City Of Heroes Wannabe City Of Titans Kickstarts
Heroic return?
It's only been a year since the sun set on Paragon City and City of Heroes was sealed off. If you look at that homepage and weep and wail and pound on your desk, snottily disclaiming: "It was too soon, damnit", then I have a thing you should look at. The previously titled Pheonix Project, a fan-made spiritual successor to the dead MMO, has arrived on Kickstarter in the guise of City Of Titans. "Thank you again, and fly free," were the final words of City Of Heroes, and it looks like Titans will do just that. It has taken half of its $320,000 goal overnight.
Up until now it's been a volunteer driven endeavor, and has suffered from time troubles and an engine swap, but now they're hoping to go pro and finalise their dream MMORPG. That dream is to have a flexible character system of mix and match powers and animations, building a framework that should enable players to build a character with a broad range of powers.
Powers are split into effect and animation, allowing us to mix and match to offer more to the player. You pick "Fireball." You then pick how you want to throw this fireball, from the hand, mouth, a wand, or a 12-gauge shotgun. Same power, different look, all through the framework designed with our custom Socket System. Even two people with optic blasts can have their own unique look, depending on the powers chosen, the colors selected, the effects added and the animations picked for the power.
The goal in the end is to give you the ability to create your character. Want to be a vine swinging Amazon warrior who attacks by using her hair as a whip? We're working on that. Want to be the wizard warrior with a pet raven who can spit fire? It’s in the cards.
The early footage shows players jumping, and that was 90% of the game for me, so I'm in.
A lot of the Kickstarter text is about the pitfalls they might face, so there's been some degree of disaster preparation on their part. The rest doesn't say much about the game beyond the character creation's potential. This is certainly a leap of faith for the backers, but the team promise more information on the fighting system, lore, and a teaser trailer coming. This looks like it'll definitely happen, so if you want to know more you won't be harming their chances if you wait to find out more.