Discussion: The Intrepid Informer: Galaxy's Last Stand

Introduction

Our goal for the new City of Heroes Freedom opening tutorial is to introduce new players to the game in the most exciting way possible: by injecting them directly into the destruction of Galaxy City. Known for its tributes to fallen heroes, Galaxy City now finds itself fallen and in ruins. The sky is filled with smoke. Buildings are destroyed or on the verge of collapse. The streets are torn asunder. Stunned civilians roam the streets. Strange meteorites fall from the sky, signaling the arrival of Shivan invaders. And taking advantage of the situation, none other than Lord Recluse and his henchmen are on the scene to ring the city's death knell.

This is the time for a new hero to be born, or a new villain to rise to power. And we wanted the player to be able to make that choice in a meaningful way.

Since this is the first area new players experience in City of Heroes Freedom, we packed as much quality content into it as possible to blow away their expectations. As you play through the Freedom tutorial you may notice an interesting new twist on our loading screen: a five-page comic book that puts you right at the center of the action. The comic book brings players up to speed quickly before they jump into the action and this was our challenge: communicate in five pages all this information in an intense, dynamic way that transitions seamlessly into the game. Fortunately, we have a studio full of great writers and even our own professional comic book artist.

The Process

The idea for a comic book tutorial was the brain child of Matt "Positron" Miller and Sean "Dr. Aeon" McCann. They wanted to make the tutorial unique and were inspired by traditional comic book storytelling. They also wanted to enlist the expertise of our very own David "Noble Savage" Nakayama who, aside from being a comic book artist, also drew many of the issues of the City of Heroes comic book. The original plan was to create a standard in-game cut scene with 2D cards set up in the world and cameras jumping between them to simulate the page-turning. This technically might have worked but would have limited the resolution of the comic book images themselves. Instead of compromising on the quality of the art, we decided on a tech solution provided by Andy Mauer on the engineering team. With Andy's help, the ability to page through multiple comic book loading screens was born.

Once the tech challenge was solved, Matt Miller and Sean McAnn put together a script for the events to be featured in the comic book. In rapid-fire brainstorms deep within the bowels of Paragon Studios they hammered out the story. With a script in hand, David Nakayama was given the task of translating the written words into dynamic visuals in traditional comic book format. Over the course of several iterations, the comic book took shape and eventually solidified into the pages you see in the game. A unique aspect of the storytelling is that we incorporate you as players within its pages in the form of first-person views in several panels.


For the comic book cover David captured the essence of the tutorial experience and the characters involved. Back Alley Brawler is featured prominently because this city is his neighborhood and who else better to express the emotional rage against such destruction? Sister Psyche is our quintessential super heroine and her expression captures the emotional shock of the brutality she is witnessing. In the background, Galaxy City is seen in chaos, the devastating meteor shower raining down destruction on our heroes. Once the cover art was locked down we handed off the artwork to Michael Yen on the user interface team for a graphic design pass. He incorporated our brand new City of Heroes Freedom logo and echoed the metal finish and modern style in the title and framing elements.

The comic book loading screens lead directly into the game so we made sure to incorporate the look and feel of the actual game environment to soften the transition. Many of the backgrounds in the comic are screenshots of the zone itself. The final panels in particular line up with the camera view you experience as the game loads in. You can even see Back Alley Brawler and Sister Psyche fighting in the last panel as you do in the game.

Everyone at Paragon Studios came together to deliver the new tutorial you find in City of Heroes Freedom of which the comic book is only the starting point. Kudos go out to the environment art team for providing us with the fantastic background source material used in these loading screens. This zone is completely new and our tech teams have streamlined the game to allow the thousands of players we expect with Freedom to enjoy the story, art, and gameplay found in this new starting experience. In fact, the new tutorial ends with a major zone event that players can participate in together.

Conclusion

And that is the story behind the comic book featured in our new City of Heroes opening tutorial. You can look forward to seeing this new feature expanded upon in the future with the upcoming Signature Story Arcs that will feature comic book covers as loading screens.

Enjoy!

Originally Posted by Zwillinger GG, I would tell you that "I am killing you with my mind", but I couldn't find an emoticon to properly express my sentiment.

Originally Posted by Captain_Photon NOTE: The Incarnate System is basically farming for IOs on a larger scale, and with more obtrusive lore.

Not only did it scare BABs white, it gave him a new haircut. For some reason, it also turned Sis P into a blow up doll... The lady is 80 years old for carrots sake mentally if not physically. You'd think she would react with something other than a face that seems to suggest "I'm a damsel in distress, where's a male übermensh who can protect me?"

Funniest comment I've read all day.

This.
Also, I love the comic loading screens.
I suggested that a while ago, maybe it was even worked on already, and I love DN art, so... Awesome stuff.
I really cant wait for I21 and Freedom!

Literally the first thing I thought.

Is this official? That was my main concern when I heard about this, was what happened to the badges....

This is my only complaint as well. She's been a superhero for many of her 80+ years, and has witnessed just as bad--if not worse--at the hands of the Rikti and the Praetorians. You'd think she'd have more of a "time to get down to business" face on...

Otherwise, I am completely blown away. I'm really liking everything I've heard about Issue 21... and I'm hoping there might still be a few surprises tucked away that we've yet to hear about (Powerset Proliferation? Maybe? Pleeeeease? ).

Originally Posted by Nethergoat it's NEVER too late to pad your /ignore list!

They mentioned both badges would remain available.

All your questions can be summed up with one answer.

There will be two tutorials once Issue 21 is released: Primal (Hero/Villain) or Praetorian (Resistance/Loyalist). They're just getting rid of the existing Hero and Villain intros, which have barely been touched since 2005, and replacing them with the new Primal intro.

Obviously, since this info about the new Primal tutorial was JUST announced like an hour ago, there's no word on whether the Praetorian tutorial will have the comic loading sequences.

Originally Posted by Nethergoat it's NEVER too late to pad your /ignore list!

I'm not sure if the old tutorials will be available in Ouro, but it was mentioned that you will ABSOLUTELY be able to get Jail Bird and Isolator in some way. And they said that old Galaxy City will be available in some way too (Ouro?), and Posi said they've learned their lesson and will NOT take away content permanently.