Anti_Proton

So it took over three thousand posts between you Evil_Legacy and I Burnt The Toast to come to the conclusion that you dislike the forums? Were you pacing yourselves?

"For example, if there was heavy PvP on day 1 and lots of twitch gaming, I wouldn't play."

There is a happy medium here somewhere. Rooting and Recharge in CoH was an issue for many, but the twitchy "run-and-gun" of DCUO is a problem for many as well. Take a look at a typical superhero battle in a cartoon, in that there is a blending of fast and cinematic attacks. That is the feel I am looking for.

I have been trying to create a system that builds on CoH's strengths, but gets away from the more rigid class structure without the free-for-all that is Champions. To do it right, it seems it would have to be the biggest MMO ever created.

The pieces are all out there in other games, the trick seems to be how to wrap it all up in an engrossing and addictive game.

Thanks for the input. I want the opinon of experts and none have more expertise than the folks here.

I feel like every games has aspects of it (especially this one), but what are the features of a "perfect" superhero MMO. What game would grab you and engulf you enough to warrant a monthly subscription, a F2P model, or a combination of the two. I guess what I want to know is what features would make you feel as though you are the superhero you always imagined?

Moving on to Game Mechanics. There are a lot of moving parts to such a topic and I am sure I haven't touched on all of them, but here I address major features I would like to introduce to a new game.


Game Mechanics
Character Based
Fast-Paced action has been translated by other superhero MMOs to mean “twitch mechanics”, where actions happen as fast as the player can mash their button. This is in stark contrast to City of Heroes where animation times are a part of a powers’ metric that can vary from power to power and can determine the effectiveness of that power. Twitch mechanics give the player the ability to “run-and-gun” executing powers while in motion whereas in City of Heroes, most powers rooted the player while executing an animation. It is a common theme in comics to dive in, guns blazing, but there is a need for concentrated efforts to execute big powers, so in this game, there needs to be a blending of the two.
The two big factors in accuracy are range and motion. A target farther away is harder to hit than one closer. A target in motion will be harder to hit than a stationary one. Alternately, a player in motion will have an equally difficult time hitting a stationary target. Both can be improved with various modifiers that improve a player’s stats. This promotes a slowing down of battles, more concentrated calculation of the type of attacks a player will use in the heat of battle. This also prevents missing inanimate objects while standing right in front of them. Ranged powers will have a maximum range as well as a maximum effective range. The maximum range of a power usually the visual range to the target, if you can see it, there is a chance you can hit it. The maximum effective range can vary with the amount of strength applied to that power. Thrown objects will have a range based on the strength of the player against the weight of the object, with accuracy based on distance of motion. Area of Effect powers come in two flavors, single plane and omni-directional. Single plane attacks will hit all targets along a single axis, while omni-directional powers will hit all targets in every direction. Omni-directional powers naturally require more endurance than single plane, but have less range.
Vectors of impact and ragdoll effects will give players a more visceral feel of combat. The point of impact and the direction of force will be reflected in the reaction of player characters and NPCs. Knockback effects will be directly translated from the force and direction of an impact, the more strength put into a blow, the farther the target will fly. Force absorbing modifiers will factor in to knockback distances, but the biggest factor will be the weight of the target against the force applied. Every object, including player characters, will have a specific weight. For player characters, being heavier will have advantages and disadvantages. A heavier character will have a higher inherent resistance to knockback, to being lifted, or being thrown. Inversely, a heavier character will also move slower and will often have to delegate a percentage of their strength to increasing their travel speed. Visual cues, such as ground shakes and cracks, will vary with the weight of a character. This variable gives the player the flexibility to create characters a light as a feather or as heavy as a tank without being reliant on having to use a bulky body form. Any power that increases the size of a character will inherently increase that characters weight.



Environmental
The environment is the unseen third player in the game. There are two types of environments in-game, first is the open zone. The game world is expansive having everything from bustling cityscapes, to dense jungles, to desert landscapes. Players will find themselves anywhere from the ocean depths, to the weightlessness of outer space. The player will always have to factor in the environment they find themselves in as part of their combat strategy. An ice-based character will receive a very slight buff to secondary effects in polar zones and areas, but may receive a very slight debuff in a desert zone. Visual cues will show a player that their character is in an environment that is advantageous to their base powers. These cues are purely cosmetic, such as brighter lightning flashes for storm and electricity powers during light storms, or larger water effects when underwater. The open world will be filled with destructible objects of various weights that any character can lift and/or throw. Anything from mailboxes, crates, to boulders and trucks can be “weaponized”, with varying efficiency based on the strength of the character and the weight of the object. Splash damage will reflect battles in the open zones, such as cracked pavement and walls, shattered windows in buildings, or scorched trees and earth. This added to the remains of destroyed objects will give the player the feel of how destructive their powers are. Zone resets will clean up the mess left by open battles, but bigger battles will be talked about by NPCs whenever a player is near.
In-mission, or dungeon environments can either be isolated open areas, or inside buildings or other structures and will allow players to experience even more destructibility where walls, floors, even whole buildings can cecum to a players might. Objects can be affected not only by powers, but also by secondary knockback collisions such as punching someone through a wall. Potential the entire mission area can be leveled, but in some missions avoiding collateral damage may be key to a successful mission. Zones, whether in-mission or open areas, that are counter intuitive to certain powers (ie; Wind in space or fire underwater) will give players easy access to temporary powers and narratives that allow those characters to be effective in any environment.

Even if the game were purchased, I would still see it shutting down for the sake of such a significant transition. A lot of detail would need to be worked out. We assumed the IP would be bought to maintain the game as it is. This may not be the case.

Man! Champions characters close up make CoX characters look like Cryengine 3.

Just saw this little tid-bit on the Facebook page.

http://www.gamerzines.com/mmo/rumour...nterested.html


Don't know if it's been posted as it's three days old, but it brings up some interesting notions of NCSoft possible parlaying CoH for a more profitable offer.

"aspects of community, immersion and deeper layers to get lost in"


Mind if I use this for a future pitch?

Now a look at character creation. City of Heroes is one of many sources that have done a good job of it.



Character Creation
City of Heroes did it very well, but Guild Wars 2 did it better. What I am looking for is the best of both worlds.


Layering
The layering of skin-to-skin texture-to-tatoo-to-hair-to-cloth-to-armor is the tailor-made for the superhero genre. What superheroes have on top of these layers is the addition of “auras”, or visual representations of power. Auras can be either a radiant glow, wispy smoke, or even buzzing flies, auras should have the flexibility of being emitted from either skin (think: elemental), skin texture (think: cracked magma), tattoos (think: mystic sigils), hair (think: flaming hair), cloth (think: Green Lantern movie), and armor (think: too many to think of). The option of auras in combination with customizable powers gives the player even more options than even City of Heroes ever had.

Scaling
The proportions of a character, in many games, limit the options in the types of layers for hair, cloth, and armor. It’s understood that a character with hooved feet cannot wear shoes, but giving the player an option of types of hooves makes up for the limit of not having shoes. In contrast, a fat character should have access to all the above-skin texture options as a thin or muscular character has. Body sliders should address not only the size of a character, but the bulk and muscle tone of a character. This will allow for not only obese characters, but also muscular females.

The Customization Conservatory
Haven’t seen it in game? Suggest it here. City of Heroes was touted as revolution in character creation, many critics claimed this was the only thing that the reason the game lasted as long as it did. I want a game that gives the player the ability to truly create a superhero unique to their imagination. A place where ideas for new clothing types, tattoos, auras, or even body types can be suggested, voted on by players, and fast-tracked to development.

The problem is that none of the other developers understand that we want a place were we can BE superheroes! We want a place to live, a place where our creativity can be expressed in a living world that we can interact in. We want to be thinking about our game even when we are doing other things in real life. We have all seen a name somewhere in print or on TV and thought, "Man, that would make a great superhero name". You would run home, jump on CoH and try to flesh out that very character. We want that level of addiction that was "ok" to have. We want a game that lets no corner of the superhero world unexplored, letting us mix it up with different concepts that even we had never thought of.

What we are getting is something akin to throw-away games that you can take or leave with no real impression left on the player. More and more developers don't trust the idea of the "long-term player" and are trying to get your money as quickly as possible before you attention turns elsewhere. I personally think this has nothing to do with player attention span as much as it does with the quality and scope of the game out there. The anomaly that was WoW has skewed the concept of a successful MMO to where 5 million players is a standard for a monthly subscription game. I feel that OUR game is coming, but it will take risk and a bold vision with a long term outlook and input from players who love the superhero genre.

A look at status bars


Status Bars
In the beginning, there was Health and Endurance. City of Heroes eventually added several other status modifiers such as Rage and Scourge. In this game there are only three, health, endurance, and strength.

Health
A standard in most games, health reflects the amount of life you have left before either death or incapacitation. In this game, your health bar remains constant, but as you increase in power and skill, you are able to conserve your health more efficiently or even become completely, but temporarily, invulnerable.

Endurance
Endurance is your ability to perform a task as long as possible. In this game, endurance means just that, how often you can attack, defend, or simply endure. Your character will show signs of physical exhaustion as their endurance diminishes and may even collapse once it is completely gone.

Strength
Strength is the key variable to accessing your abilities. Whether lifting a heavy object, or focusing on healing an ally, your strength is the power behind the power. Your strength can be applied to any power, increasing the intensity of that ability based on the amount applied to it. Strength can be effected by in game modifiers or through level increases. Visual cues of increased strength, let other see just how powerful you are.

The balance between strength and endurance is a delicate balance. A super speeder doesn’t use much strength to or to strike multiple targets, but will used a significant amount of endurance. That same speeder can focus their strength into a single-powerful blow that will drain his strength, but leave him with enough endurance to escape. Constantly applying holds, or holds to an increasing number of targets will require more endurance, while the intensity of those holds varies with the amount strength applied.

Here's the "meat" of my idea so far...Classes. Again, loosely based on what we had here, but with, what I think, are some interesting twists.



Classes
Classes in a superhero game are important, but the dynamic of classes must be broken out to address the differences of effectiveness in teams, solo, and PvP. In comic it appears that a solo character seems more effective than as part of the team. This, in the most part, is because the solo character is the highlight of his or her comic, while a team must be greater than the sum of its parts. The trick is to address this, while not letting the player character feel “gimped” while in a team. Skills will give the player the bridge to make them more effective within the team dynamic. PvP has been a thorn in the side of most superhero games. The most effective PvP puts competing players on an equal footing. All participants in PvP will be placed at the same level and all damage types will be balanced to a zero-sum level against defense/resistance types. This will allow tactics such as positioning and use of the environment to play a significant role in winning in PvP. Powers will accentuate skill in PvP, not replace it.

Support
The support class has always been seen as the tool of the team, but less effective solo, and useless in PvP. Any power that buffs a teammate should debuff an opponent with equal effectiveness. Team buffs should also affect the caster with equal effect. Add this to secondary powers from any of the other three classes and the support character is more than able to stand on their own or support a team.

Battler
The battler is the front line of combat. The battler uses a combination of ranged and melee attacks to pummel the enemy from all over the battle field. The more a battler fights a particular opponent, the better he becomes at defeating them. The battlers’ defense/resistance is enough to ensure that he can survive to the end of the fight.

Controller
The controller is the master of the area manipulation. Whether through the use of energy fields, environmental changes, or mental influence, the controller uses his powers to keep the enemy from attacking the team. Like support, the controller gains buffs from the use of his powers against the enemy, the more he controls, the more he builds defense/resistance to retaliation.

Tanker
The tanker is not as agile as the battler, nor is he as effective against an entire area of enemies as the controller, but the tanker is a juggernaut of short-range attack and defense/resistance. The tanker has the unique ability to shift his power from irresistible force to an immovable object. The tanker is used to break blockades or form a last line of defense. The key to being a good tanker is knowing when to switch and by how much.

Wrong thread, wrong game. Im sure it will be fun if you like Marvel Ultimate Alliance Online, but I still need the true successor to this one.