Gen Con Interview with Randy Mosiondz
While attending Gen Con Indy in Indianapolis last week, the MMORPG.com team had the opportunity to sit down and talk to with Randy Mosiondz, the Lead Designer for Champions Online at Cryptic Studios, where they discussed fan response to Champions, design philosophy, and the features that make Champions an upcoming MMO to watch.
We had the chance to sit down and video an interview with Randy Mosiondz, the Lead Designer for Champions Online at Cryptic Studios. This convention marks the first time players have had the chance to get their hands on a playable version of Champions Online and according to Randy the feedback has been amazing so far. Over 5,000 people have visited the booth and played the game so far during the convention.
We also talked briefly about their forums, which went live about three months ago. Feedback has been coming in fairly steadily and Cryptic seems to be really listening to what their potential players are saying even though they haven't even laid hands on the game yet. One great example is how initially the game was designed to use an Archetype system for the characters. People on the forums were pretty vocal about not wanting to be locked into defined roles as superheroes... Instead of being "an elements guy" or such, they wanted the freedom to mix and match powers and create more unique characters, so Cryptic made the change.
Touching on one point that Cryptic has always been extremely well known for, the character creation and customization aspects of their games, Randy talked briefly about how they're taking what they've done so well in the past and really moving it to the next levels. You'll even be able to customize aspects of your character such as stances, even to the point of having a superhero who scurries about on all fours.
We also talked briefly about the lessons they've learned from previous superhero games they've worked on in the past, their overall design philosophy to making games, the challenges involved in turning a Pen & Paper RPG into a MMO and other exciting topics. Be sure to check out the video when we post it!
