Lore AMA: Difference between revisions
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==Overview== | ==Overview== | ||
The '''Lore AMA''' ('''A'''sk '''M'''e '''A'''nything), or "Loregasm", is a series of documents created by [[Positron (Developer)|Positron]] to answer questions [[City of Heroes]] players had about the game's story following the [[Sunset]] announcement. | |||
In the [https://web.archive.org/web/20120906033004/http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=296786 thread announcing its creation], Positron stated that anything it contains "SHOULD be considered canon when concerning anything to do with Issue 24 and previous. Anything after that is speculative and should be treated as such. We'll note in the answer if it's anything different." On September 18th, 2012, Positron posted a link to the first Lore AMA as a [https://docs.google.com/document/d/19qbHHrRmifxGPz60-_ApLNiwOmF5QVEMrXHgB1Nrd4o/edit?pli=1 Google Doc] in a [[Official Forums|City of Heroes forums]] [https://web.archive.org/web/20121107213509/http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=297476 thread]. | |||
In | In a 2012 [http://www.onrpg.com/articles/metas-verse-interview-with-melissa-bianco-and-matt-miller-on-city-of-heroes/ interview] of Positron and [[War Witch (Developer)|War Witch]] at [http://www.onrpg.com OnRPG] discussing the closure of the game, Positron stated that he would do yearly AMAs as long as people had questions: | ||
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|'''MeticulousMeta:''' There are still a lot of questions after the Lore AMA. Is there any chance of getting another? | |||
'''Matt:''' I’ll make a deal: I’ll do AMA’s about CoH lore every April 28th until the questions stop coming in. I’ll give more details as we get closer to that date, and I can’t promise everyone who should be involved will be. | |||
|} | |||
== AMA by Year == | |||
{{EdNote|note=This page contains the text of the documents as they appeared at release. A list of the questions linked to by topic and developer can be found here: [[Lore AMA/Sorted]].}} | |||
{{Spoiler}} | {{Spoiler}} | ||
Be advised | {{center|Be advised that there are spoilers for existing and future content contained within the AMA documents.}} | ||
== | === <div style="font-weight:bold;text-align:center;border-top:1px solid #5555FF;border-bottom:1px solid #5555FF;background-color:#ffffff;margin:1em;padding:0.2em;font-size:1.2em">'''AMA: 2012'''</div> === | ||
The first Lore AMA was linked in a forum post by Positron titled "Loregasm" and includes a key of the answering developers' initials: | The first Lore AMA was linked in a forum post by Positron titled "Loregasm" and includes a key of the answering developers' initials: | ||
{{Quotebox|type=dev|name=Positron (Developer)|source=the initial post from the forum thread announcing the AMA|text=[https://docs.google.com/document/d/19qbHHrRmifxGPz60-_ApLNiwOmF5QVEMrXHgB1Nrd4o/edit?pli=1 City of Heroes AMA | {{Quotebox|type=dev|name=Positron (Developer)|source=the initial post from the forum thread announcing the AMA|text=[https://docs.google.com/document/d/19qbHHrRmifxGPz60-_ApLNiwOmF5QVEMrXHgB1Nrd4o/edit?pli=1 City of Heroes AMA 2012] | ||
That's a link to the doc, in case these boards get shut down, and because I don't want to clean it up for our forum posting format (if someone ELSE does, feel free to pad your postcount). | That's a link to the doc, in case these boards get shut down, and because I don't want to clean it up for our forum posting format (if someone ELSE does, feel free to pad your postcount). | ||
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STM: This was one of the first stories I wrote after being hired. The idea was that the power of invulnerability is super powerful and has its own kind of will to choose its owner. The goal of the power was that the user of the power help save the world and themselves, so it had a knack for choosing people who were not so heroic. The previous Ajax had done all that he could for himself and the world. It was time for him to move on to the afterlife and help someone else change. He knew that going into the fight with the new Ajax. The invulnerability power left the original Ajax and granted themselves to our Ajax to help change his life and the people around him.|bg1=#ccccff}} | STM: This was one of the first stories I wrote after being hired. The idea was that the power of invulnerability is super powerful and has its own kind of will to choose its owner. The goal of the power was that the user of the power help save the world and themselves, so it had a knack for choosing people who were not so heroic. The previous Ajax had done all that he could for himself and the world. It was time for him to move on to the afterlife and help someone else change. He knew that going into the fight with the new Ajax. The invulnerability power left the original Ajax and granted themselves to our Ajax to help change his life and the people around him.|bg1=#ccccff}} | ||
== | === <div style="font-weight:bold;text-align:center;border-top:1px solid #5555FF;border-bottom:1px solid #5555FF;background-color:#ffffff;margin:1em;padding:0.2em;font-size:1.2em">'''AMA: 2013'''</div> === | ||
After taking questions in an open Google Doc, the first of the yearly AMAs was [http://www.onrpg.com/articles/editorial/city-of-heroes-9th-anniversary-loregasm/ announced at OnRPG] on May 3rd, 2013, and released as a closed [https://docs.google.com/document/d/11bjjR2rdP9Kbe8baODElUQGRxNTTlj_b5PVqCdNXJ8o/edit Google Doc]. In most cases, the name of the dev giving an answer is listed after the answer. The devs that answered are: | After taking questions in an open Google Doc, the first of the yearly AMAs was [http://www.onrpg.com/articles/editorial/city-of-heroes-9th-anniversary-loregasm/ announced at OnRPG] on May 3rd, 2013, and released as a closed [https://docs.google.com/document/d/11bjjR2rdP9Kbe8baODElUQGRxNTTlj_b5PVqCdNXJ8o/edit Google Doc]. In most cases, the name of the dev giving an answer is listed after the answer. The devs that answered are: | ||
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* Vince D'Amelio, a.k.a. [[The Dark Watcher (Developer)|The Dark Watcher]] | * Vince D'Amelio, a.k.a. [[The Dark Watcher (Developer)|The Dark Watcher]] | ||
{{EdNote|note=This is the most likely list of developers who answered AMA 2, as there are multiple devs with some of those first names. Some questions do not have a dev name, and it can be assumed that they were answered by Positron unless the context indicates otherwise. Several questions were unable to be answered, and are marked as "Answer hazy, ask again later (Matt because he couldn’t find someone to answer this right now)." | {{EdNote|note=This is the most likely list of developers who answered AMA 2, as there are multiple devs with some of those first names. Some questions do not have a dev name, and it can be assumed that they were answered by Positron unless the context indicates otherwise. Several questions were unable to be answered, and are marked as "Answer hazy, ask again later (Matt because he couldn’t find someone to answer this right now)."}} | ||
The second Lore AMA at its time of last revision (May 7, 2013) is as follows: | The second Lore AMA at its time of last revision (May 7, 2013) is as follows: | ||
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A) We hadn’t gotten to that part of the story development yet, but 5th Column definitely had a foothold on the Moon. (Matt)|bg1=#ccccff}} | A) We hadn’t gotten to that part of the story development yet, but 5th Column definitely had a foothold on the Moon. (Matt)|bg1=#ccccff}} | ||
== | === <div style="font-weight:bold;text-align:center;border-top:1px solid #5555FF;border-bottom:1px solid #5555FF;background-color:#ffffff;margin:1em;padding:0.2em;font-size:1.2em">'''AMA: 2014'''</div> === | ||
An [http://www.cohtitan.com/forum/index.php/topic,9602.0.html unofficial thread] was started on the Titan Network forums for gathering questions. Positron was contacted and said: "I plan on doing it a bit differently this year. Doc will only be up for a short window." On April 17, 2014, at 8:45 AM PDT, Positron posted [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ocOo69mXIQ8HthabNe1F4X1EcZcSDwZFEE9sT8WSBc4/edit# a Google Doc] that he left open for only 24 hours. Positron also put in some general rules for asking questions, largely prohibiting questions not related to the game's lore: | An [http://www.cohtitan.com/forum/index.php/topic,9602.0.html unofficial thread] was started on the Titan Network forums for gathering questions. Positron was contacted and said: "I plan on doing it a bit differently this year. Doc will only be up for a short window." On April 17, 2014, at 8:45 AM PDT, Positron posted [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ocOo69mXIQ8HthabNe1F4X1EcZcSDwZFEE9sT8WSBc4/edit# a Google Doc] that he left open for only 24 hours. Positron also put in some general rules for asking questions, largely prohibiting questions not related to the game's lore: | ||
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I mean, they were our own versions with their own stories and uniqueness about them, but we wanted players to find familiar footing when they played CoH. | I mean, they were our own versions with their own stories and uniqueness about them, but we wanted players to find familiar footing when they played CoH. | ||
'''Q) What were the ultimate Magic origin and Technology origin threats that were conceived of by time of the sunset announcement, and what made them scarier than what we’d fought before? ( | '''Q) What were the ultimate Magic origin and Technology origin threats that were conceived of by time of the sunset announcement, and what made them scarier than what we’d fought before? (@Draeth Darkstar)''' | ||
A) Chris Behrens (Baryonyx) - I don’t know that these were specific to an origin, but the “ultimate” threats included: | A) Chris Behrens (Baryonyx) - I don’t know that these were specific to an origin, but the “ultimate” threats included: | ||
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But first you need to survive a civil war tearing the Dimensionless and their Primordial leadership apart, fraying the whole infrastructure keeping it all going. | But first you need to survive a civil war tearing the Dimensionless and their Primordial leadership apart, fraying the whole infrastructure keeping it all going. | ||
'''Q) What tabletop RPG system do you feel best fits the power scale, game style, and themes of City of Heroes? Have any of the developers designed any unofficial homebrew City of Heroes pen and paper material? ( | '''Q) What tabletop RPG system do you feel best fits the power scale, game style, and themes of City of Heroes? Have any of the developers designed any unofficial homebrew City of Heroes pen and paper material? (@Draeth Darkstar)''' | ||
A) Matt Miller (Positron) Jeff Hamiliton and I were just talking about this the other day. IMO, the best “system” for conveying a comic-book game would be something akin to Fantasy Flight’s Star Wars RPG system. Extremely narrative storytelling, less emphasis on making numbers into bigger numbers. | A) Matt Miller (Positron) Jeff Hamiliton and I were just talking about this the other day. IMO, the best “system” for conveying a comic-book game would be something akin to Fantasy Flight’s Star Wars RPG system. Extremely narrative storytelling, less emphasis on making numbers into bigger numbers. | ||
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A) Matt Miller (Positron) Weird, I don’t recall that. I mean, the 5th Column base was on the moon, why would they claim otherwise?}} | A) Matt Miller (Positron) Weird, I don’t recall that. I mean, the 5th Column base was on the moon, why would they claim otherwise?}} | ||
== | === <div style="font-weight:bold;text-align:center;border-top:1px solid #5555FF;border-bottom:1px solid #5555FF;background-color:#ffffff;margin:1em;padding:0.2em;font-size:1.2em">'''AMA: 2015'''</div> === | ||
On April 24th, 2015, Positron released a [https://twitter.com/MMODesigner/status/591725359634075648 tweet] with a link to a [http://goo.gl/forms/B3k5ebv5Zy Google Docs form] for submitting questions. The form was open until April 28th, and players were limited to one "lore related (not business, development, or systems / powers)" question. Upon submitting a question, the form noted that answers would be "made available sometime the week of May 3rd." After the form was closed, it told players that it was not accepting further submissions, but to "Try again next year!" | |||
On April 24th, 2015, Positron released a [https://twitter.com/MMODesigner/status/591725359634075648 tweet] with a link to a [http://goo.gl/forms/B3k5ebv5Zy Google Docs form] for submitting questions. The form was open until April 28th, and players were limited to one "lore related (not business, development, or systems / powers)" question. Upon submitting a question, the form noted that answers would be "made available sometime the week of May 3rd." | |||
On May 17th, 2015 Positron released a [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IiWUZeUrkFkeTobtQpaRY2WONFdXvjlxjphs4eoG1ck/pub Google Doc] with the 2015 AMA answers. The devs that answered are: | On May 17th, 2015 Positron released a [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IiWUZeUrkFkeTobtQpaRY2WONFdXvjlxjphs4eoG1ck/pub Google Doc] with the 2015 AMA answers. The devs that answered are: | ||
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Positron: Yes. He's from 10,000 years in the future though, enough time to truly rehabilitate and see the results of his actions. Since he's just a consciousness in a robot body, he just kept transferring into new (older) versions of himself to get past his time-travel tether. | Positron: Yes. He's from 10,000 years in the future though, enough time to truly rehabilitate and see the results of his actions. Since he's just a consciousness in a robot body, he just kept transferring into new (older) versions of himself to get past his time-travel tether. | ||
'''Blackout: Ok, this is gonna be kind of a long one, but what was up with Eisensturm? | '''Blackout: Ok, this is gonna be kind of a long one, but what was up with Eisensturm?''' | ||
He's described as being the leader of the Storm Korps (The sort of Nazi 5th column equivalent during WWII, the column, whilst German were involved more with the Italians than with the Nazi's back in the day). Furthermore, what little lore there is on them places them at Normandy on D-Day, and the Statesman is described as being injured during this battle to the point where he was unable to take part in the rest of the war; Did they do that? Did Eisensturm and the Storm Korps beat down the most powerful superhero on the planet so badly that he was hospitalized for months? That's kind of significant for such an overlooked character. | '''He's described as being the leader of the Storm Korps (The sort of Nazi 5th column equivalent during WWII, the column, whilst German were involved more with the Italians than with the Nazi's back in the day). Furthermore, what little lore there is on them places them at Normandy on D-Day, and the Statesman is described as being injured during this battle to the point where he was unable to take part in the rest of the war; Did they do that? Did Eisensturm and the Storm Korps beat down the most powerful superhero on the planet so badly that he was hospitalized for months? That's kind of significant for such an overlooked character.''' | ||
In addition to this they also kidnapped the King of England (again pretty significant) and nearly succeeded in escaping with him. Finally the last piece of lore regarding them describes all but five of them being killed by the First Hero Brigade in the Black forest of Germany at the very end of the war, but it doesn't actually specify who survived. Did Eisensturm survive? If so is he still alive in a prison somewhere?''' | '''In addition to this they also kidnapped the King of England (again pretty significant) and nearly succeeded in escaping with him. Finally the last piece of lore regarding them describes all but five of them being killed by the First Hero Brigade in the Black forest of Germany at the very end of the war, but it doesn't actually specify who survived. Did Eisensturm survive? If so is he still alive in a prison somewhere?''' | ||
Positron: Short answer to a long question: I had completely forgotten about Eisensturm until you brought it up, that’s how little effect his story had on the game as a whole. Sorry. | Positron: Short answer to a long question: I had completely forgotten about Eisensturm until you brought it up, that’s how little effect his story had on the game as a whole. Sorry. | ||
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'''@duane: Many hero missions to kick COT butt had sewer or abandon mine entries. | '''@duane: Many hero missions to kick COT butt had sewer or abandon mine entries. | ||
Is Oranbega "under" Paragon City or just accessible by dimensional portals "under" Paragon City?''' | '''Is Oranbega "under" Paragon City or just accessible by dimensional portals "under" Paragon City?''' | ||
Positron: Orenbega is literally under Paragon City, no dimensional portals needed to access it. | Positron: Orenbega is literally under Paragon City, no dimensional portals needed to access it. | ||
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'''Joosy aka Control Queen: What was the real secret (if any) behind Ouroboros? Where they recruiting us to save the future or actually destroy it?''' | '''Joosy aka Control Queen: What was the real secret (if any) behind Ouroboros? Where they recruiting us to save the future or actually destroy it?''' | ||
Dr. Aeon: From my memory: Ouroboros's goal was to use the power of Rularuu to destroy Battalion. Mender Silos aka Nemesis witnessed Battallio's wiping the floor with Earth's heroes and villains, even after the whole world united to take them on. After centuries on the run and planning everything out, Nemesis realized the only way to defeat Battalion would be to unleash Rularuu upon the core structure of the group. So, Ouroboros wanted to save the timeline by using Rularuu as a nuclear option, while Dream Doctor and his team wanted to find a different solution. Internally, when we were planning it out, the idea was that when the time actually arrived, we'd show the core Battalion leadership to be someting like Incarnate Level 100, but that you could defeat them with the help of Rularuu.... which a whole other story! | Dr. Aeon: From my memory: Ouroboros's goal was to use the power of Rularuu to destroy Battalion. Mender Silos aka Nemesis witnessed Battallio's wiping the floor with Earth's heroes and villains, even after the whole world united to take them on. After centuries on the run and planning everything out, Nemesis realized the only way to defeat Battalion would be to unleash Rularuu upon the core structure of the group. So, Ouroboros wanted to save the timeline by using Rularuu as a nuclear option, while Dream Doctor and his team wanted to find a different solution. Internally, when we were planning it out, the idea was that when the time actually arrived, we'd show the core Battalion leadership to be someting like Incarnate Level 100, but that you could defeat them with the help of Rularuu.... which a whole other story! | ||
'''Fescu: As far as I know there were never any actual retcons when Going Rogue went live, and the old lore states that Praetorian Earth did have a Rikti Invasion. A few of the new missions even have war walls in them. So how come the populace doesn't appear to know about the Rikti?''' | '''Fescu: As far as I know there were never any actual retcons when Going Rogue went live, and the old lore states that Praetorian Earth did have a Rikti Invasion. A few of the new missions even have war walls in them. So how come the populace doesn't appear to know about the Rikti?''' | ||
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{{center|<gallery heights=200px caption="Images linked in AMA question (Click for full size images)"> | {{center|<gallery heights=200px caption="Images linked in AMA question (Click for full size images)"> | ||
File: | File:Ms. Liberty old.jpg|Miss Liberty in game | ||
File:Hero1Glory.jpg|An unused model of Hero 1 | File:Hero1Glory.jpg|An unused model of Hero 1 | ||
</gallery>}} | </gallery>}} | ||
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'''Tataku: So one thing missing from the comic book experience of CoH was the uber-powerful alien warlord, ala Darksied or Thanos. Were there any plans to implement such an AV? Perhaps the head of Battalion?''' | '''Tataku: So one thing missing from the comic book experience of CoH was the uber-powerful alien warlord, ala Darksied or Thanos. Were there any plans to implement such an AV? Perhaps the head of Battalion?''' | ||
Protean: Battalion was run by a war council of galactic warlords, each one being immensely powerful and leading vast armies of subjugated alien races. | Protean: Battalion was run by a war council of galactic warlords, each one being immensely powerful and leading vast armies of subjugated alien races. | ||
'''General X: What would COH2 entail? Lore-wise, how power sets and archetypes would work, whether it was a new engine, or anything you can openly share about it?''' | '''General X: What would COH2 entail? Lore-wise, how power sets and archetypes would work, whether it was a new engine, or anything you can openly share about it?''' | ||
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'''Nightsjester: Was there ever any plans or ideas to redeem Lord Recluse?''' | '''Nightsjester: Was there ever any plans or ideas to redeem Lord Recluse?''' | ||
Dr. Aeon: I don't think we planned to ever fully redeem him, but there were plans to make him a more relatable super-villain. We had him try to go after Tyrant in Praetoria with the full might of Arachnos in order to stop Tyrant's further | Dr. Aeon: I don't think we planned to ever fully redeem him, but there were plans to make him a more relatable super-villain. We had him try to go after Tyrant in Praetoria with the full might of Arachnos in order to stop Tyrant's further attacks on Primal Earth. Lord Recluse would have been researching how to empower Arachnos to Incarnate-levels in order to fight of Battalion. | ||
We wanted to make it a big deal that Lord Recluse was one of the few super villains in charge of both an army and an entire nation, the Rogue Isles. That makes him a villain with something to defend and something to lose, and he would behave in that way. Since we were dealing with lots of inter-galactic threats, Recluse would, of course, be mobilizing his army to deal with it and making deals not to get in anyone's way, because why would Arachnos be fighting Longbow when Battalion is attacking? | We wanted to make it a big deal that Lord Recluse was one of the few super villains in charge of both an army and an entire nation, the Rogue Isles. That makes him a villain with something to defend and something to lose, and he would behave in that way. Since we were dealing with lots of inter-galactic threats, Recluse would, of course, be mobilizing his army to deal with it and making deals not to get in anyone's way, because why would Arachnos be fighting Longbow when Battalion is attacking? | ||
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'''Oak: How exactly did the Praetorian war get started? What catalyzed Cole's interest in Primal Earth to the point of full-on invasion and war?''' | '''Oak: How exactly did the Praetorian war get started? What catalyzed Cole's interest in Primal Earth to the point of full-on invasion and war?''' | ||
Protean: Cole's primary interest in Primal Earth was as an escape plan from Hamidon. | Protean: Cole's primary interest in Primal Earth was as an escape plan from Hamidon. | ||
'''Overclock: With all the time travel that happened after Issue 11 and the release of Ouroboros, were there ever thoughts about retconning out some bit of established game lore? Bonus points if there were and the reason was that what had been established in-game and was a pain for the new content writers to deal with (aka the reason most retcons seem to happen in comics).''' | '''Overclock: With all the time travel that happened after Issue 11 and the release of Ouroboros, were there ever thoughts about retconning out some bit of established game lore? Bonus points if there were and the reason was that what had been established in-game and was a pain for the new content writers to deal with (aka the reason most retcons seem to happen in comics).''' | ||
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Positron: We retconned stuff out all the time. Players hated it whenever we did it though.}} | Positron: We retconned stuff out all the time. Players hated it whenever we did it though.}} | ||
== | === <div style="font-weight:bold;text-align:center;border-top:1px solid #5555FF;border-bottom:1px solid #5555FF;background-color:#ffffff;margin:1em;padding:0.2em;font-size:1.2em">'''AMA: 2016'''</div> === | ||
Positron posted a [http://goo.gl/forms/PrD6STRXIA Google Doc form] in an [http://www.cohtitan.com/forum/index.php?topic=11829 unofficial thread] on the Titan Network forums. | |||
On April 28th, 2016, Positron released a [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YjnwmdqnU-W5neQ-JGrfPtX9pysGZuetyvmHtdSbjs0/edit Google Doc] with the 2016 AMA answers. The devs that answered are: | |||
* Matt Miller, a.k.a. [[Positron (Developer)|Positron]] | |||
* Sean McCann, a.k.a. [[Dr. Aeon (Developer)|Dr. Aeon]] | |||
The fifth Lore AMA at its time of release (April 28th, 2016) is as follows: | |||
{{hidden|City of Heroes Loregasm 2016|bg1=#ccccff|content= | |||
'''''I'd like to take a moment to thank Sean "Dr. Aeon" McCann, without whom this Loregasm would not have been possible (or very much more boring at any rate). Honestly I'd forgotten pretty much everything Sean added to this Q&A until he wrote it down. My old age and distance from the project has forced me to make room in my head for other stuff. While I'd like to keep doing these, I will tell you that if Sean's not here to save my bacon next year, these are going to get a lot more boring.''''' | |||
'''Samuraiko: What, if any, was your favorite 'lore conspiracy theory' that the playerbase had going? Something that the players were going nuts trying to figure out, and were probably WAY off base. ("Such-and-such is a spy," "this is a Nemesis plot," that kind of thing.)''' | |||
Dr. Aeon: The really annoying thing was when the lore conspiracy theories were true. I think people had mentioned before Dark Astoria that they thought the Dream Doctor was the Letter Writer, and I remember thinking, "How the heck would you think that?" We also used to joke that anyone could tell what we were planning if they knew the IP of the studio, because then they could see all the pages we were looking at on paragonwiki for reference, since it had all the details of everything we ever did in the game more than we did. | |||
Positron: Most players were really good about just enjoying the game we served them, but a few players (even some devs in the studio) never really could accept a GOOD version of Nemesis, Mender Silos, and kept picking at and digging for a future betrayal that would never come. | |||
I like to believe that people can change, and that a version of Nemesis forced to live and see the world he tried to conquer, conquered by someone else due to his actions, and forced to work for those new conquerors... he had to change. Silos would never go against the modern version of himself (Paradox and all that), but Ouroboros had no ulterior motives. The Letter Writer's warnings were just that, cautions against what COULD be, not what was GOING to be. | |||
'''@Placta: Which Council AVs returned to the 5th Column when it resurfaced?''' | |||
Dr. Aeon: If I recall correctly, Arakhn and Nosferatu rejoined Requiem, who had also recruited Reichsman during the events of Dark Astoria. I think Vandal was sticking with the Council due to their technology, and Archon Burkholder would've flipped at the moment it looked like the 5th Column was winning... but of course Requiem wouldn't have allowed him back. Protean is Protean, and was loyal to no one. Maestro continued to serve with the Council. | |||
'''Fink: Is it all a Nemesis plot?''' | |||
Positron: People ask us all the time "why did you never finish x or y plotline?" Well, the answer is two-fold. First, player fatigue. Praetorian Earth was SUPER fun to visit, but after a while, the players wanted something NEW. We still had a ton of stories to tell there, but we made the decision to leave it alone and move along the main (Coming Storm) storyline of the game. | |||
Second, that plotline was likely shepherded and nurtured through to life by a designer that no longer worked on the game. Just like plotlines in comic books, writers aren't (and frankly shouldn't) be asked to pick up and finish something started by someone else. Hopefully then have their OWN ideas and can take a plot from start to fruition, and leave just enough lore and plot hooks for another writer to, ''if they wanted'', pick up and make their own. | |||
'''AJ: What are other "Elseworlds" you could have envisioned exploring eventually?''' | |||
Positron: All the different Statesmen/Stateswomen from the various universes was something I really wanted to see happen. Also exploring what happened to the Omega Team on the Rikti Homeworld (and Ruin's takeover of their version of Australia) was something I was super into. | |||
'''Not the Gamester: Did the Gamester have an actual identity and backstory or was he just an excuse to have a winter holiday event?''' | |||
Positron: He absolutely did. Manticore (Sean Dornan-Fish) did a backstory for him. He was basically the City of Heroes version of Arcade/The Trickster, and a convenient go-to for holiday events in-game. What it was, I have no idea. | |||
'''Cobalt Azurean: Would Statesman ever have returned?''' | |||
Dr. Aeon: After I went through all the trouble of killing him, someone in the studio mentioned they wanted to bring him back eventually. I don't know if they were serious or trying to get a rise out of me, but I always got really angry because I worked so hard to kill him in the first place. | |||
Positron: As you can see Sean never liked the idea of him returning, but he was 100% coming back (on my watch anyway). First let's make something super clear: Primal Statesman was dead-dead. Sean did go through a ton of work to kill him, and he did successfully do so. | |||
But there is more than one Statesman in the multiverse, and you end up capturing one in an Incarnate Trial: Tyrant. The plan was, in a couple years, have Statesman "mysteriously return," but in reality it was Marcus Cole from Praetoria, now reformed (for now anyway). The Phalanx would know the truth, but the general populace would see it as a miracle in a time of desperate need. | |||
'''Felderburg: What ideas for Signature Story Arcs beyond the two that were released were being floated around?''' | |||
Dr. Aeon: I was working on a 3rd sig arc when we shut down. It was going to be a combo of a personal story and a sig story where the player played from the POV of Scirocco defecting to Paragon w/Ice Mistral, trying to become a hero with Serafina guiding him. He'd unlock his Incarnate powers, which was become a dual-wielder (because it's awesome) and earning the mantle of Scirocco. Ice Mistral would defect back to Arachnos because being the good guy was too hard. Scirocco would go back to try to rescue her, facing Mako in the Golden Giza and Black Scorpion in Grandville square. He'd be defeated by Ghost Widow, and in that moment he'd realize for everything he felt about Ghost Widow, she'd never betray Arachnos, not even for him. Lord Recluse orders Ghost Widow to finish him off, but Ms. Liberty and her team breaks in to save Scirocco. He and Ice Mistral escape through the tunnels beneath Grandville, where they'd have a final showdown with Lord Recluse. They beat him and retreat back to Paragon. The plan was an issue later to replace Scirocco with the Mu we introduced in Dark Astoria. | |||
* [[Canon Fodder]] | '''Blue Battler: In the Freedom Phalanx Novel, Positron and Synapse are long time friends before they got their powers and Synapse is an accountant. I remember an in-game plaque that implied Synapse was also a scientist like Positron and they don't get along very well. What was game canon? Was Synapse a scientist or accountant? Were he and Posi childhood friends who just liked to give each other a hard time?''' | ||
Positron: Ah, the backstory paradox. I wrote the plaque based on what Sean Dornan-Fish and I came up with for Synapse and Positron's backstories when we launched City of Heroes. | |||
Then we work-for-hired out the novel and Sean forgot all about that dumb plaque when giving the writer the backstories to work into the story. | |||
Game canon was that Synapse was a scientist, not an accountant. While we usually tried to come up with some cockamamie answer to smooth over canon mistakes like this without dreadedly "ret-conning" stuff, some stuff is just too contradictory. Terrible answer I know, but you get what you pay for.}} | |||
=== <div style="font-weight:bold;text-align:center;border-top:1px solid #5555FF;border-bottom:1px solid #5555FF;background-color:#ffffff;margin:1em;padding:0.2em;font-size:1.2em">'''Back Alley Brawler reddit AMA'''</div> === | |||
On 2016-04-29 [[Back Alley Brawler (Developer)|Back Alley Brawler]] began [http://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/4gv8xl/final_moments_before_city_of_heroes_shut_down_for/d2lkkqd answering questions about City of Heroes in an informal AMA]. Although he framed it as an AMA, some of the responses are more conversational in nature, but still reveal interesting information about the game and the culture of Paragon Studio. {{EdNote|note=When looking at the original reddit thread, the answers may sometimes be hard to find when the threads grow larger. CTRL+F (and keep tapping F3 thereafter) to find the phrase "load more comments" and click those to view his answers; you can also F3 cycle through the phrase "CBruce" once all comments are loaded.}} | |||
The questions he has answered as of August 8, 2018 are: | |||
{{hidden|Back Alley Brawler AMA (2016)|bg1=#ccccff|content={{EdNote|note=Due to differences in reddit's threaded format and wiki presentability, there have been changes to the original formatting. The intent is to transform the reddit thread into a more traditional "Q&A" like the other Lore AMAs with as little loss of content as possible. Where relevant, threads are indented to indicate that they originated from the answer immediately above them; otherwise, replies have been broken out into their own Q&A portion. Because reddit easily allows direct quotes in its comments, those are indicated by an indented blue square, in both questions and answers - all bold text is a direct question or quote from a player; all non-bolded text is an answer from BAB. There have also been minor typo corrections when the typo was clearly obvious.}}{{EdNote|note=The current state of the AMA includes the entirety of comments; it is possible that they will be trimmed for only the context important to the actual question in the future.}} | |||
Back Alley Brawler here, AMA? | |||
'''Q) Wretschko''' | |||
'''Holy shit, it IS you. | |||
'''First, I hope you're actively employed, heh. | |||
'''Second, do YOU believe the chatter that there are STILL on-going negotiations from a group of folks willing to license/buy the CoH IP from NCSoft or do you think it's just wishful thinking/unrealistic hype? | |||
'''Third, do you think the current efforts are viable? (City of Titans, Atlas Park Revisited, etc.) | |||
'''And lastly, is there a private server running CoH and if so, can you please tell me who to contact to gain access to it? ;) | |||
'''I mean, I know the game engine is now absolutely ancient but I think a few thousand people would still cough up a monthly sub to bring back their heroes/villains. I know I would. It wasn't so much as the graphics that made CoH/CoV great, it was the atmosphere and friendships made. For some reason, no other MMO could live up to what CoH was for me.''' | |||
A) BABs | |||
*'''First, I hope you're actively employed, heh. | |||
I am, thank you. After being laid off from Paragon, I almost immediately went back to work at Cryptic Studios. There, I helped launch Neverwinter and got to work on a couple of other unrealized projects. About a year ago, I relocated to Champaign, IL to work for Deep Silver Volition, where I am now. | |||
*'''Second, do YOU believe the chatter that there are STILL on-going negotiations from a group of folks willing to license/buy the CoH IP from NCSoft or do you think it's just wishful thinking/unrealistic hype? | |||
Honestly, I haven't followed it that much. I've no idea what kind of negotiations any third party has had with NCSoft. I know that Matt Miller once confided that Paragon tried to acquire the franchise from NCSoft and go at it on their own, but the big hangup was the liability of active accounts and how all of that got transferred from one owner to another. Like acquiring CoH a year after it had shut down would have been more likely, but by then it would be too late to matter. Pretty sure Cryptic approached NCSoft about re-acquiring City of Heroes when they shuttered Paragon as well. I have no specifics about it, but clearly nothing came of that. | |||
This was the second MMO I worked on that was shut down by NCSoft, and NetDevil did a similiar thing where they tried to assume all operational costs in order to keep Auto Assault live. At the time, NCSoft seemed to have this 'go big, or go home' attitude about their franchises. They would have rather completely shut down prematurely than let it linger on, even it if was profitable. | |||
In my experience, every publisher will always talk as if they're on the verge of signing a deal even if there's zero chance of that ever happening. It costs them nothing to say that. But when it comes time to writing up contracts and signing paperwork, that's where the process stalls out. | |||
*'''Third, do you think the current efforts are viable? (City of Titans, Atlas Park Revisited, etc.) | |||
Again, not really familiar with any of these projects or their status. I can say that making an MMO is a massive venture and for any small group to pull it off without a major source of funding is almost insurmountable. If one of these projects manages to make it, it'll be a real testament to the dedication and talent of their team. Even if they flounder, it's still an impressive thing for anyone to attempt. | |||
It's interesting, because it seems to me that the environment right now with the wildly popular Marvel/DC film franchises is far more ripe for a 'super hero' themed MMO. But I don't know if anyone's willing to take the risk with the genre and tone that fans probably really want. | |||
*'''And lastly, is there a private server running CoH and if so, can you please tell me who to contact to gain access to it? ;) | |||
Legitimately no idea. There were illegal servers supposedly going while the game was live, so seems likely someone somewhere might have something. There's a Paragon Chat application that seems pretty interesting. | |||
*'''I mean, I know the game engine is now absolutely ancient but I think a few thousand people would still cough up a monthly sub to bring back their heroes/villains. I know I would. It wasn't so much as the graphics that made CoH/CoV great, it was the atmosphere and friendships made. For some reason, no other MMO could live up to what CoH was for me. | |||
I hear you. City of Heroes is a significant part of my life. I was a player long before I started at Cryptic. I invested thousands and thousands of my free time into playing the game and years of my career working on it. Both of my sons were born while it was live. And while I couldn't bear to play again after Paragon, seeing it shut down and knowing that it's gone forever has left an aching hole in me. I've never connected with an online community the same way since. | |||
:'''Q) NondeterministSystem | |||
:*I've never connected with an online community the same way since. | |||
:'''We still love you, BABs. As I've said elsewhere in this thread, I'm still in touch with a lot of my Super Group. We're having a get together later this month. | |||
:'''If we're doing questions, though... What were the remaining Incarnate Slots conceptualized to do? | |||
:A) BABs | |||
:*'''We still love you, BABs. As I've said elsewhere in this thread, I'm still in touch with a lot of my Super Group. We're having a get together later this month. | |||
:Awesome. | |||
:*'''If we're doing questions, though... What were the remaining Incarnate Slots conceptualized to do? | |||
:See my answer here: {{EdNote|note=The linked answer has been copy / pasted for convenience; this may change as this AMA is finalized}} | |||
:Incarnate system came online right after I was laid off from Paragon and I was really to burnt out and heartbroken to log in to the game from that point on. | |||
:Matt would undoubtedly know. In fact, it seems like he's talked about that topic before. Definitely laid out some things about mysteries and where they were going in with the lore. | |||
'''Q) HighPiracy | |||
'''Hey! Loved the game and appreciate all the work you did on it. I was a day 1 player, one of the first regen scrappers (dark melee was the other half). Have great memories of flying around and just perching of rooftops in a heroic manner. Built so many alts, and loved City of Villains. Any mechanic you wish you could have added or done to the game? | |||
A) BABs | |||
*'''Loved the game and appreciate all the work you did on it. | |||
Me too. Thanks. | |||
*'''Any mechanic you wish you could have added or done to the game? | |||
I got to implement power customization and weapon customization. Those were big things for me. | |||
I always wanted a way to make flight faster. It was gated as a travel power because of the soft limit on super-speed, and the need to balance super-speed's 2D limitation against super-jumping and fully 3D freedom of flight. But man, it would have been great to really tear across the skies of Paragon City. | |||
And of course, one of the reasons I left Cryptic to join Paragon (apart from the weird contractual business of 'no longer having a job') was the promise of doing City of Heroes 2. Really sad the day that fell through. More sad when the other MMO we were working on didn't pay out because that was--in my opinion--a better tonal fit for the modern audience. | |||
:'''Q) implicitlyimplying | |||
:'''I was so impressed with power customization when it launched. I remember the feature's announcement on the forums (I think it was a post by Positron). People went wild about it because it had been requested for so long. I was glad you guys took the time to get it right. I literally played around with that feature almost everyday after it launched. | |||
:A) BABs | |||
:Was a huge endeavor. One of the biggest things I've ever tackled in my career. Were it not for Mike Chock's help with Python scripting and on the implementation side, it would have never happened. Keetsie also put in a ton of work with me on converting something like 4,000 VFX scripts by hand to support it. | |||
:In retrospect, I kind of regret not pushing back harder at those wanting to limit the creative options. But some were really worried about having yellow ice controllers and whatnot. I let myself get convinced it was the right decision and a few players got locked out of making character concepts they had in their head because we didn't want to have 'Captain Yellow Snow' running around in game. | |||
'''Q) Wretschko | |||
'''Remember the first time you flew up to the top of the world on Atlas' shoulder? | |||
A) BABs | |||
I think you mean slowly hovered. | |||
:'''Q) implicitlyimplying | |||
:'''Wow, I don't think I've ever felt this level of nostalgia. CoH was a major part of my adolescence. I started playing on the Justice server in 2004 when I was 12 years old. As someone who had a difficult time making friends as a child, CoH was a game changer. The game was so user-friendly and had so many community-building tools that made it so easy to build long-lasting friendships. I played the game for countless hours and I've never felt that connected with any game since. | |||
:A) BABs | |||
:What was your character name on Justice? I played mainly as Tic-Toc. | |||
:Justice was a sort of unofficial dev server. There were a number of us hiding out there. | |||
:What was really interesting is when I started at Cryptic, I was cautioned to not let other players find out who I was. If it ever became common knowledge, I was at risk of having my personal accounts locked. So there was an element of having a real secret identity that I had to deal with and protect while playing a super-hero in a game. | |||
:Always thought that added another level to the game for me and wondered how we could do something similar for everyone else. | |||
'''Q) Hephoran | |||
'''How did you feel about having your character stuck in "2nd rate Atlas city"? :P | |||
'''As for a more serious question, what were your ideas about where the whole Incarnate system was going? It really sucked that one week we got the announcement of a new Issue with a new tier of Incarnate powers, and the next week we heard the servers would shut down... | |||
'''Thanks for all the work you and the rest of the team put into this game. It still stands as my best gaming experience ever. | |||
A) BABs | |||
*'''How did you feel about having your character stuck in "2nd rate Atlas city"? :P | |||
To be fair, BABs was never really my character. I only adopted that identity so that when we did dev-run events, I'd have control over a character that I actually know how to play (INV/SS tank). | |||
*'''As for a more serious question, what were your ideas about where the whole Incarnate system was going? It really sucked that one week we got the announcement of a new Issue with a new tier of Incarnate powers, and the next week we heard the servers would shut down... | |||
Incarnate system cam online right after I was laid off from Paragon and I was really to burnt out and heartbroken to log in to the game from that point on. | |||
Matt would undoubtedly know. In fact, it seems like he's talked about that topic before. Definitely laid out some things about mysteries and where they were going in with the lore. | |||
'''Q) philosoblanka | |||
'''No questions, just want to say that my time playing CoH/CoV was, to date, my best gaming experience. Addictive and fun, with frequent quality updates. The level of communication between the development team and the players should be used as the best example for game developers today. Great stuff. | |||
A) BABs | |||
*'''No questions, just want to say that my time playing CoH/CoV was, to date, my best gaming experience. | |||
Me too. | |||
*'''The level of communication between the development team and the players should be used as the best example for game developers today. | |||
I don't know if you meant me personally, but I got into so much trouble for various forum posts. I was probably personally responsible for the implementation of a whole suite of formalized rules and procedures for even getting to post to the forums. | |||
Kind of sad, because as a player I really enjoyed the casual interaction between players and developers in game and on the forums. By the time I was working there, and managed to weasel my way into a redname account, that culture was starting to go down a different path. Partially because of the whole Cryptic/Marvel deal. | |||
I never intentionally set out to rock the boat, but there's 3 or 4 instances I can remember where I got called into someone's office or taken for a walk by Ken and told to watch what I was saying. I think ultimately, I got written up, had to sign an agreement to pass every post through CMs for approval, and that was when I stopped participating on the forums quite as much. It stopped being organic and genuine to me. | |||
Completely understandable why NCSoft/Paragon did what they did--they're looking to protect their investment--but as a fan, player, and member of the community it just didn't sit right with me. | |||
Was fun while it lasted. I really enjoyed giving other players insight into the inner workings that I'd managed infiltrate myself. | |||
:'''Q) Noodlespanker | |||
:'''I remember having quite a few arguements in IM with Statesman, chatted up Posi a few times. Always amazed me that I could reach out and yell at the developers. Even if they probably saw me as a buzzing gnat, they responded. I think the best part was seeing the devs in game. I think it was end of beta where I met most of you guys and could chat at you while the world was invaded. | |||
:'''Write ups be damned. There's something in being able to interact with the development of the game like that that is another great element of old mmo's that is now lost to time. | |||
:A) BABs | |||
:*'''Write ups be damned. There's something in being able to interact with the development of the game like that that is another great element of old mmo's that is now lost to time. | |||
:I agree. As a player and developer, it was a very rewarding experience. | |||
'''Q) Rienuaa | |||
'''Thanks for helping make my time with CoH so amazing. Thanks to my dedication to the game, it inspired a love of online games in me. Now I work for Turbine Inc. on DDO :D | |||
A) BABs | |||
*'''Thanks for helping make my time with CoH so amazing. Thanks to my dedication to the game, it inspired a love of online games in me. Now I work for Turbine Inc. on DDO :D | |||
Awesome. Players often make the best devs. | |||
'''Q) ChanThe4th | |||
'''This is crazy! Thank you for helping make literally my favorite game of all time better on a consistent basis. You and the other developers were a massive part of my teenage life and I cannot thank you guys enough for doing such a great job. | |||
'''I played on Virtue because the roleplaying community was so immersive and honestly a great group of people. However I noticed as time went on the "big name" roleplayers started mingling with the developing team regularly, or so they claimed, these people include Golden Girl and Captain Valor. Is there any truth to this? If this is true, did they have any influence on decisions for patches? Such as costumes or even gameplay? | |||
'''Arcana is a huge part of the titan network and was apparently involved with the developer team quite heavily. Her knowledge of the game and the coding seems to be larger than any other player I'm aware of. I suppose my question is that similar to the big name roleplayers, how much influence did she have (if any) on how the game conitinued its development? Did you personally ever interact with her? | |||
'''Lastly, and I realize this has been asked by so many people most likely, but if you have any information regarding private servers or who to talk to join a private server I would love you like a brother. I miss this game more than anything in my life. It was such a huge part of me to have it taken away was literally like losing a close family member or friend. | |||
A) BABs | |||
*'''This is crazy! Thank you for helping make literally my favorite game of all time better on a consistent basis. You and the other developers were a massive part of my teenage life and I cannot thank you guys enough for doing such a great job. | |||
Thank you for helping enrich my playtime and providing a living for all those years. | |||
*'''I played on Virtue because the roleplaying community was so immersive and honestly a great group of people. However I noticed as time went on the "big name" roleplayers started mingling with the developing team regularly, or so they claimed, these people include Golden Girl and Captain Valor. Is there any truth to this? If this is true, did they have any influence on decisions for patches? Such as costumes or even gameplay? | |||
I know the names, but I don't know of anyone like that having a direct influence on decisions. Generally, they were things we wanted to do anyway, like costume change emotes, power customization, etc. | |||
*'''Arcana is a huge part of the titan network and was apparently involved with the developer team quite heavily. Her knowledge of the game and the coding seems to be larger than any other player I'm aware of. I suppose my question is that similar to the big name roleplayers, how much influence did she have (if any) on how the game conitinued its development? Did you personally ever interact with her? | |||
We communicated a lot with Arcana. Really sharp player. I pinged her a lot for basic math help for all sorts of things. | |||
I think we even contracted with her to design a whole procedural rewards system for...shit, what was it...architect missions maybe? That was kind of done hush hush. Dunno if it was ever made public knowledge. So as far as players having a direct influence on the game...yeah, she definitely did. | |||
Fun Arcana story. After I got laid off, I sent her a signed box copy of Going Rogue. She sent me a bunch of goodies from Hawaii. Koana cofee is delicious. SPAM flavored peanuts, not so much. | |||
*'''Lastly, and I realize this has been asked by so many people most likely, but if you have any information regarding private servers or who to talk to join a private server I would love you like a brother. I miss this game more than anything in my life. It was such a huge part of me to have it taken away was literally like losing a close family member or friend. | |||
I have no information about private servers. Honestly. | |||
To be frank, if I had any way to liberate the code for the game servers and release it into the wild, I would be sorely tempted to do so right now. It's a damn shame that people can invest so much time, money, and passion into a game only to see it permanently locked out of ever playing it again. Companies could totally figure out some way to keep minimal servers operational for players. From what I understand, even City of Heroes was eeking out a tiny profit up until the day it was shut down. | |||
:'''Q) ChanThe4th | |||
:'''First of all thank you for the answers! Still helping the CoH community all these years later :P If you don't mind I just have a couple more questions for you, if you don't have the time I'll completely understand! | |||
:'''Was there any other player outside of Arcana that was helping out development that more or less went un-noticed? Or perhaps somebody that played a major role from the shadows sort of thing? | |||
:'''Were there ever any major arguements between developers that lead to something either being intergrated or not? I realize saying who they were might be frowned upon professionally but if you don't mind I'd love to know who! Or maybe even who the hardest to work with was? | |||
:'''What was the biggest difference between the early stages of CoH compared to when you left? | |||
:'''If you remember early on when Jack was running the game, what was he actually like? I vaguely remember him having the opinion that releasing the numbers for powers and what have you would turn the game into just another cookie cutter, do you believe that or no? | |||
:*Companies could totally figure out some way to keep minimal servers operational for players. From what I understand, even City of Heroes was eeking out a tiny profit up until the day it was shut down. | |||
:'''I figure if companies had a license that was purchased by server owners to allow them to legally run the game it would solve so much issues, but companies like NCsoft seem like having any sort of legacy servers are a sin. | |||
:'''Once again just want to say thank you so much, honestly if the game somehow released again I'd break down in tears of joy. I really wish that was an overstatment. However reliving the old memories is all we got and I appreciate you helping me do so! | |||
:A) BABs | |||
:*'''Was there any other player outside of Arcana that was helping out development that more or less went un-noticed? Or perhaps somebody that played a major role from the shadows sort of thing? | |||
:Apart from other devs who were players, not that I'm personally aware of. | |||
:I mean, all of the players who were active on the forums helped shape the game through bug reports, feedbacks, suggestions, and general morale. | |||
:*'''Were there ever any major arguements between developers that lead to something either being intergrated or not? | |||
:Arguments? Not exactly. Certainly passionate disagreements about things, but I don't remember any really heated 'arguments' about any topic. I'm sure there's plenty of instances of things that got integrated that not everyone was on board with. Either because it was done in lieu of something else or because it was not the direction some thought we should go. | |||
:That's just inherent any any collaborative effort. Floyd and I used to get into conversations about nuances of powers all the time, but I always deferred to his decisions. | |||
:Now that I think about it, I guess there were a couple of people that I found occasionally challenging. But I'd rather not get into specifics. Professional thing. Sorry about that. Probably not anyone you'd suspect if that helps. | |||
:*'''Or maybe even who the hardest to work with was? | |||
:When I came on at Cryptic it was shortly after Issue 7 launched, and a good portion of the team was already being shifted over to Fight Club. I was part of the small, dedicated team for City of Heroes/City of Villains and later became one of the founding members of Paragon Studios. | |||
:In all of that time, I don't recall anyone being 'difficult' to work with. Everyone was generally open to feedback from players and especially the other members of the development team. Again, there'd be disagreements and someone like Matt or Ken would have to just make the call they felt was best, but I never felt undervalued or like I had no voice in the project. | |||
:*'''What was the biggest difference between the early stages of CoH compared to when you left? | |||
:Difficult to say, as I was a player in the early stages of CoH (working at 2015 and later NetDevil) and only became a developer after City of Villains. So the game had already taken a pretty many significant departure long before I started working on it. | |||
:The game, like all games, developed fairly organically to try and appease the existing player base and/or attract new players. | |||
:*'''If you remember early on when Jack was running the game, what was he actually like? | |||
:I think overall people greatly overestimate how much direct influence Jack had in City of Heroes way after it initially launched. He was involved for some key discussions (I specifically remember his involvement during design meetings for inventions and the auction house), but was otherwise largely hands off up until NCSoft acquired the franchise and our team. I didn't work directly with Jack all that much. At either time. | |||
:From my perspective, Jack has changed a lot over the years. Particularly after moving up into more studio-wide leadership positions at Cryptic. Was always impressed with his competency in that area and Cryptic has managed to weather many shaky moments that I've seen destroy plenty of other studios. | |||
:I do remember him once getting an intern to make photocopies of some Warhammer maps and Ken getting really pissed when he found out about it. We were eeking by with a tiny crew and could have totally used the extra hand. | |||
'''Q) Tony_Vz | |||
'''Ooh, I have a bunch! I was going to ask what you're up to these days, but you answered that above. Congrats on being picked up by Deep Silver Volition! I haven't played Saints Row, but I've had several people tell me it's awesome. | |||
'''I know several other folks whose names were very familiar have scattered. Do you guys still keep in touch with each other beyond a "I might need them for networking in case I need another job" capacity, even though everyone has gone in different directions, many literally? How gruesome is that, being in an industry where you typically get laid off every year or two, and knowing that you might have to pick up and move a couple thousand miles for your next job? | |||
'''Paragon Studios always struck me as a particularly tight-knit crew, more than just a group of developers who happened to work with each other. Not being a member of the game developer community and myself having worked for megacorporations for the past couple of decades, is that kind of thing the norm or the exception in the game development industry? Or is that just a misperception, was working for Paragon Studios fun with some folks you liked, but at the end of the day, still just a job? | |||
'''Also, how does the City of Heroes community compare to others you've dealt with? I mean, I know you probably won't say any bad things about us (at least, I hope not...), but in terms of things like how forgiving we were of mistakes, how influential we were in game development decisions, how demanding we were of new content and mechanics, how interactive we were with developers, how supportive we were of not just the game, but the developers and publisher, that kind of thing? After all these years, what still sticks out to you as, "Man, those City of Heroes folks, they were really different because of that"? | |||
'''As for the game itself, can you ever remember a time when something was unpopular, but you knew in your heart that it was what had to be for the long-term health of the game? Was there ever a time when you just had to dig in and refuse to change something, or change something that was broken, because you genuinely felt you knew better than the community? Was there ever a time when you did something that was unpopular that later reflecting on it, you thought, "I was wrong," and wished you could go back and undo? | |||
'''Thanks again a ton for your work on the game and support of the community, and we wish you nothing but the best at DSV and in the future! | |||
A) BABs | |||
*'''I know several other folks whose names were very familiar have scattered. Do you guys still keep in touch with each other beyond a "I might need them for networking in case I need another job" capacity, even though everyone has gone in different directions, many literally? How gruesome is that, being in an industry where you typically get laid off every year or two, and knowing that you might have to pick up and move a couple thousand miles for your next job? | |||
Wish I could say yes, but I've never been good at this. We moved around a lot when I was a kid and I never developed the ability to maintain friendships over long distances. | |||
Honestly, I'm not that good at maintaining friendships over short distances. Large part of why I got married, so I'd always have at least one friend no matter what... :P | |||
*'''Paragon Studios always struck me as a particularly tight-knit crew, more than just a group of developers who happened to work with each other. Not being a member of the game developer community and myself having worked for megacorporations for the past couple of decades, is that kind of thing the norm or the exception in the game development industry? Or is that just a misperception, was working for Paragon Studios fun with some folks you liked, but at the end of the day, still just a job? | |||
It depends. Some small studios are really tight-knit. Some large studios manage it. Some small studios rarely interact with each other outside of work. | |||
It's really difficult for a company to feel that way when there are over 50 people working there. At it's peak, Paragon got big enough that I no longer knew everyone's name, and my circle of people that I considered to be more than 'workplace proximity acquaintances' become more cliquish. But I always felt Paragon felt more like a family than a corporation. I remember the shock I felt when Rachel was let go. Even screwed up and sent a 'WTH?!' email to the whole company rather than just Ken like I intended. | |||
*'''Also, how does the City of Heroes community compare to others you've dealt with? | |||
Amazing, imo. | |||
*'''I mean, I know you probably won't say any bad things about us (at least, I hope not...), | |||
The hell I wouldn't. You guys could be a right bunch of assholes at times. But I always tried to remember that people who don't give a shit about the game aren't complaining about it on the forums. | |||
*'''After all these years, what still sticks out to you as, "Man, those City of Heroes folks, they were really different because of that"? | |||
I admired how hard they fought to keep the game alive and preserve it's memory even today. | |||
*'''As for the game itself, can you ever remember a time when something was unpopular, but you knew in your heart that it was what had to be for the long-term health of the game? | |||
*'''Was there ever a time when you just had to dig in and refuse to change something | |||
No. But I do have a story related to this. Shortly after I started at Cryptic, they decided to add cat ears as a costume accessory. Jay made some cat ears, for female models. We said cool, now we need to port them over for male costumes. | |||
Jay planted his heels and refused. For him, cat ears on male characters was a bad idea. What ensued was a lengthy argument over email about this, with Jay posting pictures of effeminate men and crossdressers wearing cutesy cat ears. The debate started to heat up. | |||
Then someone posted a number of examples of bad ass characters with 'cat ears', like Black Panther. | |||
That ended the debate, and the ears got ported over. After that, Jay never argued against porting things over between genders. | |||
*'''change something that was broken, because you genuinely felt you knew better than the community? | |||
Not me personally, but we certainly made changes like that all the time. The community, for all their passion, just didn't have the same access to the big picture and data that we had. They weren't as personally vested in the success of the game. If CoH shut down, they'd be sad...but life would go on. We'd be out of work. Literally looking for a new paycheck. | |||
Two very different mindsets there. Hopefully, if things go right, we're in agreement the vast majority of the time. But while many people might think they really wanted to be completely omnipotent, when given absolute power and no challenge, the game becomes boring, pointless, and you walk away from it. So we were always trying to find ways to give large moments of gameplay that involved a lot of cannon fodder and made you feel unstoppable, balanced against different levels of challenge for people to overcome. | |||
*'''Was there ever a time when you did something that was unpopular that later reflecting on it, you thought, "I was wrong," and wished you could go back and undo? | |||
I think I mentioned limiting the color palette for some of the power customization. I'm sure we got a bit to zealous with trying to make very fine balance adjustments to random powers. The later was really done with the intention of avoiding the 'City of X' builds that so many complained about. | |||
It's a tough place to be. The game hinges around creating a personal super hero. People need to feel more powerful than everyone else, that's part of the fantasy. But when your choices are overshadowed by someone else who's tapped into an imbalance in design, that cheapens the gratification. Then when you try and balance the power, the people who've built up an identity centered around those powers/powersets without regard for their balance feel like they're being singled out. | |||
Really no way to win... | |||
*'''Thanks again a ton for your work on the game and support of the community, and we wish you nothing but the best at DSV and in the future! | |||
Thank you. | |||
'''Q) Sin_Stalker | |||
'''Hey BABs, Maybe you recognize my name, or perhaps I wasn't even a blimp on your radar but I wanted to say Hi. You were my favorite dev, ever since I found out you played on Justice and that it was you who RP'ed as Manticore on Xmas with my friend Biosphere and myself. That interaction inspired my first story idea for my comic (that used coh screen shots). I remember very much wanting you of all people to read it. Of course the story sucks and I'm (slow goings) trying to remake it into something better that I can be more proud of. Its a fun hobby and good practice for if I ever write comics (the dream). So I was wondering if you ever ended up reading that little comic of mine? Not an issue if you didn't. In fact I kind of hope you didn't, so I can show you the better version I come out with. That's scheduled to be released around... december 2042. Give or take a decade... (RL can be a drain). :) Anyways, thanks again for being the coolest and best dev I've ever had in any game! | |||
A) BABs | |||
*'''Hey BABs, Maybe you recognize my name, or perhaps I wasn't even a blimp on your radar but I wanted to say Hi. | |||
Of course I remember you. | |||
*'''That interaction inspired my first story idea for my comic (that used coh screen shots). I remember very much wanting you of all people to read it. | |||
And I remember the comic as well. Not any of the specifics, just that you spent the time to make it and send us a copy. | |||
'''Q) slickriptide | |||
'''Hi, Chris. | |||
'''Dunno if you're still taking questions, but I thought I'd mention that I really appreciated your work and your willingness to engage with the player community. Sorry to hear you were called on the carpet about it. The day I wrote you with a suggestion that, "Wouldn't it be easy to just do X?" and you not only replied but you wrote back, "No, because our server works like this:" and you gave me some technical insight into how the game actually operated, that pretty much spoiled me for interacting with the devs of every game I've played since then. | |||
'''What was your favorite powerset or costume set to work on or the one you felt the most attachment to? | |||
A) BABs | |||
*'''What was your favorite powerset or costume set to work on or the one you felt the most attachment to? | |||
As a player, I'll always feel an attachment to Inv/SS because that was my main character. | |||
Professionally, I touched just about every powerset. Dealt with every animation, every visual effect. I worked on player powers, enemy powers, emotes. It's impossible for me to single one out as memorable. | |||
I really liked doing things no one else had figured out. Weapon customization, power customization, costume change emotes/FX...that sort of thing. I remember animating a sail on a ship one of the ancient wood ships because that was something I'd never done before.}} | |||
== AMA by Homecoming == | |||
'''An AMA hosted by Homecoming June 4th, 2024 featuring 15 [[Paragon]]/[[Cryptic Studios|Cryptic]] Studios Devs''' | |||
''Todo: Insert Q&A from link below. Likely sorted by Question rather then by Dev.'' | |||
{{missing}} | |||
== See Also == | |||
* [[Canon Fodder]] | |||
* [[Story Bible]] | * [[Story Bible]] | ||
* The apparent first recorded use of the term "Loregasm" in the [ | * [https://forums.homecomingservers.com/topic/52119-20th-anniversary-qa-responses/ Dev AMA (2024)] | ||
== External Links == | |||
* The apparent first recorded use of the term "Loregasm" in the [http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x31reb2 Signature Story Arc ViDoc Outtakes] (The "loregasm" section is at 3:19) | |||
* [http://mcdesignertales.blogspot.com/ Dr. Aeon's blog] detailing game industry stories, including City of Heroes behind the scenes insight. | * [http://mcdesignertales.blogspot.com/ Dr. Aeon's blog] detailing game industry stories, including City of Heroes behind the scenes insight. | ||
[[Category:Lore]] | [[Category:Lore]] |
Latest revision as of 05:40, 16 September 2024
Overview
The Lore AMA (Ask Me Anything), or "Loregasm", is a series of documents created by Positron to answer questions City of Heroes players had about the game's story following the Sunset announcement.
In the thread announcing its creation, Positron stated that anything it contains "SHOULD be considered canon when concerning anything to do with Issue 24 and previous. Anything after that is speculative and should be treated as such. We'll note in the answer if it's anything different." On September 18th, 2012, Positron posted a link to the first Lore AMA as a Google Doc in a City of Heroes forums thread.
In a 2012 interview of Positron and War Witch at OnRPG discussing the closure of the game, Positron stated that he would do yearly AMAs as long as people had questions:
AMA by Year
This page contains the text of the documents as they appeared at release. A list of the questions linked to by topic and developer can be found here: Lore AMA/Sorted.
AMA: 2012
The first Lore AMA was linked in a forum post by Positron titled "Loregasm" and includes a key of the answering developers' initials:
That's a link to the doc, in case these boards get shut down, and because I don't want to clean it up for our forum posting format (if someone ELSE does, feel free to pad your postcount).
Some answers are not satisfying. Some answers are made up, and that answer only exists in that doc. I tried to get everyone who was involved in the stuff at the end to answer the questions as best they could.
MM: Matt Miller (Positron)
JH: John Hegner (Protean)
JAH: Jeff Hamilton (Arbiter Hawk)
SM: Sean McCann (Dr. Aeon)
RG: Ryan Greene (Viridian)
TS: Tim Sweeney (Black Scorpion)
If there is a miracle and somehow CoH is saved, we reserve the right to change any and all answers given in the doc, to maintain suspense and surprise.
The Lore AMA itself at its time of release (September 18th, 2012) is as follows:
AMA: 2013
After taking questions in an open Google Doc, the first of the yearly AMAs was announced at OnRPG on May 3rd, 2013, and released as a closed Google Doc. In most cases, the name of the dev giving an answer is listed after the answer. The devs that answered are:
- Matt Miller, a.k.a. Positron
- Hosun Lee, a.k.a. Black Pebble
- Tim Sweeney, a.k.a. Black Scorpion
- Sean McCann, a.k.a. Dr. Aeon
- John Hegner, a.k.a. Protean
- Keetsie Braz de Cunha (née Berbel), a.k.a. Tunnel Rat
- Vince D'Amelio, a.k.a. The Dark Watcher
This is the most likely list of developers who answered AMA 2, as there are multiple devs with some of those first names. Some questions do not have a dev name, and it can be assumed that they were answered by Positron unless the context indicates otherwise. Several questions were unable to be answered, and are marked as "Answer hazy, ask again later (Matt because he couldn’t find someone to answer this right now)."
The second Lore AMA at its time of last revision (May 7, 2013) is as follows:
AMA: 2014
An unofficial thread was started on the Titan Network forums for gathering questions. Positron was contacted and said: "I plan on doing it a bit differently this year. Doc will only be up for a short window." On April 17, 2014, at 8:45 AM PDT, Positron posted a Google Doc that he left open for only 24 hours. Positron also put in some general rules for asking questions, largely prohibiting questions not related to the game's lore:
Following the initial 24 hour period, there were 76 questions. A copy of the document seven minutes before its takedown for answering can be found in a Google Doc. Positron noted in a tweet on April 23rd, 2104, that all questions for the 2014 AMA had answers.
On April 28th, 2014, the tenth anniversary of City of Heroes, Positron released the answered questions as a Google doc. The devs that answered are:
- Matt Miller, a.k.a. Positron
- Melissa Bianco, a.k.a. War Witch
- Chris Behrens, a.k.a. Baryonyx
- Tim Sweeney, a.k.a. Black Scorpion
- Sean McCann, a.k.a. Dr. Aeon
- John Hegner, a.k.a. Protean
The third Lore AMA at its time of last revision (April 28th, 2014) is as follows:
AMA: 2015
On April 24th, 2015, Positron released a tweet with a link to a Google Docs form for submitting questions. The form was open until April 28th, and players were limited to one "lore related (not business, development, or systems / powers)" question. Upon submitting a question, the form noted that answers would be "made available sometime the week of May 3rd." After the form was closed, it told players that it was not accepting further submissions, but to "Try again next year!"
On May 17th, 2015 Positron released a Google Doc with the 2015 AMA answers. The devs that answered are:
The fourth Lore AMA at its time of release (May 17th, 2015) is as follows:
AMA: 2016
Positron posted a Google Doc form in an unofficial thread on the Titan Network forums.
On April 28th, 2016, Positron released a Google Doc with the 2016 AMA answers. The devs that answered are:
The fifth Lore AMA at its time of release (April 28th, 2016) is as follows:
Back Alley Brawler reddit AMA
On 2016-04-29 Back Alley Brawler began answering questions about City of Heroes in an informal AMA. Although he framed it as an AMA, some of the responses are more conversational in nature, but still reveal interesting information about the game and the culture of Paragon Studio.
When looking at the original reddit thread, the answers may sometimes be hard to find when the threads grow larger. CTRL+F (and keep tapping F3 thereafter) to find the phrase "load more comments" and click those to view his answers; you can also F3 cycle through the phrase "CBruce" once all comments are loaded.
The questions he has answered as of August 8, 2018 are:
- Incarnate system came online right after I was laid off from Paragon and I was really to burnt out and heartbroken to log in to the game from that point on.
- Matt would undoubtedly know. In fact, it seems like he's talked about that topic before. Definitely laid out some things about mysteries and where they were going in with the lore.
Q) HighPiracy Hey! Loved the game and appreciate all the work you did on it. I was a day 1 player, one of the first regen scrappers (dark melee was the other half). Have great memories of flying around and just perching of rooftops in a heroic manner. Built so many alts, and loved City of Villains. Any mechanic you wish you could have added or done to the game?
A) BABs
- Loved the game and appreciate all the work you did on it.
Me too. Thanks.
- Any mechanic you wish you could have added or done to the game?
I got to implement power customization and weapon customization. Those were big things for me.
I always wanted a way to make flight faster. It was gated as a travel power because of the soft limit on super-speed, and the need to balance super-speed's 2D limitation against super-jumping and fully 3D freedom of flight. But man, it would have been great to really tear across the skies of Paragon City.
And of course, one of the reasons I left Cryptic to join Paragon (apart from the weird contractual business of 'no longer having a job') was the promise of doing City of Heroes 2. Really sad the day that fell through. More sad when the other MMO we were working on didn't pay out because that was--in my opinion--a better tonal fit for the modern audience.
- Q) implicitlyimplying
- I was so impressed with power customization when it launched. I remember the feature's announcement on the forums (I think it was a post by Positron). People went wild about it because it had been requested for so long. I was glad you guys took the time to get it right. I literally played around with that feature almost everyday after it launched.
- A) BABs
- Was a huge endeavor. One of the biggest things I've ever tackled in my career. Were it not for Mike Chock's help with Python scripting and on the implementation side, it would have never happened. Keetsie also put in a ton of work with me on converting something like 4,000 VFX scripts by hand to support it.
- In retrospect, I kind of regret not pushing back harder at those wanting to limit the creative options. But some were really worried about having yellow ice controllers and whatnot. I let myself get convinced it was the right decision and a few players got locked out of making character concepts they had in their head because we didn't want to have 'Captain Yellow Snow' running around in game.
Q) Wretschko
Remember the first time you flew up to the top of the world on Atlas' shoulder?
A) BABs
I think you mean slowly hovered.
- Q) implicitlyimplying
- Wow, I don't think I've ever felt this level of nostalgia. CoH was a major part of my adolescence. I started playing on the Justice server in 2004 when I was 12 years old. As someone who had a difficult time making friends as a child, CoH was a game changer. The game was so user-friendly and had so many community-building tools that made it so easy to build long-lasting friendships. I played the game for countless hours and I've never felt that connected with any game since.
- A) BABs
- What was your character name on Justice? I played mainly as Tic-Toc.
- Justice was a sort of unofficial dev server. There were a number of us hiding out there.
- What was really interesting is when I started at Cryptic, I was cautioned to not let other players find out who I was. If it ever became common knowledge, I was at risk of having my personal accounts locked. So there was an element of having a real secret identity that I had to deal with and protect while playing a super-hero in a game.
- Always thought that added another level to the game for me and wondered how we could do something similar for everyone else.
Q) Hephoran
How did you feel about having your character stuck in "2nd rate Atlas city"? :P
As for a more serious question, what were your ideas about where the whole Incarnate system was going? It really sucked that one week we got the announcement of a new Issue with a new tier of Incarnate powers, and the next week we heard the servers would shut down...
Thanks for all the work you and the rest of the team put into this game. It still stands as my best gaming experience ever.
A) BABs
- How did you feel about having your character stuck in "2nd rate Atlas city"? :P
To be fair, BABs was never really my character. I only adopted that identity so that when we did dev-run events, I'd have control over a character that I actually know how to play (INV/SS tank).
- As for a more serious question, what were your ideas about where the whole Incarnate system was going? It really sucked that one week we got the announcement of a new Issue with a new tier of Incarnate powers, and the next week we heard the servers would shut down...
Incarnate system cam online right after I was laid off from Paragon and I was really to burnt out and heartbroken to log in to the game from that point on.
Matt would undoubtedly know. In fact, it seems like he's talked about that topic before. Definitely laid out some things about mysteries and where they were going in with the lore.
Q) philosoblanka
No questions, just want to say that my time playing CoH/CoV was, to date, my best gaming experience. Addictive and fun, with frequent quality updates. The level of communication between the development team and the players should be used as the best example for game developers today. Great stuff.
A) BABs
- No questions, just want to say that my time playing CoH/CoV was, to date, my best gaming experience.
Me too.
- The level of communication between the development team and the players should be used as the best example for game developers today.
I don't know if you meant me personally, but I got into so much trouble for various forum posts. I was probably personally responsible for the implementation of a whole suite of formalized rules and procedures for even getting to post to the forums.
Kind of sad, because as a player I really enjoyed the casual interaction between players and developers in game and on the forums. By the time I was working there, and managed to weasel my way into a redname account, that culture was starting to go down a different path. Partially because of the whole Cryptic/Marvel deal.
I never intentionally set out to rock the boat, but there's 3 or 4 instances I can remember where I got called into someone's office or taken for a walk by Ken and told to watch what I was saying. I think ultimately, I got written up, had to sign an agreement to pass every post through CMs for approval, and that was when I stopped participating on the forums quite as much. It stopped being organic and genuine to me.
Completely understandable why NCSoft/Paragon did what they did--they're looking to protect their investment--but as a fan, player, and member of the community it just didn't sit right with me.
Was fun while it lasted. I really enjoyed giving other players insight into the inner workings that I'd managed infiltrate myself.
- Q) Noodlespanker
- I remember having quite a few arguements in IM with Statesman, chatted up Posi a few times. Always amazed me that I could reach out and yell at the developers. Even if they probably saw me as a buzzing gnat, they responded. I think the best part was seeing the devs in game. I think it was end of beta where I met most of you guys and could chat at you while the world was invaded.
- Write ups be damned. There's something in being able to interact with the development of the game like that that is another great element of old mmo's that is now lost to time.
- A) BABs
- Write ups be damned. There's something in being able to interact with the development of the game like that that is another great element of old mmo's that is now lost to time.
- I agree. As a player and developer, it was a very rewarding experience.
Q) Rienuaa
Thanks for helping make my time with CoH so amazing. Thanks to my dedication to the game, it inspired a love of online games in me. Now I work for Turbine Inc. on DDO :D
A) BABs
- Thanks for helping make my time with CoH so amazing. Thanks to my dedication to the game, it inspired a love of online games in me. Now I work for Turbine Inc. on DDO :D
Awesome. Players often make the best devs.
Q) ChanThe4th
This is crazy! Thank you for helping make literally my favorite game of all time better on a consistent basis. You and the other developers were a massive part of my teenage life and I cannot thank you guys enough for doing such a great job.
I played on Virtue because the roleplaying community was so immersive and honestly a great group of people. However I noticed as time went on the "big name" roleplayers started mingling with the developing team regularly, or so they claimed, these people include Golden Girl and Captain Valor. Is there any truth to this? If this is true, did they have any influence on decisions for patches? Such as costumes or even gameplay?
Arcana is a huge part of the titan network and was apparently involved with the developer team quite heavily. Her knowledge of the game and the coding seems to be larger than any other player I'm aware of. I suppose my question is that similar to the big name roleplayers, how much influence did she have (if any) on how the game conitinued its development? Did you personally ever interact with her?
Lastly, and I realize this has been asked by so many people most likely, but if you have any information regarding private servers or who to talk to join a private server I would love you like a brother. I miss this game more than anything in my life. It was such a huge part of me to have it taken away was literally like losing a close family member or friend.
A) BABs
- This is crazy! Thank you for helping make literally my favorite game of all time better on a consistent basis. You and the other developers were a massive part of my teenage life and I cannot thank you guys enough for doing such a great job.
Thank you for helping enrich my playtime and providing a living for all those years.
- I played on Virtue because the roleplaying community was so immersive and honestly a great group of people. However I noticed as time went on the "big name" roleplayers started mingling with the developing team regularly, or so they claimed, these people include Golden Girl and Captain Valor. Is there any truth to this? If this is true, did they have any influence on decisions for patches? Such as costumes or even gameplay?
I know the names, but I don't know of anyone like that having a direct influence on decisions. Generally, they were things we wanted to do anyway, like costume change emotes, power customization, etc.
- Arcana is a huge part of the titan network and was apparently involved with the developer team quite heavily. Her knowledge of the game and the coding seems to be larger than any other player I'm aware of. I suppose my question is that similar to the big name roleplayers, how much influence did she have (if any) on how the game conitinued its development? Did you personally ever interact with her?
We communicated a lot with Arcana. Really sharp player. I pinged her a lot for basic math help for all sorts of things.
I think we even contracted with her to design a whole procedural rewards system for...shit, what was it...architect missions maybe? That was kind of done hush hush. Dunno if it was ever made public knowledge. So as far as players having a direct influence on the game...yeah, she definitely did.
Fun Arcana story. After I got laid off, I sent her a signed box copy of Going Rogue. She sent me a bunch of goodies from Hawaii. Koana cofee is delicious. SPAM flavored peanuts, not so much.
- Lastly, and I realize this has been asked by so many people most likely, but if you have any information regarding private servers or who to talk to join a private server I would love you like a brother. I miss this game more than anything in my life. It was such a huge part of me to have it taken away was literally like losing a close family member or friend.
I have no information about private servers. Honestly.
To be frank, if I had any way to liberate the code for the game servers and release it into the wild, I would be sorely tempted to do so right now. It's a damn shame that people can invest so much time, money, and passion into a game only to see it permanently locked out of ever playing it again. Companies could totally figure out some way to keep minimal servers operational for players. From what I understand, even City of Heroes was eeking out a tiny profit up until the day it was shut down.
- Q) ChanThe4th
- First of all thank you for the answers! Still helping the CoH community all these years later :P If you don't mind I just have a couple more questions for you, if you don't have the time I'll completely understand!
- Was there any other player outside of Arcana that was helping out development that more or less went un-noticed? Or perhaps somebody that played a major role from the shadows sort of thing?
- Were there ever any major arguements between developers that lead to something either being intergrated or not? I realize saying who they were might be frowned upon professionally but if you don't mind I'd love to know who! Or maybe even who the hardest to work with was?
- What was the biggest difference between the early stages of CoH compared to when you left?
- If you remember early on when Jack was running the game, what was he actually like? I vaguely remember him having the opinion that releasing the numbers for powers and what have you would turn the game into just another cookie cutter, do you believe that or no?
- Companies could totally figure out some way to keep minimal servers operational for players. From what I understand, even City of Heroes was eeking out a tiny profit up until the day it was shut down.
- I figure if companies had a license that was purchased by server owners to allow them to legally run the game it would solve so much issues, but companies like NCsoft seem like having any sort of legacy servers are a sin.
- Once again just want to say thank you so much, honestly if the game somehow released again I'd break down in tears of joy. I really wish that was an overstatment. However reliving the old memories is all we got and I appreciate you helping me do so!
- A) BABs
- Was there any other player outside of Arcana that was helping out development that more or less went un-noticed? Or perhaps somebody that played a major role from the shadows sort of thing?
- Apart from other devs who were players, not that I'm personally aware of.
- I mean, all of the players who were active on the forums helped shape the game through bug reports, feedbacks, suggestions, and general morale.
- Were there ever any major arguements between developers that lead to something either being intergrated or not?
- Arguments? Not exactly. Certainly passionate disagreements about things, but I don't remember any really heated 'arguments' about any topic. I'm sure there's plenty of instances of things that got integrated that not everyone was on board with. Either because it was done in lieu of something else or because it was not the direction some thought we should go.
- That's just inherent any any collaborative effort. Floyd and I used to get into conversations about nuances of powers all the time, but I always deferred to his decisions.
- Now that I think about it, I guess there were a couple of people that I found occasionally challenging. But I'd rather not get into specifics. Professional thing. Sorry about that. Probably not anyone you'd suspect if that helps.
- Or maybe even who the hardest to work with was?
- When I came on at Cryptic it was shortly after Issue 7 launched, and a good portion of the team was already being shifted over to Fight Club. I was part of the small, dedicated team for City of Heroes/City of Villains and later became one of the founding members of Paragon Studios.
- In all of that time, I don't recall anyone being 'difficult' to work with. Everyone was generally open to feedback from players and especially the other members of the development team. Again, there'd be disagreements and someone like Matt or Ken would have to just make the call they felt was best, but I never felt undervalued or like I had no voice in the project.
- What was the biggest difference between the early stages of CoH compared to when you left?
- Difficult to say, as I was a player in the early stages of CoH (working at 2015 and later NetDevil) and only became a developer after City of Villains. So the game had already taken a pretty many significant departure long before I started working on it.
- The game, like all games, developed fairly organically to try and appease the existing player base and/or attract new players.
- If you remember early on when Jack was running the game, what was he actually like?
- I think overall people greatly overestimate how much direct influence Jack had in City of Heroes way after it initially launched. He was involved for some key discussions (I specifically remember his involvement during design meetings for inventions and the auction house), but was otherwise largely hands off up until NCSoft acquired the franchise and our team. I didn't work directly with Jack all that much. At either time.
- From my perspective, Jack has changed a lot over the years. Particularly after moving up into more studio-wide leadership positions at Cryptic. Was always impressed with his competency in that area and Cryptic has managed to weather many shaky moments that I've seen destroy plenty of other studios.
- I do remember him once getting an intern to make photocopies of some Warhammer maps and Ken getting really pissed when he found out about it. We were eeking by with a tiny crew and could have totally used the extra hand.
Q) Tony_Vz
Ooh, I have a bunch! I was going to ask what you're up to these days, but you answered that above. Congrats on being picked up by Deep Silver Volition! I haven't played Saints Row, but I've had several people tell me it's awesome.
I know several other folks whose names were very familiar have scattered. Do you guys still keep in touch with each other beyond a "I might need them for networking in case I need another job" capacity, even though everyone has gone in different directions, many literally? How gruesome is that, being in an industry where you typically get laid off every year or two, and knowing that you might have to pick up and move a couple thousand miles for your next job?
Paragon Studios always struck me as a particularly tight-knit crew, more than just a group of developers who happened to work with each other. Not being a member of the game developer community and myself having worked for megacorporations for the past couple of decades, is that kind of thing the norm or the exception in the game development industry? Or is that just a misperception, was working for Paragon Studios fun with some folks you liked, but at the end of the day, still just a job?
Also, how does the City of Heroes community compare to others you've dealt with? I mean, I know you probably won't say any bad things about us (at least, I hope not...), but in terms of things like how forgiving we were of mistakes, how influential we were in game development decisions, how demanding we were of new content and mechanics, how interactive we were with developers, how supportive we were of not just the game, but the developers and publisher, that kind of thing? After all these years, what still sticks out to you as, "Man, those City of Heroes folks, they were really different because of that"?
As for the game itself, can you ever remember a time when something was unpopular, but you knew in your heart that it was what had to be for the long-term health of the game? Was there ever a time when you just had to dig in and refuse to change something, or change something that was broken, because you genuinely felt you knew better than the community? Was there ever a time when you did something that was unpopular that later reflecting on it, you thought, "I was wrong," and wished you could go back and undo?
Thanks again a ton for your work on the game and support of the community, and we wish you nothing but the best at DSV and in the future!
A) BABs
- I know several other folks whose names were very familiar have scattered. Do you guys still keep in touch with each other beyond a "I might need them for networking in case I need another job" capacity, even though everyone has gone in different directions, many literally? How gruesome is that, being in an industry where you typically get laid off every year or two, and knowing that you might have to pick up and move a couple thousand miles for your next job?
Wish I could say yes, but I've never been good at this. We moved around a lot when I was a kid and I never developed the ability to maintain friendships over long distances.
Honestly, I'm not that good at maintaining friendships over short distances. Large part of why I got married, so I'd always have at least one friend no matter what... :P
- Paragon Studios always struck me as a particularly tight-knit crew, more than just a group of developers who happened to work with each other. Not being a member of the game developer community and myself having worked for megacorporations for the past couple of decades, is that kind of thing the norm or the exception in the game development industry? Or is that just a misperception, was working for Paragon Studios fun with some folks you liked, but at the end of the day, still just a job?
It depends. Some small studios are really tight-knit. Some large studios manage it. Some small studios rarely interact with each other outside of work.
It's really difficult for a company to feel that way when there are over 50 people working there. At it's peak, Paragon got big enough that I no longer knew everyone's name, and my circle of people that I considered to be more than 'workplace proximity acquaintances' become more cliquish. But I always felt Paragon felt more like a family than a corporation. I remember the shock I felt when Rachel was let go. Even screwed up and sent a 'WTH?!' email to the whole company rather than just Ken like I intended.
- Also, how does the City of Heroes community compare to others you've dealt with?
Amazing, imo.
- I mean, I know you probably won't say any bad things about us (at least, I hope not...),
The hell I wouldn't. You guys could be a right bunch of assholes at times. But I always tried to remember that people who don't give a shit about the game aren't complaining about it on the forums.
- After all these years, what still sticks out to you as, "Man, those City of Heroes folks, they were really different because of that"?
I admired how hard they fought to keep the game alive and preserve it's memory even today.
- As for the game itself, can you ever remember a time when something was unpopular, but you knew in your heart that it was what had to be for the long-term health of the game?
- Was there ever a time when you just had to dig in and refuse to change something
No. But I do have a story related to this. Shortly after I started at Cryptic, they decided to add cat ears as a costume accessory. Jay made some cat ears, for female models. We said cool, now we need to port them over for male costumes.
Jay planted his heels and refused. For him, cat ears on male characters was a bad idea. What ensued was a lengthy argument over email about this, with Jay posting pictures of effeminate men and crossdressers wearing cutesy cat ears. The debate started to heat up.
Then someone posted a number of examples of bad ass characters with 'cat ears', like Black Panther.
That ended the debate, and the ears got ported over. After that, Jay never argued against porting things over between genders.
- change something that was broken, because you genuinely felt you knew better than the community?
Not me personally, but we certainly made changes like that all the time. The community, for all their passion, just didn't have the same access to the big picture and data that we had. They weren't as personally vested in the success of the game. If CoH shut down, they'd be sad...but life would go on. We'd be out of work. Literally looking for a new paycheck.
Two very different mindsets there. Hopefully, if things go right, we're in agreement the vast majority of the time. But while many people might think they really wanted to be completely omnipotent, when given absolute power and no challenge, the game becomes boring, pointless, and you walk away from it. So we were always trying to find ways to give large moments of gameplay that involved a lot of cannon fodder and made you feel unstoppable, balanced against different levels of challenge for people to overcome.
- Was there ever a time when you did something that was unpopular that later reflecting on it, you thought, "I was wrong," and wished you could go back and undo?
I think I mentioned limiting the color palette for some of the power customization. I'm sure we got a bit to zealous with trying to make very fine balance adjustments to random powers. The later was really done with the intention of avoiding the 'City of X' builds that so many complained about.
It's a tough place to be. The game hinges around creating a personal super hero. People need to feel more powerful than everyone else, that's part of the fantasy. But when your choices are overshadowed by someone else who's tapped into an imbalance in design, that cheapens the gratification. Then when you try and balance the power, the people who've built up an identity centered around those powers/powersets without regard for their balance feel like they're being singled out.
Really no way to win...
- Thanks again a ton for your work on the game and support of the community, and we wish you nothing but the best at DSV and in the future!
Thank you.
Q) Sin_Stalker
Hey BABs, Maybe you recognize my name, or perhaps I wasn't even a blimp on your radar but I wanted to say Hi. You were my favorite dev, ever since I found out you played on Justice and that it was you who RP'ed as Manticore on Xmas with my friend Biosphere and myself. That interaction inspired my first story idea for my comic (that used coh screen shots). I remember very much wanting you of all people to read it. Of course the story sucks and I'm (slow goings) trying to remake it into something better that I can be more proud of. Its a fun hobby and good practice for if I ever write comics (the dream). So I was wondering if you ever ended up reading that little comic of mine? Not an issue if you didn't. In fact I kind of hope you didn't, so I can show you the better version I come out with. That's scheduled to be released around... december 2042. Give or take a decade... (RL can be a drain). :) Anyways, thanks again for being the coolest and best dev I've ever had in any game!
A) BABs
- Hey BABs, Maybe you recognize my name, or perhaps I wasn't even a blimp on your radar but I wanted to say Hi.
Of course I remember you.
- That interaction inspired my first story idea for my comic (that used coh screen shots). I remember very much wanting you of all people to read it.
And I remember the comic as well. Not any of the specifics, just that you spent the time to make it and send us a copy.
Q) slickriptide
Hi, Chris.
Dunno if you're still taking questions, but I thought I'd mention that I really appreciated your work and your willingness to engage with the player community. Sorry to hear you were called on the carpet about it. The day I wrote you with a suggestion that, "Wouldn't it be easy to just do X?" and you not only replied but you wrote back, "No, because our server works like this:" and you gave me some technical insight into how the game actually operated, that pretty much spoiled me for interacting with the devs of every game I've played since then.
What was your favorite powerset or costume set to work on or the one you felt the most attachment to?
A) BABs
- What was your favorite powerset or costume set to work on or the one you felt the most attachment to?
As a player, I'll always feel an attachment to Inv/SS because that was my main character.
Professionally, I touched just about every powerset. Dealt with every animation, every visual effect. I worked on player powers, enemy powers, emotes. It's impossible for me to single one out as memorable.
I really liked doing things no one else had figured out. Weapon customization, power customization, costume change emotes/FX...that sort of thing. I remember animating a sail on a ship one of the ancient wood ships because that was something I'd never done before.
AMA by Homecoming
An AMA hosted by Homecoming June 4th, 2024 featuring 15 Paragon/Cryptic Studios Devs
Todo: Insert Q&A from link below. Likely sorted by Question rather then by Dev.
+++ Missing Information +++
See Also
External Links
- The apparent first recorded use of the term "Loregasm" in the Signature Story Arc ViDoc Outtakes (The "loregasm" section is at 3:19)
- Dr. Aeon's blog detailing game industry stories, including City of Heroes behind the scenes insight.