporated a lot more movement and reaction mechanics into gameplay – blocking boss attacks or dodging out of the way, the use of attack power-ups on the battlefield, and run-and-gun style attacks.

 

 

 

 

 

Obviously in a game like this people will want to customize their characters as much as possible. I know Champions has a robust character creation tool – can you explain a bit in detail about the process of creating your alter ego?

As most of our play testers can attest, building a character in Champions Online is almost a game unto itself. You can spend hours tailoring your avatar to the exact specifications you desire. Starting off with a male/female body base you can modify the basic size morphology of your character to adjust height, muscle definition, and body mass, and apply detail to neck width, shoulder width, chest width/depth, arm length, etc. You can apply a stance to your character that allows you to select anything from heroic poses to beast-type movements. You can even select the default facial expression, from calm and pleasant to grim and determined.

You can go on to the costume itself which is broken up into head, body, upper body, gloves, and lower body – each of these categories have a number of sub-categories allowing you to select from an incredible amount of options. For example, just the head category has a master sub-category that includes heads & hair, full masks, hats & helmets, full helmets, hoods, monstrous, bestial, insect, and cowls & short hair. Under heads & hair you can then select head wear, hairstyle, eyes, eye accessory, mouth accessory, top accessory, side accessory, and eyebrow. Each of those sub-categories of costume pieces has a primary and secondary color plus two detail colors!

You can of course modify your powers as well. Some powers allow you to hue-shift their colors and emanation points (do you want an eye beam or fist blast?). Other powers allow you to slot in different types of weapons that change the look and function of a weapon, like swapping out an auto-pistol in favor of a laser pistol or swapping out a katana in favor of an axe. The possibilities are vast!

 

 

The Champions Online Nemesis system is a mid-game component that allows players to create a persistent enemy to plague their hero. Players select their Nemesis’ name, costume, motivation, personality, power template, and minions which then show up from time to time as players progress through the game. There are various Nemesis storylines that players can play through, uncovering their Nemesis’ plots and eventually putting them away (if they can!). Eventually players may build up a whole gallery full of Nemeses!

Why did we feel incorporating a Nemesis system was important? For one thing, it’s a common trope within the superhero genre; how many comic book heroes have earned the eternal enmity of a villain for some real or perceived slight? Also, this is another great way for players to create their own custom character content and put it into the larger game world. We’re also looking at expanding the functionality of Nemesis in the future. Maybe some players would like to turn to the dark side and play their own Nemesis…

 

Can you explain a bit about the quest system? What makes Champions stand out from the legion of other MMOs on the market in terms of quests and gaining XP?

We tried to mix up the types of quest activities within Champions Online. You’ll still find traditional MMORPG missions in the game but we’ve expanded that base to include more interesting gameplay elements.

While we still have some guided missions via contacts we’ve incorporated a lot of discovery missions where players can come across crimes in progress, people in need, or clues that point to suspicious activities elsewhere. We definitely wanted to bring more heroic elements into our mission system so we’ve included a lot of rescue scenarios where you help people who can’t help themselves – saving people trapped under rubble, signaling to rescue helicopters while fighting off waves of enemies, freeing people from menacing monsters, healing the sick and wounded, etc. We’ve also incorporated some group-oriented missions where players need to work together to take on a greater villainous threat.

 

 

 

 

 

What are some of the features that are specific to Champions Online – like Roles and Momentum?

In Champions Online, Roles allow players to switch their focus in different combat situations, allowing for different types of character builds. Everyone starts off with a Balanced role and players earn additional roles (Offensive, Defensive, Support) by exemplifying that aspect in combat over time. Roles give you access to special powers specific to the Role you are taking on in combat. Depending on your team composition or what’s happening in a given combat you can switch out your Role to fit the situation. In short, it’s intended to give you a lot of flexibility in combat and team composition.

With regards to Momentum the terms you’re looking for are Energy and Equilibrium. Players in Champions Online have an Energy Bar that has an Equilibrium point on it. Where the Equilibrium point is depends on the hero’s Characteristics, but is usually a third to halfway along the bar. Players Energy fills up and drains down naturally to the Equilibrium point. Players always have Energy Builder powers that actually gain Energy and can push your Energy level past the Equilibrium point. Players then expend Energy to execute their big attacks. What’s really great about this system is that you’re never stuck waiting for your Energy to recharge – you can always keep attacking with your Energy Builder powers and build up to your big attacks again!

 

Is there a PvP system in place?

You bet! We’ve actually have a number of styles of PvP in the game. First off is the open world PvP dueling – if you’d like to test your mettle against other players you can simply challenge another player to a PvP duel. We’re also got a few different types of instanced maps: “Tournament of Champions” team PvP, “B.A.S.H.” free-for-all PvP, and the very cool “Apocalypse” scenario-based PVP. There are a number of PvP rewards players can earn as well. As the game grows we plan to add more PvP maps and rewards.

 

Is there a crafting system? And how much will characters depend on objects and not their base powers?

You We have a Skill system in Champions Online that allows players to focus in a particular discipline: Arms, Science, or Mysticism. Skills allow you to do multiple things: mess with Skill objects in the world (ex. shut down security systems with Arms), get rid of hazards (ex. banish evil spirits with Mysticism), and create Upgrades and Devices.

Upgrades are different ways to augment your character and his or her base powers. Upgrades can be specialized gear, fighting techniques, special training, radiation exposure, mystical imbuement, etc. – basically anything you’ve read about in comic books! The majority of a character’s efficacy comes from their base powers but it’s always helpful to augment them with Upgrades to stay in peak fighting form.

 

Can you go into a little bit about how character advancement works?

As a character levels in Champions Online they gain access to a number of different advancements: Power Points allow you to gain new powers, while Advantages allow you to rank up and expand existing powers in different ways. Super-Stats give you a large focused increase in a Characteristic, while Talents give you smaller increases across one or more Characteristics.

 

 

 

 

 

The world you have designed is huge – how will players go from Millennium City to other areas?

There are a number of transport points where players can jump into a super-transport vehicle and travel to the hotspot locations around the Champions Online universe. We want players to stay in the action as much as possible!

 

Can you discuss how the world will evolve? Most MMOs are fairly static – how are you getting around that?

It’s very difficult to “get around” static worlds when you’re dealing with a large player base, persistent environments, and varied storylines! We do have some areas in Champions Online where player efforts to battle villainy changes the environment to reflect the reduction of crime on the streets. But our main world evolution will come through the planned frequent game updates where we continue to expand the storylines in the game to bring in new villains, environments, powers, and game-play. Champions Online will start an epic superhero saga that will take many years to tell.

 

OK, I have to put you on the spot: do you have a favorite power?

Sorcery! I love blasting foes with Eldritch energies and summoning mystic creatures to attack my enemies! Although I do like augmenting it with some Supernatural and Martial Arts powers – another great thing about the Champions Online power system!

 

Finally, for someone who plays City of Heroes or is devoted to any other MMO—why should they invest the time and money into Champions? I think getting people to try the game won’t be too tough, but so many new MMOs start with these huge subscription numbers only to see them drop off in six months. What is the trick to keeping them?

The trick is to give them more of what they want; we have a very active fan community that’s full of great ideas. If the beta-testing feedback for Champions Online is any indication of what players love about our game we’ll be providing even more customization options, super powers, villains and environments, game-play variations, and super-heroic action! What’s more is that we have an incredibly talented team and powerful tools necessary to make it happen. Cryptic is constantly trying to push the envelope on what we can do with MMORPGs – expect great things!

 

We'd like to thank Randy for taking the time to chat with us. Champions Online is set for a September 2009 release. For more info check out the game's website . 

Questions or comments? We'd love to hear from you .

 

 

Alienovrlord

 "Maybe some players would like to turn to the dark side and play their own Nemesis…"

That made me sit up.    How cool would it be to do that??

Plus he mentioned that you get to build up a Rogue's Gallery of Nemeses (or Nemisi)!   

Nice that he let slip a little bit of their future plans for this game!

(Oh thanks for linking that here, I saw the article already but that reminded me I wanted to comment on the idea of playing your Nemesis.)

 

maskedweasel

Originally posted by Alienovrlord


 "Maybe some players would like to turn to the dark side and play their own Nemesis…"
That made me sit up.    How cool would it be to do that??
Plus he mentioned that you get to build up a Rogue's Gallery of Nemeses (or Nemisi)!   
Nice that he let slip a little bit of their future plans for this game!
(Oh thanks for linking that here, I saw the article already but that reminded me I wanted to comment on the idea of playing your Nemesis.)
 

 

I like the idea as well. The whole nemesis idea is pretty cool, being able to play as your nemesis kind of gives me the feeling like certain missions you may encounter may require you to play both sides, like a single player game would, to move your heroes story along.

 

To what end you will be able to play as them is yet to be known, it has already been said that you will be able to create and customize the look, personality and perhaps even the origins and power sets of your Nemesis, but the power sets and abilities will supposedly change and progress as your nemesis grows.  I think being able to play as your nemesis but not being able to choose all his powers would be a pretty cool thing, almost as if you're playing someone elses character entirely.

I can't wait to see where this goes.