Rock, Paper, Shotgun

When talking about Champions, a friend linked me to a well constructed, if obviously fanboy-outrage slanted, piece about the current respec (or – for those who go outside, respecification) policy for Champions. It’s worth reading, if only because it feeds into quite a few trends about game design. In short, it argues the inability to redesign your character from scratch will kill Champions stone dead. Which got me thinking on the subject…
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Cryptic’s Champions had its fast start over the weekend. Being the biggest MMO launch for a while, we thought it’d be a good idea to form a casual guild, so RPS readers can get together and act like vigilantes, performing harsh street justice against the dregs of society. And in the game, etc, etc. Keep an eye open for ViolentTrevor, the.poisoned.sponge, stevetheblack or The_B in the in-game search and we’ll hook you up. And I’ll add more Guild Officers as I get permission to stick ‘em up here. While I’ll be writing some more Champions stuff soon enough, for more organisation and chat, I direct you at the RPS Forum Champions Thread.

I tried hard to get a quote from 90s-chick-flick-for-blokes Swingers, but failed. And then I considered a Thin-white-rope gag… OH THIS DOESN’T MATTER. What matters is that Champions have revealed one of its new travel powers. And it’s one which any City of Heroes veteran would crave. Yes, it’s doing the impractical Spider-man/Daredevil/Anna Mercury zipline around a city-scape one. Footage of this is beneath the cut, and you can still register for the Beta.
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With twenty five years of history, there’s more to Champions than Cryptic’s forthcoming game. Present, and putting the game into its context, was original pen-and-paper designer George MacDonald. We grabbed an opportunity to chat to him about the history the Superhero role-playing game, the power of game mechanics to create emotions and how gargantuan Cryptic’s intellects are…
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If any single figure’s connected in the public mind with Cryptic games, it’s its oft-outspoken Chief Creative Officer, Jack Emmert. While he was particularly busy showing off his new child to anyone in the buliding, we managed to grab him to talk about the interface between online MMOs and Pen and Paper games, the biggest challenges of Champions and the sacred cow of MMO design that’s next for the slaughterhouse.
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Los Gatos is the Beverly Hills of The San Francisco satellites. It’s not just home of people who really fancy a posh ZIP code, however. It’s also Cryptic Studios’ base. The veterans of the City of Heroes games are giving their first, real public showing of now-to-be-2K-distributed Champions to a selected band of gentlemen of the press. For some reason, I was invited. Spooks.

Since I’ve interviewed anyone who didn’t actively run away from me, I’ve a whole week of content to amuse you. But let’s start a little more general than that. Here’s an Jack Emmert and John Needham quote-packed overview of their action-influenced take on the MMO game, Cryptic’s love of the Champions pen-and-paper RPG, the tranquil-yet-troublesome expanse of Monster Island and what they have planned after Champions…
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Huzzah! The first video of footage from Cryptic’s Champions Online has emerged. The cel-shaded style is looking great, if you can manage to focus on anything without giving up your methylphenidate. There’s a few hints as to the sorts of locations to expect (volcanos, green forests) and some of the power effects, which look glowy and important.

It might take a wee while to load, so we’ve put it below the jump to stop the front page grinding to a halt. Or you might want to head straight to the source and download it from Cryptic’s servers.

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