The city of hero's Richard Drakan has been interviewed about the game.
Here it is :
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Just after Cryptic Studios announced their plans last fall to make their massively multiplayer super hero RPG City of Heroes, HomeLAN conducted an extensive interview with game designer Richard Dakan to get more info about the title. As part of our "Super Hero Thursday" special today, HomeLAN got in touch once again with Dakan to get an update on their plans for the game.
HomeLAN - A lot of the gaming press got their first chance to check out City of Heroes at E3. Overall were you pleased with the reaction that the game received at the show?
Richard Dakan - We had a great reaction from the press at E3. We showed the game to tons of interested, excited folks from both the gaming and main stream press and everyone we showed it to seemed to come away impressed.
HomeLAN - How has it been working with NCSoft in order to prepare the game for release?
Richard Dakan - Working with NCSoft has been a very positive experience so far. They're a big, rich company with a great, successful game in Lineage, but they still retain just enough start-up/small company mentality to stay flexible. We get decisions made fast and based on logic rather than bureaucratic inertia and policy. Our producer over there, Jeremy Gaffney, continues to do well by us, lending support and useful criticism/advice whenever we ask (and sometimes when we don't - which is usually even more useful). Richard Garriott has also been very generous with his time and attention, and that has been a great experience.
HomeLAN - Have aspects of City of Heroes game design changed since the official announcement last fall or has the design stayed pretty much on the path you originally thought it would?
Richard Dakan - Overall the design has remained very true to the original vision. If anything it has moved back towards what we originally designed. We've worked around some possible technical limitations that looked like they were going to cause us to change things we didn't want to change. Now we don't have to. We've also added some interesting aspects to the design, but most of these are more in the nature of refinements to our original plan rather than drastic changes.
HomeLAN - Some people have been wondering if City of Heroes will allow for at least some destructible environments in the game. What can you tell us at this point about how the game engine will handle such situations?
Richard Dakan - Destructible environments are great in a game like Freedom Force, where you only see the level once. In a persistent world game you can't have a destructible world, because the players will destroy it as soon as they can, just because they can. There are plans to do some limited destructible environments in mission maps, but it's not certain that the feature will make it into initial release.
HomeLAN - Since players won't be able to create super villains at first for City of Heroes, how is Cryptic handling the creation of villains? Will some of them have powers and abilities that the heroes will not have?
Richard Dakan - Well, we're handling the creation of villains in house. All of them are designed by hand (the very capable hand of Chris Chamberlain) and can be tweaked and equipped with a variety of powers as well as special weapons and other abilities.
HomeLAN - What will Cryptic's stance be on players selling their City of Heroes's accounts and property for real money once the game is released?
Richard Dakan - We've not yet announced a policy on this issue.
HomeLAN - Are there plans for Cryptic and NCSoft to promote and market the game to comic book fans who would normally pick up a MMORPG?
Richard Dakan - We'll definitely be promoting the game to comic book fans as well as computer gamers. In fact we're right now working on a promotional City of Heroes comic book that we'll be making available at conventions and through other means.
HomeLAN - The big question now for the gaming community is when will the beta test start for the game and how will it be handled?
Richard Dakan - It is a big question isn't it? Sadly I have no big answer for you just yet. We'll make that announcement in the not too distant future.
HomeLAN - When do you think the full game will be released to the public and what will the price per month be for City of Heroes?
Richard Dakan - We're planning on the first half of 2003 for a release. As for the price, that's still being determined, but it will be comparable to other games available in the medium.
HomeLAN - Finally, is there anything else you wish to say about City of Heroes at this stage?
Richard Dakan - Just that we're at a very exciting time in development right now and that there are some cool innovations that we've long planned on but not yet revealed that will be coming down the pipeline. So keep your eyes open for future announcements in coming months.
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For more info check out City of hero's home page
