Champions Online: New Q&A

Cryptic Studios has released a new "Ask Cryptic". Where fans post questions on their forums about their upcoming title Champions Online, and the devs round them up and answer them.

You asked, we answer! Today we cover more about villains, zombies and a hint at characters.

Do you think that with all the feedback, input, suggestions, speculations, questions and everything else that you've seen on your forums as of now, the community would be very pleased with the game? Or the game as it is right now? Or the game you imagine it to be in the distant future? (MeSoSollyWan)

Jackalope: I certainly hope people will be pleased! I know I love playing the game. But I think what people would be most pleased with is how much we listen to the community. I can give a very recent example. Last Q&A, we all but eliminated the possibility of customizing your animations. We had looked at it long ago, and frankly the feature was incredibly time intensive. After seeing the community responses, we huddled up and rethought the feature. Is there a way we could do this without sacrificing other elements of the game? That's produced an ongoing discussion between software, art and design. I can't promise you that we'll be able to get the feature in for release, or even how soon we could get in after release, but I can tell you that the community response really made an impression.

I have asked both previous times, as have MANY of us: DX9, DX10 or options for both? Hoping for the latter, of course. (DaBruuzer)

Bruce (CTO): Definitely dx9. Eventually we'll have specific support for dx10, but it might not be until after launch.

Will the gameplay be more CoH, with lots of FedEx style zone traversing and hunt 50 of [insert villain name here] or more CoV, with most missions not requiring you leave the zone that your contact is in? (BanzaiBadger)

Arkayne: Gameplay in Champions Online has its own style, BanzaiBadger. The majority of gameplay is in the persistent world with occasional forays into instanced areas to take on some of the nastier villains. Every world location has distinct neighborhoods with gameplay centered in that area. Occasionally you'll get missions that take you between world locations, but those are more of the exception than the rule.

If you take the villains from Batman like the Joker, Scarecrow, Two-Face, etc., DC gave them their own little personality to make them each different from the rest. Will the villains in Champions Online have their own feel to them that makes each one seem different from the others? (Aplex)

Arkayne: Champions Online has well-developed personalities for their major named characters, Aplex. Our writer John Layman has done a masterful job in creating interesting missions and dialog to flesh out their personalities. What's more, each of the big-name villains in the game has a "shtick" associated with them. A villain shtick is something players need to counter and take advantage of in order to turn the fight in their favor. Basically, whenever you encounter a new Champions Online villain, you'll have to figure out how to deal with them or you'll be in for a rough time!

Will there be zombies? (The_Ghoul)

Arkayne: There will DEFINITELY be zombies, The_Ghoul! Who doesn't love zombies? In fact, one of the main villains haunting the Champions Universe is Necrull, a nasty piece of work rumored to be hiding out in Northern Canada. Animated corpses shambling around some ancient burial caves have been reported by officers of the Steelhead Legion base operating in that area. Sounds like a job for a hero willing to face down the horror of the walking dead!

Does the current art style have a specific four-colors feel to it, or can it be branched out into creating characters resembling the styles of the 80's, anime, modern times, and (heaven forbid) Rob Liefeld? (Gojna)

Absinthe (Lead Character Artist): We have thousands of costume options to help players create many different genre looks - like the horrible hairstyles from the '80s, or anime-inspired items from hair to clothing. Modern day clothing and combat armor. Futuristic power armor. Those are just a few of the pieces that will be available to players.

From there, you will be able to make your characters take on various body shapes - from a thin scientist, to a toned gymnast or a huge, muscle-bound brick. You also can determine not only the body shape of their characters, but also the amount of muscle tone they have. Do you want someone ripped, or someone with no muscle tone at all? You decide. You can also alter particular parts of characters' bone structures, to add things like a Jay Leno chin, a beaklike nose, huge or beady eyes, larger than normal hands ... the possibilities are endless!

So while the Champions Online art "style" is set, there will be ample opportunities to create the perfect look for the character you want to play.

You can see this and other Q&As over at Champions Online.