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General: AGC Interview: Jack Emmert
Dana
Member Posts: 2,415
The final AGC article is our interview with the creative mind behind Cryptic Studios: Creative Director Jack Emmert. He talks to us about City of Villains and Heroes, the upcoming add-on, the future of the studio and their other project.
;) Currently, Cryptic is staffing up on a cross-platform (PC and unspecified next-generation consoles) massively-multi-player game. While Emmert was not yet able to give us much details, he did tell me specifically that the company is not worried about potential DC Comics and Marvel MMORPGs in development at Sony and Microsoft and wont avoid the genre that made them famous out of fear of being crowded out. He pointed out that there are hundreds of fantasy games and they view superhero games as a genre unto themselves. Does that mean their next-gen MMO is a superhero game? No, but it doesnt rule it out either.
To support this project and not hurt their bread and butter CoX franchise they went to AGC with recruitment in mind. Unlike most established developers who require a set number of published titles and years of experience to even look at you, Emmert told us that he values intelligence over experience. He points out that he himself comes from an academic background. All potential design applicants are given a test and Cryptic doesnt even look at the resume unless the person scores well: published titles or not. |
Read the rest here.
Dana Massey
Formerly of MMORPG.com
Currently Lead Designer for Bit Trap Studios
Comments
The one little thing that really bothers me is that while CoH/CoV does offer -some- gamepad support, couldn't they find the time over the last 2+ years to fully support Gamepads 100%?
Drives me crazy that the right analog stick is pretty much useless in his game. Funny thing is that D&D Online mastered it out of the box (well, beta too).
Can we expect his team to do well with consoles if they can't program a gamepad for their flagship title?
Microsoft Game Studios, Marvel Entertainment and Cryptic Studios Unveil "Marvel Universe Online"http://www.marvel.com/news/vgstories.655
AWESOME!
Also: http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm?loadNews=6256
Unfortunately I have little hope for anything made by cryptic.
I found COX to be boring and uneventful.
However I hope they do a good job on the Marvel MMorpg but until they do, They are still a second rate mmorpg company to me.
Agreed Fierce. In two years, they have failed to add more players than they started out with and even with all the new zones, mobs, etc, its still plays the same. Even with a whole new game, CoV, and PvP in one respect they still failed. While their numbers are relatively good for an MMO they have remained stagnant as much as the game has. I feel they are going to make a lot more mistakes before they 'get it'.
(For me this news explains why the updates to CoX have been few and far between.)
I was suprised to hear that wings were the #1 requested add on for the cox games. Sheilds seem to be the most wanted item in the begining. Trechcoats were a tottal suprise to me, but upon further reflection "The Matrix" movies must have made that popular.
Wings are great, but Sheilds would be better IMO. But hey, any addition to the already amazing costume creator would be welcome.
COX has the BEST charecter generator of ANY mmorg.
I just wish they would have put that type of effort into the gameplay and all the other details.
I also wish other MMorpgs would learn a thing or two about the COX charecter generator and realize that people don't want to all be running around with the same end game equip/look as everyone else has.
I won't go back. Just not worth it.
I am optimistic about Cryptic Studios' ability to create a Marvel Online game. They might not have produced genre defying or defining material with COX games, but they definitely captured something of the passion that drives players. I have been hooked on the COX games for some time even though the gameplay is limited. Looking at their initial offering to the MMO world and what they were able to rig in subsequent updates I believe that they have a talented team, or at least a creative one.
The team at CS has made it clear that they do not intend to simply re-make COX with a Marvel skin, they intend to make an new MMORPG that is centered around the themes of Marvel. Of course, that could just be rhetorical market-speak. My main concern is that the devs in COX have focused quite a bit on balancing down the capabilities of players to achieve iconic power for themselves. While there is some limited interaction with the signature characters in the game storylines, the player is mostly insignificant in the game and the world remains static and unaffected by the player's actions. Some of that would have to change in a Marvel game since players are going to want close association with the signature Marvel characters they love. Also, Marvel storylines are often complex and evolving so the game world should try to emulate that as well.
We will see whether this is a new game altogether, or an expansion on the games they have already created. Either way I know one thing. It will look decent, have fast paced gameplay and will be somewhat popular at the very least. It will also most likely be fun for a bit to anyone not biased against the genre or developer.
Will CoX gamers stop playing in order to switch over to Marvel Online?