Slashdot Mirror
Ask City of Heroes Lead Designer Jack Emmert
Massively Multiplayer games have grown increasingly popular in the last few
years, and one of the hottest products out there today is NCSoft and Cryptic
Studios' City of Heroes. City of
Heroes is currently hovering around the 180,000 player population mark,
with a European launch for the game coming up fast. The lead designer of the
online super hero game is Jack Emmert, veteran of the video game and
roleplaying game industries. He has written gaming supplements for Deadlands and All Flesh Must Be Eaten, reads
several dozen comics a month, and saves the world on a regular basis. Jack has
kindly agreed to answer questions from Slashdot readers about game design,
massive games, and what it's like to be a superhero, so go
ahead and let em' fly. One question per post, please, but as many questions as
you'd like. We'll forward the best on to Jack to answer and post his responses
when we've got them.
when people call it "City of Heros"?
1. With so many heroes possessing herculean strength (hence the term "herculean", of course), are there special structural considerations you have to make when designing buildings? I mean, it only takes a few pissed-off Samson types pulling over columns before your "City of Heroes" is more like a "Ruin of Heroes". I realize this may be more a question for the "City of Heroes Chief Engineer" but hey, you're the one answering the questions...
2. Also, do you have the city apportioned off according to ability, cloak colour, age, or what? How do you deal with disagreements between various heroic neighbours? For instance, my cousin Freddy's a hero who lives in the older planned hero community of Superville. His neighbour two doors down is the only one on the block who can fly, and he's always zooming in drunk in the middle of the night, making a racket and showing off. He'd like to move to a neighbourhood where the flying heroes live somewhere else. Just an example.
Eagerly awaiting your responses,
- Andrew.
www.clarke.ca