For the third and final part of our City of Heroes 7th Anniversary Retrospective, our developers share their favourite things about Paragon Studios! And last but not least, Melissa War Witch Bianco and Jesse Ghost Falcon Caceres will also let you in on some of the pranks that have punctuated life in the City of Heroes team!
But read on for the last chapter of our tryptique!
What are some of the things you love the most about Paragon Studios?
Matt Positron Miller, Lead Systems Designer
I love the fact that everyone who is working on the game loves the game with a passion. Id love to say its all the after-hours gaming that goes on here, but the fact is, everyone seems to be working on making City of Heroes better in those after hours instead.
Melissa War Witch Bianco, Lead Designer
The people I dont care how perfect your job may seem, if you cant get along with the people you work with, its wasted. I have such joy working with these people, theyre funny and smart and passionate and creative.
I go to work and I get to have posters and pictures and SWAG hanging around all over my cube and no one gets mad!
I love that we have events like BBQs, and Bounce Houses, and Bowling, and parties we get to hang out socially, too, not just professionally.
Weve all come to know and love Stinky, the neighborhood skunk who hangs out on occasion
My team, they rock.
I dont love the Tetris machine anymore, but thats only because Im really bad at it.
The correspondence Wall anytime we get a post card or a letter, it goes up there those are always really fun to read (I love that people take the time to write them!)
My morning walks with Television and sometimes Black Scorpion, or whomever else we can drag out at 7:15 a.m. to go to Starbucks. Im already on my Green Reward Program, trying to catch up to Black Scorpion who already has his Gold card. Yes, Im an achievement type girl.
Nate Second MeasureBirkholz, Lead Producer
I love the atmosphere, the huge number of very humorous and dedicated people I get to work with, and getting to work on one of my favorite games of all time. I also really love the sheer number of roleplaying games and board games scattered around in peoples cubes. When I was interviewed for the job, I did it in a room absolutely full of miniatures and games, and as an inveterate gamer (I worked my way through college in a comics and games store) I felt very much at home.
Jesse Ghost Falcon Caceres, Business Manager
The past seven years has been an amazing journey for City of Heroes. I was a hardcore City of Heroes player before joining the NCsoft publishing team in 2004. There have been a lot of good times, and one of my continued challenges is to keep the fanboy within me in check. Most publishers and developers work on a project, publish it, and then walk away. Ive been fortunate to have been a fan of this game, work on it with extremely talented people, and help evolve and make it continually better. Its great to see have seen and driven on the road that brought us to this seven year point, however Im looking at the roadmap of the things to come, and I feel weve outgrown the wheels and are ready to grab our capes and fly.
Tim Black Scorpion Sweeney, Systems Designer
My favorite thing at Paragon Studios has to be the all of the smart and brave people I come to work with every day. Very Band of Brothers on occasion.
Joe Hero 1 Morrisey, Senior Designer
The team. The studio. The games we make. Ive always believed that Paragon is more than just the title of our studio. Its a way of life for us. We hold ourselves to a higher standard than others and it shows. We want to be the best. To make the best superhero game out there. To create the best team culture there is. To create the most rewarding experience for us as well as the players. Its all a part of our culture and I love it.
Vince The Dark Watcher DAmelio, Principal Programmer
Paragon Studios manages to maintain a better work/life balance than any other game company Ive worked at. They understand that MMO development is a marathon, not a sprint and work very hard to make realistic schedules so we dont burn out.
John Protean Hegner, Lead Missions Designer.
My coworkers. I like every single one of them. We play D&D after hours, collect Warhammer 40k and Warmachine armies, go to lunch and geek out about geek things (like geeking out about geek things). Im friends with a great many of them and we all get each other, were all on the same wavelength. Nothing disrupts creativity more than not liking or trusting co-workers. Ive had more than my fair share of that sort of work environment, its suffocating. Paragon is liberating.
Infamous Prank, courtesy of Jesse Caceres
Sticky notes under the mouse pad
In 2010, Melissa and Matt put sticky notes under the optical mice of all computers in the studio. When I came in, I thought something was wrong with my computer until I looked under my mouse .I didnt think it was a joke at the time, and thought I accidentally left a sticky on my desk, until I heard that it happened to the entire studio .
Infamous Pranks, courtesy of Melissa Bianco
The Bertie Bot Bogus Flavor Bowl
One of the things weve always done at work on City of Heroes for years, is bring in food and leave it in the kitchen for everyone to share. Sometimes we bring in cookies, candies, and fruit from the trees in our back yards, etc. This is also where edible presents from Players or vendors are put.
On this particular day, I had a bunch of Bertie Bots left over (Id eaten all the good flavors) and only the icky flavors remained. So this co-worker, who shall remain anonymous, took a bowl of the gross flavors and put them in the kitchen. A few people got nailed by some really disgusting flavors, constantly eating one after another hoping to get the bad taste out of their mouths. Unfortunately, they never got better! Barf, dirt, booger, ear wax, grass, you name it it was there! (I kinda feel guilty, but not super a lot, since I had to clean up the Tootsie Poo.)
The WHAT Did They Eat? Bathroom Caper
I dont know what the deal is with game development and/or guys in particular, but bathroom humor was really popular in the early days. On this particular occasion, someone placed a device in the mens bathroom (the doors were painfully thin, by the way, one cough and you could hear it down the hall) so as people went in, after a few second theyd trigger that WRETCHED NOISE. Well, you can guess what it sounded like. Again, it was the highlight of the day. Grown men giggling like girls. Honestly.
The Shock Pen Scenario
This one was my fault and the joke was kind of on me. When Matt Positron Miller and I were at GDC in San Francisco a few years ago, I discovered a joke shop and picked up a shock pen. The problem is, Im a really crummy liar, so when Id offer up my pen for people to try Id start giggling or making these wretchedly obvious faces so few people actually fell for the joke. And if they DID, I absolutely lost it. It was totally ridiculous and I should never play practical jokes for the same reason I should never play Poker. I give EVERYTHING away.
Oh, and a year later, that pen was still sitting in my pen case and I grabbed it (utterly forgetting it was there), went to use it, shocked myself and screamed in the middle of a work day. Yeah. Great joke.
The Case of the Missing Cereal
Most of our cubes come with a cupboard. My particular cupboard houses several boxes of cereal, some snacks, etc. just in case we have a global emergency, I have food for the entire studio. So I went to grab some cereal for breakfast and pulled out the first box (I had four) and it was empty. I kind of did a mental, Nice going, Mel. Cant be bothered to throw away your cereal box? and then picked up the next box. I may be lazy, but Im not THAT lazy.
Someone had poured out all of the cereal and put the box back (empty bag inside). Then I grabbed the next box. And the next. All gone. To this day, no one will fess up to it. Ive accused both Second Measure and Positron, but neither will cop to it. Some have tossed Television in as a possible suspect, but he hasnt admitted anything. The case remains unsolved. I had to go out and buy some more boxes of cereal.
The YouTube Video
This was utterly ridiculous, only because its been caught on tape forever and ever. I was sitting in the Art Department going over some changes to the environment of Shadow Shard (or maybe its Eden). Im in the middle of a biiiiig stretch when I feel a blast of air and I turn my head. Right then, another artist uses one of those blow horns you use at a hockey game in my face and Im caught on tape forever making this horrendously ridiculous terrified face (in slow-mo no less) for ever. And ever. I was so scared it was either pee my pants or start laughing. My family still laughs at me when they watch it.
For the third and final part of our City of Heroes 7th Anniversary Retrospective, our developers share their favourite things about Paragon Studios! And last but not least, Melissa War Witch Bianco and Jesse Ghost Falcon Caceres will also let you in on some of the pranks that have punctuated life in the City of Heroes team!
But read on for the last chapter of our tryptique!
What are some of the things you love the most about Paragon Studios?
Matt Positron Miller, Lead Systems Designer
I love the fact that everyone who is working on the game loves the game with a passion. Id love to say its all the after-hours gaming that goes on here, but the fact is, everyone seems to be working on making City of Heroes better in those after hours instead.
Melissa War Witch Bianco, Lead Designer
The people I dont care how perfect your job may seem, if you cant get along with the people you work with, its wasted. I have such joy working with these people, theyre funny and smart and passionate and creative.
I go to work and I get to have posters and pictures and SWAG hanging around all over my cube and no one gets mad!
I love that we have events like BBQs, and Bounce Houses, and Bowling, and parties we get to hang out socially, too, not just professionally.
Weve all come to know and love Stinky, the neighborhood skunk who hangs out on occasion
My team, they rock.
I dont love the Tetris machine anymore, but thats only because Im really bad at it.
The correspondence Wall anytime we get a post card or a letter, it goes up there those are always really fun to read (I love that people take the time to write them!)
My morning walks with Television and sometimes Black Scorpion, or whomever else we can drag out at 7:15 a.m. to go to Starbucks. Im already on my Green Reward Program, trying to catch up to Black Scorpion who already has his Gold card. Yes, Im an achievement type girl.
Nate Second MeasureBirkholz, Lead Producer
I love the atmosphere, the huge number of very humorous and dedicated people I get to work with, and getting to work on one of my favorite games of all time. I also really love the sheer number of roleplaying games and board games scattered around in peoples cubes. When I was interviewed for the job, I did it in a room absolutely full of miniatures and games, and as an inveterate gamer (I worked my way through college in a comics and games store) I felt very much at home.
Jesse Ghost Falcon Caceres, Business Manager
The past seven years has been an amazing journey for City of Heroes. I was a hardcore City of Heroes player before joining the NCsoft publishing team in 2004. There have been a lot of good times, and one of my continued challenges is to keep the fanboy within me in check. Most publishers and developers work on a project, publish it, and then walk away. Ive been fortunate to have been a fan of this game, work on it with extremely talented people, and help evolve and make it continually better. Its great to see have seen and driven on the road that brought us to this seven year point, however Im looking at the roadmap of the things to come, and I feel weve outgrown the wheels and are ready to grab our capes and fly.
Tim Black Scorpion Sweeney, Systems Designer
My favorite thing at Paragon Studios has to be the all of the smart and brave people I come to work with every day. Very Band of Brothers on occasion.
Joe Hero 1 Morrisey, Senior Designer
The team. The studio. The games we make. Ive always believed that Paragon is more than just the title of our studio. Its a way of life for us. We hold ourselves to a higher standard than others and it shows. We want to be the best. To make the best superhero game out there. To create the best team culture there is. To create the most rewarding experience for us as well as the players. Its all a part of our culture and I love it.
Vince The Dark Watcher DAmelio, Principal Programmer
Paragon Studios manages to maintain a better work/life balance than any other game company Ive worked at. They understand that MMO development is a marathon, not a sprint and work very hard to make realistic schedules so we dont burn out.
John Protean Hegner, Lead Missions Designer.
My coworkers. I like every single one of them. We play D&D after hours, collect Warhammer 40k and Warmachine armies, go to lunch and geek out about geek things (like geeking out about geek things). Im friends with a great many of them and we all get each other, were all on the same wavelength. Nothing disrupts creativity more than not liking or trusting co-workers. Ive had more than my fair share of that sort of work environment, its suffocating. Paragon is liberating.
Infamous Prank, courtesy of Jesse Caceres
Sticky notes under the mouse pad
In 2010, Melissa and Matt put sticky notes under the optical mice of all computers in the studio. When I came in, I thought something was wrong with my computer until I looked under my mouse .I didnt think it was a joke at the time, and thought I accidentally left a sticky on my desk, until I heard that it happened to the entire studio .
Infamous Pranks, courtesy of Melissa Bianco
The Bertie Bot Bogus Flavor Bowl
One of the things weve always done at work on City of Heroes for years, is bring in food and leave it in the kitchen for everyone to share. Sometimes we bring in cookies, candies, and fruit from the trees in our back yards, etc. This is also where edible presents from Players or vendors are put.
On this particular day, I had a bunch of Bertie Bots left over (Id eaten all the good flavors) and only the icky flavors remained. So this co-worker, who shall remain anonymous, took a bowl of the gross flavors and put them in the kitchen. A few people got nailed by some really disgusting flavors, constantly eating one after another hoping to get the bad taste out of their mouths. Unfortunately, they never got better! Barf, dirt, booger, ear wax, grass, you name it it was there! (I kinda feel guilty, but not super a lot, since I had to clean up the Tootsie Poo.)
The WHAT Did They Eat? Bathroom Caper
I dont know what the deal is with game development and/or guys in particular, but bathroom humor was really popular in the early days. On this particular occasion, someone placed a device in the mens bathroom (the doors were painfully thin, by the way, one cough and you could hear it down the hall) so as people went in, after a few second theyd trigger that WRETCHED NOISE. Well, you can guess what it sounded like. Again, it was the highlight of the day. Grown men giggling like girls. Honestly.
The Shock Pen Scenario
This one was my fault and the joke was kind of on me. When Matt Positron Miller and I were at GDC in San Francisco a few years ago, I discovered a joke shop and picked up a shock pen. The problem is, Im a really crummy liar, so when Id offer up my pen for people to try Id start giggling or making these wretchedly obvious faces so few people actually fell for the joke. And if they DID, I absolutely lost it. It was totally ridiculous and I should never play practical jokes for the same reason I should never play Poker. I give EVERYTHING away.
Oh, and a year later, that pen was still sitting in my pen case and I grabbed it (utterly forgetting it was there), went to use it, shocked myself and screamed in the middle of a work day. Yeah. Great joke.
The Case of the Missing Cereal
Most of our cubes come with a cupboard. My particular cupboard houses several boxes of cereal, some snacks, etc. just in case we have a global emergency, I have food for the entire studio. So I went to grab some cereal for breakfast and pulled out the first box (I had four) and it was empty. I kind of did a mental, Nice going, Mel. Cant be bothered to throw away your cereal box? and then picked up the next box. I may be lazy, but Im not THAT lazy.
Someone had poured out all of the cereal and put the box back (empty bag inside). Then I grabbed the next box. And the next. All gone. To this day, no one will fess up to it. Ive accused both Second Measure and Positron, but neither will cop to it. Some have tossed Television in as a possible suspect, but he hasnt admitted anything. The case remains unsolved. I had to go out and buy some more boxes of cereal.
The YouTube Video
This was utterly ridiculous, only because its been caught on tape forever and ever. I was sitting in the Art Department going over some changes to the environment of Shadow Shard (or maybe its Eden). Im in the middle of a biiiiig stretch when I feel a blast of air and I turn my head. Right then, another artist uses one of those blow horns you use at a hockey game in my face and Im caught on tape forever making this horrendously ridiculous terrified face (in slow-mo no less) for ever. And ever. I was so scared it was either pee my pants or start laughing. My family still laughs at me when they watch it.
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