Friday, May 1, 2009

Senior World Designer Melissa Bianco talks about five years of CoH
By Michael Lafferty

“What have I learned about MMO games is that perspective changes everything”

It’s been five years since NCsoft and Cryptic did what few said would work – they launched a superhero-based massively multiplayer online game. Not only did the City of Heroes franchise swell into an MMO phenomenon, but it showed MMO players some of what was possible in terms of character creation.

Yes, it got the company into a little trouble and ultimately begged the question whether the company could be held accountable for characters users created, but all in all the CoH franchise weathered the storm and now has passed its five-year anniversary.

We thought it time to check in with the creators of Paragon City and Senior World Designer Melissa Bianco (of Paragon Studios) was kind enough to answer some of our questions.

Melissa graduated with an Arts and Sciences diploma in Media Resources from Capilano College in 1991. She has worked as an extras’ casting director, talent agent, and production assistant in the film and television industry in the early 90s in Canada and as a screenwriter, casting director, and producer in San Jose, California. Melissa has been working on the City of Heroes project since 2002 and is now a Senior World Designer at Paragon Studios. She is the author of the ‘chick lit’ novel, Real Life.

Question:  What has been the most important thing you have learned about the CoH/V world, or about MMO games in general, in the five years since the launch of this franchise?

Melissa: One of the most important things I’ve learned about the CoH/V world is that it’s only as “successful” as the players playing it. They play our game not just to have fun, but also to have a vehicle to express their own creativity and style. I’ve seen this time and again with all of the out-of-game projects that players come up with every day from costume contests, fan art, Scoop articles, player-organized events, and – most recently – the amazing stories that have come out of Architect.

I may doom myself as the “gooey” developer, but I truly believe that our players are an amazing bunch of people; loyal and creative, kind and generous, passionate and compassionate. I’ve met our players face-to-face, sprung up beside them as War Witch in-game and said “hi”, and even sent unsolicited PMs to them for one reason or another and, without fail, as I speak to the people behind the avatar, I have discovered that they are truly worth knowing.

What have I learned about MMO games is that perspective changes everything. There were systems and designs that we put into place with City of Heroes that came not from years of design experience but from, “Well, this sucks, how can we fix it?”  The innovation of the Sidekick/Exemplar system was simple frustration: “Well, my buddy out-leveled me, now I can’t play with him.” So why don’t you just make him your level?

So rather than adopting the status quo of other games, City of Heroes has created its own. Since that time, I’ve noticed those other games have adopted ours.  There have been many “game laws” that have been re-written over the last few years: loot, death and debt, XP curves, corpse retrieval, and so – again and again – the evolution of games breaks down to fun, freedom, ingenuity…and perspective.  

Q: What do you think were the most significant changes you have made to the game since its launch?

Melissa: Besides populating 60% of the world?  Ha ha, kidding (not really).

From a zone perspective, my former mentor, Thomas Foss, continually stressed that zones need story and purpose and a natural progression (both visually and story-wise), to lead the player through it in a meaningful way. Since Striga Isle, my focus has frequently come from that place.

Today, I work very closely with Joe Morrissey (Hero 1), and we sit in a room and brainstorm until we have a solid plan. From there, the World Team does its magic and the Mission Team does theirs, but we continually check in with each other to make sure every single element from Villain Groups to Contacts, World Geometry to Audio, is all seamlessly interwoven so that we are working as a strong unit.

That comes from daily inter-department communication, having a strong well-defined design, and ensuring that we’re organized and driven to follow-through and close the Issue. It helps that the game has been through two major launches (CoH and CoV) as well as 14 mini-launches of each new Issue. At this point, we’re a well-oiled machine.

Two minor, but no less important changes are bringing humor to the game, in the form of dialogue and Easter Eggs. Now, I’ve written the odd mission here or there, but mostly my focus is on Zones, so the dialogue the Skulls or Arachnos or even the atmospheric spawns people read probably has some of me in there. I like to make people laugh and nothing, and I mean nothing (except ice cream), gives me more joy than to hear someone quote my own dialogue back to me or tell me they found an Easter Egg that I put in the game. It’s usually followed by the following excited thought: now can I tell them where the rest of them are!

Q: We have seen some pretty cool world events in the game, but what do you plan to do to celebrate the fifth anniversary … if you can give us an inkling?

Melissa: Sure, I can give you an inkling. I have the stack of information right here. Hey, what’s this pink piece of paper?

Q: What continues to amaze you about the player community you have for this game?

Melissa: Well, to rephrase my answer from Question 1, what continues to amaze me about the player community is their spirit, drive, loyalty, compassion, and creativity both in-game and out of it. I may be biased (well ok, I really am biased), but I do think we have some of the most passionate (oh yes, and opinionated) and smart people playing City of Heroes.

One of my favorite things to do is to meet them in person, though. I love to meet the people who love the game because they are the reason I do what I do. HeroCon 2008 was a blast for me because I got to hang out with some really cool people. I can’t wait until HeroCon 2009 so I can do it all over again. And HeroCon 2010 and 2011 and…

Q: The Mission Architect has been at once the most ambitious and likely most important element of any expansion. What kind of impact do you see this having down the road – both to the CoH/V franchise and to MMO gaming in general?

Melissa: Architect has literally thousands of player-generated missions and has far exceeded even our expectations.  I think, too, that as we continually strive to make the system better and to work out the kinks, that it can only grow the franchise. I give major props to Joe Morrissey (Hero 1) and CW Bennett (pohsyb) because they have been the driving force behind that entire system.

Also, since City of Heroes is a pioneer in this area we will get the joy (and headaches) of being the first game to travel down this new road.

Q: Who is your favorite NPC hero and villain in the game, and why?

Melissa: My favorite NPC hero in the game is Mairenn MacGregor because she was the very first in-game NPC I came up with when I wrote the Sewer Trial so she brings back great memories. Of course, I read her dialogue now and I think, “Wow, you took that whole tough-talking, no-nonsense attitude thing very seriously didn’t you?”  So, my choice is mostly nostalgic. (Obviously my second choice is War Witch, but I didn’t create her.)

My favorite NPC villain in the game is probably Vanessa DeVore because she’s as crazy as she is beautiful. Plus I like her outfit. (What? Was I supposed to be deep?)

Q: What general things are on your ‘to-do’ list when it comes to the game, either from a mechanics or graphics standpoint?

Melissa: Oh man, well, there are a lot of things from a mechanics standpoint that need to get done or no zone. These are the foundations of all zones and are so minor, but integral to zone creation that if you forget them, the game gets broken.  

Things like: zone container groups, spawn population and dialogue, implementing mission doors, contacts, plaques and tourism badges; populating and hooking up mission trays and creating mission layouts; generating traffic, monorails and NPCs; zone-pathing, map checks, and hook-up to other zones; setting up monorails and interior space access and making sure that ALL OF THIS is well-documented so it can all be tested.

It’s a good thing that I like to write because I do a lot of it.

Q: You’ve had five years to think about this … what is your favorite archetype and subclass and why?

Melissa: Defender: Empathy/Dark because at the end of the day, I like to kick a little villain butt, but I also like to help others.  

Share | Digg This | Glink It

---