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Cryptic Studios head Jack Emmert is a unique character in the gaming industry. He comes from an academic background and makes comic book games. Today, we begin a periodic feature where we hope the fans can learn more about Emmert, his studio and his projects. Read the first Q&A below, then check out the comment thread to suggest questions for future weeks.
The full interview is here. |
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I guess now I know why when I play CoX it feels like a cominc book.
 One thing Id like to know is if he feels about the Issue 8. Alot of people have mixed feelings about the new Safeguard missions albiet there growing on me. Would he like to see more variety of mission goal types other then saving the hostage, blasting the baddy or searching for stuff? Generally speaking what kind of complexity would he like to see in the game on top of whats already there.
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That is the one thing I can say I like about I8. Safeguard missions allows my 50 tank to do other things besides hanging out in RCS trying to clean up the Rikti infestation or rescuing the poor soldiers. It is a lonely task but I like the praise of the soldiers even if they don't talk in that zone. And as far as I can tell a lot of the Safeguards missions are nice and short, allowing me to build Prestige a little quicker. My blaster really appreciates his new trenchcoat too. (and I snuck some small covers of the comics in my SG base)
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What I didnt like about the Safeguard missions was that they felt like I was trying to keep a tower from falling rather then tearing the tower down. They must have changed a little of the balance of the timer since beta because now I feel like im rooting enemies off of warrens. Oh and by the way Tute, my SFG Mish lasted almost a hour hehehe. I did so many side mishes that when I finished Id collected a moutain of prestige! What I really liked the best was that the mishes on the PBR are all in the same zone! Wow thats conveint!
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I'd love to know what Cryptic has planned for promoting and merchandising the game. Do they have any plans to make the website more interactive, a stronger part of the game and community? I'd love to see features like player pages where one can view that players statistics as well as all of their characters (images taken right from the game similar to how the character ID image appears, description, badges, statistics and other character data). Charaters could also upload or link their pages to images of their characters that they have created or commissioned. It would be a sort of a CoGs ("City of..." Games) MySpaces of sorts. One benifit to this feature is that players browsing through the playerbase COGs Pages could spot and report trademark violations much easier. Another is creating a stronger community by being able to share without having to do a ton of work yourself. I'd also like to see Cryptic sit down with sites like MMOART.com and work on some kind of a deal, make things a little more official. I'd like to see more involvement with the creative community as a whole. This is a game that revolves around comics, so I think that more involvement with the creative community at large makes sense. Even bringing in people that had nothing to do with the game before might reach a larger audience and spark new interest. One thing I am curious about is now that Marvel and Cryptic are working on a game together, does Cryptic have any plans of working with Marvel on creating a City of Heroes comic book? 
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Top cow has stated that the City of Heroes comic will end it run with issue 20. what is the future of the comic?
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I'd like to know more about the marvel MMO. Will it be faster paced than CoX to cater to a console crowd? Will Marvel characters be window dressing (ala SWG), event setpeices (ala Matrix Online), or will you be able to actually play marvel characters? Will you have the same freedom to design characters that you do in CoX?
I don't want to write this, and you don't want to read it. But now it's too late for both of us. |
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I'm still awaiting the day to see more interaction with the environment but I'm begginning to think it is too much to ask for the current generation of hardware/software and maybe even the one after that. I was really hoping Ageia would do more than it has in CoX but from reading what it has done for other games too, it's future does not look so bright. But it sure is nice to see a developer take a chance on new technology in hopes of enhancing gameplay.
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There are a couple things I'd like to ask Jack.
One question would be; is the third mmo Cryptic is working on (the one we know nothing about at this point) going to be a superhero setting? A simple yes or no is sufficient. I dont excpect him to realy announce anything yet. I would also like to know, generaly, what are some of the most important lessons Jack has learned about creating an mmorpg over the past few years. Whether it be technical, customer service, managing a dev team or whatever. And finaly, what are Jacks design goals for the Marvel mmo? Or if goals are too specific at this point, what is his philosophy or his overall approach towards the project. oh wait! One more thing. What does Mr.Emmert think of the "civil war" plot scenario in Marvel right now. Personaly I think its great, and adds alot of depth of storytelling to an otherwise humdrum, run-of-the-mill comicbook world. thankyou and goodnight |
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Maybe the third project isn't an MMOG? Could be City of Heroes The Motion Picture.
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trike
Novice Member
Joined: 10/13/04
"If we couldn't laugh, we would all be insane." -- Jimmy Buffett |
I'd like to know if Cryptic is planning on releasing smaller Issues with greater frequency, or is there something that prevents them from doing such a thing. Is it a "can't" or "don't want to" situation?
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Well they stated before that Issues 9 - 11 are already planned out and slated for 2007. Since I8 just came out, that will keep people busy for a little while at least. To me a major content patch every 4 months would be a good timetable.
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Anofalye
Apprentice Member
Joined: 11/19/03
The enemy is so dumb! They believe that WE are the enemy! - A famous orc commander. |
Nice Q&A. :)
- "If I understand you well, you are telling me until next time. " - René Levesque about the denial NO on the poll to his dream, project and goal. (Free translation) |
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The interview is fine, but I'd like to hear him talk more about the lack of end game content and support for the PvP in the game. I have already canceled my account and it was due to the game being way too repetative in certain level ranges. Even with different ATs and powersets you do the same thing with all of them. The introduction of Striga and Croatoa gives plenty of 20-35 content, but anything after that is slim. Then they add another new zone for those levels with issue 8, what's up with that. I know Safeguard missions are techinically end game content, but they will get old soon too. I had 3 level 50's and nothing to do with them except PvP.
The bad part is that PvP was introduced to the game being broken, and still is. Arena maps are buggy, unpredictable and few in choice. The "tournament system" never worked and the other arena bugs have yet to be adressed. I know PvP has a much smaller population in the game, but at least fix the damn bugs already. Zones are fine, but get rid of all debt in them since it may keep people from trying them out more. Bases are also messed up which makes base raids hard to do if you can even get one done. Two of the three ways to PvP in the game are borked. All that most people ask is to fix the arena bugs. Don't add anything, just simply fix the damn things. PvP in this game had so much potential but it's being wasted. At least it kept me around for an extra 6 months. |
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trike
Novice Member
Joined: 10/13/04
"If we couldn't laugh, we would all be insane." -- Jimmy Buffett |
I could not care less about PvP because it forces people in to making specific choices in order to be competitive. That's one of the reasons why I cancelled my account after Enhancement Diversification came out -- the game went from being a wide-open "play any wacky way you like" to forcing players into cookie-cutter roles. It made an already repetitive game tedious.
I would like to hear Jack address changes coming to bases. Bases were one of the most highly anticipated things about the game since day one, yet their implementation has left a great deal to be desired. Almost no one can actually design a base, and what designs exist are amazingly dull. They look like you're living in your parents' basement with your own geeky decorating sense. (Which is only accentuated by the fact that you can now plaster the City of Heroes comic book covers on the walls.) Are there any plans to include personal apartments, either separate from SG bases or as private spaces within them? Will they be adding windows to bases? (I mean, come on, Doom and Doom II had simulated windows more than 10 years ago.) Will players be able to make bases that have more than one level? While the base editor itself is robust, will players have more design choices in upcoming Issues? |
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Well..... Short but true, the thing i would appreciate most, right now, is any info on Marvel Universe Online, ANY |
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damian7
Apprentice Member
Joined: 4/20/06
why must i be nice to people that have no clue, are lying, or are just stupid? |
"This is just a primer. What do you want to know about City of X,
Cryptic, Marvel Universe or Jack himself? Without feeling the need to
go into hyper-specific questions about the games themselves, jump over
to our boards and tell us what you'd like to hear Jack talk about."
hard to come up with non-COx questions. Don't plan on playing video games outside of the computer, so no marvel i guess? no idea what his secret third project is and i've read before about how he came up with statesman and different biographical things about jack himself. so, with me TRYING to keep it broad-stroke, let me shoot out a few cox questions... 1 - Will "City of" get back on a quarterly schedule with new issues, vs this 6-7 month schedule since COV came out? B - Will "City of" issues start having both hero and villain content? maybe just a few powersets per side, vs 6-8 for one side, or opposites sets, i.e. fire v ice, darkness v light, chocolate v ice cream. perhaps also shared zones, sort of like how faultline is split up north/south & a dam/tunnels in the middle, with a small section of the zone being pvp, the other sections accesible only to one side or the other? and NO nerfs (as was the case every issue up until 8 i believe, nerfs that is)? III - i too am curious about the multilevel option being added for bases, along with a semi-auto base designer. i.e. say that i really like how arachnos/cot/longbow/whomever's bases are designed, there could be cookie cutter rooms based off that mob's normal maps, which you can then edit as you desire. could we please get correspondent writers and moderators, on the eve forum at mmorpg.com, who are well-versed on eve-online and aren't just passersby pushing buttons? pretty please? |
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trike
Novice Member
Joined: 10/13/04
"If we couldn't laugh, we would all be insane." -- Jimmy Buffett |
Well, I do have one non-CoH/V question: are there any comics he's read which pass muster in terms of his history interests?
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I'd love to hear more about marvel - I hope they hire some people really into the comic world to play the Marvel heros because i know i'd love to see the heros in action rather then static in one spot all the time
Qoute: "I neva *ucked anybody over in my life, who didn't have it comin' to 'im, you got that? All I have in this world is my balls, and my word, and I don't break 'em for no one, jou understand?" Tony Montana |
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Is there any chance of Cox getting interactive attacks where the character and the target (or vice verra) actually interact with each other in the animation as oposed to interacting with an effect, similar to what Gods & Heroes is doing?
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I have so many questions but I have to ask my main question that's been on my mind forever:
What is the best way for one to go about getting an education to work in the computer gaming/mmo industry? I plan on going to college for computer programming soon but I've seen ad's on TV for colleges that actually have game design classes now, something that has never been available in the past. I wonder if this is better than actually going for computer programming or not? I want to create software and code games and such so I think programming would be what I need to learn. Also, Is there any other classes that would help my future as a game designer/developer? Such as English, Economics, business, etc.... What kind of programming should I really focus on? Any and all help would be very much appreciated. Programming is such a huge and varied field. There are all types of code and programming out there and I think alot of people are daunted by all of this and I imagine alot of people would like to know exactly what kind of programming or classes they should really apply themselves at. Thank you and keep up the good work. As a comic book and game fan it's so nice to finally have the game out that I've been wishing would be out since my childhood days. Now if only I could somehow expose myself to toxic waste or some form of gamma rays and actually gain super powers instead of losing my hair and body limbs, then I'd have it made : ) |
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Once Marvel MMO drops and players get to interact with real super heroes/villains that we've all grown up reading and watching, what plans (if any) does he have to keep players interested in CoH/CoV? What's going to keep players interested in battling the Backalley Brawler when they can challenge Magneto in the Marvel game? 
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The one big thing I really wish Jack or Cryptic would say is that Marvel Universe isn't going to be just like the City games. While those games are decent in their own right, and I do like some things about it, it's always to me been a comic version of the fantasy MMo's.
The powers were always severely limited, and the brawling fre attack thing was a wimpy dinky puch. In all my time reading and understanding comics, I've noticed that the brawling stuff is always done a lot more than constantly using powers. Whereas the City games force you to always use your powers. The big thing that worries me right now, being a guy who has always wanted a true Marvel hero MMO, is that the limits in cryptic's City games would translate exactly over to the Marvel Universe game. So to summarize. Is Marvel Universe going to use the COH/COV power system/ battle system, or will it be something unique and different? Will you have a system for combat more like COH/COv as it is now, or will you add some freebie attacks for everyone that don't work like powers, like Marvel Ultimate Alliance has? While I know it's soemthing that can't really be told right now, I'm hopign that you opt for a more fast-paced fighting system, than the COH/COV system that puts me to sleep during a fight because it's jsut pushing the same buttons over and over till someone ends up dying. Although I will give you the benefit of the doubt, due to the fact that the time I was able to playtest COV, I was almost totally engaged with the game for nearly the entire two weeks. By far out of all the MMO's that are in the works, Marvel Universe Online has me the most excited, and the most worried. I just hope that it is indeed goign to be a game that is unlike any other previous MMO's so that the MMO genre gets at least a little varied in the way games are played. Ian |
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Some questions for Statesman (although I doubt he can answer most of them! :-): - What are the key lessons you've learned from CoH/V that will shape the development of future MMOGs from Cryptic Studios? - How do you see MUO being a different experience from CoH/V? - MUO is in the interesting position of recreating at least part of New York City. How big a part of New York is going to recreated for MUO? - Where do you see the future of microtransactions and RMTs heading for MMOGs? Is it the way of the future, an alternate payment system to subscriptions, a flash in the pan or something else all together? - As a father myself, I know how hard it is to balance both work and home life. How do you balance out the needs of a young family with the needs of a MMOG development studio? And are they really that different ;-)? |
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I'd like hints on upcoming powersets... from previous interviews we know there is a lot of powersets that were designed for the now cancelled paid expension that was due in 2007... and they they have been set to be released in upcoming free issues. Is there any plans for additional PvP modes (once base raids finally get implemented). Such as Task Force vs Strike Force, or just being able to enter missions set in PvP areas. Any chance on expending powersets, powerpool, or adding new APPs? Any chance of further character devellopment? Will you ever consider adding more levels? Pistols: Scrapper or Blaster? For an old vet who's seen most of the content, what is there in the future of CoX to keep him hoping and thrilled? |
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;)
