
Written By: Carl Doherty
Date: 1 Sep 2009
Read our Interview below:
- Champions Online is, of course, based on the Champions role-playing game, which despite having an ardent fanbase isn’t as well established as certain other comic book mythologies. What was behind the decision to use the Champions property, and how did it impact your approach to designing the game’s virtual world?
Champions is to paper and pencil RPG's what Marvel and DC are to comic books. Champions has been around since 1981 and consequently is filled with great storylines. What makes Champions so appealing, in fact, is that the Champions Universe has changed over the years. Marvel and DC are pretty static mythologies; Spider-Man will always be Peter Parker, Clark Kent is always going to be Superman, etc. In Champions, there have been huge changes in characters and in the universe itself. For us, that fact makes Champions an even better fit for MMORPG: after all, MMO's change and evolve over time.
Another very important point in Champions is that because it was a pen and paper RPG, the players have always been the most important part of the game background. In licensed properties, players can never make that much of a difference. After all, can a player be better than Superman? More powerful than the Hulk? In Champions, all of this is possible.
- Having worked on City of Heroes, what specific areas of that game did you want to improve most and avoid altogether?
At City of Heroes, we released a game that was essentially just about combat and the comic book like storylines. We added more after release, but I think in many cases, we missed a vital opportunity then. With Champions, we made sure that we not only had awesome combat, fun missions, but also exploration rewards, PvP, crafting and handcrafted instances. We wanted to provide a more well rounded experience.
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