The Ship of Heroes guys are moving along with production pretty rapidly these days, and asked us to share with you a quick look at the game's work-in-progress combat. We've already seen character creation, so this shows the game in action at an early stage. Readon for the video and an interview with the team about how SoH will hold up to City of Heroes.
MMORPG: Tell us about the new development your team is working on with Ship of Heroes. It sounds like you are moving in a great direction.
Casey McGeever: This is a very exciting time for us. We're currently building a combat teaser video that will show the first powers and enemies, all taking place in our persistent level, Apotheosis City. After that, we're planning to show off one of our network tests so that everyone can see how well Ship of Heroes runs as an MMO.
MMORPG: The background of your world is really fun, how did you build out the lore and concepts which separate the game from other hero and alien genres?
Casey McGeever: We've drawn inspiration from many sources, ranging from well-known modern series like Star Wars and Thor all the way back to the science fiction novels some of our devs read growing up. What ties it all together is the bright, optimistic mood. Many games these days are blighted or post-apocalyptic, and we're going in a completely different direction – you don't have to be miserable to fight bad guys, in space or on planets.
MMORPG: You are showing off some new aliens with your demo, can you tell us about their design?
Casey McGeever: The first aliens you'll see are the Nagdelians. Think of them as something like a sci-fi version of the Soviet Union, but in space. They're a vast, evil empire with a rigid caste system in which each type of alien is grown and trained from birth for their role. The Human Federation is in a limited war with the Nagdelians – neither side is willing to risk invading the other side's core planets and losing, but there is constant raiding and skirmishing in the border areas the FHS Justice travels through. Of course, the war is very real to the heroes fighting on the ship to keep Earth safe.
MMORPG: You also have a new hero to show, what goes into building these characters?
Casey McGeever: First we come up with each hero's backstory, how it fits into the setting, and their role on the ship. Then we custom-build the hero's body and costume in our character creator. There aren't many costumes for superheroes available in the marketplace, so what you see is almost all created by our dev team. Finally, we assign powers to the heroes so that they can fight in-game.
MMORPG: Can you tell us more about the power sets in the game?
Casey McGeever: We are currently planning to launch with 16 power sets, divided among four archetypes. Each archetype, like Devastator or Tanker, will be able to choose one of four primary power sets and one of another four secondary power sets. For example, we currently plan for the Devastator's primary sets to be themed around Fire, Ice, Lightning, and Military Weapons like firearms and explosives.
MMORPG: How are you doing with your schedule of development?
Casey McGeever: We have built everything we promised and met every milestone. We've even built a few extra things that aren't on the schedule. For example, we promised 2-3 signature heroes in February, but we have four ready – you'll see the fourth one, a Devastator named Meltdown, in the combat video. We’re also building and then showing a lot more real game content than many other teams, at the pre-Kickstarter stage of development. Apotheosis City, the FHS Justice, the character creator, and combat have all been coded in the game and demonstrated, so our backers know this is actually going to be built, if they support us.
